Prison here I come

Did you know the greatest mental health provide in the state of Texas is our jails and prisons?

Sad but true.

So the prison becomes a wonderful opportunity to work with the "least of these."

I have thought a lot about this new door of ministry for my life.

My ministry has been shaped by listening. Early in the first church I served, I realized I was not trained to listen like I should. So I started learning and listening. In my opinion, the Spoken Word on Sunday needed to be supplemented by the listening ear on Monday. So, I started listening.

In those early days that was about all I could offer. But for many folks, that was enough. They needed someone to hear like God hears--overflowing with acceptance, grace, and mercy. They needed somewhere safe to park their secrets with out loud. Only later was I to learn the power of saying things out loud. But somehow God was in the room and grace and direction came.

So after years of listening theologically, pastorally, and patiently, I came to get an advanced degree in psychology. So, I was introduced to the interior of the human life and how we might think and feel and decide and even understand. Then came a license and an expanded ministry that been successful. The church I proudly served for 15 years allowed me to take to the road listening. First to missionaries on mission trips, and then to missionaries in their natural surroundings and in planes,trains, cars, board rooms and outside the board rooms.

Now my listening leads to prisoners in their natural surroundings.

Some predict failure in this new venture--but there were some naysayers about my pastoring. Some predict the confined environment will wash me out. Some said that about pastoring. Some say I won't be able to stand the horrible language. They have never sat in a deacons' meeting and heard what was said short of cursing. I knew some of the red faces were the language restraints they didn't observe outside the building.

But I believe they are wrong. Pastoring has toughened me up. It has made me stand up and hold my ground. This new venture will actually allow me to control my environment better that I have ever been able to do in a local church. I am led to believe by my new supervisor that bad behavior can be controlled in the prison and I can order a inmate back to his cell.

So, I recently drove by a woman's house who has given me fits for eight of the 15 years I have been here. She carries a diagnosis she refuses to acknowledge to me. But I found myself thinking, "In the prison where I am going, she would be in a cage and I would be sitting at a chair outside doing my work!

How cool is that!