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Christmas 2000 Beloved, Christmas with
youthful felons in juvenile facilities is a tremendous object lesson of
the grace of God, grace manifested in a Baby born long for times such as
these. The mission statement for the promised Messiah found in Isaiah
61:1-2 and fulfilled as Jesus spoke in the synagogue and recorded in
Luke 4:18-21, is continuing to be fulfilled among alienated at-risk
youth today. As an
undershepherd serving the Good Shepherd, I have the high privilege to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and release for the oppressed in the
matchless name of Jesus. I am a servant of the Most High God. Together,
we are busy about the glad task of setting the prisoners free. I a man
most blessed. Several days
ago my blessedness increased during a phone conversation with a local
jail employee. We discussed a teenager, tried sentenced as an adult,
with whom we had both spent many hours in the past several years. This
minor had been involved in a heinous crime, formerly practiced Satanism
as a lifestyle, and was deeply, deeply disturbed. This same youth
came to Christ in juvenile hall with me one eventful afternoon in the
midst of tremendous spiritual conflict. So intensive was the conflict
that I could scarcely rise from my bed the following day due to a
profound exhaustion. Each week during the following year I met with,
counseled, and discipled the teen. In all my varied experience over the
past 30 years, this youthful ministry relationship is the most difficult
I have eve encountered. The evidence of
God's unfathomable grace flowed from the report of my associate as she
told me about the flourishing life of the youth, currently jailed and
soon to be long imprisoned. This is a life powerfully changed, spirit
refreshed and renewed, a soul immutably touched by the living God. This
is a young mind now lucid and full of hope because of a Baby born long
ago: Breath of Heaven, life giving and everlasting. This young soul
has encountered the healing freedom of the Great Physician because of
your prayers, support and compassion. As you celebrate this season of
joy with your family and loved ones, be blessed. The Baby Jesus
is still setting the prisoners free. Merry Christmas
in Jesus' name, |
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