U Turn

Have you ever wanted a do-over? In golf, I believe it's called a Mulligan. When I am driving and discover that I am going the wrong direction, I sometimes make a U-turn. In June or 2003, the Deacon and I started visiting incarcerated men at a Medium Security State Prison. These men often wish they could cry, "Do over!" "Mulligan!" They are trying to make a U-turn in their lives.


When the Deacon and I started "going to prison", we knew very little about what this journey would be like. We had to learn a whole new vocabulary just to be able to understand the men we visit. Three lessons we have learned are: 1) Trust, 2) Forgiveness, and 3) The true meaning of the phrase: but by the grace of God.


Before going to prison, I trusted ... my family, my friends, and my pastor. I have attained full volunteer status after completing what seemed like a mountain of paper work; passed my background check; and tested negative for drugs. Then started another process that included being finger printed and having mug shots taken. Each year I am required to be tested for TB. Who knew that having a "non-reactive" TB test would be so meaningful? When I walk through the gates of prison, I am in control of very little. I tell others who have never been to prison: I hope to be in control of my bladder!


I must trust the officer at the Main Gate to be able to process my request to enter the prison and give me the badge I am required to wear while in prison. I must trust several more officers on my "walk to chapel" to open and close the proper doors. I must trust that the Chaplain or his helper has set us chairs on which the men will sit during services. I must trust an officer to unlock the small storage cabinet that holds all the supplies the Deacon and I will need for the evening. I must trust the men to behave themselves, and when they don't, I must trust the officer to remove them from services.


When it is time for the service to be over, the men must leave immediately. The Deacon and I then tidy things by putting supplies away, re-stacking chairs, and gathering our personal belongings we will take with us.


Then the process of trusting officers to open gates starts all over as we exit the facility.


All this trusting has led me to be more reliant on God.