Watch and Wonder

I've seen God move in some outstanding ways. I've seen men so drastically transformed from a life of immorality and debauchery and whatever other hell fire preacher verb you come up with. This life of waste leading to nowhere and getting them put in situations where everything was taken from them. Then, when faced with the thought of being stripped of all your possessions, losing the presence of your family, and then thrown in a room where you're forced to sit and think about all the crap you've ever done that led you to the place you sit, God comes in and moves. 


It seems He works best when we're stripped of every resource that can get us out of the trouble we find ourselves in. I mean, when there is an outlet we can turn to that isn't God (not necessarily un-Godly) we'll constantly resort to our familiar safety net. Be it a phone call to mom, a trusty bail bondsman or a delusional girlfriend who will put up with more abuse than she deserves. (There is a lot of that in jail believe it or not)


This outlet that we run to when times get tough - again, that isn't God - only seems to cloud over our true need. Like painting over mold, the crap that kills us is still underneath no matter how beautiful the color. We need to first clean the mold before we go seeking to make the room better. That's kind of what jail/prison does for a lot of men and women who go. They are stripped of the resources that lead away from God when in need of safety and are now face to face with the reality that slick talk, a pitiful story or a threat to a girlfriend will not work. 


I was faced with that going to prison. Before it was a matter of claiming I didn't do anything, I was a victim and they had the wrong guy. At the end of the day however when they said, "Jeff Lee #08758-030" it was me and I was the guy locked behind a forty foot wall and told that if I were to ever try to leave my life was not worth a warning shot. America had a problem with my behavior; literally all of America, that's why the court document said United States VS. Jeffery Thomas Lee. How can little ole me ever talk my way around that reality!? 


I couldn't so it was either accept my fate or fight against it. I'll write someday about what those who struggle against it end up like but for now I'm going to let you keep reading, keep watching, and you'll see what a guy who had it all stripped away and ran straight to Jesus turned out like.