Thursday, February 13th, 2020
Two weeks ago, I gave two talks at the Wright County Jail – one to men and one to women. They went very well, and I handed out a copy of my book, 7 Steps to Turn Your Darkness into Light, to each inmate who attended.
Eight days later I received the following message from a jail program officer regarding the following request from an inmate named Henrietta (I have not used her actual name because it is so unique). “Is it possible 4 me 2 get another book that chaplin pat wrote’7steps one’cause my roommate took mine while i was at biblestudy on fri when she left so could someone ask him if i could get another one with the same saying in it please and thanks.” I had put a different saying in each book I handed out, no two the same, so I had no idea what was in her book.
I sent a message back through the program officer that I would bring a book the next Tuesday and personally give it to Henrietta. She was the first person I asked to see Tuesday afternoon, and what a delight she was. She told me how much she enjoyed the book and how dismayed she was when her cell mate stole the book from her belongings on her way out the jail upon release. I, in turn, told her that it was really a good thing that her book was stolen. First of all, she would now have a book from me personally inscribed to her and with the same message as in the first book: “Decide to follow Jesus and your darkness will turn to light.”
But best of all, I got to meet Henrietta. If her book hadn’t been stolen, I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet her. In my next blog, I’ll tell you why Henrietta was such a delightful person to talk to and the deep, deep knowledge that she had of Jesus and His Father, given to her by….(but you’ll find out all about that in next week’s installment).