There are so many horrors on the news in recent weeks, from hurricanes to earthquakes to mass shootings. It is enough to entice us all to give up helping as there are just too many needs.

But we must persevere with hope. Of course we need to be careful about the goals we set. I am certain that heads of drug cartels and corrupt corporations and those folks whose political careers led to news conference pictures of head-hanging shame all had plenty of "grit" and passion and perseverance.

But here is the deal. If the we who are working to improve communities, to be solid (though of course not perfect) parents; who are learning from the wise folks, encouraging and help others in their good efforts; learning, acting, loving with hands and feet; advocating and working for justice: if we give up, will things get better? Will you have more hope? Will you give up on other difficult things like being friends with broken folks, or walking with the sad, distress, wounded who share our space, even when they are family? children?

Some are called to increasing responsibilities on boards, councils, committees supporting social justice and political action. Some write books or songs. Some make speeches to and personally advocate with folks who can make better decision for our communities and countries. Some are called to write a note; make a phone call; to assure the man waiting at the VA that he is seen, the woman in line to visit a loved one in jail that she is heard; to be the one who reaches out to heal a rift. 

I know you are a perfectly fine lady or gent, but frankly, that is just not enough. I know it is scary, even overwhelming, but it is so worth it. If you can make just one life better, it will make your own life better. If you can lead the charge for better conditions for the poor, the under-educated, the vulnerable on a larger scale, is your reluctance so great that you can lay your abilities, your praying voice, your intellect, your physical capacities aside when it is your loved one who might be blessed, even it is in a generation yet unborn?

We need to heed where our tax dollars are spent, to hold political folks, social service agencies, educators, law enforcement accountable. But we must first BE accountable. And we need to remember that folks who need to be held accountable are human beings with their own burdens and challenges. So we need to forgo railing at bad apples, in favor of offering to be a part of the solution.

If you are a member of a church and they can't help you connect to an opportunity to be a force for positive change, then change churches or advocate for them to step up or call the United Way or any other agency that tugs on your heart! Look around at your neighbors, family, church family, friends, co-workers for ideas. Pay attention to the local political legislation and advocacy efforts and speak out for those who have compromised voices. Leave your ego at home and really listen wherever you go and God will give you ears and grow your heart and take your abilities and infuse them with His Power and His Wisdom.

I promise.

I have long believed that being a correctional officer is about the most difficult job around. Surely our local jail is setting new standards in making this a dangerous and miserable job.

Yesterday the news had two jail stories:

• One is the death of a newly sentenced felon facing 80 years in jail who died in what has been described as a "common area" and, though still under investigation by the Sheriff, is already being widely reported as "suicide". So I have questions:

1. If someone has been recently sentenced to such a severe sentence with the attendant public shame, would they not as a matter of course be considered at risk for suicide and more heavily monitored?
2. Considering the nature of his sentence and the history of the most dangerous incarcerated individuals to placating their own guilt by doing violence to someone they deem "worse" and the fact that suicides in a "common area" are not common because of the less private nature of the space, does this not ask for a robust consideration of other possible causes?
3. 200 federal agents descended on this facility this past summer to arrest one inmate and two staff members now charged with trafficking in drugs and other contraband, so if this is a drug induced suicide, will any complicit staff or incarcerated individuals be held accountable?

• Also this day the story broke about a young, robust, male correctional officer who was severely beaten by three to four incarcerated men in administrative segregation. For the uninitiated, "Ad Seg" is used to isolate incarcerated people who are considered either very dangerous (folks with a history of violence, known gang leaders, murderers, a history of violent or unpredictable behaviors, OR those who are considered very vulnerable (who have been the target of credible threats of violence or been victims of violence within the jail previously, the seriously mentally ill, former members of the legal system such as correctional officers, police, judges, attorneys, and "the famous" charged with such heinous crimes that no bail is offered, and those who are presumed to be targets among folks who are in the general jail or prison population), Because of this volatile mix Ad Seg procedures, rules and safety precautions are generally the most stringent in any jail or prison. For instance there are normally at least two COs staffing the area and generally only one incarcerated person is out of their cell at any time*. Yet in the video released today the CO is alone and faced with the choice of "holding his ground" on an upper walkway where, if he was trapped there, was likely to be pitched off to the floor below with force, or to go down the steps and accept that he will be severely beaten by four roaming inmates until his co-workers can show up and get the situation under control. I wonder when he called for help if he realized that it would take more than two minutes for help to arrive; even just watching the video it seems a very long two minutes. No information was provided about the condition of the young man who was beaten. PTSD seems a given and serous physical injury probable.

No, today is not a good day for our local County Executive and County Commissioners. The have spent many months aware of the problems and responding with two separate audits, much posturing and no leadership as the elected county official with the "ultimate" responsibility for the jail was quoted this summer as saying “things happen in a jail” and publicly contradicting the County Prosecutor, County Sheriff and the Presiding Judge of our Circuit Court (all accountable to the voters in this county) about the seriousness of the situation.

So, fellow taxpayers, exactly how bad do things need to get before we are flooding the mail rooms, jamming the switchboards, sending countless emails and standing for justice. Surely the most "law-&-order-means-more-punishment" oriented citizens do not believe that this situation has ANY redeeming parts. A jail where lawlessness prevails is an embarrassment to honest people everywhere. A jail where the most vulnerable of the incarcerated and those who have been asked by us, the public, to be employed there are persistently and frequently subjected to violence, rape, intimidation, filth, lawlessness, and a range of disgusting and dangerous conditions demands each of us be more than appalled.** We must ACT.

Yet there is no public or political or faith-based group calling for County government, Law Enforcement, Prosecuting and Judicial stakeholders leadership to form and support a task force of their folks along with organizations who have been studying and are knowledgeable about responsible changes that are needed. There improvements already initiated in jurisdictions across the country that are proving fiscally prudent, effective in improving public safety, capable of sustaining a tolerable working environment, and meeting their responsibilities to limit punishment to that meted out by the courts. State laws need to be updated so our court system is empowered to make changes reforming those things that are NOT working here in ways that have already been demonstrated to be successful working elsewhere. Where is the sense of urgency to keep our correctional officers safe, to keep those who are incarcerated safe (by far the majority of which are incarcerated more for being poor than being dangerous), for standing for basic human dignity  in ways that improve public safety rather than being the essence of unjust, unsafe and unlawful.

There is no evidence that any management personnel have been held accountable for failures in their areas of responsibility. We have not been given assurances that possible complicity by management  in criminal behavior by staff is being investigated locally either by the Sheriff or by the County officials with personnel oversight responsibility.

With all the myriad of problems from criminal charges to civil lawsuits, to fiduciary irresponsibility by public officials, to what may be the most hostile working conditions outside of a war zone, I begin to believe that ONLY returning to Federal Oversight*** (neither a cost effective not particularly efficient option) may be the only hope for the poor, the disenfranchised and those employed at the Jackson County Jail. 

The longer we are complaisant, the more our public elected officials fail to meet the most minimal of human needs by the staff, the burgeoning incarcerated population and their families. Not one of us is safer because this is being allowed to await federal or state judicial intervention.

When the righteous cry out, the Lord listens;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
    he saves those whose spirits are crushed.  Psalm 34: 17-18
--------------------------------------------------------------
* People incarcerated in Ag Seg generally only get one hour a day out of their cells for exercise although even this can be withheld for the most violent/unpredictable or due to staffing shortage, a chronic problem in jails and prisons across the country and a major, long-term problem at our local jail.
** the Jail's website touts the nearly $3 million dollars spent this summer to repair 488 doors. Surly the lack of doors capable of keeping the person INSIDE the cell safe from violent offenders is a basic responsibility of any jail or prison and a basic need to keep correctional officers safe. Might such a cell being available to the CO who was assaulted so heinously have provided time to get help to him before he was beaten so severely?
*** For roughly two decades, starting in the 1980s, the jail was operated under the direct supervision of the federal court. That oversight ended only after officials added beds to ease overcrowding concerns.

Two of my adult children have a heart for animal rescue work. These are the folks that see an emaciated dog chained in a sparse yard trying to find a spot of shade and don't just click their tongues and look away.  They work with an organization that reaches out to the pet owners and offer a gift of a bigger water bowl and a longer, lighter chain and maybe a tube of something to help heal the sores caused by the dog trying to escape the miseries of thirst and excessive heat. If the owner can't or won't learn how to treat the animal better, they may have to refer the animal for removal. I'm very proud of them because they are acting rather than complaining.

But when I see them with rescued dogs I can't help but wonder how long it takes the dog to trust, to replace horrid memories with new memories of kindness and proper care.

I know that I am like that when I realize I have been doing things that harm me, things God has "forbidden" not because He is harsh or cruel or wants to "spoil our fun" but because those things harm us and those we love. So when we awake to the wrong behavior and begin to realize the danger that behavior poses to ourselves and to those we love, that is often not enough -- just realizing. We also have to act in new ways, to let God heal us to the point we can believe God is cheering for us and sending us blessings (wise friends, good books, movies with hope, songs that touch our heart, amazing sunrises at the beach and awe-inspiring sunsets behind grand mountains, and soothing walks in the woods, to name a few). Such things teach us to hope, to believe that we are not so far "gone" that God can't care about us.

Like that frightened, abused puppy we need a new life to replace the painful one we have experienced. To find a new way we need to talk to God (pray), study about God (read the Bible in a translation that speaks to your heart), find trustworthy friends in a church who serve honestly, and sometimes with little steps and sometimes with giant leaps we begin to replace fear with Love, anxiety with Trust, despair with Hope.

God has important plans for us, to reclaim for us what we were born to be, to love as we are loved by God, to show kindness toward others without expectation of getting anything in return. God has infinite patience with those who seek Him -- God loves you exactly as you are. This is the most excellent way of living.

St. Paul wrote, “I will show you the most excellent way.”   - 1 Corinthians 12:31 (NIV)

I was contemplating how our legal system became such an unmitigated nightmare and I began to think of my own slow dawning awareness of the multitude of levels, issues, individuals, agencies, communities and the myriad of challenges. Some crimes seemed to have simmered for years: domestic abuse, sexual assault, fraud and scams, and hate crimes come to mind. Some crimes seem to be a result of no thought at all, but rather impulsive acts with no thought of consequences from a lost temper, a crime of opportunity (impulsive shop lifting, car jacking, theft, assault, dealing drugs to get drugs, revenge, retaliation and rage) all with little or no planning and certainly no thought of potential consequences for self, victims or the legion of others whose lives will change in that moment.

And we have plenty opportunity to be entertained and educated at the same time. After all since Law & Order arrived on our TVs in our living rooms 27 years ago we have had access to 1,096 original episodes and a movie plus 27 years of reruns in which to dissect the ins and out of the criminal justice system. Except, of course, if you have ever lived in a family, worked in the medical field, been a nerd, been in the military, worked as a firefighter, had Friends, worked for a university, etc. you are well aware that television does not present anything like reality. When Law & Order first arrived on the scene it was so much more "gritty" and tackled some issues of ethics and victim angst and wrongful conviction and corruption and gangs and crimes against children and women and elder folks that had been handled more obliquely before.

But in some ways that seems to be a part of the problem...the very increase in addressing some difficult issues seems to have caused unrealistic beliefs that "finally we know the truth." But just like you who have worked in painfully dysfunctional offices without the levity provided by Steve Carell or Drew Carey, or who have been closely associated with self-destructive sexual predators without the laugh-track from 2-1/2 Men understand that TV is more about keeping people entertained than in sticking to reality. And so people at all levels of the legal system find the 47 minutes of Law & Order self-serving at best. And you will note that no successful sit-com is situated in a correctional faculty or with a low-income family trying to rebuild their lives after serving a sentence for their most public mistake both of which are about has hilarious as terminal cancer.

And, frankly, investigating, learning, and processing the challenges, and struggling to find better options than the current legal system offers is hard, frightening, disheartening and heart-breaking work.

But the current system is only building unethical bad guys faster than the Terminator can mow them down. Boys in foster care are showing up in prisons at a rate of 4 in 10 by age 21 and their poor education levels (often exacerbated by the incarceration of care givers, the chaos in foster care, too common PTSD and frequent school changes all put these most victimized of children into unacceptably high risk environments, failing to even address the issues of how they learn to care for themselves as adults, how honorable men and women behave, how to be the people they were created to be. We truly throw them away, judging them harshly while offering no life-preserver in ever more treacherous seas.

Television speaks of crimes and crime victims, the challenging life of law enforcement personnel and prosecutors with little respect for attorney's although those who can afford able representation generally fair much better in the legal system than those without. Television clearly indicates that when the trial is over the story has ended, which is a huge lie. Victim's and their families are still damaged by the crime. Prison staff and prisoners serve time together and the families of each pay unique prices for the challenges that exist in prisons and jails every day.

So please do not skip over the newspaper and ezine articles on the US legal system. The growing numbers of incarcerated, dwindling numbers of those who find a better way while incarcerated, the proliferation of laws, inequitable prosecution and sentencing, the fracturing of families and communities are all roaring forward as more folks who were over-sentenced since the "get tough on crime" efforts in the 1980s and 1990s that have lead to overcrowding being the rule rather than the exception across the country, have lured us to this time when those sentences are ending with a lot of very under-skilled folks who have given up much hope of leading productive lives or rebuilding relationships which leads to depression (and self-medication) or rage being discharged with few skills in communities without the resources to improve the situation.

This pending fracture to society is building in every state. In Kansas three of the nine prisons are dealing with dangerous staff shortages and the myriad of problems that feeds.

In Law & Order we often hear about the infamous jail on Ryker's Island. It has been deemed wholly corrupt, responsible for injuries and death of people who have never even been tried, much less convicted and many with very minor crimes but who are too poor to pay fines, court costs or bail. The mayor said it would take 20 years to make it better, then changed it to 10 years if they could drop the jail population from 10,000 to 5,000.

In Jackson County, elected county officials responsible for the jail recently stated proudly they had allocated $2.8 million to repair 488 sliding cell doors which means neither those incarcerated nor those overseeing them have been protected from violence. Staff shortages have been exacerbated by increased absenteeism which seems a logical outcome of running an unsafe and unnecessarily stressful work place.  There are law suits by those who have been incarcerated and by former staff citing dangerous conditions and injuries, two deaths of incarcerated persons related to questionable medical care, two audits paid for by the county to say this is immoral and dangerous, 200 federal agents who arrived to arrest two correctional officers, an inmate and a civilian for trafficking in contraband including cell phones, drugs and cigarettes ... to name some of the problems reported in the news and cited in the audits.  Yet public officials from the County Prosecutor to the County Executive to the County Sheriff all say it is horrid, bad, must be fixed, yet seem to say it is "not that bad."

The children of the wealthy do not generally find their daughters jailed who were picked on on traffic violations and sent to overnight in the jail only to be sexually assaulted. Nor do their sons or mothers or brother experience death by withheld or incompetent medical care. I don't suppose if they get stopped for a DUI or traffic problem or unpaid traffic tickets or back child support, that they are personally sent to the jail. Otherwise, surely these would seem very bad problems indeed to them.

Although blogs come in all sorts and flavors, we bloggers generally have one thing in common ... we love words. I fell in love with words when I realize that words could transport me through time and space, explore the perspectives of people with very different experiences than my own, and leave me dancing with joy through conversation with someone whose journey shed light on my own.

But I experienced something so sweet that I find even in my own head I can't find adequate words to describe the amazing grace that poured into my life today.

Maybe I should start by saying that, though I know and love many delightful women, I'm often not so crazy about women as a group. From bullying teenage girls to destructively competitive women in the workplace, through inept women who would use our shared gender to excuse their own thorny behaviors and certain church ladies who suck joy form the simplest gatherings, I have been injured by many women. Not all women behave this way, of course, but for too many competition is more dearly held than collaboration. (I do know, men do their own crumby stuff, but that is their own journey.)

I wonder: why do women -- mothers and daughters and sisters and girl-friends and colleagues -- with such great capacity to building joyous, supportive relationships, too often opt for catty, callous and mean?

So today was especially sweet. I spent nearly all day with only women. This gather was really too delightful to express clearly. These women are both broken and incredibly strong, actually women made strong by the challenges they have faced and the choices they make in the wake of challenges. These are generous women who share their experience, hope and faith with great tenderness and searing personal honesty. They support one another; challenge one another to take important and necessary risks with hope and perseverance. They speak truth ever so gently. They shine light into darkness. They encourage and cheer, and rejoice in each other's victories.  They cry tears of sorrow and healing and joy. They laugh and tease and teach. They listen and love and pray and hug ... and the greatest of these is indeed love.

Sisters of heart and choice and faith, thank you for wrapping me in love and hope and sweet dreams of possibilities, and for persistently praying practical encouragement to convert dreams to plans.

​Truly love drives out fear.

(Why do we have jails and prisons? I suppose many people never really think about this very seriously and more would probably answer "to keep us safe".

But is what we are doing making us any safer? Statistics clearly show that crime rates have not dropped as incarcerations have accelerated. I'd love to see the Freakonomics guys* aim some of their research to expose the increase in community poverty as incarcerations rates rise. Families whose children often encounter the "gateway" to incarceration through small infractions inflated by poverty, low-literacy and poor or inaccurate understanding of how to handle low-level legal problems can too often graduate to more family fracturing through financial loss, fear and the multitude of steps needed to overcome each misstep.

But how do we actually expect jails and prisons to work? Do we expect people to come out with new positive attitudes about the potential for success by following the straight and narrow road? Do we expect people to come out with more wisdom and better skills for being contributing members of society? Do communities respond with hate or indifference or by mentoring a returning person as they readjust to a life that has quite literally passed them by? Do churches do a better job than our government, culture or the too small and narrow pockets of social service networks?

Or do we just want them to all die? I know that sound harsh, but frankly, this seems to be the attitude of so many people which is puzzling, since the current numbers indicate that one in four people have been arrested at some time. Of course, arrest does not always lead to incarcerations, but each comes with the potential to do so. So why are we so complaisant, at least until it is one of "our own" who encounters the challenges?

In history, including but not exclusively Biblical  history, incarceration was literally a "last resort" when folks repeatedly committed such dangerous acts that long-term incarceration or death was deemed necessary for the protection of society. Today too often it is seen as inevitable by folks on both sidelines -- low grade offenders and enforcement folks. When smaller communities had more input into the justice system more wayward folks were redirected back into contributing positions in society rather than catapulted into journeys that too often make "baby badies" into hardened, determined men and women with little or nothing to lose.

Today, not all who are incarcerated even come to trail, but can languish for weeks or months or even years as prosecutors work to "make the case." Some are never tried -- if they were determined in pretrial to have not been the guilty party, or that while they were not completely cleared there was ultimately inadequate proof to bring to trial. Some plead out and there is increasing evidence that this can occur when they are bullied by threats of being charged with decades or life sentences versus a few years if they "confess" and accept a plea which reduces the cost to the prosecutor's office but may not actually advance the cause of justice....if indeed their crimes are worthy of a decades to life punishment, is it justice to victims or safe to the community for them to "get off" with short sentences?  Some are found guilty, but when it has taken so long that "time served" is the outcome --  isn't it odd that their sentence is "just" by accident. And what consideration is given if the time they served was actually too long and the financial costs (legal fees, lost wages, costs to families, trauma to children, etc) were unreasonable in light of the final judgement.  

Some are found guilty and were sent to "do time" in a hodgepodge of ways. In some states low-grade felony time is served in the local jail if the sentence is less than 6 months; in other states it runs to two years. For example if the limit is 12 months you will find a disproportionate number of sentences for 11 months 29 days which keeps folks in the local jail. If local jail overcrowding becomes an issue I suspect the disproportion begins to run to 12 months 1 day. This also makes a huge difference in the likelihood of rehabilitation. Being in jail MAY mean being closer to supportive family and church family and being released into a more familiar environment. But being in prison MAY mean better access to GED classes, job-training, parenting classes, life skills classes and designed release programs with some better track record of lower recividism. 

Sentences can run consecutively (so five 20 years sentences become 100 years) or concurrently (thel five sentences are completed on the same day 20 years hence). I'd love to talk to retired judges to understand how well such things are considered by the judiciary and how careful judges are in considering the bigger picture relating to justice; for too often a less than five year jail sentence leaves offenders with mental health, medical, family and financial brokenness that results in homelessness, recidivism, early death and/or a long-term, constant drain on public resources.  

Is this really the outcome that serves the victims, the communities or society at large?.Are we not ALL better served if they are welcomed and even coached back in to lives of productive living, working, paying their way (and paying taxes), raising healthier kids rescued from the foster care system, contributors to their families, communities and society?
____________________________
*Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Other than a sociopath, no one wants her child involved in the legal system. In fact, most parents spend a lot of thought and energy into considering how to keep our children from being victims of crime from the time we worry about kidnappings and child molesters through driver's licenses, popular music concerts and dating on college campuses. And no one is happy when that child engages in behaviors that are illegal.

But how many folks say, "Someday I hope my child grows up to be a Correction Officer or a Prison Chaplin or a Warden"? I know third and forth generation military families, law enforcement families, firefighter families, teachers' families who consider their honorable public service worth the challenges. But not so much for Correctional Officers laboring in dangerous and often unpleasant and hostile environments requiring extraordinary vigilance to keep each other, themselves and the incarcerated folks safe in persistently difficult situations. The near constant anxiety, frequent pressure to act unethically, low salaries, 24-7 scheduling, growing overcrowding, constant exposure to angry, sad, fearful, hopeless folks and pernicious danger leads to physical illness, fractured families and too often overwhelming sorrow. 

Even if only 10% of the incarcerated population has embraced violent and outrageous behaviors, this is a losing situation for all folks inside the walls. And the less hope there is for a better tomorrow, the worse the odds get as more incarcerated people are subject to the unwanted attention of the worst offenders. The poorer are working conditions the harder it becomes to attract high-functioning, able and ethical prison staff which leads to staffing shortages which makes facilities more dangerous than ever.

Then we have the people at the top of the chain of command, the elected officials who either believe there are no better ways than what we currently have or the ones who feed the fears of their electorate with promises of "getting tougher" even as crime rates do not improve and folks who complete their sentences or are released on parole re-offend in ever higher percentages while crime rates fail to drop and even rise and as whole communities continue to flounder.

We are incarcerating AND failing to rehabilitate such a stunning portion of our overall population that from a purely financial point of view this is a growing disaster. When looked at from a humanitarian perspective is it unconscionable...and unparalleled in the world. 

Rikers Island has been found to be place of appalling abuse, filth, waste, danger, public health concerns and inconceivable working conditions that are the entrenched norm have required federal court intervention. It is so horrible there is now consensus that "something must be done as fast as possible" and they think they may be able to close it down in 10 years (a reduction from the Mayor's earlier "hope" they could do it in 20 years) if they can reduce the incarcerated population from the current 10,000 to 5,000 and raise $1.39 BILLION dollars (which will be estimated to save $1.4 million per year) .*

Praying is essential, but this much foster the following through of churches and their members in advocating, educating and working to reduce the number of children lost, improve conditions of incarceration and step in to mentor those who have completed their time of incarceration and long to return to or to become contributing members in their families and communities.

_____________
*   www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/nyregion/rikers-island-jail-closure-plan.html?mcubz=3

I happened to walk past the TV as a 48 Hours episode was ending. Because of my increased awareness of the extreme differences in sentencing I took note of something I had not really listened to before. Two folks in different states were dead as the result of property crimes gone wrong (a home invasion robbery and a car jacking) but the sentences in one instance were 25 and 30 years and the other was 5 and 7 years though each occurred during the commission of a crime. Was one person more likable than the other? Better or less well educated? More or less valued by their families?

Several things contribute to an increasingly irrational and frightening trend in sentences that tend to make people trust the legal system less because it is experienced as increasingly capricious and inexplicable.

1. Who arrests you matters.  The same offense investigated and charged at the local level could have sentencing guidelines that vary by two to three times. For people who have been caught in the pornography marketers web come ons ignorance can be costly: if a website or Craig's list contact tells you that what they are selling is "within legal limits" it is not necessarily true and EACH frame of a video clip is a separate charge at the federal level. At this time federal offenders are receiving higher sentences for e-crimes than local folks are getting for who actually have had contact with a child. Wives who have trusted husbands to handle family finances can be charged if funds from an illegal activity (whether that is fraud or a drug connection) if "dirty money" has been deposited in a joint account they used to pay household bills. This is often done to give prosecutors leverage to get a spouse to "flip" even when there is no evidence that the spouse has anything to "sell". This can result in a savvy co-conspirator negotiating a lighter sentence than the clueless mom watching her kids being sent into foster care.

2. How the offense is calculated matters.  If a person burglarizes your house while you are away (purely a property crime) and you are a person of influence in your community and are deeply upset, the prosecutor may add things like "possession of burglary tools" and "trespassing" to the charges in order placate someone they perceive as "important" or to leverage the process or to use plea bargaining to polish their conviction record. A less attractive offender may also evoke a harsher response such as someone who is poor, homeless, fresh out of foster care or unemployed. This in turn confuses people who learn that when their personal burglar was sentenced it was for a much lower time even though they had learned it was a multiple offender and so a sense of unequal justice is born in both in the victim and in the family and friends of the offender. Most of the "extra" charges were originally enacted to allow folks to face charges if apprehended BEFORE actually breaking into a home, but are now used in a destructive game stacked in favor of those with resources for attorneys, bail, fines, rehab, classes and restitution.

3. Who you are matters.  We want to believe this on one hand but every day attorneys advertise to assure us that we dare not speak with an insurance company or handle a traffic ticket without their help. A "simple" charge with a single hearing and dismissal can easily run up a $5,000 legal bill. For a serious crime where professional help in running down records and witnesses can easily run to six figures quickly. So, until we have National Legal Care, folks who have the money go to driving class or drug court have a very different experience than people without who sit in jail because they can't even make bail. It feels like the correlation between the number of attorneys in the halls of state houses and Congress may be affecting how important clarity in legal statues, regulations, rules et al is to those who make the laws.

4. Police officers and deputies have little if any input in what happens at the prosecutor's office. They may see a child as needing to be removed from a parent to another family member for a time because they know the people and community involved. But the prosecutor may see someone whose parent is irritating or whose legal aid advocate is not meeting deadlines. The prosecutor's perspective prevails. Additionally I believe many in the proprietorial and judicial systems prefer to ignore the part they are playing in the growing problems; I'm pretty sure that if their college student is picked up DUI a very small number ever spend the weekend in jail as a result. Recently, amid a growing scandal of assaults of both COs and accused offenders/low level offenders by unsegregated violent offenders awaiting trial or transport, increasing lawsuits for unsafe conditions for jail staff and those incarcerated, and terrifyingly inadequate medical care resulting in severe injuries and deaths of people being held at the jail (80%+ have not been adjudicated but neither they nor their families can pay bail, or they have been convicted of misdemeanors but are not able to come up with the cash to pay court costs or fees or fines. This can result in children being added to an already overcrowded foster care system.) Yet one of our local judges was quoted as saying, "We even have to adjust our schedules when there are not guards available to transport prisoners." If he walked across the street he might realize this is a much bigger problem than he seems to perceive. Earlier this month an already dangerously understaffed jail experienced a 25-person "outage" making conditions even more than usually dangerous.  Of course, those incarcerated there are not able to call in for a mental health day. And even when a citizen is found innocent they are often have no voice when they seek to advocate for reforms.

Every year members of governmental agencies, in state Houses and Senate halls, in our national's Congress people seeking political power feed the nonsensical notion that if we make a thing illegal it stops happening. As a result new laws are passed without thoughtful consideration of how other laws are affected, if other laws should be amended or recodified or rescinded and a change in federal law can take a long time to seep down to Two Egg, Florida. Personally I'd like to find candidates who promise to write no new laws, to only clarify, repair and recodify the millions of rules, regulations, laws, court case precedents and rulings to attempt to make the law possible to obey.

Mens rea, the requirement that there is intent to harm, is too often being replace with the "make an example and other people won't do this." But with the millions of rules (just think of the tax code with books of statues, Revenue Proclamations trying to clarify the law, Letter Rulings trying to address whether or not a particular course of action might or might not be illegal/actionable and the Tax Courts, the U.S. Courts of Federal Claims, District Courts and Bankruptcy Courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeals findings and rulings. And that is JUST the federal tax code. Now add the tax rules, laws and regulations in 50 states and the District of Columbia) it is frustrating for citizens. People often are so worried about "getting into trouble" knowingly pay higher taxes than the law provides, or lacking the financial resources to defend themselves, allow a disallowed deduction to stand because it is too expensive to fight what may be only a poorly trained examiner. While even trained legal professionals have trouble giving a clear response when a question is asked (have you ever emailed the IRS with a question?) people at all levels of literacy and education are held accountable for errors of both omission and commission.

So we are coming far too close to a nation where if anyone looks hard enough at anyone else they can probably find a mistake and if the person looking has "clout" and person being looked at does not, they are truly in a mess.

I suggest we ask our representatives and senators regularly what they have recodified or rescinded recently in the interest of moving toward a more just society.

People who have been affected by crime and the families of crime victims are affected. They often report feeling confused, vulnerable, afraid and frustrated. For family members surviving homicide victims, the aftermath can be years in the healing as investigation, which can include surviving loved ones being considered as possible suspects, is rarely swift; months and even years can pass getting to trial and more years of appeals and parole boards. If the offender is also a family member, which is statistically not rare, there are even more circles of pain involved, more victims to process and hard work to recover physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially plus the struggle to avoid damage pouring into another generation.

Churches do pretty well with weddings, babies, failing health like surgery or hospice patients, and funerals. Issues related to family care following a violent death, divorce, incarceration, financial collapse, long-term illness, mental illness and the like, not so much. Too often when we don't know what to say we stay away. Really there is not a lot that can be said, but there a deep need to have someone listen, to be heard. We need someone to assure us that we are still acceptable, still valued, despite "unspeakable" challenges.

Larger police departments now hire someone to liaison with families of homicide victims and surviving victims of crime, but during the investigation, especially where family members wait to be cleared of suspicion, there is a fine line about what to share and with whom. This leaves victims and families frustrated and increasingly anxious, often while dealing with significant financial challenges within shattered families. If an offender is identified, goes to trail and pleads or is found guilty, there are increasing opportunities for victim impact statements as part of the sentencing process. But for folks whose case is never heard, there are extra barriers to moving forward.

All states have funds available for victims of crimes and survivors of homicide victims. You can check yours out by "googling " 'victim compensation and your state). You will be doubly glad that you are not a victim of crime because there are many barriers to receiving any help. Many non-profit service providers apply for funds (and this seems more emphasized on my state's website than are direct to victim's help, but even established service providers struggle to get funding to them in a timely manner so their staff and utilities can be paid.) Judges who think they are being kind to forgo court costs and fees are not being kind to low-income families in desperate need of victim compensation funds and services.

For victims of crime in my state (once many barriers are overcome) a maximum benefit of $25,000 may be awarded on eligible claims and may not exceed:

• $400 per week for lost wages for crimes occurring on or after Aug. 28, 2015 (equivalent to 20,800 annual salary - roughly the poverty level for a woman escaping domestic violence with two children).
• $5,000 for funeral expenses
• $2,500 per claim for counseling expenses (Sometimes provided as a possible future benefit "if needed".)
• $250 for personal property such as bedding and clothing seized by law enforcement as evidence in the crime for which the compensation is being sought

However, losses not covered include stolen or damaged property, crime scene clean-up, relocation costs even when the crime scene is the victim's home and cannot be used by the victims because of on-going investigation, damage or having been made unsafe because of the crime. In truth, few victims of crime receive any financial help except for medical treatment of injuries directly related to the crime and that is only if they are very persistent and able to figure out the forms and get all the necessary documentation in before deadlines during one of the most confusing and frightening times of their lives.

Often victims express a desire to speak with a convicted offender, but this is rarely facilitated even though it is often both healing for victims and a step towards an offender understanding more clearly the cost to people he or she has never even met. This is a revelation to too many offenders whose upbringing offered little opportunity learn empathy. It is an essential part of a successful return to a productive life in communities.

We need to remember that 95% of people who are incarcerated today will eventually return to their communities. We all benefit if they return with the skills needed to rebuild their family relationships, function as able employees, and generally strive to benefit rather than damage their community. Victims most of all benefit having their loss respected within the legal system.

We have indeed become the incarceration nation.  While our crime rate is similar to Canada's we incarcerate 30 times more people. So, unless you believe it takes 30 Americans to commit each wrong that only one Canadian can commit, there has to be something seriously wrong south of our northern border.

The language has changed over the years from penitentiaries (a place of penitence where people should contemplate the error of their ways so that they might return to their homes convinced of the wisdom of staying on the straight way) and reformatories (that people might find an improved or reformed attitude) to the more modern correctional facility. Although in many other nations people often do return to their communities never to reoffend, our recidivism rate is very high between 60 and 76%* (while Australia, Singapore, and Norway are at 20% with lower crime rates than the United States). Those are strikingly diverse cultures yet the low recidivism rate in each is paying off in less crime.

And of course crime does not happen in a vacuum: the incarcerated are far from the only folks caught in this nightmare.  Let's start with the people who have been victims of crime or survivors of crime, have themselves been harmed as are their families who love them. To know a child in ones own family has been removed from a violent, abusive home wounds those who love both the child and the abuser. Some one may step forward to house and tend the wounded child. Other children are dropped into a broken governmental foster care system. The financial structure of victims of crime are damaged and health can be compromised for a lifetime or life can be lost at the time of the crime or in the aftermath. Members of law enforcement and the judicial system that deal with both victims and offenders then take their broken hearts home to their families and, if not well tended, those broken hearts break more hearts. Then we have the offender who has changed the course of his or her life with one more bad decision or impulsive action or stunning selfishness. Which leads to a whole new set of victims in the families and loved ones of the criminal sinner with the backlash here being as bad as for the victim of the crime as attorneys and commissaries and travel costs eat up funds better used for education and better food and safer housing for the children and aging parents dealing with the loss of a father or a mother or a son or a daughter. When the offender returns after completing their sentence their earning capacity is drastically diminished and the reality of life after release is full of challenges that expand exponentially for each year of incarceration.

Men and women who HAVE PAID their "debt" to society regarding their most public sin must continue to pay every day because people who are NOT without sin are so happy to caste stones rather than restore lives and communities. An estimated 44,000 laws, regulations and rules apply uniquely to people who are no longer incarcerated or under the jurisdiction of our penal system, making the rest of their lives a land mine. Additionally health problems which are attributed to or exacerbated by incarceration are lifelong burdens for many.

It is estimated that one in 4 people in the United States have been arrested at some time in their lives. With the advent of internet "background checks" not only these people but people inaccurately identified as these people are subject to discrimination in housing, jobs, and protections afforded other citizens and legal aliens by our government.

So the current system heaps new injury on victims of crime, extorts a stunning emotional costs of those professionals charged with dealing with victims, identifying the offender and meeting out the punishment on behalf of society, is highly unsuccessful at invoking penitence, reformation or correction, inflicts consequences on the families of the incarcerated who have themselves committed no crime, increased the cost of government and reducing the taxes that might be paid by a post-incarcerated, restored individual and mortgaged the future of a generation because we can't seem to do much more than turn a blind eye or or wring our hands. 

Lord have Mercy
Christ have Mercy
Lord have Mercy upon us all.  AMEN

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*federal versus state prison rates

I must have been in grade school when I stood in my backyard staring into a bucket of water so I could safely see a partial eclipse. It was exciting to see something that movies at the time depicted as having been used to manipulate primitive peoples by folks who had science on their side.

But now I must admit that even before the amazing event I'm pretty burned out on the daily update on eclipse glasses availability at locations that never seems to be in my part of the county anyway. Yes. yes. I still think it interesting and educational, but I got a giggle by a scholarly article warning solemnly that children, especially small children, might find all the hype has not prepared them to stand quietly for the less than two minutes of the total eclipse (at about
1:08 p.m.), much less the slow pace of the full eclipse experience which runs from 11:40 a.m. to 2:36 p.m.

And I admit I hope there is not any news from the other continents today since I doubt there will be much time for coverage. You see, this eclipse is an almost wholly North American, in fact an almost wholly United States of America mainland event.* I'm hearing it will be an economic success for many "in the path".

But all this leads me to think about other issues. A solar eclipse is not about the sun doing anything, but rather about a smaller orb getting between the sun's light and warmth and those of us that rely on that light and warmth. And I am amazed by how often I allow something small to get between me and something more important in the larger scheme of things.

So today I hope we all heed the warnings and come away with no vision damage, make a memory of folks being kind to one another as they share a common and rare experience, and experience people driving with care!

Creator of this World, this Universe, thank you for this amazing Earth and solar system with all its delightful features and our capacity to enjoy and share and learn together. AMEN

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* South America from San Juan to Buenos Ares in Argentina gets their total eclipse on July 2, 2018. Do you think our news community will cover that?

I've been looking for a Bible study/small group program -- whatever the current term is -- to help my home congregation begin thinking more deeply and acting more intentionally about the condition of our "legal system". I just can't call it a justice system when what we have currently is so thoroughly lacking in both justice and common sense. What is it about humans! When we try a solution to a problem, if it does not work, we so consistently, ​stubbornly demand that we do more of the same faster, rather than stepping back to consider what part may be working or how to make adjustments. I suppose it is asking too much to expect the world to actually put on the brakes and change directions when they are barreling toward a cliff at warp speed.

But just as Christians stepped forward to power the underground railroad in the 1850s, just as church leaders have stepped up in the past to bring focus and propose solutions to horrors from sweat shops to debtor's prisons, just as Christians bring education, health services and clean water to some of the poorest children in our world today, so you and I as Christians are called to think about these issues, inform ourselves about the status quo, speak out and work to make changes that might at least slow the bleeding.

The "reforms" of the 1980s with longer sentences for non-violent crimes and "three strikes you'e out" that have both been implemented (in ways never envisioned by legislatures responding to fear driven constituency) with demonic glee by people who are benefiting financially and political, and have brought a demonstrated increase in crime as families and communities have been devastated financially and spiritually, family connections have been damaged, and communities broken; with a stunning percentage of young people coming out of foster care into incarceration without reformation. It is distressing to think that these young victims of crime find incarceration for non-violent crimes quickley becomes is super highway to a new dangerous "family" behind prison bars.

And frankly, I'm disconcerted that so few church I contact have any prison ministry contact person, committee or, it seems, willingness to heed St. Paul's directive in Hebrews 13:3  Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.

My fellow followers of Christ, there is a lot of mistreatment going on! The price for our negligence is being paid by men and women whose very public sins are not being met with punishment that fits the crime, victims who are not receiving restitution, men and women who work in prisons are suffering, law enforcement and court personnel are discouraged, communities are finding released prisoners have NOT been prepared to reenter society. In other words, the legal system is making things MORE dangerous rather than fulfilling its prime directive: serving to protect and encourage all members of society to have faith in their capacity to make this a better world.

Won't you stick a note on your bathroom mirror or above your TV, or make a bookmark or discuss this with your accountability partner so that you remember to pray daily this week, to pray with focus and an open heart about those affected by crime, punishment and its ever-outwardly expanding circles of pain, wasted lives and broken hearts. Remember to pray for those working in the "white fields" called prison ministry, sharing the love and healing power of Christ with the incarcerated and their families, with law enforcement and prison workers, with survivors of crime. Remember to pray for an open heart that you might hear what God is asking of you in sharing the good news with all his beloved children in all places and at all times.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hear the most tender prayers of our hearts. AMEN

"white fields" refers to John 4:35

There are lots of folks who make a "cameo appearance" in the Bible, never to be named again. And there are lots of folks whose life story is given in painful detail. But when a person pops up in two distinct honorable contexts I'm interested in learning more.

Gamaliel is noted at the end of Acts 5 speaking to the Jewish leaders who were VERY UPSET by the stories the followers of Jesus were spreading...Jesus was risen and His way of living (and the coming of the Spirit of God at Pentecost) call us to a new way of living, a closer relationship with our Creator, our God. This was VERY revolutionary stuff and the church leaders were "furious and plotting to kill them". Gamaliel reminded them that people claimed to be prophets all the time and, over time, their ideas proved to be dust and their followers scattered. In verses 38 to 39 he said: "I say to you, keep away from those men and let them alone; for if this plan or work is of men, it will come to nothing, but if it is of God you cannot over throw it -- lest you even be found to fight against God." Indeed the plan has proven to be "of God" and those whose political power and earthly wealth were going to be swept away in the centuries since did pay a price for "standing against God."

This seems an important message for me today. Being a passionate person I have much compassion for Peter who, mistaking his own passion for God's lack of power to protect His Son, lopped off the ear of the servant of the High Priest as Jesus' death march gained speed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Those of us dealing with the criminal behavior of a beloved child are often referred to Carol Kent's books as a source of comfort and hope in the face of disaster. She and her incarcerated son tell their story of the son's fear and self-righteousness driving the son to murder someone he believed to be a very dangerous person, so this silly "taking up God's slack" thing tempts us to horrors yet today.

In fact, I think we are all guilty of it at different times, in varying degrees. We tell a lie because we are afraid the truth will cause pain. We make a sin worse by trying to avoid its consequences. We fail to value someone who blesses our life because we are too distracted by the "problem" person. We like to think of ourselves as good, caring people, but in truth we are guilty of stealing what is God's because we don't want to deal with the pain of the situation.

So today I will resolve to let God be God; to Let Go, Let God; to get off my high horse and down on my knees focusing on digging the weeds out of my own garden rather than acting like I know what everyone else needs better than God does. 

Please, beloved Father, send Your Spirit to help me fix my focus on growing closer to You rather than judging or manipulating others into what I think is better. Convict me of Your passionate love for those I love, Your utter trustworthiness and power in their lives with no help from me. Keep my mouth shut when my words might wound; make my words sweet as I encourage and let me live my love for You and Your love for All into their lives by my willingness to listen, to forgive, and to seek forgiveness. Make me fearless when I am walking in Your Will and stop me as forcefully as necessary when I pose a danger to those I love. By the Grace of Your Son's sacrifice. AMEN

The coming weeks will bring family reunions, a baptism, a baby shower and, I expect, much laughter and some tears as we remember those now living in a better place, not here to give hugs, share family history and speak of lessons learned.

For those of us who struggle with an incarcerated loved one or someone whose choices make us hope that incarceration is the worst we will be dealing with, there are shadows. It may be an empty chair at the table or worry that the challenges of one beloved one will spill over into disruption and pain for other beloved family members and for ourselves. And always there are questions: "What could we have done differently?" and "How do I help now?" and "How do I quit making it worse without meaning to?" For families where this has become an all too frequent issue the even more urgent questions is: "How do I keep this from pouring into yet another generation?"

So today's devotion really was a poke in the ribs. The Bible reading from 1 Chronicles 7 is full of "begats" and fathers and sons and daughters names and their offspring and the family story stating: "and they were might men of valor in their generations." Frankly I was kind of thinking "yeah, yeah, other than a list of potential baby names this is not so interesting." Then I got to verse 20 which tells of sons gone wrong and the consequences of that which included their deaths. Then verse 22 speaks of their father Ephraim who "mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him." He eventually had another son, but even at the rejoicing of a new life the father spoke of the "tragedy (that had) come upon his house". 

The story of the criminal behavior sounded like the drone of the evening news as assaults, robberies, thefts, home invasions and violent death make victims of us all: potential is misspent, innocents pay with their hope, confidence, even their lives and it is hard to figure out whether the families of the "victim" or "perpetrator" are bleeding more profusely, aching more deeply, grieving more passionately. I'm pretty sure who is dealing with more shame, and who is more likely to get casseroles from their church friends. Both houses will have an empty chair at their table, a sense of loss of a better "might have been", questions, mourning, a new reality, the need to rebuild expectations for their tomorrows.

But somehow I find Ephraim's story comforting: it speaks to the thoughts that had been pecking at my brain as I have been anticipating all the family joys and excitement. You see, Ephraim (this father of fallen sons) both went on with life yet also remembered his lost children, and I am thinking probably looked at his new born son and prayed God would give him more wisdom, better parenting skills, courage to live boldly with enough heart and hope that his new child would be spared the pain of rebelling against God, against family values earnestly taught, instead becoming a mighty man of valor in his generation. 

So I will embrace each moment with family, trust God more wholly, listen with less judgment and more love, pray A BUNCH, walk humbly seeking to be a woman of valor in my generation. I believe that is the best gift I can give to my grandchildren and their grand children.
___________________

Oxford Dictionary:  VALOR, noun, Great courage in the face of danger, see also brave, fearless, dauntless; having pluck, nerve, backbone, spine, spirit, fortitude, mettle, hardihood, spunk; being heroic, stouthearted, audacious, bold, gallant, daring,

Thou shalt defend your opinions on the color for the paint and carpet at the cost of kindness. Thou shalt complain when new volunteers don't "do it the right way" although no one took the time to work along side to help them. Thou shalt speak unkindly to anyone who irritates you.....SAID NO BIBLE EVER.

We are so quick to defend every opinion about the most pointless things. But we run like frightened rabbits when we are asked to do some serious thinking about the things the Bible does say.

I believe the church must do better. I believe we need to read ALL the Bible, including the difficult and scary parts. As an example, in Proverbs 31: 8-9 we read these words: "Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable. Speak out in order to judge with righteousness and to defend the needy and the poor."  Proverbs 31:8-9

In my county we have a jail that fails on every level to provide basic care of the people incarcerated there, fails to provide a safe working environment for jail employees, regularly gets plastered on the front page of the newspaper (though local broadcast and electronic media are doing an astonishing job of glossing over the issues) with long articles documenting dangerous conditions, yet our political "leaders" are mute, more interested in trolleys and art districts and closing recycling centers than in addressing the most basic human needs for safety and dignity. Few people incarcerated in this jail or working in this jail walk out of its doors feeling hopeful about building a better future because fear does not drive positive change in any environment. And in this building there is an amazing amount of fear and very little hope; but then, wealthy defendants don't spend much time behind these walls and the people who do are voiceless in the world.

The chaplain and other volunteers offer what hope there is and are overwhelmed and serve at the pleasure of the very people who have allowed this situation to develop to this point. If they are like other volunteers I have spoken with, they constantly balance being allowed to tend gently those they can, forgoing speaking the truth loudly and loosing the opportunity to serve there at all. 

The political folks in charge of this have just commissioned a second study but as they wait to have all the necessary political cover completed and paid for, they hail this interim improvement: hundreds of doors have been replaced because they did not lock. This included doors to cells assigned to incarcerated individuals to sleep. This has resulted in several rapes of people. Though privacy laws (and a sense of care) prevent us from knowing exactly who, we know that statistically they were likely charged with a petty crime but unable to pay bail or fines. It is no surprise that the authorities cannot find the funds to make needed changes to the facility and, far more importantly, changes to the CULTURE of this jail because they are having to pay hefty settlements for both injuries to the incarcerated and for fostering a hostile and unsafe working environment.

Are our churches speaking out on behalf of these vulnerable brothers and sisters? I'm not being deafened by their demands. If they are picketing at the jail, it is not being reported. If they are writing their political representatives it is not making much of a wave.  THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE, BUT IT IS IN THE HANDS OF CORRUPT ELECTED OFFICIALS, for if they are not corrupt surely they would themselves be picketing and speaking and demanding that the horrors of this situation be shoved in the face of every decent person even if it is not their personal horror or that of their child or their parent who is at risk in this facility EVERY DAY. Maybe it is only the person next door, or at the next desk, or a more distant family member, or the person they need to make their business successful or save their child's life. We are all PEOPLE, people! 

Will you bring this to your churches, to pastors and church councils? Will you pray passionately that people with hearts for God will welcome a clearer understanding of the issues and act in ways that can move us forward?

I believe our very future depends upon this!

I have an unfortunate character trait: I tend to imitate those I am around. One week with a southern cousin leads to a month of all-y'all's and bless-her-heart's popping unbidden out of my mouth.​

That is bad enough, but the bigger problem is when I spend too much time with folks who have the habit of unhappiness. Oh, I know, you think I should "just say no" and I do limit my time and practice boundary setting. But if I were trapped in a head that roils with fear and anger and bitterness, I would want someone to toss a flower over the wall behind which I hide my tender heart.

Some years ago I was asked to visit regularly with a woman who was terminally ill and, between deaths of friends and family and behaviors alienating her remaining family and friends, she had a very narrow support network. It was not always pleasant because she tended to speak for long periods either justifying her own poor behavior or railing about people who had wronged her. I remember one afternoon she was working herself into a lather that was making her existence even sadder. I looked at her evenly, quietly asking, "How is that working for you?" She looked shocked and then started to laugh as she said, "Not so well, I guess." It seemed a turning point in our conversations.

I believe we are created for fellowship, for traveling in pairs and trios, for living in families or families of choice. My dearest friends hold me accountable when they notice I'm running off the rails or letting myself run on fumes. We share our challenges and fears with a high degree of safety. (We all, being imperfect, mess up sometimes, and being able to forgive one another is also an import part of the equation.) We cry together but also laugh together, often at ourselves. We do not live in each other's pockets, but these women are profound blessings in my life.

We seek the opinions of those we value and trust as we consider life changes or respond to changes imposed upon us. We share our faith struggles and broken hearts and dearest hopes in ways that affirm and strengthen us all.

I am so grateful I have learned the value of tending carefully friendships and relationships that are healthy, hope-filled, honest and joyous. (If you are reading this and think it might be referring to you, you are right and a blessing in my life.)

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.   Ecclesiastes 4:9-12             

Today when I mentioned I do prison ministry I got a not unusual response: we should just kill the worst people who harm children and old people.  If only it were that simple. As a Christian I believe God loves all the children God created, even when we error, sin, mess up, harm others, fail to seek healing for our injuries...you see where I am going here. So if the perfect God sent Christ do DIE for us so that God no longer sees our sins and we who are NOT perfect judge other. But all of us have harmed others (you say it is not intentional, but does that really make it any less heinous?) and tried to justify our own failings (which Christ already did for all and we can neither destroy Christ's gift nor convince God to destroy His covenant) and caused more harm by failing to fess up and take our lumps, so does this seem sensible? 

So can we agree it is a matter of degree rather than right or wrong, good or bad, sinner or saint? And if that is so, do we truly know the mind of God so that we can say the Bible doesn't mean what it says and Christ's death was not what God claimed and on the spectrum between Pol Pot and Mother Teresa (who proclaimed the limitations she dealt with in her faith journey), where IS the single spot between where bad is too bad and good is good enough.

Not that you can find any of that in the Bible, because it says right there in black and white (and red?) that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.* Nowhere in the Bible can we find a list of "big sins" and "small sins". Because in the end sin is ALWAYS about not trusting God and that is one gigantic mistake.

Whether we are Eve in the Garden or King David sliding from lust to murder or Pontius Pilate trying to wash Christ's blood off his hands, we are trying to do things our own way, justifying our suspicion that God is not reliable and not as able or wise or smart or powerful as we are. Does that sound as silly as it feels to me? Yet I do it...not by opening stalags or poms or killing fields but still by plotting and planning and scheming and fretting and worrying and demanding God do things my way "or else I'll take matters into my own hands." Then disaster looms because I think I am better than the Creator of the this universe and all other universes. 

Now, if you are not a follower of Christ, this discussion is really not pertinent to you. But if you call yourself a Christian, how do you judge how bad is bad and when good is good enough, or is there a better use for our time -- like just getting on with leaning more fully on God?

 As it is written, There is no righteous person, not even one.  Roman's 3:10

St. Paul says to "Rejoice always." Practicing this discipline has gotten me many concerned looks because it seems just plain crazy. But it has proven to help me keep my perspective and been a big time saver. I waste less time being upset about challenges and freer to be open to solutions, waste less energy on fear and am freer to be hopeful, and I get better at forgoing my "fix it" perspective so I get more quickly to the part where I just let God take the lead.

But this is not easy, even though it has been a long-time habit. It is easier to do when I am facing a challenge myself rather than when someone I love is distressed. I still struggle with the idea that trusting God is somehow being non-supportive. If I love you and you are upset I feel such a strong urge to join you in your distressed state. But time and again I experience this truth: things go better all around when I focus on calmly praying and loving and journeying with my distressed beloved one. I have come to suspect this is at least partly because I am a bit of a drama queen and like the adrenaline...but that makes it about me instead of the person I love, and certainly not about God.

You see, God has never let me down. Oh, God has certainly felt no urgency in trying to make me understand all the parts of God's plan. I am, in fact, not able to understand the mind of God nor able to come up with the wisdom and strength and power of God nor even fully understand the scope of the challenges I face nor the unlimited resources that God provides for my highest good.

Ultimately that is why I can rejoice even when the going gets tough: I am not in this alone and I am not stuck with only human, limited capacities and ideas. I have the full force and power of Almighty God working in my best interest, even when I'm not being very wise or loving or cooperative. Yet God always waits for me to quit demanding my own silly ways; and when I return my focus to God, God has never abandoned me even for a moment and I always find God's ways so much better than my own.

But I am beginning to suspect it will take a lifetime of practice (and the persistent instruction by the Spirit of God) to make rejoicing always my "go to" response!

Abba Father, thank You for Your unfailing love, tender care of and perfect plan for me. You are always faithful. AMEN

Rejoice always. Thessalonians 5:15

Today I sat in a courtroom and watched a family get the news that their loved one received a sentence more than twice what they expected as a "worst case" outcome. My heart breaks for them all: for the child who will live with a very public parental failure, for the wife that faces all the challenges of being a single parent with a big dose of special circumstances, for family and friends who wonder how they might have intervened before it all spun so horribly out of control, even though such thoughts are futile. And I thought of the tens of thousands in other courtrooms and jails and prisons, broken hearted and overwhelmed.
 
The person being sentenced looked very much like Christopher Lloyd's character in Roger Rabbit after being run over by a road paver....flat and curling forward in sorrow, embarrassment and despair. The prisoner expressed a desire to tell the cautionary tale of how indulging a common form of self-obsession snowballed into a stunning felony conviction; the story is indeed one that needs to be told and often, but the forum will be fearfully narrow for a very long time. And there will be many opportunities while incarcerated to appreciate just how frightfully common is this desire for redemption.

However do folks survive this? How do they recover from the financial, physical and emotional fall out lasting for years? Some slowly find trustworthy folks to walk with them, develop a deeper and growing faith that God is bigger than all this, and appreciate the challenges of families walking this journey. Others sink into despair or rage.

We call it the legal system or the criminal justice system or the thin blue line or a righteous crusade, but here is the stark and terrifying truth: The world is full of lies about how selfish we can act yet never find ourselves longing for a "do over" as the reality of our errors begins to pour down like lava when the pressure buildup becomes visible to all. Not all of our willfulness will land us in legal trouble (although lots of it certainly does). But we are all vulnerable to ruining our relationships, harming those we love the most, and encouraging others to join our wilding to assuage our own small voice of sanity yelling, "Are you nuts? How can this come out in any good way? Stop!!! Stop!!! Stop!!!!"

• Today, will you pray for those sitting in courtrooms and cells as a result of their own willfulness, now facing a very public journey?
• Today will you pray for the families who are affected by this, no matter how they respond, giving them wisdom to lean on You more deeply?
• Today will you pray for the victims of selfishness, especially the most vulnerable: children, elderly, ill, undocumented, poor, fearful, hopeless folks who desperately need healing and renewal?
• Today will you pray that good people speak truth to people blind to their own selfishness before they ignore their slide until they have fallen into illegal acts?
• Today will you ask that God's Mercy & Grace be abundant and redemptive for all, from those dealing with private fears to those whose errors are so very public?
• Today will you thank God that the most broken and depraved of us, and those still on the low end of the selfishness spectrum, through all who stand in the relentless rings of damage from our bad choices that keep coming and moving on to harm others -- and that is all of us in this mess together-- are right now standing where God is bigger than the chaos, pain and destruction and God is love to us.  

​For this and all Your trustworthiness and faithfulness and capacity, we thank You, O God.

Hey God, its me again. I'm more than a little frightened and very confused. Are we descending into the final days of the Republic? I have never known such complete disregard for the rule of law -- even a bit more courtesy would be a comfort. Everyone sounds so afraid and hiding the fear behind anger, criticism and a wholly irrational posture that anyone can know much of anything "for sure" most especially in the days of photo shopping and "satirical news". It all just seems so insane.

So here is what I'm asking for myself:  

Let me see more clearly; even if I don't like the truth, surely it is the best and most powerful position. And let me be humble, never assuming that I have the whole story or that there are simple answers because no one can and there never are.

Let me remember that behind that person who is in my face is Your Child and that if I can't discuss something calmly I need to walk away at least until I get some perspective. (This one is so hard Lord, when someone is emotionally abusing their child or parent in public, but I know prayers count and You love them both, abuser and abused, equally and see the shattered core of each. Still, it feels like a burning building where I long to jump in like Wonder Woman and I need Your wisdom and strength to keep from causing additional harm, while not missing a chance to help.)

Let me hear Your voice as I consider where to put my energies and abilities. I am aware that You have not gone on vacation and left me as the responsible party to labor in every broken place, so I deeply need Your Spirit that I might discern what fights to enjoin and where to put my shoulder to the wheel. And help me to stay fully dependent on You Lord, so that in each moment I lean on You rather than my limited abilities and resources because experience tells me that the better I do this the more people are comforted, tended, loved and renewed--the greater is the harvest.

Let me not be distracted by the shear depth of brokenness in this world, but indeed to pray without ceasing that I might be kind to every broken heart (which is all of us) and fearless because speaking the truth about anything rarely ushers in a time of carefree frolicking, but rather often leaves us targets for people who are enslaved to their addictions and arrogance and fears and rage. 

Let me be willing to assist and open my heart to love even the least attractive of Your children - the enraged, the demanding, the critical, the terrified, because You loved me at my worst, my most broken, my most terrified. Let me see the invisible of our culture: the lonely aged, the disengaged child, the poor, the ill, the hopeless, the desperate and answer Your call to add my hands and feet in aid of them.

I clearly can't do any of this on my own, so I ask most humbly and confidently for the gift of Your Spirit, by the blood of Your Son. AMEN

Mark 8:25 Again Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes, and the man opened them wide. His eyes were healed, and he was able to see everything clearly.

I've fallen in love with a young Christian rapper who took his growing love for his sister public with his song HEAR MY HEART. Because his sister is deaf he signs as well as sings and it touched my heart very much for several reasons.

I was so interested in the combination of music and signing that I did a little research to understand more clearly the signs. And I learned something that I found profound. Although the song's lyrics are "hear my heartbeat," the sign he uses is more accurately translated "listen" which I think is a delightful plea to understand deeply what he longs to communicate.

Do we really listen? To those we love? Family? Friends? Neighbors? Church family? Most importantly, do we lean in close to listen to God?

Do we remember that God is always listening to us, whether or not we think of the musing of our hearts or the words on our lips as prayer, because God loves us even before we acknowledge God, and is attuned to us.

What are you longing to tell God? What are you longing to hear from God? What energy are you willing to commit to praying and listening?

Beloved God, give me listening ears, seeing eyes, a mercy-filled heart for those I love, for those You love, for all Your Children. AMEN

Click here to hear the Andy Mineo UTube track:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD0fhCZFjjI

This morning I ran across an article published earlier this year by domesticshelters.org on how to recognize unsafe people in the dating world. Most of us at some point have had a dating relationship or friendship or even family relationship that caused us a lot of pain and suffering because the person had issues of his or her own that made it difficult to stay close to them...sometimes it was even unsafe to be close to them.  And I thought it was a shame we don't discuss this more with our children, especially our daughters, BEFORE they mistake Mr. Scary for Mr. Exciting and Wonderful.  

But it also got me to thinking: am I always a safe person for my friends and family?  I certainly want to be but sometimes my own distress or sorrow or anxiety makes me less than the person I am working to become. The authors noted problems with abandoners, critics and the irresponsibles. And I have to ask myself where I might need to do better in my own life:

Abandoner - Do I sometimes fail a friend or love-one because my own drama and wants seems more important to me than their need? Oh, I'm not talking about the person who calls at the last minute for a ride to work when their car is broken down because the don't like riding the bus or some other example of people trying to maniuplate or abuse us. But I'm talking about an aged realtive that is lonely or a new mother who is overwhelmed and we are so emtionally strung out that we have no time to help out. 

Critic - Do I sometimes jump to tell someone all the reasons they can't go back to school or leave an abusive relationshp or find a healther work environment rather than encourage them to find good ways to turn dreams into plans and to identify resources that might help? Am I willing to let them check back with me to update me so they have continued counsel that focuses on the way to solve problems rather smugly saying "I told you that this was a mistake?"

An Irresponsible - Do I behave irresponsibly in not keeping my word, not following through on volunteer commitments or making excuses when I don't meet my work deadlines? Do I buy things I want before I meet my financial responsibilities? Am I generous with family and friends and patient when things go wrong? Am I kind to folks with physical, mental or financial challenges? 

When I find myself with too little energy to be a good friend, become casually critical or fall into "me first" thinking it often means I'm not getting my own needs met and I need to deal promptly with my own issues if I am going to be the person I want to be...loving, giving mercy, encouraging, hope-filled, willing to give folks the benefit of a doubt (maybe they are not trying to do harm to me, but only are overwhemed with their own burdens) and willing to forgive (as I so often need forgiveness myself), yet wise in how to make safe choices in my most intimate relationships, selecting social friends and being responsible for my own choices and actions.

And when I work on these choices for myself, I find it is easier to attract and trust people who are also loyal, encouraging and responsible. After all, that is what I deserve in a friend!

* From the book Safe People, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend