All We Have to Do is Try

So, Wednesday nights are the night that I go to the juvenile detention center here in town for a Bible study with the guys there, with a hope of getting to play a little basketball with them too. I look forward to this time of the week because I feel that it is one of the times that I'm actually actively doing something to further His kingdom and it is very exciting to see the results that God brings to the place. One of the first things that one realizes upon setting foot in this place is that the people there are just like you. They aren't always straight up thugs and punks as the media will lead one to believe, but people just like you or me.  They like the same stuff, play the same games, and eat the same food as me. They also have dreams, desires, and goals for their life.They don't want to be in prison for the rest of their lives, they want to do something with their lives, they want to have a future.

Tonight one of my friends from the dorm named Abe* came to the prison with me. Abe is one of my newer friends on the hall, seeing that he just moved in about three weeks ago, but he's been a great guy. He's been through a lot with his life. Everything from drug dealing, to weapon sales, to some pretty nasty fights, he's been in it. But within the past two years or so, thanks to a pretty intense boot camp called  Teen Challenge, Abe came to know Jesus Christ as his Savior and he's been living differently ever since. He's been on mission trips to Guatemala, given his testimony to hundreds of people, and gotten away from his past life.

Tonight after we'd finished playing basketball with the guys there, Abe gave his testimony. He told about how deep he had been into the world of drugs, how he should have been in either prison or a casket, but God had better plans for his life. God kept him from those places through some pretty miraculous events as well as some pretty miraculous people.

After Abe was finished we split the guys up into two different groups to talk about what they had just heard. One would expect these guys to just shrug it off and not pay attention, but instead they were sincerely interested in what had just been said. They thought it was amazing that Abe had been through all that and how he had gotten out, and they told very similar scary stories from their own lives about how they could have ended up in prison for a very long time but miraculously ended up there instead. One of the guys was even interested in the boot camp that Abe had gone to, saying that he had been looking for something like that for a while to get his life back in line. Make no mistake, these guys do want to change, they don't want to live like this forever, and they are seeking for answers how. They are incredibly open to the Gospel, all they need is for someone to tell them about it.

After an amazing night like tonight it makes one wonder if Christians realize that it is much easier to share the Gospel with others than one might originally think. People aren't always going to completely stop what you're saying and tell you to leave. People are wandering through life...and they're sick of it. They want someone to tell them how they might have hope, how to add meaning to their life. As Christians, all we have to do is try. You might be amazed at the results.


*name changed for his own privacy's sake