The Chicago Bears didn’t beat the Green Bay Packers. The Chicago Bears were never going to beat the Green Bay Packers. And I knew this too. But, I made the bet anyway. I bet my good friend, and die-hard Packer fan Bruce Buri that the Bears would beat the Packers during the Sunday night football game before our trip. While the Bears made it interesting, they inevitably fell behind and lost the game. Of course, like any good sports fan, I made a bet on the game and like any good Christian, I didn’t bet money. I bet something worse than that. We agreed that whoever lost would have to wear the opposing team’s jersey on this trip. It got some laughs and I have a picture so that I can remember my ill judged decision to step into the dark world of sports gambling.
Our first prison of the day was Marion CI. I had previously visited Marion back in 2011 during my first ever trip with the Saints. Part of the yard was under construction so we played in a different yard in a different part of the prison. We passed by a machine shop that several of the inmates worked in. They made metal products that could be used by the state. It was cool to see the different machinery and the amount of skill and talent that these guys had to have to work in the shop.
We made it to the field and snapped our losing streak by winning the first game. In between games, Bryce and Bruce from Wisconsin shared their testimony and shared the Gospel. While we had a few more problems with the sound system, Bryce and Bruce did a really good job sharing with the crowd that was there.
After our ministry time, we started our second game. Unfortunately, we lost the 2nd game of the day before leaving for our next facility.
Overall during our trip to Marion, we handed out 82 Gospels and had 9 men indicate that they wanted to follow the Lord.
After we left Marion, half of the team headed for Wendy’s while a few of us went to a local guitar and music store to buy a new microphone. We found a microphone and went straight to the Wendy’s for a quick meal before heading to our next prison.
Our next stop was North Central Correctional Center. I have played here before and these guys typically take their softball very seriously. We played as competitively as we could in very windy conditions but we just couldn’t keep up with their hitting and we lost both of our games to what may have been the best team we saw on the trip. In between games, Adam Blankenship from West Virginia shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and I shared the Gospel. This was kind of a weird yard to share the Gospel in because there was a fence and a walking track between the field and most of the yard. It didn't seem like too many guys were listening but we did hand out 175 Gospels and we had 5 guys make decisions to follow the Lord during our ministry time.
After we left the facility, we went back to our hotel to clean up before a wonderful Chinese buffet dinner. After dinner we huddled up for devotions and continued our discussion through 1 Peter. We talked about what it looks like to share the Gospel with someone who doesn’t or won’t believe. We emphasized verse 15 about being gentle and respectful when sharing the Gospel.
After our devotion time, we played some “Youth Group” style games. We played a game where we had to start with an Oreo cookie on our foreheads and without using our hands, we had to figure out how to eat the cookie! We also did a game where we had to see how many pencils we could catch in mid air and another where we had to do a puzzle blindfolded. These were a lot of fun and it was a good time to laugh together after a tough few days on the field.
