Almighty God, 

I ask my beloved, "Why do you keep doing this (insert latest self-destructive behavior)?" My beloved says "I do not know." I ask my beloved, "Don't you think you need to figure that out?" My beloved says, "Yes." I say, "Well, I'd appreciate a phone call to let me know you are still breathing." My beloved says, "OK."

So that is my prayer today, Father God. Please help my beloved discern what is driving the self-destructive behavior and feeding the addition. My beloved has so many good traits and gifts, but they are withering under self-destructive behaviors. My beloved is wounding people who love him. My beloved is perpetuating intergenerational choices that are putting his children at risk. My beloved is wearing out people who want to help and have demonstrated skill in doing so.

I lay him at Your feet, Lord. I know You love him and want a much different life for him. Please help his thinking to clear, so He can see clearly how much he needs You and how wholly willing and able You are to lead him out of this morass. Make his "next step" clear and help him rely on You rather his own strength and understanding.

I ask because Your Son poured his blood over us all  AMEN

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:18

Almighty God,

It has been a VERY challenging week whip-lashing between hope and distress. Thank You for walking with us each and all, always trustworthy, always present, always enough. But, although I am not overwhelmed, today I feel flat. Did my beloved survive the night? I don't know. But I do know these are different journeys: the journey of those fighting compulsions who have sculpted some very dangerous habits, and those who journey with them who often find this scary and confusing. I struggle against my own learned behaviors that are not helpful, busy-ness, anxiety, impatience that feels like proof I care, but is not.

Even with trusted people who are praying for us some faces show they are uncertain what to say, especially if they have not experienced similar challenges. Maybe these days will help them learn what I have learned through these years: just walk with me. Pray for my beloved and all who are walking along side them. Please help theses dear people to not indulge in speaking their fears into my life because I already have a bushel of them barking at my ankles. Help them know they don't have to be funny or sunny. They can keep conversations short if they are uncomfortable. The prayers of the uncomfortable are very precious.

So, for today Lord I am going to look for those precious small joys that are Your special gifts to us, reflecting Your love for us in a beautiful flower, a spectacular sunrise, the chirping birds enjoying a gentle rain, the smile of a stranger, the giggles of a child, an appliance that works without problem, the song on the radio that speaks to my heart, a perfectly ripe piece of fruit, a quiet place to pause and have a quiet conversation with You.

Thank you, God! For this day, for Your persistent presence and abundant blessings. Thank you, Jesus, for pouring Your blood over us all to restore our relationship. AMEN

​Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5b

O God,

I go to sleep with prayers for us all on my mind and awake crying out for help. I don't know what help we need or even what might help. 

But that is the point. Years of bad decisions and then progress!!! Then back a few steps, then better days, then BIG fail and despair. Lord, I hate, Hate, HATE addiction! I hate that it buries someone I love and respect and long to see free instead struggling, awash in confusion, fear, rage, and selfishness. Oh, I get the selfishness because it is clear this is a battle to the death and the choices are addiction clouded efforts trying frantically to survive. Unfortunately things that seem obvious to those who love the person struggling are ideas the addicted person rejects--from practical steps to appeals to change their perspective.

O Lord, I can't get through a day without You and You are always faithful and able. Why can't I help my beloved see this?  Why are they struggling to turn to You? The years of embarrassment, guilt, loss turn into conviction that either You are not there or could never love someone who is such a mess. But I know how much You have loved me in my messes so it is breaking my heart to watch this very hard day filled with threats, despair, and chaos.

Help my loved one! I know the fact that we have gotten this far is proof of Your faithful care for my loved one. But today please send help. Send a glimpse of those moments of joy that speak so tenderly of Your love for us even in our brokenness. Send someone who can speak words my beloved can hear. Help my beloved welcome Your Spirit into the discussion. Help me pray for my beloved according to Your Will. Help us all.

I can ask because Jesus says I can. AMEN

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! Psalm 130:1

Abba Father,

Today I'm feeling whiny. Not attractive, I know. But really the years of worry and fear take a toll. My head knows You are in charge and wholly trustworthy. But my heart aches. I watch my loved one try to make changes and even take some successful steps to a better life and then comes THE CALL. Sometimes it is an angry call blaming the world for being such a horrible place. Sometimes it is a call to a hospital. Sometimes it is a call of broken sobs and regret. Sometimes it is a call of commitment to a recovery plan. Nothing causes me to love less. But I have learned to embrace good news gently since so far it has preceded more challenges headed our way.

I really feel King David's heart today: How long, O Lord?

​You know the root of the problem and the steps needed to heal. You have the strength for us simply awaiting our willingness to call on You and quit struggling with only our own limited knowledge and strength to get through this. My journey is far different from my loved one's struggle with the compulsions that enslave but it is alike in this singular truth: we can not BE god, but all Your God-ness stands for us too. Demanding You "fix this" in the way I think makes sense is my addiction and it is as distracting and destructive in its own way.

So today I lay all this at the foot of the Cross where Jesus poured his blood over my brokenness, our brokenness, and embrace healing and hope wrapping around me because of Your love.  AMEN

Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
...But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
 I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Abba Father, 

My head is filled with "if-only"s and "what-if"s. This has never been helpful but it is a habit hard to break. Help me cling to You rather than my own hopes, fears and expectations. You remind us so often that You love us unconditionally while also working for our highest good. Wallowing in "if-only" and "what-if" has never been a successful path to a higher good, but instead keeps me mired in old bad habits.

Today, God, keep nudging me to remember Your promises and help me embrace choices and behaviors that keep me in line with Your Will. Your Will is filled with endurance for the long race, with hope for the things truly needed. Protect me from the shiny objects, those hurts, habits and hang-ups that too often distract from Your amazing love for me, and I ask this also for those I love. 

We are in the high weeds here, God, and we so deeply need to keep our eyes on You, our hope in You, leaning on Your strength. That is easier today because I haven't much strength of my own to get in the way. So I will choose to say: "Thanks for the challenges of today because they make it so clear that my hope is in You alone. AMEN"

"For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.” Psalm 149: 4

Father God, thank you for Mary. It is hardly surprising that You chose a terrific Mom for Your Son. But it is rare that a woman from her time and of her rank has a story that has been preserved in such detail. Today I'm appreciating her deeply.  When we love one someone who endures challenges it is our challenge too.

Mary bore being a very young woman who said "yes" when God asked her to tell Joseph a very unlikely story, traveled in the final days of her pregnancy 80 miles at the whim of the Roman invaders, gave birth in a barn, was visited with a band of shepherds checking out the angels' news. Any of that would be a challenge for a new, young mom and the new step-dad. We are told: "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart." Then they returned to Nazareth and in the cultural rite expected, presented Baby Jesus at the local temple, receiving Simeon's blessing for Jesus and some sobering words for Mary in his prophecy: "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too." 

Then she saw Jesus ministry up-close, walking with Him all the way to the foot of the cross, then was a witness to His resurrection and his ascension and the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to send God's Spirit in Pentecost.

So today, Abba Father, I will heed her example and ponder the challenges we are facing in today. I will lean on Your understanding of this part of our journey, acknowledging that You know what we all need even as we are unsure of so much. But You are sure and committed to the highest good of each of us. Help us to be humble, aware we have so many questions but no clear answers, yet can remain focused on You, relying on You with this most precious person we love who is scaring rather us badly. 

Thank You for Your presence with us each and all. For today I will ponder and embrace Mary's example of loving in the face of every challenge and trusting You with all she held most dear. Remembering Your Son whose blood covers us all. AMEN

Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ Luke 2: 34-35
But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

Today, Lord, I am standing on that narrow ledge between hope and despair as I lift up my hopes and fears to You. You walk with us through every danger (too often danger we walked into willfully) but do not flinch, You do not say 'I'm not doing THIS again!" You do not EVER say 'Call me when you get your act together." No, When I say 'Here I am again! Help!" You say, "I'm here. I love you. I've got this. I'm so glad you are willing to let me into your heart and mind where my peace can work good things that you can not even imagine. Rest in me. Talk to me. Listen to me. We will turn your ashes of regret and remorse into beauty. I am doing restoration work in you that will turn today's sorrow and despair into joy and celebration as you understand the miracle that you are and the valuable work you were created to do as a blessing beyond what you can not yet see even dimly. Hang on tight (because that keeps you focused on me) as I move in mighty ways, in quiet ways, in unexpected and delightful ways even in the middle of the current chaos."

Lord, today You are SO right, I can not imagine a better tomorrow for someone I love dearly so I will leave that imagining to You who see all, know all, love beyond my understanding and I will rest in Your strength since today I can find none of my own. I speak to You this way because You already know it all anyway and You say I honor of Your blood poured all by calling in Your Name. AMEN
 
In Isaiah 61:2b-3 the Old Testament prophet Isaiah declares "He has sent me to comfort those who are sad, those in Zion who mourn. I will take away the ashes on their head, and I will give them a crown. I will take away their sadness, and I will give them the oil of happiness. I will take away their sorrow, and I will give them celebration clothes. He sent me to name them ‘Good Trees’ and ‘The Lord’s Wonderful Plant.’" 

So for today I will remember that I am a daughter of King of Kings, straighten my crown and declare the power and love of God for myself and for those whose challenges weigh heavy on my heart.

There are challenges and concerns which cause many to fear nearly everything. I would like to chuckle at the myriads of ways marketing folks embrace this so that the choice of toothpaste and car become transcendent choices to chase away life’s greatest trials. But I can’t quite laugh because it is so very sad.

This morning I encountered Acts 1:12-14. To set the stage, Jesus had completed his post-death/resurrection time and his family and friends watched as he left with a promise to send help.

The EASY translation records: “When the apostles arrived back in Jerusalem, they went to their room. The room where they were staying was upstairs. Those apostles were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; also James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James.  All these apostles often met together to pray. Mary who was Jesus' mother, other women and Jesus' brothers also met with them. 

This was extraordinary on so many levels: only 43 days earlier they had trembled in fear and confusion, disciples gathering, women seeking to serve, all with such painful lack of understanding. And 40 days after the resurrection they were on track to pray in anticipation of the help that would come more than five weeks later. Extraordinary…a miracle of amazing transformation and such a joy for all the world even two millennia later.

But here is what truly blows me away—that astonishing statement that the disciples met INCLUDING THE WOMEN!!! and Mary and her mortal sons. This was just not done…in fact there are still places in the Arabic world where it is STILL not done! From the first day of the new kingdom women were welcomed, valued, full participants in the kingdom work.

Needless to say, there was some serious backsliding through the following centuries, but the revolution was starting as it would continue, solidly founded on the rock of prayers of ALL BELIEVERS.

This is lived out in our age by faithful servants who walk with and work along side of people of all genders, colors, educational backgrounds, socio-economic status, folks with terrifying testimonies of redemption and healing from intergenerational wounds, new followers leaning into God in ways that show the “old dogs” the eternal truth that prayer avails much, and those whose years of faithful service bless us all.

Folks, the miracle is not huge churches or mega-congregations or small churches or bestselling authors or programing or building committees or mission trips. The miracle is that Christ built his Church without any of that…He founded and grew his church on individuals who treated other individuals as valuable, who held their assets (spiritual gifts, income/wealth, health) as humbly held trusts to be used to be a blessing and who embraced an outrageous trust in going where they were sent and teaching people that they are deeply loved, intrinsically valuable in God’s eyes and welcome and important to the followers of Christ. It was all completely insane in the times in which they were planted and utterly impossible for such a rag-tag group to be taken seriously in any sense.

YET, praise God, here we are.

Let us remember how essential is prayer for our own health, for the health of our family and church family, for our neighbors and all whose lives we touch. I love the idea of “Devine Appointments”, those times when a conversation with a stranger or a phone from a friend or an unexpected opportunity to lend a hand leads to a truly transcendental moment, no matter what toothpaste we chose or what car we drove.

And I suspect these are far more common than we recognize. Don’t be afraid to say something kind, offer a hand, write a note, look someone in the eye and say thank you for your help, or ask if you can pray for or with someone. It may be the best thing that happens today to you AND them.

PRAY REQUEST:  Kairos Outside of Western Missouri has a weekend coming up and guests excited to be coming. BUT there is a great need for financial support and volunteers to serve on the team (minimum two months commitment including for training and follow-up support for the guests) or to be angels for a few hours on the weekend, financial support and MOST IMPORTANT PRAYERS! Kairos is an unapologetically Christ-centric event and we welcome followers of Jesus to learn more about volunteer opportunities by using the “contact” button at the top of the page. Check out https://kairosprisonministry.org/kairos-outside/ to learn more about their values and opportunities to support or to receive information on Kairos Outside services.

Yes, yes, I know. I have always observed a Christmas that starts closer December 25th. But this year, maybe we NEED to start earlier. I hear so many people say they love Christmas time because people seem kinder and happier,  and, since I have worked retail, I can say that is not universally true. But this year, no matter what happens tomorrow and the days following, I believe we need to embrace all the civility, courage, kindness and hope we can find.

I'm seeing calls for prayers, blessedly non-partisan, non-denominational, prayers calling for a Great Awakening. That is a churchy terms for "turning to God as best we understand Him and ask to know Him better, ask God heal us and make us more discerning, more willing to give than take, more unwilling to live in fear and more willing to risk where we believe it is God's will." Because I suspect that these coming days are going to be tough ones.

At best A LOT of people are going to be disappointed in the outcome. The "winners" need to be especially compassionate rather than snarky and only God can help us do that. We need to trust that no matter the "final count" that God still is on His Throne and has the final say. That no matter how much we don't trust anything, we can fully trust God and His promise to make all things come to good for those who trust Him.

I've been thinking for some time about inter-generational healing. There is no person on this earth who has not suffered wounding words and worse; who has not lost family or financial security or health; and where those things have become an anchor for fear and anger rather than a door to strength, compassion and restoration then all the bad stuff gets tucked into the next generation and added to in their own losses and wounds. No wonder we are kind of a mess...OK definitely a mess.

But I have hope, because I believe God heals that for us as individuals who develop a courageous relationship, a loving friendship with God and that is offered by no other deity I have ever read about. And it is time for the intergenerational sins of our nation to be acknowledged, not with inappropriate shame, but with desperately needed humility that says:

"O God, heal us from past errors, sins, omissions, fears, hates, indifference, arrogance and just plan foolishness that we might embrace better choices going forward. Move in all halls of government that healing might empower discernment for better uses of our resources, both personally and corporately. Suppress the fear that feeds retribution against those we fear or distain. Move in our churches that we might be wise and strong in acting in support of justice, modeling mercy, embracing grace and relying ever more wholly on You in practical and broad ways. Yes, Lord, pour Your Spirit upon us that we might tingle and roar with love of you and for all your children, willing to be inconvenienced to be a part of supporting healing and relationships with You. We ask this because Your Son who also lived during turbulent times and knows our human vulnerabilities among even his closest supporters, says we can. AMEN"

Two things color my perspective of the times in which I live:

I do family genealogy so I think of those who went before. Yesterday I experienced something new that had me thinking about my grandparents. I voted when I really did not want to. I have been embarrassed, even distressed at the near total lack of adult election activity and saddened that a junior high class president election has far more class and common sense than all but the rarest of recent candidates. I found two candidates I could get excited about, but alas, they were not on the same party ballots, so I had to choose. This reminded me of my grandparent's deep antithesis toward anything "political" and for the first time I appreciated how horrible it must have been for a World War I veteran and his wife who was not empowered to vote until after the birth of their first son; they were deeply wounded when the egregious, arrogant and unyielding political corruption in Kansas City not only left them uncomfortable, but actually threatened and without "useful friends" when the machine was attacking my grandfather's small business. My husband's grandmother never even tried to cast a ballot again after being intimidated and dismissed when her "unacceptable ballot" was torn to shreds and discarded and she was shooed away by machine hacks at her polling place. I'm feeling more sympathetic as this year's vitriolic ads and lack of intelligent discussion of issues has left me feeling less than optimistic about the future of our community and country. What will be asked of us to heal this?

We have a delightful great-granddaughter who will turn two shortly. So in light of the past I wonder anxiously what her journey will be like. Current life expectancy for a healthy female infant born in 2022 estimates this sweet girl could welcome the next century!. What will she experience in 8 decades? What will her great grandchildren face?

From my great-grand father born in 1864 to the potential end of days for my granddaughter into the 2100s is 23 decades covering 7 generations...years of great influence and importance to me, yet a fleeting moment in eternity. 

Mark 9:36-37 popped up in my morning reading:  "He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.” (The Message paraphrase.)

Our children's children (not to mention the folks who will be taking care of us in hospitals and nursing homes) are facing challenges we never saw coming. My contemporaries seem to invest a disproportionate amount of time remembering fondly "the past" when things seemed so much better than today. Not only do we discount how very bad "the past" was for lots of people who may have lived outwardly "perfect" lives but lived with the same fears, conflicts and pressures that everyone in every age has experienced. But we are turning blind eyes to today's children who are experiencing deeper and more wounding challenges than "in our day."  In the richest nation in the world we have money for "pleasures" while children go to bed hungry...not distended bellies hungry, but hungry while watching affluent people on TV "living the good life." We have allowed our legal system to spin so far out of sanity that 1/3 of people are estimated to have some kind of felony record which causes far more problems for the poor than the rich and pushes people out of the middle class into poverty. Deaths July 2019 to July 2021 involving illicitly manufactured fentanyls among persons aged 10–19 years (adolescents)  increased 182% -- and the number of OTHER children affected is not even estimated--siblings, cousins, classmates, co-workers, neighbors, friends!!!!  In both 2021 and 2022, adults ages 35–44 had the highest rate of drug overdose deaths among people age 15 and older -- and how many more children are expect to experience these losses as they studiously attend and calmly learn in classrooms.

​Folks, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me,” says Jesus.  Let's pray, let's volunteer, let's befriend, let's be Jesus' love in action in a hurting world. Let each of us courageously pay attention to the truly important! Lord, have mercy!

I’m a Kansas City girl and definitely a fan of Patrick Mahone, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and a team full of talented young players who play like they are on a sand lot with no one watching. So I am hesitant to make this confession:  I am sated, over-full, even a bit queasy at the pre-Super Bowl LVII hype from silly to obnoxious: ubiquitous, unrelenting, and crushingly boring.

But in the case of Super Bowl coverage I awoke this morning with a heavy sense of the stories not told:

• The number of trafficked girls and boys who are bussed into every Super Bowl to meet the demand for fresh meat, thieves, drug dealers and con artists.
• The number of tourists who will learn yet again that what happens on the road does not stay on the road and “I didn’t mean for this to happen” does not mitigate the carnage.
• The number of families who will struggle to meet next month’s rent and utilities payments because a family member has bet far more than she or he could safely risk.
• The number of young would-be NFL stars who must rethink their lives because of injuries, poor seasons or addiction, with the added challenges of being publicly excoriated by sports broadcaster, columnist, blogger and “fan” chatter.

I’d love a win, but for me, my greatest prayers are for no ambulances on the field, no career ending injuries, no players or staff arrested in the aftermath of the game…and a 2023 with no headlines reminding us of the price young athletes never imagined paying for a chance at “having it all” only to end up with a hand full of magic beans.

It has been a while since I had a traffic ticket. Not that I don't still make mistakes when driiving, but no tickets. And three years after the last one, it was expunged from my record. It happened automatically (although the insurance company needed a nudge to adjust my premium).  Over the past five plus decades I have been driving, this has happened more than once.  I don't know who started this system, but I appreciate it a bunch. And I appreciated that job applications asked if I had ever been arrest for "other than minor driving offenses." But I did not think what the question meant for someone whose error was of the non-driving type. More than uncomfortable, more than embarassing, too often life limiting.

I realised that for people whose mistake was not of the driving variety, whether they got a citation for their dog getting off-lease or they did not cut their grass often enough to suit the HOA or maybe even bigger errors and omissions that are still being reported by the ubiquitous World Wide Web, it creates barriers.  No matter how repenant, how successful in not again becoming engaged in a legal mistake, how completely they qualify to have those mistakes legally forgiven, their access to jobs, decent housing and full citizenship is warped.  

And the really frustrating thing is that many (more than a half a million/500,000+) have the right to have those errors erased from their "permanent record" just like my traffic errors have been.  But it is NOT automatic! It has to be applied for and the process is so cumbersome and difficult that many lawyers do not accept this kind of work although the initial retainer I have heard quoted is in the range of $5,000 up front. There are filing fees which are not so big, but a private individual (assuming that their education was not interupted by learning disabilities, medical issues or family challenges) SO OFTEN finds the barriers so much more than they can manage; LESS THAN 1% of those who are believed to be qualified are seeking expungement annually. So these "less than full citizens" (who are nonetheless expected to pay all the taxes levied on their less than competative salaries) continue to earn less, struggle to find safe housing and are restricted in where and how they can volunteer. And their families suffer with them.

But this year, amid the hundreds of bills submitted in the Missouri House and Senate (many of them less than important in the larger picture and most of which will never see the inside of a committee, much less a hearing room) are two bills that appear to have the traction needed to get this remediated.  One bill in the House  HB 352, and one in the Senate SB 347 in support of MO Clean Slale need to be nudged along by the Representtives and Senators that WE, you and I, nudge along! This is has been affected by the passage of Amendment 3 legalizing recreational marijuana use, including production for personal use and possession in modest amounts by individuals over 21 because the language in that bill has required expedited expungement (including for actively incarcerated invidiuals whose charges stem from covered changes). There are a LOT of attorneys who are following this, helping clients sufficiently affluent to pay their fees or because of their personal ethics, who are helping these folks, WHO STILL MUST PETITION THE COURTS TO ENFORCE THE NEW LAW individually. That is estimated to be an additional 18,000 who are "free to seek expungment" through courts, with filings and fees, with the need to transverse challenging legal requirements while earning less, living in less safe housing and trying to make no more mistakes worthy of the attention of the legal system.

Will you lend your voice to this effort? It means the restoration of dignity and rights to people who have already earned the right to have this done. For people who do expunge their records, experience tells us that withn a year their earnings increase on average by 10 to 25%. Can you imagine how that would be welcomed by their families?

Call, email, message or text me if you need a little coaching in how to bring this matter to the attention of your Represenative and Senate. And you can learn more at https://www.mocleanslate.org/

April is 2nd Chance month.  Each year we set aside time to acknowledge the need and work toward more 2nd chances for people returning the free world. This is so important for the stunningly higher number of people who have been incarcerated (highest number per capita in the WORLD and 5 times higher than Canada). But it is even more important for the people who count on them: their neighbors, their parents, their children who desperately need them to be productive. Please consider asking businesses you want to hire: Do you practice 2nd Chance hiring? Too many employers use the excuse "Our customers would not like it," so fail to make wise and discerning opportunities for people who are longing to return to their families and communities as contributors, earners, workers. (Boy are these men and women good workers!) Please pray (according to Hebrews 13:3) that we might "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also."

Are you looking for a place to connect with kind people who understand the challenges of having family members whose choices have broken our trust?  ...the financial and emotional distress endured by those who have an incarcerated loved one? ...the challenges of welcoming home someone who has returned to the free world?  We have a Monday night Zoom meeting that honors privacy, listens without judgement and loves unconditionally. Use the contact button above and I will send you a link.  NOTE:  We practice listening and loving, but are not perfect, so if you have a "you should" experience, you are asked to call us on it.

Kairos Outside is an organization that supports women affected by the incarceration of a loved one or who has been incarcerated themselves. We invite guests to attend a weekend where they will find people who understand the issues and offer support and love.  The next weekend is October 7-9th at a Kansas City location.  (No charge to guests, but volunteer team members contribute to cover their own costs or raise that amount of support.) If you would like more information, use the contact button above.  (If you are too far from Kansas City, you can check out this link to find a program closer to you:  https://www.mykairos.org/directory5.html.  If you have trouble connecting, feel free to use the "contact button" above ... we are an organization that is 30,000 volunteers working with a paid staff of less than a dozen so be persistent, please. We are excited to welcome you to our community.

Are you someone who has a heart for justice and 2nd Chances looking for a place to lend a hand?  Use the contact button above and I'll be happy to see if I can help.  Jann (Editor)  

Pray for all who are wounded by crime ... folks, that is all of use!  AMEN

Reading from today's Lenten devotion:  

“If we really hate someone, the best way to oppress them is through legal avenues.  Because then we don’t have to admit hating anyone. We can hide behind systems. We can say, “Well, I wish it was different, but this is just the way things are.” From Nobody Left Out: Jesus & the Way of Sorrows: A Messy, Broken Journey Through the Stations of the Cross by Michael Murray
​
It really does not matter if I think rightly, feel outrage at others less enlightened, loudly proclaim that something must be done, if I do not ACT in support of changed.  Sending a check is good, especially if you confirm that you are sending it somewhere where it will actually do more than pay salaries of people who want to do "good." Even better: show up in person and volunteer in support of change and compassion and meeting people face-to-face to travel along side during troubled days. Because no matter how much "better" our thinking is, only in connection, community and relationship can meaningful change occur and last.

Let us pray for one another: Lord, give us a hunger for finding ways to connect with hurting people, to listen and love, to advocate actively, to accept our own discomfort in support of others who face challenges we are grateful we don't experience -- even in our dreams.  AMEN

This week I received a request from Prison Fellowship, with whom I have served for several years, most recently as a Justice Ambassador. They asked that I answer the question "Why do you care about justice that restores?" Since I have been volunteering in various parts of the justice system for a number of years, I have found the reasons multiplying as I learn more about how very far we have veered from the hope of our Founding Fathers. 

But I believe two things: (1) as a nation and community we can and must do MUCH better than we have, for failing to do better will lead to the collapse of our civilization. (2) Even though we can never act or discern with perfect justice, we must EVER seek to do so.

My view of the justice system is very diverse.  I am the widow and wife of retired law enforcement professionals and the mother of a son and step-son who have been incarcerated. I find the current situation dangerous for everyone because when the majority of citizens lose faith in their government’s fairness and lose hope of successfully living with the rules, then chaos inevitably results. In the end, we must submit to the rule of law for civilization to exist, which only happens when we believe we can trust the rule of law.

Secondly, as a Christian I read in many passages of Scripture God’s clear and insistent directives to act justly with mercy while walking in humility. As a church and as a culture we are failing at this for all citizens. Because none of us is safe unless all of us are safe, we must work towards this for all our days on earth.

Let me be clear. Justice is a difficult goal -- challenging to the point of being impossible to achieve perfectly.  People are just too broken and healing too hard to expect folks to either weigh consequences or restrain selfish impulses on a persistent basis. And these problems affect ALL along the spectrum: from those who experience the pain of crime, to law enforcement, to medical personnel and social workers, to school personnel, to prosecutors, lawyers, judges and juries, to probation & parole and Department of Corrections staff who we expect to stand between us and those whose brokenness pose a danger to us, and including those convicted of crimes especially as they return to our communities and families AND includes the families, neighbors, coworkers and friends of all these folks. Folks, that is all of us! 

The more I work across the various silos affected by and affecting crime and the legal system, the more I see each crime and failure as a pebble (or boulder) plunging into our lives with ever widening ripples of damage that threatens to swamp all our boats. Join the fight today. Prison Fellowship has many portals to grow in understanding and connect with ways to work effectively for justice that restores.

Please chic here for information on a ZOOM group forming this week to encourage each other to engage in practical and effective ways to ACT justly in many ways:

www.woodschapelchurch.org/events/how-can-i-help

You can also connect using the "Contact" tab above.  Please share with the justice advocate at your church.  If they don't have one, join us and learn how to be that person for your church family.

Early 2020 I read of an early inmate death from COVID in federal prisons, a young women a few months into a 2-year sentence on drug charges who died while giving birth on a ventilator. If her family is like most I have come to love so dearly, they probably hoped that their daughter being held accountable for her poor choices would lead to turning her life around so she could be the mother she longed to be for her child. Instead, if they were lucky, they were allowed to bury her.

This has haunted me during these challenging months of COVID news wondering, listening, looking for information.
How is this playing out in places where despair is common, fear a part of day-to-day life for both the detainee and those we charge with doing the detaining, where poor nutrition, poor sanitation, poorer medical and mental health interventions, chronic overcrowding and understaffing create a smudge pot of despair, making it difficult to combat systemic corruption and making depression a kind of rational response to it all? This is infinitely worse in the days of COVID where positive tests among staff add to staffing problems, where COVID among the detained folks is not met with humane care, but is rather left to the best efforts of other ill and infection-exposed detainees with little PPE or even soap.

News is increasingly limited in the press. With volunteers almost completely banned from detention facilities, many programs closed or curtailed, and families prohibited from visiting, there are simply not enough hands or feet or eyes to respond in humane and ethical ways. But, despite pleas from courts, stakeholders, oversight groups and decent people across the country, efforts to identify people with records of responsible behavior during their incarceration and charged with non-violent offences who are a low risk to the public (because of age, health and a willing family to help them plus the availability of monitoring devices where frightened people demand it) lack of action results in continued overwhelming of resources in jails and prisons. Long lists of unprocessed requests for pardons and paroles, unprocessed notifications that a detained person may qualify for a change in status due to changes in the law, courts not meeting in person all leave the problems simmering.

Despair breeds desperate acts but incidents of unrest spilling into violence in prisons is not being widely reported. And the families of the detained live in terror of their loved one having an unofficial death sentence because of poor management in detention facilities.

The great irony is that, while we encourage our loved ones to be “model prisoners” and to do their best to keep a low profile (so they don’t draw the attention of the violently mentally ill folks who are a significant part of prison and jail populations), we become increasingly aware of how often laws, regulations and policies are not followed and basic decency is not a part of their treatment.

Here is a point where this is clear.  If EVERY detained person who reports a rape or sexual assault while detained were treated as the victim of crime that they are, I believe the culture in prisons and jails would change rapidly.  You see, the “he said/she said argument” does not apply because even if a detained person is “seduced” rather than beaten into submission it IS STILL RAPE because they CAN NOT CONSENT! If rape kits were routinely taken and the crimes investigated and prosecuted this would stop pretty darn quick because of DNA.  Now if you want to tell me that the “bad people” made the “good people” behave badly I am going to tell you bluntly.  There is plenty of temptation for EVERYONE who has to spend all or part of their day in that environment, but the systemic lack of enforcement of rules related to sexual behavior leads consistently to the use of sexual assault and sexual misconduct as a tool for bullies where there is no equity of power.  Women who WORK in detention facilities are at special risk of sexual assault and harassment FROM CO-WORKERS, because the culture discounts both women in general and sexual assault of both men and women.  

A Chaplain I am honored to call friend was horrified when transferred from a men’s to a women’s prison. The percentage of women who had been sexually assaulted, often as children by resident family members IS horrifying and these women, themselves victims of violent crime, are further legally assaulted because of the assumptions made by the legal system.

I was interested to read that early in 2020 the Sheriff of St. Petersburg, Florida was given a 3/4-million dollar grant to develop an app that makes reporting suspected human-trafficking easier.* I was impressed until I read that the same office had done a “sting” where they “found” two persons deemed “trafficked” because a social worker made that determination and the others who showed up were thrown in jail on prior warrants, soliciting charges (if you order sex on the web how is that NOT entrapment?) If you think it is surprising that women, girls and boys who have been sold for sex have trust issues with a strange social worker in the middle of a sting where people are being tossed in the clink, I can only pray you will read more, learn more and pray for these precious children of God.

I want to be clear, folks: if two willing people have sex, that is their business. But the minute money is involved it is no longer a private matter because money constitutes the purchasing of a human.  No matter how poor, depressed, drug-dependent, mentally ill, physically ill, intimidated by their “boss” or anything else that contributes to the vulnerability of the person being bought, THIS IS ALWAYS WRONG.
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*This is a good thing with the Super Bowl being played there this weekend because human trafficking is a long-standing super bowl issue. If you happen to be in the Tampa area, you can download the app at Goggle Play, search for “Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force”.

Details of date and time are still being worked out, but next month I will co-host a Zoom Meeting for people looking for a place to make a difference.  We will start with an overview of the issues that can make a difference in a legal system needing significant reform on every level. We will discuss things we all need to remember when wishing to "help" because sometimes the best intentions are stymied only because folks need a little more information to consider.

We are offering this because (1) when we believe we can be a part of the solution solely by not laughing at racist jokes or by being disdainful of racist comments, we are fooling ourselves, and because (2) it is not so easy to step into the world in ways that might truly move us all forward. Unless we run a mortgage loan business or have rental property that we have hesitated to offer to a family with a father returning to the free world or handle harassment complaints at our company, it may be a bit overwhelming to figure out how we might make a practical, respectful difference.

I am grateful for every person who prays for justice and for every family that goes without a treat in order to send a check to support organizations that are working for a more just world.  But there is great danger in relying on a check as long as we are able to do more.  There is even more danger if we think that refraining from “doing harm” is enough when there are huge numbers of wounded people all too many of which believe that because they are invisible to the church and professing Christians that they are hopeless!

People who are involved in the WORK of an organization are better able to identify ways to improve respectful, effective programing. Every prison and jail and juvenile detention facility is safer for detainees AND employees when volunteers are on site. Every program for at-risk individuals is more effective (and less susceptible to abuse) because of the relationships -- people-to-people, face-to-face relationships -- that allow people to walk together during difficult circumstance. I have been blessed by contact with a large number of people who are working to stop human trafficking, care for wounded women, children and men affected by the brokenness of the world and of our legal system, and teachers and volunteers modeling healthy relationships to at-risk kids at school and play. The best of them have plans to do more and yearn for volunteers with a wide range of specific skills. Others are less structured. But they all need people whose hearts have been broken by the needs of a world filled with people who have less, worse, people who have lost hope or never known any. These amazingly resilient folks work hard to build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities, so often with challenges most of us would find debilitating and all too often without the support of a healthy, caring community to listen to and love them.

So if you have been thinking that there might be something worthwhile you can do, use the "contact" link above. I will send you information on the class or even arrange to get the materials to you to start with self-study. I can suggest areas where your prayers would be a blessing, especially if you send a note of encouragement too. (If you have never Zoomed, we can help with that too.) If your church is struggling with this and you want to see what we are trying to do (we are a work in progress), you are welcome too. All are welcome.  

NOTE:  If you are dealing with a loved one and/or family member whose criminal behavior or legal issues are adding to your stress, feel free to contact us to arrange a private discussion. If there is enough interest we may be able to add a Zoom support group.