Tuesday, September 11th, 2018
Shawn Tyler Benson was transferred from the Minnesota Correctional facility in St. Cloud, where all Minnesota prisoners start their sentences, to the facility in Stillwater, Minnesota, on July 24th, the very day a correctional officer was murdered there. All Shawn’s belongings, including his Bible, were put in a red box in St. Cloud to be given to him in Stillwater. But with the assault and killing of the officer, the prison was on lockdown for 23 1/2 days, and his red box remained in storage.
I’ve told you about Shawn before. He’s one of the most dedicated followers of Christ I’ve met in my jail visits and has an unquenchable joy in Christ, fueled by long periods of time studying Scripture. And yet, Shawn ran out of fuel when he was separated from his Bible during that time. As he sat in his cell for a period of almost a month, his tank ran dry. He told me, “I started having thoughts I hadn’t had for two years.” Shawn was unable to sustain himself with prayer because he’s not strong enough in that department yet and hadn’t memorized enough Bible passages to sustain himself. Once he got his Bible back, he read it with the hunger of a man who hadn’t eaten in a month. Now he’s OK.
There’s a lesson in this story for all of us. You need to keep putting spiritual fuel into your soul (who you are, mind, will, and emotions) or you’ll have less of God than you need to make it through the challenges of this secular world. Don’t let your tank run dry. Read the Bible on a daily basis. Pray continually. Ask the Holy Spirit to power you up to stay close to Jesus. In Christ’s name. Amen