Last month I wrote about a ministry we were taking part in where we delivered cookies to prisoners. I wanted to share with you some of the happenings that come out of that ministry. The following is an excerpt from a letter written by the gentlemen who headed up this ministry, Dan Wittig:
On the Kairos weekend, every person sitting around the tables was given zip-lock bags filled with a dozen cookies in each. The first couple of bags disappeared instantly. But after that, the inmates got their fill and the cookies started to stack up. At each break an inmate and Kairos alumnus would hand out another bag of cookies. At the end of the day, I handed a couple of bags that were given to me to an inmate and told him "Here, take my cookies, and sell/trade them." He replied, "No! We have to give them away. You don't understand! You don't know what these cookies mean to us. For many of my fellow inmates, the best thing that will happen to them all year is to be handed this bag of cookies."
At the end of the day on Saturday, the inmates were told to think of the most unforgivable person in the prison. For some that would be another inmate. For others it would be a guard with whom they had a confrontation, but they were told to think of a person that they would have the hardest time forgiving. After a couple hours for reflection, the inmates were then given a bag of cookies. They were told that these were 'Forgiveness Cookies,' and they were to give the cookies to the unforgivable person and tell them that they were forgiven.
The next day there was a time that a microphone was opened up for anyone who would like to share what happened the night before.
Mike approached the mic. He had run-ins with another inmate that led to fights a couple of times. He went to that person's room and found the person asleep on his bunk. Mike gave the cookies to the person's cell mate and left instructions for the person to come see him when he awoke. They eventually got together later that night and spoke. Mike said that the talk must have had a profound effect on the inmate, because later the next morning when the inmate was telling others about the cookies. He told the other inmates in bewilderment "He didn't even punch me."
Mike sat down and another inmate took the podium. Adam told a story about his mother and girlfriend being murdered. Somehow Adam ended up in prison as well, and once inside the prison system he had been trying to get transferred to the same prison as the killer, ever looking for the opportunity to exact his revenge by killing the murderer. His voice quivered. They both had been transferred to AZ. Adam explained that after several years of trying to kill the murderer, he had outgrown this endeavor and moved on. But with the Forgiveness Cookies, he had been asked to give them to the most unforgivable person in the prison. That would be the murderer of his mother and his lover. He had not been able to connect with the other prisoner as of yet, but he was keeping a bag of cookies and would be making the connection any day now. Rather than receiving a knife blade into some vital organ, he would be handed a bag of cookies and told "I Forgive You."
Please continue to pray that Christ would reveal himself to the inmates and that their hearts would be moved that they would live for Christ.
Peace,
Monte
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Those are some awesome testimonies!
The power of forgiveness is so real. I love it!
What a powerful testimony that comes from cookies and forgiveness. It is so awesome that people take the time to reach out to those who are hurting in tangible ways to bring the gospel to life.
Post a Comment