Friday, November 9th, 2018
I sat in a county courtroom last Tuesday morning waiting for Andrew (not the Andy of the last two blogs) to be brought in for sentencing. He had plead guilty to 3rd degree burglary, a crime he committed when he was so wasted on drugs that he thought he was entering his own garage. I’d visited several times with him in jail, and he told me he didn’t want to serve out his time and be released. He wanted to be furloughed to Adult and Teen Challenge because he knew that was his best chance to get his life together. He knew he couldn’t be freed from his addiction on his own.
The prosecuting attorney wanted none of it. If it were up to him, Andrew would go to jail for the rest of his life. He spoke forcefully to the judge that Andrew didn’t deserve a furlough. He could get the help he needed in jail (I couldn’t believe he said that). Now Andrew has a bit of a temper, but he was meek in his statement. “I did wrong in what I did and deserve the sentence I have. I’m just asking to get the help I need to stay off of drugs.” He didn’t say much else other than that. The judge pondered what the prosecutor had said and what Andrew had said. I didn’t give Andrew much of a chance.
As I sat there waiting for the judge to pronounce sentence, I thought about Andrew — how he attended every Gideon Sunday afternoon Bible study in jail and how he met weekly with me and the other chaplain in jail. And how he went to every other Christian program available to him. His Bible was so worn, it looked like it had been heavily used by a hundred men. All he wanted to talk about was how Jesus had turned his life around and how he wanted to serve Him in whatever way Jesus wanted him to, even if that meant serving his time out in jail and heading out into an unknown future. In short, Andrew was one of the most solid Christians I’ve run across in my jail ministry.
I looked up from my reverie because the judge was about to speak. She reduced his sentence to one year and agreed to let him be furloughed to Adult and Teen Challenge. What an amazing God to engineer what was the very best for Andrew! As I left the courtroom, I was reminded of 1 Samuel 2:30.
Those who honor Me I will honor.
Yes, God’s showered His mercy and loving-kindness on Andrew last Tuesday morning. Praise God.