A few years ago, I went on a short mission trip to a Florida prison.
I was nervous, very nervous.
We were going into a major prison and there were rapists, murders, etc. and behind multiple locked doors. I have never been around large groups of people like that. I did not grow up in place that there are people like that nor do I engage every day with people convicted of crimes.
What I found was amazing to me.
There were many times I was surrounded completely by some really bad dudes, yet I felt safe.The main reason was because of the appreciation those guys had for us.
They appreciated so much that we would take time out of our schedule, travel to Florida and spend time with them.
I have been to some places "upscale" and did not receive the graciousness that I received on that trip.
And as I thought of some of these guys and their situations what was the difference between them and myself?
They were born in some places where they had no chance to score a run, and I was born on, at least, 2nd base.
Also, there were men in there who had killed people because they were drunk while operating a vehicle and the only difference between them and me is that, for some reason, I was lucky throughout my stupid phase of life.
It changed the way I saw people that are incarcerated.
It changed my belief on the death penalty.
As a Christian, the greatest thing we can do is to share the Gospel and see a person give their life to Christ.
If we execute them, we have taken that away and given a sentence much worse than living behind bars, but being separated for eternity from God.
