Category: Blog

Good morning, peeps!

Lesson #2 From The Joint: You Are Where You Need To Be

On the morning of our first full day in prison, one of the inmates walked past the back…

Before I go any further, let me explain some things.  I am a part of the Great Banquet community and one of the things we do is host Great Banquet “weekends”.  We do this for correctional centers, as well as for y’all free folks.  I am not doing a great job of explaining this so if you want more information, you can click this link and find out more: https://www.lampstand.net/great-banquet/.  Here is how the gym is set up in the prison:  there are nine long tables for the guests and team members and then a long table in the back for the directors, assistants, spiritual directors, and me.  We call ourselves “The Back Table”, or “The Table of Contents”.  Got it?  Okay, let me continue.

On the morning of our first full day in prison, one of the inmates walked past the back table and said, “Thank you, ladies, for being here!  We really appreciate it.  We are so happy that you’re here.”  One of the team members replied, “We are happy to be here!  And we’re happy that you’re here!  I mean, we’re not happy that you’re here, but we’re glad that…”  The woman, shaking her head, stopped the team member in mid-sentence and said, “I’m glad that I’m here.  This is where I need to be.”

Dag.

“God is a comedian.  Don’t let anyone fool you.  God’s got jokes.” – Galen

God has a sense of humor.  You can see it through the interesting ways He gets us to line up with His plan for us.  Some of those ways are fun, while some are very un-funny.  There are a lot of people in the prison system who, had they not been locked up, would be dead.  Life or death – those were the options.  We don’t look at prison and think “Ooooo! Life!”, but I promise you this: a judge’s gavel has been some folks’ saving grace.  Not everyone who is incarcerated views their present location/situation as bad.  Some of them see it as a blessing, sent from God.

I have a wonderful person in my life who, after hearing me talk about a current situation I’m in, encouraged me to look at it a different way: “Girl.  I hear you and I understand – been there, done that – but this is the way I would look at it if I were you: if God’s got you going through a bunch of pain and hell as He is working this stuff out of you, then KNOW that you will be better for it.  I know it hurts and you’d rather be ‘anywhere but here’, but you are exactly where you need to be.  Stop trying to run from it and sit in it.  Say “Okay, God, this is where You have me”, and let it do what it is supposed to do so you can move on to the next step.  I really need you to grasp this.  Know that whatevuh – hmm – whatevuh God has for you on the other side of this HAS to be greater than what you had or what you are going through.  It’s gotta be.  ‘Cause that’s just who He is.”

It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you’re facing the opposite way.   I know, I know: I’m deep.

Have a great weekend, peeps.

–d.

Good morning, peeps!

Let me quit playing and tell you about what has stuck with me from my weekend in prison.  I went to bed last night fully intending to do Part 2 of “Thursday-ish”.  I can’t.  This morning, my weekend was playing on the big screen.  I told you that being in the joint will change you.  It will.  So here we go.

Lesson #1:  Place More Value On The Nothings

I have a greater appreciation for the small stuff.  And when I say “small”, I don’t mean insignificant.  No.  I’m talking about the bits and pieces we don’t give value to because we have bigger fish to fry.  Guess what?  The little wiggly worm that was used to snag that fish matters too.  There was a woman in last weekend’s group who was developmentally-challenged.  I didn’t know who she was on the first day – which upset her, by the way – but I remembered by Day 2.   I’ll call her “Ms. C”.  I grew up with her and once I realized that, I became very sad.  Her family treated her like dog poo, and not the freshly-deposited-in-my-front-yard-and-I-don’t-even-have-a-dog kind.  My neighbor and I need to have a convo.  I just snuck in a vent.  I’m talking about dried-out dog poo.  Any abuse you can imagine was done to her.  The whole weekend, she kept looking back at me and I’d smile.  All she wanted was a smile.  I didn’t have to do too much – just smile.

If I didn’t tell you, I was the worship leader for the weekend.  I can’t remember if I already typed that.   I personally played – I had a keyboard – a lot of worship music, but I had some fun stuff on a CD.   I tried my best to play a lot of upbeat music that we could dance to because they do not get to do that in prison.  Did you hear me?  They don’t get to dance in prison.  Chile, bye.  I dance while cleaning, while making my bed, while folding the laundry, while dancing – I dance.  Never thought about how I would function if that was taken away from me.

I’m about ready to cry thinking about this.  Ms. C wanted to sing a song and asked if I would play the keyboard as she sang.  Sure, I can do that.  She didn’t even ask if I knew the song – I think she just assumed that I did.  It really wasn’t too much of a stretch to assume that I knew it because it’s the black church theme song.  Jesus On The Main Line.  When she approached the mic, the thought came to me: play it as if you were the one singing it.  So I went in.  She didn’t sing it the way I knew it was supposed to go because she added additional lyrics that had me going “What??”, but you got the point: Jesus is on the main line and you ought to tell Him what you want.  She went on and on and on and on.  I didn’t mind because I probably would’ve done it, too.  She started crying when she was done and said, “You don’t know how much that meant to me!  Thank you, Jesus!  Thank you, Jesus!”  Aww man!  I’m about to start crying again.  She was so grateful to given a chance to sing, that people were clapping as she sang, and that I played for her.

You’re praising God for that?  That was nothing.

On Friday night, I played “Unfinished” by Mandisa and “We Are Family” by someone.  It is 3 in the morning, folks.  I can’t recall everything.  We were having so much fun when someone said, “Let’s do a train!”  So we did.   I led everyone around the room, as we danced, laughed, and tried to sing.  It was so much fun.  On Saturday, I played another fun song while we were waiting to go to lunch.  It was “Happy” by Pharrell.  Now, I was not really feeling the whole “let’s do a train” thing because I was tired.  No, ma’am.  I was just going to do my little “I’m dancing in this one spot” pump-my-fist thing.  Ms. C had other ideas.  She looks at me and yells, “Everyone follow me!”  So you know what we did?  We followed her.  We danced around that room, following someone who was obviously way more excited about the whole deal than all of us combined.  Like, for real.  She squealed and clapped her hands, as she kept looking back to see if we were still following her.  At one point she said, “Y’all following me!!  Y’all following me!!  I’m going to cry!”  And she did.  She started crying, thanking Jesus that people were following her.

You’re praising God for that?  That was nothing.

God-sent gifts come in assorted sizes.  And shapes.  There is value in the tiniest of them.  In fact, they have just the same value as the biggest gift He can give.  Sometimes, even more.  It’s all about how you look at ’em.  Pay close attention to your world today.  Make note of the small things – the nothings.

–d.

Good morning, peeps!

I did not know that so many of my friends like horses.  I did not expect that.  That is so cool.  Guess what?  I still don’t.  I am now on the prayer lists of three who want to make sure I learn to love them.  I love y’all, I really do, but no.  Pray that I get delivered from the spirit of gluttony.  Or that whatever work God is still doing on my hubby-to-be gets finished soon so he can come on.  One of my friends, and this was a fun conversation, posed this question to me: Well, what if you were in a life or death situation and riding a horse was the only way you could escape?

Giddyup. 

So, this is going to be a very short blog and it will not be about Daniel.  I woke up in the middle of some good slobbery sleep at 1:27 a.m. with an urgency to pray for you all.  I don’t know what you have been dealing with, but God woke me up and said, “Pray for everyone connected to you.”  I have no idea who all that is so I made some group lists.  I prayed for people I see at work, folks I go to church with, people I’ve met growing up, people who read this blog…everybody.   And then I went back to sleep.

To be honest, being awakened with an urgency to pray unsettles me.  I immediately think the worst.  I have peace about it now.  Listen to Travis Greene’s “Made A Way”.   After I woke up for the second time, that song was ringing in my ears.  I asked God, “So, what’s up with that?”  In my spirit, I felt a reassurance that this is why He had me pray this morning.  There are going to be some “don’t know how, but you did it” moments for you today.  Expect the unexpected.

Ohhhh yeaaaah.

Made a way
Don’t know how but You did it
Made a way
Standing here not knowing how we’ll get through this test
But holding unto faith You know that
Nothing can catch You by surprise
You got this figured out and You’re watching us now
But when it looks as if we can’t win
You wrap us in Your arm and step in
And everything we need You supply
You got this in control
And now we know that

You made a way
When our backs were against the wall
And it looked as if it was over
You made a way
And we’re standing here
Only because You made a way
You made a way

–d.