our only hope

I'm sitting here with an application I got in the mail to volunteer at our local county prison. This is surely proof that my life is not the same anymore, since I have a child in the prison system. I didn't plan for this to happen, and I would never have the application were it not for my son. Well, maybe I would, but I really doubt it. I don't know what that says about me as a person. No, I wouldn't have the application. My life would go on in blissful ignorance of the fortress in the next town full of hopeless people.

I've read all the articles in the paper about crimes committed, terrible murders, drug-related circumstances, things I still feel so separated from. It is still easy to say, well, my son is not THAT bad. He wouldn't do those things. Then I have to remind myself, we all could do THOSE things. Human beings are sinful. Period. The prison is a small slice of what we all truly deserve were we found out. The scripture says the deeds of the flesh are obvious-check this list-sexual immorality, impurity, indecency (I think I knocked off about 99.9 percent of the population immediately), idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy (!), anger (there goes the other one tenth percent), selfishness....ok, if you still doubt, it also says there is not one person that is righteous...not one.

There is only one prescription for sinful people, and it's all wrapped up in the only person who ever lived on this planet and was sin-free. It says He was tempted in all ways as we all are and yet without sin. He felt poverty, hunger, pain, joy, friendship, abandonment, every feeling we ever will know and more. The thing is, He came and left humans to do His work on earth. The more I consider the application, the more I know I must say yes. Not out of guilt, but out of responsibility and out of love, one forgiven person to another. There is no hope otherwise.