I cannot tell you how happy I was when I got my first letter from Jesus! I kept staring at the envelope, smiling, and shaking my head. He wrote to me! How cool is that?
As I opened the envelope, I made sure not to rip the address. Jesus moves around a lot, and I wanted to make sure I sent my letters to the right place.
I looked at the envelope again with all those red-letter rubber stampings. They really wanted me to be aware of where Jesus was, so they made it obvious.
The idea to write cards or letters came during the COVID-19 pandemic and it made sense to me. Writing to someone every day helped to push away the loneliness and isolation most of us were experiencing.
But this was different. This was special. I mean, what was the last time you received a hand-written letter from… Jesus?
Inside the envelope I found two legal pad sheets of paper, written in cursive. Good thing I’m old enough to read that! I thought. He said he’d been at that address for a long time, and told me how glad he was that I’d written to him. He told me a bit about what life was like here in the States, and how English wasn’t easy. In fact, Jesus told me that he’d learned to read and write in prison—where he’d been for 22 years!
The rest of his letter described his childhood, growing up in Mexico, being bullied and mistreated, and running away from home. He told me how, in an attempt to escape his mental and physical pain, he’d turned to a life of drugs and alcohol.
Oh yes, he’d tried to make a living; but his addiction, anger, and fear had set him up, and he’d taken someone’s life. I stopped for a moment to ponder that. I wondered how he must have felt making that admission to me. I’m sure he wondered if I would even answer him after I read that. Would I reject him outright and forget about him?
However, his fears were unfounded. But for the grace of God and the protection of my guardian angel, I might have been in prison with him. When under the influence, I was usually in a blackout, and for many years I’ve realized that any of us—and all of us—are capable of the most heinous crimes when our minds are clouded or completely shut off by the effects of alcohol or drugs. Yes, but for the grace of God!
When Jesus had gone to prison, he’d brought his old life with him. Fear of what other people thought made him adopt a hard exterior. He had been afraid to show any emotion, and prison life had made him even more bitter and violent.
Spiritually, he’d been dead, too. He had no interest in pursuing a spiritual life. His family eventually stopped visiting or even writing to him, and the loss was devastating; so he tried his best to not think about them.
Then, out of the blue, one of the inmates caught him by surprise by asking him if he knew God. His angry response was that he wasn’t interested in any God. He’d been raised Catholic and felt that church was a waste of time. But the thought wouldn’t leave him.
Jesus had found ways to access alcohol—brewing it secretly in his cell from rotten fruit and other food items. There were plenty of drugs in there, too—smuggled in by prison guards who made a sizeable profit. But the day came when the despair was too great, and he returned to that man to ask him how he managed to live such a peaceful life.
What he got in response was surprising. The man was sober and clean and was living by a set of principles that worked—even in prison. Now his purpose in his life was to help other alcoholics.
That’s how Jesus finally met his tribe—the group of men who came in from the outside to help alcoholic inmates stay sober—and in time, he made the decision that changed his life. He admitted his powerlessness, asked God to keep him sober, and the miracle happened.
How my heart rejoiced as he described the change that took place. He told me how he no longer cared about what other inmates thought of him, because he knew what his Heavenly Father thought of him.
Now he could allow himself to feel all his emotions, and he had no fear of showing them and being considered weak. He had a Source of Power in his life that changed him from the inside out.
COVID-19 had shut down the visits from outsiders, but he continued meeting with nine other inmates. Together, they were staying sober… and growing!
My heart filled with gratitude. Thank you, God, for putting this Jesus in my life, I thought. Then I smiled at the irony of that statement. Yes, indeed. Thank you, God, for both Jesuses!
I still don’t know all the reasons why this Jesus was put into my life, but I know that it’s gotta be to encourage him to get to know my other Friend with the same name. Together, we can accompany him on his journey of faith. He needs to know that he is forgiven the moment he asks for it, and that he’s in a unique situation to bring hope and recovery to countless others in prison who have similar pasts. He is uniquely qualified to help them because he’s been where they are.
Forgiveness, freedom from fear, a future to look forward to, and a purpose for living—even if it’s from behind bars, for now—that sounds like something only God could do.
I get to be a part of all that! And while I’m thinking of it, I’ll just sit down and write another letter to Jesus! Alcoholics need encouragement, too, no matter where they are.
