Wednesday, January 29th, 2020
I met with Carl in the Wright County Jail yesterday morning. He became a born-again Christian this last August and started reading the Bible under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit. There is no way he could have learned what he has in five months and have such marvelous insights without the Holy Spirit guiding him. It’s awesome to me to see God working in the lives of the men and women I meet with. It strengths my faith.
In the case of Carl, I am learning from him as much as he is learning from me. For example, he drew on the board the following pattern of joy that governs his life. Of course, he’s not the one who originated this, but he is one that is practicing it in his daily life. It’s one thing to know something. It’s quite another thing to do something about it.
J e s u s
O t h e r s
Y o u r s e l f
He told me that he looks to Jesus as the first thing in his life, to others as a second thing, and then to himself as a third thing. All he wants to do is be obedient to Jesus. All he wants to do is love Jesus, even if he ends up serving Him while serving eight years in a Minnesota State Prison. It took him a few months to get to that point, but that’s where he is now.
How about you? Are you willing to love Jesus through the hard, hard times as well as the good times and everything in between? Of course we all say “yes” to that as an intellectual assent. But what about when the Tsunami hits in real time.