I can’t give many details, but there was a recent particularly intense situation inside the jail with a suicidal inmate. (Fortunately, the situation abated quickly with no harm or injury.) I had been wanting to see the specific inmate involved, but it had been difficult get in front of him to talk to him, due to some logistical issues after the event. After some time, unable to see the inmate, I moved on in my mind, since I had a full plate of other urgent ministry to get to. About ten days later, I saw the inmate, when I happened to pass by a central area in the jail, where he was in a holding cell. His setting in the cell told me that he was on suicide watch. I asked the guards if I could talk to this inmate, and they said I could. I remember feeling deep joy as I walked the 30 feet to the bars where this inmate stood. And further, I had that sense of the world going “strangely dim,” as in the hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
It seems to me that “the things of earth will grow strangely dim” is based on verses like 2 Cor 5:8, or Phil 3:20. I was feeling the LORD Jesus telling me this situation was one where I am to drop everything, focus (focus on Jesus, that is), pray-up (Isaiah 45:22) and go fellowship with that inmate.
I walked up to the inmate and said hello. I have known this inmate well, and seeing him was a bit of a reunion. We were happy to see each other. But it was obvious he was in trouble. We talked for a few minutes, about not much, but I finally said to him,
“Brother, do you need to talk about anything? I want to help you. You know me, bro. You need a friend.”
Wow. When GOD speaks through us, it is so good! It is overflowing goodness.
I don’t remember everything we talked about that day, but I remember our conversation went very deep, very fast, into talking about the urgency of knowing Jesus Christ through all the moments of ours lives. GOD drove the conversation into that sort of intensity; I remember being aware of, and feeling deep within, how it was, specifically, GOD who was driving the conversation into the depths. He, GOD (YHWH, Theos, Jesus), is the one who helps the poor, and feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, heals the sick, and gives shelter to the homeless.
So, another ten days went by. I was up on a jail wing, and there was the inmate, back in standard population in the jail, no longer assisted with suicide prevention care. We had happy-to-see-each-other-again moment. Then we talked a bit; he was telling me how good he was doing now. And then he said this:
“Hey Chaplain Jeff, you told me to pray that day. You were the only one to tell me that. So I did, and man brother! I got better! Like almost right away! Completely better. Now I am praying all the time, and I feel great, all the time!”
He literally said that, and with a big, genuine, and joyful grin! A smile powered by GOD.
“Really brother?!” I responded, after pondering what he just said for a millisecond.
“Um, bro… That is awesome! And yah, you look like everything is all ok now,” I continued.
He went on to tell me about how I told him to pray, that it would make him feel good, and it would make him feel the presence of GOD, right there in his soul, right amid his situation there in that cell, in the suicide prevention situation. I remember telling the inmate, in that talk from about 10 days prior, that he had everything he needed, right there in his cell, where with GOD he has everything (see 2 Cor 6:10). I told the inmate that he was the Imago Dei–that is, the image of Christ (GOD). The LORD gave me those words, and absolutely all of the inspiration to pass them through my mouth, and into this inmate’s mind. GOD did it all, and I did nothing (see John 15:5b).
