Last week, there was an issue about the jail ministry that had been really bothering me. In fact, it was an issue that had been bothering me for a few weeks. It was to do with something I had to do, but had not had time to get to. Part of the problem was I did not know what to do about the situation. It was not anything serious, but something I needed to attend to. And believe-it-or-not, I forgot to pray on it. This was one of those weird situations, that I’ve been in before, where I just get busy, and forget to pray.

So, this went on for a month, and I had a nagging feeling in me, of needing to get to this task, but I had not yet. Then, last week, in a quick, passing moment, the LORD put a thought in my mind: pray on it! So, in a hallway between two cell blocks, right in the middle of a moment in the evening of the jail, all alone, at my KJM book cart, I did a quick prayer.

I then moved on, getting back to work.

A few hours later, I happened to see this inmate, whom I had not seen in a while, whom this matter had to do with. It was an absolutely freak chance encounter, a needle in a hay-stack situation, that we passed by each other at an intersection of the jail, passing each other. And the inmate reported to me some new information, that he had literally just heard about, moments before we saw each other. It was exactly information that alleviated the situation. Wow, the LORD answered my prayer. All I had to do was pray–or, more specifically, to remember to pray (see Col 4:2).

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Jeff Grupp

Lead Chaplain, Founder, Kalamazoo Jail Ministry