Rodney is Chosen

I slipped on my new chocolate colored “furry-on-the-inside” crocs and wrapped up in my coffee colored furry winter coat to match and walked down to the end of the driveway to check the mail….

“Hmmmm, who have we got here! The Merrill’s, Ives, Hartman’s, awe… Joe and Donna, Aunt MINDY… ohh Lord this ought to be good.”

The front of Aunt Mindy’s Christmas card was a picture of her zip lining in Mexico. She’s a retired sixty-three year old widow, out there trying to do everything she possibly can that she missed out on all those sheltered years. Bless her heart.

“Let’s see, who else, what? Newton Correctional Facility in Iowa? Who could this possibly….”



Lori…

I don’t know if you’ve heard already or not, but I got locked up about three months ago for larceny. I was out with the guys drinking. We ran out of money to buy more, so we went car tipping. That’s when we go around neighborhoods looking for unlocked cars and stealing anything we can to pawn for money. Well, I got caught. Turns out, the owner of that green Toyota Camry I broke into, was sitting in the shadows of his porch watching me the entire time! He called the cops and they found me. I’m definitely going to be paying the consequences for it though. After all the merchandise I was caught with, I have to serve twenty-four months, and have two years of probation following. Ugh! I messed up bad Lori. I feel so stupid. What was I thinking?

I just want to say I’m sorry for the last year of us not talking, I should of called and apologized I’m so stubborn. Something so little grew to be so big, and we wasted so much precious time for nothing. I cant even begin to describe how much I love and miss you. I hope you can forgive me, and hopefully write. Hey forgot to tell you, I’m going to church here and its great. Me and the pastor really click. I‘m even thinking about ministering myself! Crazy huh? Never thought you’d see me in jail or church, but yet, here I am. Merry Christmas!
God bless,
Rodney

P.S. Almost forgot, I’m a dad now. ;)




BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! “HHHUGGH”. I sat up and hit the snooze button. “Phew! It was just a dream… just a dream.”

I snatched my cell phone off the night stand and dialed my brothers number.

“Rodney?!”

“Ay Lori! What’s going on?”

“I just woke up, and I had a crazy dream about you!”

“No kidding? Wait before I hear this, I have got to tell you something!” Rodney interrupted.

“What’s up?”

“So I was at the bowling alley of all places, sitting next to a prison minister of all people, and we shockingly started talking. We got lost in conversation as he told me stories about all these murderers and thieves who were saved in jail. It really spoke to me, and gave me hope! The hopeless, getting a second chance, not of this world, but of another. Could God really do this? I was amazed! So, I told you that story to tell you this… I’m going into street ministry! Is that crazy or what?”



Tears started rolling down my face! This was a miracle! Not only did God illustrate this to me in my dream, but more importantly he revealed himself to my brother. He was definitely a soul that you never would have guessed would give into God!



“Yes Rodney, that’s awesome!”



It’s wild how the least-expected are chosen huh?


Colossians 1: 20-22
“and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.