Experiencing God's providence

Winding paths of His providence

"You coming right now is providence. This is really incredible," Russ quietly opened with me.

On this Wednesday morning, a young man, Chris, answered the door as I was to meet with Russ at his home.  He is a sophomore at a nearby high school and had some classes with one of my nephews.  

After Chris quietly disappeared downstairs, Russ asked me if I would talk to him. That was the "providence" part.  We would work together.

Chris was on his first day of a 90 day suspension from his high school because of marijuana use apparently just off his high school campus. This status stands unless he enrolls in appropriate classes.  Then, it is a five day suspension.  A second offense is 90 days with the classes, as I understood him as the policy at his school. He may fail his sophomore year.

Umpiring mechanics

I met Russ this spring as he helps me immensely as an umpire trainer.  We met together over coffee several times as he offered to mentor me.  We talk about pregame meetings, game management, rule clarification, and game situations. 

We also talk actively about faith and our journey with the Lord. I attended church with him recently, as he plays piano on their worship team.

Russ came into the kitchen to explain why Chris was there. After briefly sharing with me. Russ invited him to come upstairs to talk with us for about 20 minutes. I was actively praying like crazy as I realized Russ was inviting me into a really vulnerable place with his family.  

"More high school seniors have used marijuana in the past month than have smoked a cigarette, according to a federal study released Tuesday, according to PBS Newshour. 

"The National Institutes of Health's annual Monitoring the Future study has surveyed trends in teen alcohol, tobacco and drug use since 1975. In 2010, marijuana use ticked up slightly while tobacco use stayed steady." 

Want to read more? Check out   PBS Newshour

Whatever numbers we read from multiple sources,  most substance abuse statistics are under-reported.

Chris admitted starting marijuana as an eighth grader a few times and said he was using "a couple times a month."  He knows perhaps 20 acquaintances who are using at least marijuana and five he knows well.  


"Why was this high school being so hardcore about marijuana and drug use?"

It is against the law.  It's illegal. Marijuana impacts ability to make decisions and process for at least a year even after its out of the user's system.  The user has lessened boundaries and is not thinking clearly. 

So, I pressed, "how many "fellow users" would continue being your friends if you or they stopped using?" He pretty quickly agreed they wouldn't likely remain friends as marijuana is what they do together.

"Fellow users" are not friends.

Russ peacefully reminded him being a leader at school starts with saying no. At first, there may be smirks, then respect develops.  You just aren't using. He readily agreed many of his peers are using more than he is.  Chris got caught.

Chris knows how much he is using, whatever he told us.
I wrote out this often used quote and passed it across the table:
"Sin (marijuana) will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay."

Getting caught is either unfair or possibly the greatest blessing in his young life.  Russ and I shared much would be up to his responses and future choices for the rest of his life. 

Later, Russ shared his Dad tells him to get off marijuana but has himself been a heavy marijuana user so Chris get a warped, hypocritical message at home.  A grandfather really struggled with substance abuse, as well. This just might really help Dad do some introspection.

Chris actively listened while looking down and away, at first. Then, it appeared he was actively processing how safe this interview was going to be.  Obvious remorse and solid eye contact developed  as our time passed together.  He was near tears.

Chris took the "sin will take you" quote agreed to let me pray before he left and that was a real blessing.  I think he knows he needs the Lord. We stuck to our 20 minute promise.  I sent him a note to let him know I am cheering for his success.  The next weeks are really critical in his life.

Q chain reactions

Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center

Three men in two days.  Three huge chances to share about the saving love of God with three men back-to-back in Q unit during this past couple of days at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.  

Here is Andre's story, first. 

It started out with asking the officer to make announcement about me being available to meet with anyone.

 Andre stepped forward quietly.  His Mom is a pastor and has been working to get him to turn his life over to Jesus. 

"I told her," Andre said, "I didn't want to make a commitment and then go back to my old ways and let her down."  That's honest.

Many don't want to go there.  They know Jesus means a changed morality where they live every day.  Their behavior will change. Some of the people they care about won't approve.  They are players--some want to give their problems away if they think it will get them out of trouble, for now, a far cry from working out restitution or making things right with those they have hurt the most. They can't manipulate God. 

Andre knows giving his life over to Jesus will mean lasting changed behavior.  He's been in Sunday School and knows some facts.  He has been in church and knows his way around the Bible.

Ray Pritchard's book

He flipped right to Romans 1:16-17 where we started.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.' "

He completed a worksheet I prepared on the Romans Road, Christ as the only way for salvation, and repentance and forgiveness of sins. He was ready to talk.

Romans 1:16 says the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  God does as astounding supernatural act to save a lost and condemned person through the Holy Spirit.  He continues to give a saved man the power to live the Christian life.

The saved man lives from faith to faith to faith... by the power of God.

Now, that is the greatest news anyone can receive.

He wanted to move forward to receive Christ so I asked him to write the Lord a prayer calling on Him to be saved.  He was to use his own words.  Later, he was to share with his Mom.  I'll check in later and see where he is. I asked him to read Ray Pritchard's book, "An anchor for the soul."

He is on the journey of his forever life.  He has an entire, wonderful opportunity to live for Jesus.

Obituary of Jesus Christ

Line of duty deaths--behind the badge

Randy Schulz, WCA vice-chairman

I learned a great deal from a presentation by Randy Schulz, from Prison Fellowship and Washington Chaplains Association (WCA) vice-chairman, on line of duty deaths (LODD) at the April 12 semi-annual meeting at the Hal Holmes Center in Ellensburg. It was also very stretching and emotional.

I serve as the co-secretary of the WCA, a group for jail and prison chaplains, along with Bob Jordan, the secretary for eight years.  Bob, pictured below with Joenne McGerr, is also the board chairman with Prisoners for Christ Outreach Ministries. 

"Just as life in the United States life was forever changed after 9-11, so the Washington State DOC will never be the same following the murder of Jayme Biendl. This is our 9-11 and things will never be the same" Randy said.

Behind the Badge Foundation 

Randy is Field Director for Prison Fellowship for Washington State. He served as a volunteer with Behind the Badge Foundation’s (BtBF) LODD Response Team as Volunteer Coordinator for the Memorial Service honoring Jayme Biendl. 

Randy’s wife, Gayle Frink-Schulz, is a long-time member of  BtBF’s LODD Response Team and is the organization’s Program Director. The memorial in Monroe and Everett welcomed officers from as far away as New York. This was the first Department of Corrections (DOC) officer death at a corrections center facility for 31 years. 

As I was listening and taking notes for this LODD presentation, I kept recalling how close we came to an officer death at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent right around the same time Officer Biendl was killed.  I recounted those events in our closed custody NE unit and wondered how I would have reacted and what the dynamics would have looked like at the RJC.

The BtBF LODD team follows an Incident Command Structure. Officer Biendl’s memorial planning team was comprised of 60 or more people. Among them were WA State DOC staff, police officers from other agencies, honor guards, chaplains, CISM volunteers and support staff from numerous entities coordinated to prepare and facilitate the memorial.  

Two MCC Corrections Officers were selected to be family liaison officers. There are incredible waves or ripples starting with the family, friends and co-workers, MCC inmates, and their families and MCC volunteers. 

This impact radiates out to WA State DOC staff state-wide and the Governor’s Office, to the community of Monroe. Departments of Correction across the country, law enforcement agencies across the State are also impacted.

A WCA group of 37 watched a three-minute presentation on the memorial honoring Officer Jayme Biendl who was killed on duty October 29, 2011 after a religious service at the reformatory unit in Monroe Corrections Center.

WCA at Holmes Center

In the days following the death, Chaplain Imo Smith mentioned walk around services in the tiers provided care throughout the Monroe complex. Each facility around the state maintains differing procedures based on custody levels ad other factors.

                                             Trauma brings out stress

Trauma accentuates vulnerabilities already present among officers. Their families may have difficulty coming to terms with the shocking display of how badly things can go wrong resulting in questioning their loved one’s occupation. A tension rooted in differences in the way they view their environment may develop between custody and non-custody staff. 

The physical presence of the crime scene in the center of the Reformatory grounds makes it impossible to get any distance from it. This keeps the trauma in the faces of WSRU staff and inmates.

Shannon O’Donnell, a Roman Catholic pastoral care minister from the King County Jail in Seattle, mentioned the additional stress experienced by families of other inmates. 

Bob Jordan and Joenne McGerr

Joenne McGerr, DOC programs, noted children asked heartbreaking questions in counseling sessions about why the officers were not kept safe.

Many volunteers were locked out of the attending facility although DOC promptly provided information on a timely basis. 

        Revised decisions and policies 
Major DOC policy changes are being implemented around the state facilities.  Some react to these changes with another layer of stress.

Volunteers are in prisons by the permission of the facilities where each serves. Regardless of how necessary or helpful the services provided by volunteers are, the volunteers do not share the responsibility for outcomes. Only those who share the responsibility can truly be partners. 

Volunteers are encouraged to adjust, adapt, smile and keep on serving in the role the given each of us. The responses of the volunteers in the aftermath of this tragedy will determine whether they are welcome guests or not. 

wonderful days right in church

A wonderful proposal

The Lord blessed me with an incredible surprise--near the conclusion of a service I was attending, a young man proposed and presented an engagement ring to his intended right in front of the congregation. 

I was completely stunned in wonder and awe.  This was truly a most wonderful day for this couple and for everyone privileged to be there.

Well, I wasn't convinced right away, at all.   I didn’t know what to think.  The old critical spirit stirs up trouble to snatch joy right out from under me.  How about you?

Luke shared with the congregation about this “most wonderful day in his life,” and how the Lord spoke to him earlier in the day.  He gently motioned to Susie, inviting her to join him and continued to share about how they first met and spent time together and how Susie blessed his life over these last months.

This was a precious moment for this couple and the entire church family.

Luke retrieved the ring in a box carefully hidden behind the communion table to his right. Susie was embarrassed but deeply moved by Luke’s humble display of love for her. Oh, nearly in tears, she said, "yes."  He presented the ring and placed the ring on her finger. 

The pastor took a picture while the congregation joyfully applauded.  Together with Luke and Susie, we participated in one very special moment orchestrated by the Lord.

This couple shared their precious and wonderful moment with their church family.  They all have been watching them together.  As they continue in counseling with their pastor, they will need the comfort and exhortation of faithful married couples who can come alongside them in upcoming days.

I preached there recently as part of a Prisoners for Christ focus along with, “Unchained,” a band Geoff White from this church along with Bob Steen, from Faith Baptist Church in Kent.  “Unchained” ministers  in jails and prisons and are scheduled to go with me on a PFC Eastern Washington and Oregon missions trip concert tour on June 10-12. 

This was an “outside the box” church experience to God's glory. Experiencing this was worth going to church for weeks and years for the wonder of this moment.  There was great joy amidst this church family.

Wonder!

Great moments happen in our church families every week if we are looking for them.   Sometimes, they fly by us.  Watch carefully!

When we are looking, we can witness loved ones being saved, getting baptized, recommitting their lives to Jesus, and praying together around special needs. We laugh and cry, rejoice and mourn. Together, we struggle through hard things and stand arm-in-arm, and back-to-back.

We may attend for years without witnessing something that causes our hearts to leap for joy as a brother and sister in Christ share with us "a most wonderful day."

Every once in a while, the Lord blesses us greatly as we share very special moments together He orchestrates for His glory and our most wonderful  rejoicing together. Watch and pray, a most wonderful day could be coming to your church, soon.

PFC University on April 30

PFC website

I am preparing to teach two classes in the Prisoners for Christ University on Saturday April 30 from 8 am to 4 pm at Cedar Park High School in Bothell. Courses are open to the public so affiliation with PFC is not required.

This training is a phenomenal place to explore where the Lord might use you in all kinds of astounding ways and learn nuts and bolts skills for serving in our jails and prisons.

Cedar Park High School location

 Cedar Park High School l is located at 16300 112th Ave. NE just off I-405 exit 22.  The PFC staff team prepares a continental breakfast and short worship time from 8 to 8:30 am.  Pre-ordered lunch is $8 and served on-site or participants may bring their own lunch. 

A free-will offering is taken.  We suggest an offering of $15 for each class to cover expenses.  PFC volunteers actively enjoy networking as we hear the great things the Lord is doing in, through, and all around us.  

Advance registration is required at:

email: volunteer@pfcom.org

online: www.pfcom.org

phone: 425-483-4151, ext. 207

fax: 425-487-1680

mail:  PFCOM, PO Box 1530, Woodinville, WA 98072

With enough registered, I teach  two three-hour classes,"Becoming a PFC missionary," a morning class for those considering a full-time calling to jail and prison ministry;  and an afternoon class, "Speakers workshop and Church liaison," focusing on effectively communicating to the local church about PFC ministries.  

Other class offerings are:

All day: Basic juvenile training

Morning classes: Basic adult training, Bible study graders, Understanding different doctrines, and Understanding addictions.

Lunch and learn classes:  Becoming a pen pal, code of conduct, conducting an altar call, short-term international missions trips, Prison Rape Elimination Act training, and aftercare.

Afternoon classes: Effective music and drama, group leader, preaching and teaching, spiritual warfare.