As Iron Sharpens Iron

The next week, I rolled up in the parking lot met my partner and told him that I was going to see the Devil again. He said, you mean the one that flipped out on you. He said are you sure? Didn’t an officer tell you to stay away from him? I said yes, but God was urging me to see him. And with that I promptly went up the catwalk and passed everyone and went directly to cell 11. This time the tide was turned. I even startled him when he turned and I was standing there. This time I was armed. Ephesians 6:12-13 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. I knew that my battle was spiritual. So I clung to this scripture and took my armor (Word of God) and begin to minister.

Praise God the prior week he went off on me so I felt obligated to go off on him! He was flabbergasted. He really didn’t know what to think. He knew in his heart that after last week, I would not be back. What he didn’t know was that I was bringing my big brother back, (God) amen! We had a much better exchange. He was a lot calmer and actually more receptive. I started to leave and he said do you want to keep talking to me? I said yes. He said, these cons in here get on my nerves and I am known for fighting and causing problems. He said, even though we are cuffed when taken to shower, I still end up getting into fights. For that reason they are always moving me from cell to cell. If you come to my cell and I have been moved asked someone where I have been moved. My cell name is DB.

Sure enough, every time I would go to his cell, he would be moved. All this time during our visits I had never shaken his hand or got close to his cell. I still realized he was dangerous. One night I was feeling the love of God overwhelmingly and I was very excited about my visit to the block on this particular evening. As usual I made my way to visit DB. He had been moved and was upstairs on D range. I came around the corner and went to his cell. He was in a very odd mood. But I was in such a great spiritual mood I didn’t pay attention to it. Then, I know that it must have been God because I stuck my hand out to shake his, something I had never done before. He grabbed my hand and placed a “death” grip on it. He began to shake uncontrollably. I was oblivious to what was happening. Then out of the blue as he had death gripped my hand, I looked him square in the eyes and said, “DB, you may find this hard to believe, but God loves you and I love you.” Immediately, his hand loosed mine. His rigid tense body became eased. We went on to talk about God and His love. The night ended and we parted.

Three days later I get a letter from an inmate that would write me and brief me on situations at the block. We became friends and he helped me to nurture the ones that accepted Christ and he would fill me in on the progress. He wrote and told me that DB had flipped out the next morning of my visit, broke out of his cell, attacked an orderly and almost killed him. By the time the fracas was over he had assaulted two officers and took a beating himself. I was shocked!