Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices

When the men are released, he serves as a mentor, sometimes helping them furnish an apartment or getting a job. He’s been there for support when the man sees his children – sometimes for the first time without wearing a prison-regulation jumpsuit. 

It’s not a ministry that normally attracts a person who holds grudges. But through the grace of God, Dad opens his heart to men who have really done wrong. He’s talks to them about forgiveness, about paying the price for sin and crime and then about making a fresh start. 

Sometimes these men, three or four days out of prison, call my dad just to hear words of encouragement. It’s hard to be back on the outside with freedom and temptation at every turn. Sometimes these men succeed, get jobs, return to their families, and start a new path. Most of the time, though, they take a drink or borrow a little bit of money, and within a few weeks or months, they’ve violated probation and head back to prison. 

But Dad doesn’t give up on them. 

In a few days, most of us will make a slew of resolutions: to lose weight. To pay off debt. To find new love or rekindle an old one. To clean out closets or lay off the caffeine. 

I challenge you to add this resolution: Believe in the power of God to change hearts and lives. Spend the next 365 days following God’s lead, letting God use our strengths and weaknesses to transform our families, churches and communities. 

And maybe in the midst of the year, we’ll even be set free from whatever imprisons us.