Weekly e-News December 4
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having an awesome day!
Because you sure had an awesome night!
What a Christmas dinner you gifted to 170 men desperately in need of Christmas cheer!
“Christmas in the Morgan County Prison!”…
Not exactly “Christmas in Rockefeller Plaza”…It was better!
350 lbs of delicious Dicky Jenkins smoked turkey!
Steamy mashed potatoes, stuffing, beans!
All prepared and served with so much Triple C love!
And we needed sweets, brownies, cookies for all 170 of them…and Tina counted each one to makes sure there’d be enough…
I think 1500(!!!) was enough!!
You all are so amazing! When we need help to give love and care to those without these, you have never failed!
How I thank God for our Triple C family!!
(Btw, they ate them all!)
And then they sang our carols…
and laughed as Thomas and Lee hammed up a hilarious skit…
and more than one hummed a warm “Amen” and let a tear trickle down as Christy and Cheryl sang of the “brave little Boy who gave up His pride and came here to die like a man”…
And they heard about a hope of a new start and a new heart because of Bethlehem’s Babe.
And they went back to their cells, full and filled and knowing folks who love Jesus care about them.
I’ve wondered if maybe someone secretly (and rightfully) wondered, “But these guys are criminals! America’s worst! Some of them took others’ things. Some of them took others’ lives!”
True.
Just like King David and Saul of Tarsus and John Newton did.
And maybe like you and I have done in our thoughts and hearts, if I understand our Lord’s own words.
And it’s surely true that many of them there want nothing to do with a change of heart or Jesus moving into it, making His home there. They mock Him now as those who did way back then.
But many have found Him in that dark place, as He waited for them at the end of a road of brokenness and contrition. And they love Him! And others are finding Him, too!
And Jesus gave His blood for all of them! For those who love Him and those who never will, lost forever.
And He loves them all! Those who are changing and growing into His beautiful kids and those who never will.
And a day is coming when some of the ones I know, formerly the worst of the worst, who in the last 20 years have never walked further than the walkway to the end of the prison yard, will be glorious in His beauty, strolling down streets of paved with gold!
Wow! Paved with gold…Reminds me of a Scripture…
In the last book of the Bible, there’s a verse that says there is coming a day when everything that matters so much to folks will be lost in an hour!
“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
you mighty city of Babylon!
In one hour your doom has come!’
“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore, cargoes of…
gold
silver
precious stones and pearls
fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth
every sort of citron wood
articles of every kind made of ivory
costly wood
bronze
iron and marble
cargoes of cinnamon and spice
incense, myrrh and frankincense
wine and olive oil
fine flour and wheat
cattle and sheep
horses and carriages
slaves and…
the souls of men…” (Revelation 18:10-13)
It is so sad to think that we live in a world where, when a list is made of what matters most to so many, gold is at the top and souls are at the bottom!
But here’s another verse from that wonderful book!…
“And the angel showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.…The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass…
And then…
“The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city…and they will see his face…There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light…And they will reign for ever and ever!”
It’s the Great Flip!
When we were in charge, gold was on the top and souls were on the bottom!
When Jesus is finally King of all, we will sit on thrones above and we will walk on golden streets below our feet!
Souls on top!
Gold on bottom!