Two years have passed since my dad began his sentence in a federal prison camp. In just a few weeks, he will be one of many prisoners returning to a community, trying to reconnect and reestablish life on the outside.
I hope for every prisoner that release day will be a day of rejoicing and a new beginning rather than a new set of hardships. Reentering a community after incarceration is no easy task: finding housing, getting a job, reconnecting with people, and the list goes on. The prisoner may have broken a law (potentially a very serious one) but we can allow them hope for opportunity on the other side.
I hope we can think of prisoners not as the lowest of the low, but as fellow sinners in need of grace. I hope that as they return, churches will help them know Christ and understand how to live well in society. When you have the opportunity, extend compassion toward a returning prisoner who may be struggling a great deal emotionally and spiritually while trying to reestablish life in “normal” society.
As the prison gates close behind returning prisoners and they face life on the other side, I hope they will be met with grace to live faithfully in their new beginning.
Into the Fray
By: Alan Eason|Published: February 8, 2012 6:57 PM
We are very excited about all the great commenting that goes on The BreakPoint blog. It is growing and more people are getting engaged. Only one hitch -- it is pretty much "among Christians."
I'd like to invite you (even those have not commented here yet) to go out to the front lines with us -- to the Colson Center YouTube channel. Click below to find out why.
Eric Metaxas, who for two years was a member of the BreakPoint writing staff, was the guest speaker at this year's National Prayer Breakfast, held a few days ago at the Hilton in D.C. See him pictured here, making President Obama laugh. But after the jokes, Eric gently spoke truth to power regarding abortion, just as Mother Teresa did some years ago when she spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast.
In another case, a 15-year-old Wisconsin student was threatened and verbally abused by school superintendent of Shawano High School for writing an op-ed in opposion to gay adoption. Ironically, the article was a school assignment.
Five or six years ago Focus on the Family released “The Truth Project” DVD series, and I went through it as a discussion leader of a small group. I haven’t looked at it since, so when a friend of mine said a group was going to go through it and invited me, I agreed. I thought it would be good to refresh what I learned from the DVDs and maybe learn some new things I missed the last time.
What a sad statement about the growing culture of death in the Netherlands: Advocates for euthanasia and assisted suicide are celebrating a decade of their legality by hosting a weeklong film festival called the "Week of Euthanasia."
Sadly, after getting their foot in the proverbial door, the advocates continually redefine the criteria for which people "request," voluntarily or involuntarily, suicide. READ FULL ARTICLE »
