Well…I lived to tell about it

Wow! I’m so excited I’ll write that backwards. Wow!

Last week was quite something else. I hoped to take Monday and Tuesday off to prepare for the Kairos weekend.

God had other plans.

The window company dispatcher called the Friday before saying he needed someone to take an overflow load to Kansas. It sounded like a potential two days of ten hours each…during the conversation that is.

It ended up being an eleven hour day followed by a fiasco of a day.

That didn’t surprise me. I think I would have been disappointed if everything had gone as planned.

After a slow start to the run I made it to Edmund, Oklahoma at 4:00, plenty of time to make that delivery. I drove to Kansas and made those three deliveries Tuesday morning. So far so good.

The last thing I had to do before completing the run was to fuel the tractor up for the next driver. I did, then got the receipt for the purchase and went back out to a rig that didn’t start.

Over an hour later the mechanic who finally showed up pronounced his diagnosis, a dead starter.

It must have had a 520,000 mile warranty because the odometer said there were 520,004 miles on that tractor.

About three hours later a tow truck brought me a different tractor so I could finish that day on Wednesday morning. I got to sleep after 4:00am.

After four and a half hours of sleep I gathered my stuff to do battle on the front lines of the spiritual war we’re in.

Now I know why I’ve had such a rigorous training that involved sleep deprivation.

By Wednesday evening I was being commissioned for the assignment. This included a foot washing ceremony.

I told you the week was quite something else.

I first entered the George Beto unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Thursday late morning. We hauled tables and other equipment in for the inmate stewards to set up. These are folks who have gone through a Kairos weekend from the inside, now they’re passing it forward as best they can.

When the chaplain of the Beto Unit filled us in about the 42 inmates chosen for this weekend I was surprised how many professed to be Christians already. That didn’t mean they actually were, just that they said they were to improve their odds of being chosen for the food involved.

I met my prayer partner on Thursday afternoon. He was one of the “Christians” listed. We sat down and enjoyed some cookies and fruit, both delicacies inside the walls. He appeared to be a new Christian seeking a better understanding about everything.

He was full of questions about the weekend that I confessed I didn’t know the answers to since this was my first Kairos weekend as well. We got along well.

On Friday morning we received our table assignments. I was at the table/family of St Peter. These inmates would become that family unit by Sunday afternoon.

There were three volunteers and six inmates at each table. I was the life-long born again Christian. There was also a retired Dallas police officer and a former inmate who found Jesus at a previous Kairos. Our inmates had the Good, the Bad and the Ugly guiding them along their journey.

The oldest inmate is a Christian wanting a Kairos experience that he’d been hearing about…he got it.

The guy next to him was the quietest one. This whole thing was new to him. That’s what we’d discover soon enough.

The fella next to me had a stone cold expression on his face. He was hurting and seeking as were the others.

I gave my talk about Friendship With God just before lunch. As I listened to the other talks I learned this was the pivotal talk they all came back to.

They said I did a good job even though I was an internal jumble of emotions as I gave it. Now I’m glad I didn’t know how important it actually was.

The discussions that followed each talk were fruitful.

On Saturday afternoon the battle turned in our favor.

Our quiet inmate asked an interesting question.

“I understand going across state lines to take somebody out for a friend. What you guys got…how do I sign up for that?”

A few minutes later I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder to see if he was ready to talk to one of the clergy there. He said he wanted to wait.

The next event we did was to sit in a tight circle and pray. As the cross was passed around the guy holding it prayed. When he was done he passed it to the fella to his left.

I told them prayer is just talking to God. It went smoothly until the quiet guy spoke. When there was a long pause I silently prayed for a heart to break and an eternal destiny to be changed. Through tears he finished his prayer and passed the cross.

A few minutes later he was talking with one of the clergy. He signed up.

I mulled around as other groups finished their prayer circles.

There was a loud scream on the other side of the partition. That was followed by another inmate crying so uncontrollably he couldn’t stand.

When the Spirit moves in someone with such extreme emotions bottled up you don’t know what’s going to happen. This was real y’all.

The love we showed was breaking down walls. The talks and meditations were sinking in. This Kairos experience was all of that.

Mr. Stoneface was actually smiling, too. I never received so many hugs in all my life. And I was inside a Texas maximum security prison.

These were long, sincerely grateful embraces, y’all. These inmates understood how much dedication we put into this weekend, and it was all for them.

Oh, I forgot to mention the prayer chain that was brought out Friday morning created the first tears. The prayers were our super power, y’all.

I have a confession to make here and now. I’m addicted to Kairos.

They do this twice a year at Beto. I can’t wait for the next one.