NOT FOR THE FAMILY ALBUM. What do you do with the prodigal son who doesn’t come home? Photo by Lionel Allorge/Wikimedia.
I GET STORIES FROM READERS happy or sad.
Lisa is both, but mostly sad.
She wrote to thank me for writing The Complete Guide to the Bible. She said she bought two copies. One for herself. One for her son Ryan, locked up in a correctional facility in California.
She gave me permission to tell part of her story.
“Our three children were raised in the church, so Ryan does have a Christian foundation and belief in God, Jesus, and the Bible. But Ryan seems to have returned to the wrong path.
“We had such high hopes for him as he’s very intelligent and has been ‘good’ for eight years.
“I worry about my son because he said to me, a few years back, that it was very hard for him to be good. I still cannot even fathom what he meant by that. It’s such a shame as there is so much good in him.
“He’s 34 now.
“Because of his behavior during his teen years and early 20s, he is caught up in a cycle of failure. Ryan must find a way to break this cycle, with God in the lead.
“Since he is in a lock down unit with only one hour a day out of his cell, I hope the time he spends in jail/possibly prison will be a time of learning and growing for him and that The Complete Guide to the Bible will be a road map to a new life for him and our family, too.”
Lisa
I know a little bit about the heartbreak Lisa is feeling.
I once stood before a judge, nervously making my family’s appeal for the release of one of my relatives in prison.
The person in lockup isn’t the only one locked up.
I wrote to Lisa to encourage her and to ask her to keep me posted on Ryan’s case. She said she wasn’t able to get my book to him because books going into the correctional facility have to come directly from the publisher.
I offered to take care of that for her.
I contacted the publisher. To my surprise, I happened to get lucky enough to speak with a lady there who regularly sends books to prisoners – it’s kind of a ministry for. She said she was delighted to hear that I wanted to do this for Ryan.
I asked her to send Ryan a copy of The Complete Visual Bible because I think it may be one of the most helpful for him.
I asked the lady to do me a favor – to do something I can’t do because the book has to come directly from the publisher. I asked her – and she agreed – to include inside the book a handwritten note:
“Your mom loves you, no matter what.”
That may be one of the most important sentences I’ve written all year.
Lisa sent me another note yesterday. She says Ryan has already read the entire book.
“I know he was really appreciative,” she said, “because he has made numerous references to it during our short phone conversations.” Prisoners are allowed to talk for only 15 minutes at a time.
If God brings the thought to your mind on occasion, join me in asking him to help Lisa and her boy in the months and years ahead.
Here’s my hope and prayer for Lisa…a promise that I would ask God to give her:
I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’
They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures
and on hills that were previously bare.
Isaiah 49:9
Steve on Skype interview
If you have a spare hour and want to watch me tackle a bunch of Bible questions on a Canadian TV program, here’s your link to the Miracle Channel.
From the drop-down menu of episodes you can watch, pick “Stephen Miller.”
This is my first-ever Skype TV interview, so I had no idea what to expect. I hope that doesn’t show too much.
New video about Jesus
I released a new video on Monday: Jesus, Roman MD.
Remember the spit and mud Jesus used to heal two blind men? Romans used that technique, too. That’s what I talk about in the four-minute video.
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