Whatever mixed feelings each of us may have about New Year’s resolutions, the instinct persists; with a new calendar year always comes some desire for a restart: new goals, new intentions, new ways of seeing the world. For those of us at OCPM, these redirections often come from men and women behind bars, whose hard circumstances can enable them, in their sincere repentance, to speak truth directly and powerfully into our lives. This letter (below) we received at the end of last year is no exception. What if our resolutions looked more like this man’s?
I started turning my life around in 2009 when I surrendered my life to Christ after my arrest – coming to prison, that’s what it took before God got my attention. I’m more free in here! I “played” the part of being a Christian outside, but you can’t be on the fence in here. God doesn’t allow you to be His one day and not the next day! We are supposed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, so if you have an emptiness in your heart, you may not really be His. That’s how I would describe myself before my arrest, empty. This emptiness I tried to fill using the five senses, doing what made me feel good; it didn’t work. I was so broken my heart was the size of a pea and hard from all the hurt that the world had put on it. I grew up an angry young man, and very broken. Now I try to live by Faith, Hope, and Love: a supernatural Faith founded on God rather than me, a supernatural Hope that gives me the assurance that God keeps His promises, and the greatest virtue, a supernatural Love that makes me able to forgive and keep forgiving.