Going to Prison

I dropped my son off at the House of Corrections last night to serve a 30 day sentence.  Could be worse.  Maybe it should be.

He has been making jokes about serving the time but I know he is scared.  His mother and I are scared.  And sad.  And concerned.  And hopeful.  Scared that this experience will scar him physically or mentally.  Scared that he will harden his heart and not learn anything.  Hopeful that somehow, this experience will snap him out of the funk he has been in for the past year.  Hopeful that this will make him afraid to break the rules, afraid to hang out with people of bad character that corrupt good conscience.  

He needs a job and has to get one when he gets out of jail.  It will be hard.  Many businesses will not hire someone with a felony on their record.  His driver's license is suspended for at least eight more months.  He has no car.  He has no money to buy a car.  There are no businesses close to our house that he could walk to or ride a bike to.  The road ahead climbs a hill.

I do not ask God, "why?".  That is not important.  God is in control.  He will work all things out for good.  I trust in Him and wait for relief and peace.  

Yet, my heart aches.  Like the father of the prodigal son, I stand at the edge of my property looking for my son to return.  There is nothing I can do.  I cannot fix this.  I can encourage.  I can reprimand.  But, in the end, recovery and change is in the hands and mind of a 19 year old young man.  He can choose to make the same bad choices.  He can continue to view himself as a failure.  He can choose to walk the path of recovery, day-by-day.  All I can do is pray and hope.

The only thing that really matters is where we end up when we die.  I believe my son has a saving faith in Jesus Christ.  However, the bible says in several places that a person is known by what they do.  "Can a thorn bush produce grapes?", Jesus asked.  We are all thorn bushes to some extent.  At the same time, believers are also grafted into the vine that is Jesus.  Through him (or maybe him through us), we produce good fruit.  It is faith that matters most.  The Spirit of Christ produces fruit in us.  

"LIve your life through my son, Jesus.  Be patience, kindness, hope, charity, joy, goodness, faithfulness, and especially, self-control in him."  This is my hope.

I will take my son out of prison in 30 days.  I pray he will be a different person, in Christ.