(All names have been changed for discretion sake. God knows the people and their real names.)
Today I was smacked in the face again with the perspective of just what constitutes problems. It is so easy to become aggravated because you feel someone has been rude to you. Maybe you have been spoken to in a demeaning way, perhaps because you are a Christian, but I am persuaded that it is easy to lose focus of other people’s plight in Life.
As I was praying in the prison Christian library before service, I had an unexpected meeting and conversation with Mario. I could tell he was forlorn, but I was soon to discover the reason why. Mario has been changed by the glory of God. Although his appearance is one of a life lived very rough Mario is not the same man that he used to be. He has one of the gentlest spirits that you will ever find, as well as a very good testimony by both those in and out of Church. He is faithful to church and always has near the top scores with his Bible Studies.
Mario was asking for prayer. You see; Mario’s adult son (Hector) was bludgeoned to death this year on the 6th of May by the cartel. He showed me his phone so I could read two text messages that he had received recently. He was being taunted by people outside the prison. He was being laughed at, and was told that his number wasn’t difficult to obtain. Mario was told that his adult daughter Gabriela was seen in town recently and that she was going to die very soon. He hasn’t had any contact with his other adult daughter (Sophia) for some few months. Mario was taunted as he was told that his daughters would die the same way that his son Hector had died. His hopes are that they have fled and are in hiding.
As Mario spoke he looked at me and said that although he knows that he himself can’t do anything, because he is locked up, he still knows that God is Sovereign and in control. In his distraught eyes I saw the agony of a man that realizes that even though he has been forgiven, there are still consequences for past living with which he may still have to be deal. Saints; we know that God is Just and Righteous, but we also know that God is merciful! As we prayed there was a good presence of the Lord in the room, but my request, as well as his, is that you please remember him and his daughters in prayer. The Lord knows their correct names and where they are located. Thank You!