Stories of Faith and Courage From Prisonનમૂનો
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FREEDOM
Steve Gunning, Minnesota
IN PRISON they say you have “rabbit blood” if you have a history of planning escapes. I did. I spent ten years at Oak Park Heights because of it. Somebody got cold feet and turned himself in, landing me in isolation, where I could hear hell itself. That was early in my sentence. Authorities see that in an inmate’s file and know that if you go to a medium facility, there’s nothing to stop you if you’re really serious about escape. To get me into the InnerChange Freedom Initiative pre-release program, they would have to take that chance.
When you’re a lifer at a maximum-security prison and are told you will be transferred to a medium, it means they are going to let you go free, eventually. Unless you mess up, you’re going home. Even non-Christians lose their motivation to escape with that hope dangling in front of them.
I see a lot of irony in my past escape plans and my newfound freedom. My view of God had to radically change. I saw him as a tyrant. I thought the truth would crush me. I’d plunged so deep into darkness I believed that God had to lower the boom on me.
I grew up in a rural Minnesota town with a population of 599 near the Red River Valley. Mom hugged me once in a while, but we did not have a close relationship. It was all about work. I only saw Dad a couple of months a year because he was always away at work. I learned to be self-sufficient and alone.
I developed a secret life of rebellion while I showed people the acceptable hard-working farm boy exterior. The seriousness increased. I masked everything with drugs and alcohol. The one life got so strong, I couldn’t hide it. It took over until I committed a murder at thirty-one.
When I look back on the prison I created for myself, it brings tears to my eyes. I put myself in cuffs, leg chain, body chain and the jumpsuit before I spent a day in the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
I didn’t realize that, unless you confess the dark secrets, they enslave you and determine the life you live. When something has power over you, it’s a beast. But if you open up about it, shine the light on it, then it loses its power—especially through Christ’s blood on the cross.
God doesn’t want to destroy me. He’s a loving father who wants to talk with me in intimate relationship. That was a freedom I’d never experienced before. Not long after I started living in that truth, the parole board found reasons to give me a chance at physical freedom.
We want to thank AMG Publishers, Connie Cameron, and Jeff Peck for providing this plan. For the complete devotional or more information, visit: battlefieldsandblessings.com. To learn more about AMG In ternational's gospel work around the world, visit: amginternational.org.
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The battle for souls is fierce for those living behind bars. How can the power of God's light penetrate the darkness of "Satan's playground?" This moving collection of Scripture and prisoners' stories reveals God's protection, purpose for suffering, and eternal love for each of us---including society's most shunned people.
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