Another Day in Paradise

Today was absolutely beautiful here in Southwest Iowa. It felt like an early fall day. When it is still a little warm but a nice cool breeze is in the air. Being inside the prison, without any windows, I had no idea how absolutely beautiful it was until I went out to my blazer at lunchtime to ditch my lunch bag. It was so beautiful that I stopped to talk with one of my friends at work, Dave Ferry.

Dave is a nut. I am not sure how old he is, somewhere around retirement age, but he has the funniest sense of humor. I get a lot of kicks when we eat lunch together. I think you have to have some sort of humor working in a prison. If you don't, then you ultimately will be a grouch and a complainer all the time. Trust me... I've seen it first hand. It is always nice having a light in that kind of a dark place.

It is hard to describe what working in a prison is like. The movies and television do not give it justice at all. Most of the men there are treated pretty good, really. It is almost surreal because you expect the stereotype of a criminal and when it comes down to it, they really aren't that much different than any other guy on the street. Not to say there aren't some that make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. These men are just sinners, like the rest of us. While we did not follow through on the darkness of our own hearts, they did. Or they made a bad choice. The other day they had to turn off the A/C due to a mandatory power conservation order. It was the last hour of my day and it was already getting hot in there. The next day, I was talking with one of the guys and I said, "Well I feel sorry for you guys. I had the option of choosing to leave at the end of the day and find some place cool. Y'all don't have that option." He gave me a slight smile that I could see had a lot of sadness in it before he headed to the door while saying, "We all had a choice at one time. We just made a wrong one." While most of the men behind those walls will never own up to their bad choices or change, there are always a few that do. It gives me encouragement when I see honest repentance in a person.

I decided to cancel my Prophecy Bible study on Friday this week. My best friend Tawnya won't be able to be there and I'd hate for her to miss anything as we're getting into some pretty heavy stuff that I felt she needed to be there for. BUT the ladies are all invited to come and fellowship that night. So we'll still have our time together to talk about the Lord. That will give me a little break in preparing the powerpoint and study.

Tomorrow will be the last day of my Roman's study at Calvary Baptist church. Since I'm starting school on the 30th, I thought I better cut back to only one study a week. Between working on my novels, working full-time, and giving the prophecy study on Friday's... my time will be very limited.

I don't think I ever mentioned where I go to church. I go to Hillside Missionary Church. We have a wonderful pastor there and the congregation is lovely. It is made up of the young and old, wealthy and poor. A nice mix of all people. There is a koinonia (greek word for love) that goes beyond the surface and straight into the Spirit. It is nice finally coming into a place of joy in the Lord.