Jim Austin and I were doing cell to cell ministry. We were on the “A” line at Eastham. We would walk the tier and talk with the guys in “administrative segregation” about Jesus. Jim told me about one guy after we had finished for the day. This inmate looked at Jim through the bars and said with a straight face, “I am going to get my life together.” My initial response would have been to say, “That is great news.” But not Jim, he responded, “There is no evidence that you can get your life together on your own.” WOW, that is a hard truth. I thought about what Jim said, and he was correct. You see, this man was doing time on “A” line at Eastham. To get into Eastham first you must be convinced of a felony. Second, Eastham is a disciplinary unit, so most likely he was sent there for having “behavioral issues” in another maximum security prison. Thirdly “A” line was where the worst of the worst were locked up in Eastham. (This was before Texas opened the new super segregation units.) You had to misbehave in Eastham to make the “A” line. Eastham is a unit with over 4,000 men with close to half there with a disciplinary case against them. Tiers A-H are the disciplinary tiers, and here this guy was on “A” line. The truth is that if there is a bottom of the barrel this guy had found it. He had run his life right into the ditch. Jim was right, all the evidence pointed to this guy being unable to run his own life.
It is amazing though, that a person can ignore all of the evidence in their lives. Here this guy is with no evidence that he can do this on his own. In fact the evidence points to his inability to run his own life. That is the case; this guy is unable to run his own life, yet he is able to ignore the evidence. In his own mind he was thinking, “Give me a chance I can do it.” But Jim had the wisdom to present that “it is only through Christ being both my Lord and Savior that I am able.” That is Jim turned the living of his life over to Jesus.
As I think of this story I wonder how often I have thought that I can run my life better than Jesus. My natural thought is that I can just try harder, or work harder, or build my own kingdom then all will be well. Then I read “ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” And I contemplate what that means….
I wonder if we the men of the Church are still trying to “get our life together” without Jesus. As a man, the temptation is for me to “get my life together” on my own. As I read the following statistics about men in church I wonder as to the wisdom of going it alone. For every ten men in the church, nine will have children who leave the church. Eight will not find their jobs satisfying. Six will pay the monthly minimum on their credit card bills. Five will have a major problem with pornography, and four will get divorced. All ten will struggle to balance work and family.
The reason I wanted to tell that man in prison “good for you” was because I want evidence that I can get my life together on my own. But Jim was right to tell this man “There is no evidence that you can get your life together on your own.” I just have a better veneer than that guy in prison.
Rev. Patrick Evans
