Friday, September 7th, 2018
If you’ll remember, Shawn Tyler Benson is the young man I’m mentoring who murdered a woman execution-style at 3 a.m. on June 1, 2016, in a park south of Buffalo, Minnesota. On October 11 of that same year, Shawn pulled a small Gideon New Testament off a book cart in the Wright County Jail and started reading someplace in the Gospel of John. He doesn’t remember where in John, but suddenly the Holy Spirit convicted him of his sinful nature and the terrible sin he had committed and presented Shawn with the knowledge that Jesus Christ had died for his sins and was waiting for him to accept Him and His promise of a new life. Shawn did so that very minute, and he was no longer the old Shawn but had become the new Shawn who was immensely thankful and joyous that he belonged to Christ.
I’m going to tell you some stories about Shawn in the next few blogs that will strengthen your faith and give you some direction for your own lives. I know my life is different because of Shawn’s great faith. I’ll tell you one of the stories now.
Shawn arrived at the Stillwater State Prison in mid-July, on the very day a correctional officer was murdered by a prisoner. More on that later. The men he comes in contact with notice how happy he is, but misconstrue why. They think he’s getting out soon.
“Hey, dude, you’re one happy person. You getten out soon?” is a common question.
Shawn answers, “No, I’ve got 24 years left to serve.”
“Then why are you so #*@&^!$ happy, man?”
“Then I smile,” Shawn tells me, “and share my testimony with them. I tell them the difference Jesus has made in my life and that he can make the same difference in their lives.”
So Shawn the murderer has now become Shawn the evangelist. No prisoner in Stillwater will be safe from him.