SOCPM Newsletter | April 23, 2022

Greetings,

SOCPM Inside the Prison Gate: Beginning to feel like times long ago

SOCPM Outside the Prison Gate: A farewell to a couple of prison ministry friends.

On the Home Front: Thankful for another excellent read. Will they come? They being the hummingbird

On the Prayer Front - All things family and SOCPM

These are the topics for this week's SOCPM Newsletter. I hope you enjoy it, despite my lack of an editor. Michelle would like to edit my newsletters (I think she has a deep-seated desire to be an English teacher with a red pencil in hand), but her work voids the time.

To Him be the glory in ALL things and Him alone,

Scott Kalas
Soldiers of Christ Prison Ministries

SOCPM Inside the Prison Gate

I'm hitting my pre COVID stride in the Dixon and Sheridan classrooms; as the third week of my return came to a close this past week. There are a few new students at Sheridan whom, as I get to know them, I have confidence they know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

In both Discipleship classes where we are watching 'What Does Revelation teach? (Pt. 1) have initially been given a positive response. All three Malachi Dads have also received a positive response. This upcoming week we discuss the chapter 'Salvation.' It is a chapter I look forward to teaching. It offers an opportunity for a clear teaching of the Gospel. Alongside the teaching of chapter 3, I will also ask the students James D. Kennedy's Evangelism Explosion questions. Answer yes or no to the following question (I have added 'unsure' as an additional response), "If you were to die tonight, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven?" and "If you answered, 'yes,' why?" It allows me to get candid answers to what they believe and why. I give all students in all classes an opportunity to respond with written responses. Would you please pray there is 100% participation and God will use SOCPM in the coming weeks to respond to the fallacies I'm sure will be in their responses?

SOCPM Outside the Prison Gate

In the past, you've heard me express the bittersweet feeling when a long-time SOCPM student paroles. Sweet for the student who is free from the gloomy life of incarceration but bitter for me personally because it is my losing a friend.

This week had a similar feeling with the saying of farewell to Larry and Sharon. After volunteering some twenty-five years in Dixon Correctional, they are heading to a new home in Missouri to be near children and grandchildren. It is undoubtedly sweet to be near the kids and grandkids, but also a bitter feeling is they are saying goodbye to an era of serving God's Kingdom in prison ministry, specifically Dixon. It is also a bitter moment for the men Larry and Sharon have built loving and caring relationships with over the years. Over my eleven years at Dixon, which is like a cat nap compared to Larry and Sharon, I've often heard my students share how Larry and Sharon have been a light of God's love and mercy through Jesus Christ to them personally.

I've known both for a lot of years. When I was just a baby in prison ministry, I first met Sharon doing cell by cell visits in Pontiac, a maximum-security prison. In addition to seeing Sharon's love for serving prisoners, she also was an encouragement to me. Sharon, at times, had to do cell by cell in a wheelchair as her legs your not as young as they used to be. I remember once when I had doubts about my ability to do prison ministry; I saw Sharon sitting in her wheelchair before we moved on to the next cell block. God said to me, "If I can use Sharon (newsflash, Sharon is older than me, and not just by a few years) and her being in a wheelchair, for My glory, know I can use you too.'

Larry was an inspiration to me too, when he would often call me and ask what I was planning to teach in the coming months. In part just to make sure e wouldn't be teaching the same material. Larry, many times taught Crown Financial, a ministry of godly stewardship. To my benefit and God's glory, it is a class I could have been a student.

I had the joy of joining Dixon's Chaplain Thomas and a few other Dixon volunteers for lunch, celebrating Larry and Sharon. It sounds very much like prison ministry will still be a part of Larry and Sharon's lives as they were getting insight into other areas where they can continue to do prison ministry in their new home area. You can take Larry and Sharon out of Dixon prison ministry, but you can't take out the love Larry and Sharon have for serving their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in prison ministry to love the incarcerated, all for the glory of their Heavenly Father.

A personal thank you to Larry and Sharon for their inspiration; to Him be the glory.

On the Home Front

Technically, this, I guess, should come under Inside the Gate since it is where I'm at when I'm reading, The Surprising Grace of Disappointment: Finding Hope When God Seems to Fail US by John Koessler. A little more than halfway through it, I will add it to my personal recommend reads. Confirmation of my recommendation is when I see the many highlights.

In the last SOCPM Newsletter, I wrote of Michelle and me hoping to attract hummingbirds by buying a hummingbird feeder and a shepherd's hook. Only after receiving and placing the shepherd's hook have the light go on; our HOA does not allow anything to obstruct the landscapers when they mow the lawn, which eliminates putting the feeder in place easily visible from our view from the couch. We can place it in the garden bedding adjoining our townhome. However, it results in the feeders possibly being too close to the window to attract hummingbirds. The next step is to stop wondering and just set it up and see how the hummingbirds respond. So, a task on my list for later today is to do just that. Perhaps, next SOCPM Newsletter, I'll have a picture of a hummingbird humming around our hummingbird feeder.

On the Prayer Front

Cameron - In my communication with Cameron this past week, he told me he finally got hit with Covid. I'm surprised it wasn't sooner with his being a food server. He, of course, was sent home and will miss a few days of work, causing hardship in paying his rent. Would you please pray God provides a means for him to pay teh rent? Also, as always, first and foremost, pray for his salvation, permanent sobriety, and health? Would you also pray for healthy friendships?

Michelle (aka my lovely bride) - God blessed Michelle with an idea she shared with her employers, and they thought it was a good idea. Praise God! However, they've asked Michelle to be the lead. She is having some of the anxieties that come with being the lead. She asks you to pray that she has the wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, etc., to bring the idea God blessed her with to fruition? She also asks for continued prayer that she continues to be diligent in reading God's Word.

Self - I continue to have at minimum a smoothie with spinach five times a week and three thirty-minute sessions on the treadmill. Praise God he has motivated me, and pray I continue in this discipline, but I also reduce unhealthy snacks. With that said comes the nuclear stress test this week. Praise God, they have been positive in the past, aka me not having a heart attack while doing the stress test. However, I'm anxious that my current disciplines in exercise and consuming spinach will be God's way of saying too little, too late. Would you please pray I have the endurance to stick with the stress test long enough to get my heart rate up to what the cardiologist wants to see and that I have encouraging results that will further motivate me to do more exercise and have a healthier diet?

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