SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR Saturday, July 23,2005 • 1B
Chaplain finds calling in prison ministry
By::
the rev. helen crain, chaplain,
potTawatomiE CoUNTY public saFEty center
Recently, I was sitting in the visiting room at one of our state prisons during a visit with my grandson. I watched him with his daughter, who was born a few months after he began serving his sentence. I realized we both had changed so much during the past three years.
My attitude about people in prison and jails had been about the same as a lot of people — that those people deserve to be where they are and are bad people.
When my oldest grandson was sent to prison for some bad choices he made, my attitude changed. As I visit with him and see the people who are incarcerated, I realize that there are a lot of good people who have made bad choices. Bad things do happen to good people. God has a way of letting things happen in your life to teach you and to prepare you for service.
When I was asked to serve as a chaplain at the new jail, my first thoughts were, "Why me?" Do I want to do something like that? My attitude had changed somewhat but not to the point of having the compassion I needed to be able to minister to inmates.
After serving for a number of years as a hospital chaplain, I felt that God was leading me in a different direction. As I began to pray for God to show me the way he wanted me to go, I felt that he was leading me to serve in the jail. Ministry teams in prisons have made a positive difference in my grandson's life. I wanted to make a difference in someone else's life by being apart of this ministry.
After a lot of prayer and meditation, I began to attend the jail on Sunday with the ministry teams. This has been a rewarding experience and has given me a lot of different ways to serve. I have learned to look at the inmates as people instead of the crime.
We have some wonderful Bible teachers who go Sunday after Sunday to minister to the inmates. We have one man who comes and plays his harmonica. The inmates love this. They willingly volunteer their time and are dedicated to their commitment. Most of these men and women are lay people and feel that God has called them into this ministry. Bibles are given out each Sunday and most of them are purchased with personal funds. They minister in different ways, such as preaching, teaching Bible lessons, leading in hymns and lending a shoulder to cry on when needed. Sometimes just being there to listen is all the inmates need. That Jesus loves them even in their circumstances is hard for some of them to believe.
During June, we have had a number of inmates make rededications. In Matthew 25:36, Jesus tells us to visit the sick and those in prison, and that we are doing it to him when we do this to others.
God certainly changes your attitude and actions when you trust in him.
From: http://www.news-star.com/stories/072305/rel_20050723009.shtml
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02/08/2006