Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

Hebrews 13:3

I don’t recall if I ever mentioned, or not, that I have been a  Crossroads Prison Ministries mentor for a while. I don’t like to boast about anything, except as the apostle Paul wrote as he followed his discipleship with the Lord, and instructed us how we ought to walk — to ONLY boast in Christ, only boast of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since mentoring is all about, only about providing a bit of help to those in prison that have either repented and found the Lord or are in the process of seeking and learning more this boast is all about, only about Jesus. Nothing to do with me.

I am merely one wee instrument for His use and service.

Which more folks can be and ought to be.

“I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

Matthew 25:36

Mentoring with Crossroads Prison Ministries is a wonderful blessing. A person is a mentor in complete anonymity. No personal information is passed along to the student prisoners other than your first name. Period. Nothing else. Except if relaying a personal experience from the walk in Christ and being a Christian.

The lessons are sent to the Crossroads office in Michigan, gone through and processed, and then sent on to the mentors. And the mentors read over the lesson — there is an answer key and this is not a difficult thing or of such time consumption that anyone has an excuse for not doing this — and then write a letter, and this is not, should not be difficult either after reading the lesson and being indwelt of the Holy Spirit and living to serve the Lord rather than self, and to aid and help a fellow believer in prison, or someone seeking the Lord in prison.

And then drop it in the pre-addressed envelope with a stamp the mentor provides and send it off. And then take about 2 minutes, or less to file the briefest of reports online. Click on 3 options. Write a short sentence — that’s all you’ll have room for — and send off the report.

Imagine, if you will, if you can, what it is like to be in a prison. And you’re either a believer in there, having become converted in jail while serving out your sentence, or you have begun to seek the Lord while in prison. Imagine that, if we can, if we only would.

Take a few minutes and try to ponder that reality. As we move on to complain about something later today. Gripe about the weather, perhaps? What, my favorite TV program isn’t on this evening!? How dare they! Having to stand in a long queue? Not have exactly what we want for dinner cooked exactly how we want it? Even though it’s far better than what most folks get to have before them on a plate?

Pause and ponder.

For the Lord hears the needy
    and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

Psalm 69:33

Then pray.

Then carry on one way or another.

But do we each have enough to boast about in Christ? To boast about Christ? Spreading the gospel to others? Being a true light unto the world, the salt of the earth?

Read on. And there are some links following the brief words below.

If nothing else pray for those in prison — because in America the land is chock full of individuals, violent, evil, dark, deadly, sinister, vicious, lost individuals that need God, need Christ, need the Holy Spirit, and need the Holy Bible and prayers as much if not more than most.

Let us take the time, take the thought. Think. Consider. And if nothing else? Pray daily for those in prison to allow their hearts, their mostly cold, dead, dark hearts full of evil and anger, full of confusion and fear — though not admitted for the most part — to be warmed, ingesting True Light and the Real Truth pertaining to God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and THE ONLY WAY TO SALVATION — Jesus Christ the Lord!

Consider the thief on the cross next to Jesus…he doesn’t have to be the only prisoner to find Paradise and be with the Lord for eternity…

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Isaiah 61:1

Ken Pullen, A CROOKED PATH, Friday, April 14th, 2023

“Jail was God’s way of saving my life”

April 10, 2023

By Amy Cain

Reprinted from Crossroads Prison Ministries

Alexis grew up in a Christian home, but at sixteen, she began to act out and rebel.

“I decided to start doing what I wanted. I stopped going to church and started partying,” Alexis recalled.

At twenty-one, she had her first baby with a boyfriend. After he got her pregnant again, they decided to get married—“more out of obligation than love,” she noted.

“We attended church, but I was just going through the motions of life. I became a workaholic and put work and drugs before my family,” said Alexis. “My husband verbally, mentally, emotionally, and physically abused me. I chose to walk away because of the toxicity, and I didn’t want our kids thinking it was acceptable. I continued down a bad pathway as a functioning addict.”

Unfortunately, her addiction soon overpowered her and led to accidental tragedy. Her arrest filled her with regret but also gratitude to God.

“When I hit rock bottom and ended up in jail, it was God’s way of saving my life,” Alexis said. “Had I not ended up in jail, I would be dead from drugs and alcohol. My rock bottom ended with me on my knees in my jail cell, begging God for forgiveness.”

In jail, Alexis’s cellmate introduced her to Crossroads, and she signed up to receive lessons and a Bible. She also decided to get baptized a few months later. However, her addiction was still holding her back.

“I struggled off and on with my addiction while in county jail,” she said. “When I was shipped to prison, it was a wake-up call.”

While serving her time in prison, she got serious about sobriety and her relationship with Jesus.

“The more I look back over my last four and a half years of incarceration, the more God moments I see,” said Alexis. “All I can say is my God is amazing and has saved me from the hell I was living in.”

Reflecting on her time behind bars, she also recognizes and appreciates the spiritual support she received from her Crossroads mentors.

“I can’t thank you all at Crossroads enough for the encouragement and lessons over the last four and a half years,” she said. “I still have that same Bible to this day, and it is well-worn. I’ve gotten some new Bibles [but] still go back to that same Bible y’all sent me. It’s got a lot of meaning to me.”

In October 2022, Alexis was released on parole. She is now readjusting to her new life on the outside, grateful for the second chance God has given her.

“I am thankful to be granted parole and be given the chance to show the change God has made in my life and live the rest of my life living for God and sharing my story with others,” she said.

Do you want to get involved with Crossroads?

Sign up to mentor students like Alexis.

Donate to send Bibles and Bible study lessons to men and women behind bars.

Pray for students on parole as they adapt to life after prison and trust Jesus for guidance and support.