AUGUST NEWSLETTER
CHILREN IN PRISON
“I met you when I was 13 years old!” a prisoner said after a chapel service last week.
Where I had met this 30 year old man who was now dressed in orange?
Several times I have met prisoners who knew me because I had sung at their home church. Once I met a prisoner in Pennsylvania who said, “I saw you when you did a USO program for us while I was in the Army in Mannheim, Germany.” Another time in a prison chapel I met a high school classmate! And I have actually seen former neighbors in prison!
But where had I met this young man when he was just 13 and who was now in prison? So I asked him. “Where have we met?”
“At Indian River!” he said, with the excitement of a boy seeing an old friend.
Indian River! That is a youth facility (prison) near Massillon. This boy was in prison at age 13! I smiled and let him know how good it was to see him, but inside I wanted to cry. A thirteen year old child in prison! What in the world would an eighth grader do to end up in prison? He should be in school.
When a 13 year old boy is in prison, something is terribly wrong. The system, his family and our society have failed somewhere along the line. I asked him if he had been in prison since he was 13.
“No,” he replied. “I got out a couple of times, but it never lasted long. I couldn’t stay out of trouble. I’m back.” Just matter of fact. That’s life. He knows no other way. Seems he has accepted his ‘lot’ in life.
As I was thinking of the plague of prisons on our nation, and the fact that everyone of them is over crowded, and now this reminder that even children are not exempt, I thought of Prov. 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” The NIV Student Bible has this note: “An individual proverb should not be read as either an invariable rule or a binding promise from God… but this verse reinforces the importance of early training in forming a person’s lifelong character. The general rule is this: good parents raise good children.”
Although “spare the rod and spoil the child” may be the best known verse about discipline, I think Prov. 29:15 may explain our current national situation better: “The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother” (!) (and ends up in prison!). Since our society and many parents can’t distinguish the difference between loving discipline and child abuse (there is a difference), let me share The Student Bible’s notes on the subject (pg.587): “The overwhelming emphasis of Proverbs is on verbal encouragement and teaching. The whole book is framed as a father’s words to his son, teaching him those ‘facts of life’ that have nothing to do with biology. Again and again he pleads, ‘Listen, my son…’ Mother has equally important words. The parent-child conversation is a warm one, and Proverbs 17:6 bears out what the whole book implies: parents and children are not meant to be adversaries, but allies in life who are proud of each other.”
I am thankful for loving parents who spared neither the rod (belt) nor the encouraging words. Many times my temptation to do wrong was checked by fear of dad’s belt, but also by my fear of disappointing him. My version of the 23rd Psalm might read: “Thy belt and thy encouraging words, they comfort me…” (and kept me out of prison).
I doubt that my inmate friend who met me at Indian River 17 years ago has ever been disciplined or encouraged by loving parents. But at least he came to chapel! The silver lining is that many men have had it worse that he has and they have done well. God can “…restore the years the locust have eaten.” Joel 2:25 That is my prayer. That is why we have the audacity to go to prisons and proclaim the Hope of Christ.
August 20, 2011 | Categories: Common Ground Ministries, John Schmid, Newsletter | Tags: August Newsletter 2011, Common Ground Ministries, John Schmid, Newsletter | Leave A Comment »
