Day one of the trip had everything you could have asked for in a Saints trip. There were no travel hiccups, there was really good team chemistry off the bat, good softball, the ministry end of the day was executed to perfection, we had some good team meals, the devotions were solid, and to really make it an official perfect day, there was ice cream at the end of the day! Our first day gameplan was pretty much drawn up on the whiteboard and executed perfectly!
Day two did not go the way we drew it up…
…However, we had an opportunity to do what we talked about during our devotion time the night before…
“Godly Exiles Serve Faithfully Wherever God has Placed Them”
The two prisons that we planned on visiting were cancelled because they had to go on lockdown. We found that out right before we left for the trip so we knew that we would be facing a “free day”.
We got a little extra sleep and had a decent breakfast. A few of us ran across the road to the Krispy Kreme for a Hot and Fresh donut.
The leadership on the team contacted a couple of Rescue Missions/Food Pantries in Marion to see if they needed any help for the day.
We went to The Promise Mission in town. We met the director of the mission and heard about all that they do to serve the homeless in their community.
We helped by picking up some trash around the mission, doing some painting, assisting with some plumbing, and cleaning some rugs.
Our team did a good job interacting with the folks at the mission and there were several guys who had good conversations. I had a few opportunities to talk to some of the guys who stopped by there and did my best to try and bring the Gospel into those conversations.
About halfway through the day, part of our team went over to the Lighthouse Shelter across town to help with some cleaning and organizing.
It was humbling hanging out with some guys who were homeless and were in need on several different levels. Please pray for these men and women.
We left the missions and made our way back to the hotel. We got cleaned up and went to a local BBQ place for dinner.
After dinner, we went to a local bowling alley and did some bowling. This was a blast as we made fun of each other’s scores and cheered for each other as we knocked down some strikes.
When we got back to the hotel, we met for our team devotions.
We were still in Daniel 6 and our topic for the evening was:
“Godly Exiles Stay Loyal to God Above All Earthly Powers”
In Daniel 6, the high officials and satraps didn’t like Daniel and tried to set him up to die in a pit of lions.
Their plan was to have King Darius sign off on a law that no one could pray to any god or man except the king. The king signed off on the law. Daniel heard about this and was still faithful to Lord by praying to Him in front of an open window where everyone could see him. The king doesn’t want to but he has Daniel put into the pit of lions. Daniel is protected by the Lord and survives the lions. The king then has the officials and satraps thrown into the pit and they of course become Old Testament cat food.
We discussed the applications of this and discussed that it is convicting for our prayer lives since we probably don’t pray as often as Daniel. We also talked about what it looks like to stand up for ourselves in a world that hates the Lord and to be bold to identify as believers in Jesus Christ in an unbelieving world.
After our devotion time, we got to sleep to get ready for a full of day of time in one of the most historic Federal prisons in the country!
