Christmas 2009 – Part 3 in a three part series

As the end of the Christmas weekend wound down, it was time to prepare myself for a busy week, and another Tuesday night worship service at CFCF.

In the two plus years since our Friday night bible group attended a worship service with the men incarcerated at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, I’ve been blessed with a whole new understanding of the impact that Christ’s message has on people. The services we lead, and participate in, are extremely varied. Some nights I come away with a strange peace enveloping me. Other times I am energized and find it hard to wind down and relax when I get home. Some times it’s subtle while other times it’s like a rocket is being launched. It’s not always “the best service ever”, but the only times it’s been disappointing have been the nights we haven’t been allowed in.

Last night was just plain amazing. The music was good and we all enjoyed it. Michael’s message was powerful, loaded with scripture and captured the men’s attention. But there were two specific points that made the night amazing, for me at least.

The Men – I don’t remember a night when there was so little talk going on in the back of the room. Sometimes the prison chapel is like high school. A certain group of guys sit in the back and carry on – as much as they can get away with. Now I don’t know if it was because the CO stayed in the room the whole time or because the men were not allowed to leave the room, for any reason. Whatever the reason they stayed seated, they were attentive and I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were captivated by the message.

The Common Theme – I went into the service with the desire to share something I read yesterday in a daily devotional. And even though we didn’t discuss it before hand, Michael, Dave and I all were focusing in on the same message that we should put God first. It’s not an obscure message; it’s a very important part of the Gospel actually. But the fact is there are plenty of other areas that each of us could have talked of, but as Dave and I discussed on the way home: the Holy Spirit seemed to be guiding our words even more than usual.
The devotional I had read referred to a book called “I Am Third”, the autobiography written by Gale Sayers that inspired the movie “Brian’s Song”. I am third is a reference to: God is 1st, others 2nd and I am 3rd. If there is one lesson that I have worked on harder to achieve, it is that “I am third”. If I can lead with Christ as a husband, a father, a friend, an employee, a boss, in anything; I can be better at each of those duties. I know that I’ll never fully achieve that, but as long as I keep striving for that I should be all right.

Father God: Please help me and all of my brothers and sisters in Christ put you first. Give us the strength to do so in times of happiness and in times of pain, as we reach levels of accomplishment or as we lose our jobs, at the birth of new child and at the passing of an old friend. Bless the brothers at CFCF to keep you as their focus when they are processed on to long-term incarceration. And keep a special eye on those that are being released so that they stay on the Lord’s path and don’t fall into the old habits that put them at CFCF in the first place. I ask this in the powerful name of your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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