Friday, November 30th, 2018
Within the last two months, in my role as a chaplain at the Wright County Jail, I have met several times with three inmates – with Jacob, with Crystal, and with Bryan. All three were self-declared shipwrecks when I first met them. They were not godless people. They had asked Jesus to rebuild their ships and make them whole and were dismayed that He had not done so.
But Jesus is not in the business of rebuilding old ships that are falling apart. He builds new ships instead. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the Holy Spirit writes through the Apostle Paul: Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! [Amplified]
I am absolutely amazed at what the Holy Spirit has taught these three since they joined up with Jesus and put Him in the lead position in their inner selves. They are three different people whose knowledge of God has been taught to them by a dedicated and passionate reading of the Bible. As Crystal said to me just yesterday, the Bible tells me who I am and what I should do. It’s no longer Crystal leading the way on her path of life and asking Jesus to help her. It’s now Crystal walking behind Jesus and letting Him take her along the path that is best for her. That’s the difference between night and day.
The stories of these three new creations would be too lengthy to cover in one blog. I’ll give you the rest of the story in the next three postings.