Wednesday, August 21, 2019 -
Dear Praying Friend,
259 days after meeting “C” for the first time, he is moving on. I’m both sad to see my good friend and mutual encourager leaving, but I’m very happy for him at the same time. I guess it’s what you call bittersweet.
By this time on Friday, he’ll be at his new place of incarceration, a prison camp in Indiana not too far from where he lived in Indianapolis. I’m hoping some of his family members will be able to visit him.
“C” and I have spent many hours studying God’s Word together and praying, talking about his life potential and what his new life might be like when he’s finally released from prison. I keep telling him God’s got big plans for him!
“C’s” been a huge encouragement to me, as well. He’s got a very big heart, and the tough demeanor has been rapidly disappearing and replaced with someone who just wants to obey and honor God. His old habits and ways are completely gone. The once appropriate adjectives of “gangster” and “street thug” must now most certainly be preceded by the word “former!” He is a living and breathing testimony of what God can do with a truly contrite and repentant heart.
“C” just told me tonight that when he was locked up this time, five years ago, he thought he’d never have the opportunity to go to a camp. But God has worked all that out, and he sees this (and the furlough to get there on his own recognizance) as God’s faithful provision and testing. And after telling me for months that nothing in the new law, the First Step Act, likely would apply to him, he admitted to me tonight that there’s a very good chance with the way laws stand now he could be free in less than four years – half the time he’s been expecting!
I would like to encourage you, if the Lord leads you, to write a note of encouragement or even a letter to “C.” It may be difficult for him to write you back, so please don’t necessarily expect a response back. If there is a good Christian paperback book (no novels) you think he might like, send it to him in a plain white envelope or from Amazon (hardcover is okay from Amazon). He especially likes good books which help him in his Christian growth. Your paper and envelopes must be white, and only black or blue ink. He just last month got his GED, for which he’s very thrilled.
“C” is 47 years old, and has never married but has grown children. Right now he’s planning on starting a food truck when he gets out, as he just loves to cook (he makes an awesome prison cheesecake!).
And there’s just one more thing. “C” has a real desire to live a pure and holy life before the Lord. So he would really like to get married and is praying for that. And so he gave me permission to put the word out for any eligible ladies to contact him. And so his photo is here, along with me, taken about two weeks ago. I’ve written much about “C” in past journals.
I’ve told “C” about my friend and former prayer partner for a number of years, who I met in the 1980s, Scott. Scott had been a high priest in the satanic “church.” He was in prison in Oregon, I believe. He was also wanted in a number of other states. A Christian lady in Virginia began to write to him and sent him a Bible. Scott was using the pages of the Bible to roll dope in but began to read it, and God saved his soul while in prison. Not long after that, he was suddenly released from prison, which if I recall correctly, was a clerical mistake – definitely a fluke (God-ordained)! Scott, being a new creature in Christ, ended up turning himself in to the authorities (I believe in five other states), but not one of them could find any records on him. He ended up marrying the woman who’d written him and had sent him the Bible, and they’re still married 30 years later. If you met Scott today, you’d have no idea of the life he led before he met Christ.
And so, “C,” too, will be available in a few years, if you know of any Christian women (only!) who may be interested in corresponding with “C” with the potential of something more – a lifelong marriage – let them know and ask them to write!
And no, I never thought I’d be playing matchmaker when I came to prison!
You can contact “C” as follows:
Mr. Christopher Adams
12674-028
P.O. Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
Thank you once again for all your prayers, letters, and financial support. Each one of you is such a blessing and encouragement to me. I wish I had access to a laptop or computer so I could write you individually, but there are so many and I only have a pen and paper and very few contacts I can access through the prison email system. But I thank God for you every day and pray for you! God is not finished!
In His Service,
Philip