All In a Days Work

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

This was an extraordinary special day for me.  My wife and I woke up at 5:45 AM to pray with Pastor T.J. McBride of Tabernacle of Praise International.  We are in season of consecration and will be fasting and praying for the first twenty one days in January.  I am feeling the power from the commitment that we are making.  I knew in my spirit that it was time for a fast and consecration.  I seek to be closer to God and the things that he wants for me. After praying I got up and took my dog Spirit for a walk.  It was rather cold out this morning, but I pressed through anyway.  Spirit was happy that she was able to get her daily walk.  I then left for Gold’s Gym to get a much needed morning workout. I hadn’t been to the gym in a week or so.  I use to workout three to four times a week and I’m planning to get back to that.  After my workout I hurried home and got dressed.  I received a call from a Pastor Bernard Miller who is the Georgia State Chaplain over prisons asking me to come to Jackson, Georgia to minister to the inmates.  Of course I could not say no to an opportunity like that.  So my wife Sherry and I met him in Barnesville at the TA Truckstop for lunch.  We ate vegetables while he and a friend were enjoying some delicious fried chicken.  It’s funny how as soon as you begin to fast you notice all types of foods, commercials on tv and radio about food, and you think about all of the foods that you cannot eat at the present.  Anyway we stuck to our diet and made it through.  Pastor Miller was briefing us on the condition of the prison and his position as Chaplain.  He is doing a wonderful work there by bringing in ministers and different speakers to help lift the spirits of men who are incarcerated.  At first I was a little uneasy about my wife being with me in the men’s correctional facility, because the thought of having all of those men looking at her was unnerving. Although she has lots of experience in prison ministry, even more than I do, I felt a certain way about it.  I let her know and she assured me that she was fine and that everything would be alright.  At this time my main concern was that I would give a good presentation.  Coming from a comedic background giving a good performance is paramount.  However, in ministry things are a bit different.  I believe that we are to rely more on the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us as to what we will present to his people, and to leave the outcome to him as well. 

So when the time came for me to minister I started out by playing a little Byron Cage “I Can’t Hold It.” This is an uptempo praise song that gets people going. I use it to come out to when I’m performing comedy. I let most of the song play and the inmates loved it. Many of them got up and begin to clap their hands with praise and thanksgiving. Some even broke out into dance. I’m so glad that I let that music play because I really was not sure how I was going begin my presentation. After the song I introduced Woody and did about fifteen minutes of comedy. The men loved it. It was great seeing them laugh so heartily. Laughter is such a great medicine especially in a pressurized environment like prison. Once I finished with Woody I put him away and they brought forth the podium for me to begin my sermon. I spoke about the importance of reading scriptures and studying the Bible. The title for my sermon was “Where is Your Playbook”? I gave an analogy of being a football player and the importance of knowing your playbook, as followers of Christ should know the Bible. How can you execute proper plays when you don’t know what’s in the playbook? 2 Timothy 2:15 says that we should “Study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” That means that we should apply ourselves to learning God’s word and playbook for our lives. How can we properly execute in this game of life which we did not create? I would suggest that we learn God’s playbook so that we can be successful and win. The men seemed to enjoy the sermon and I gave them some goal setting tips for the beginning of the year. Before leaving I gave the offer to Salvation and three men gave their lives to Christ. Glory to God! It was a great day.

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