Setting Prisoners Free

sitting happily complacent my stability so content and stagnant Jesus declares "oh what a tragedy! I will never leave you where you are receive My firm but gentle push" humbly i submit humbly i bow humbly i pray humbly I need.... forward movement despite reluctance cleansing when I think nothing's wrong renewal despite self righteous pride Grace transforming my stubborn self and moving me beyond my fragile dreams Hope must empower us; to pray, take risks and for action. If it doesn't; the Kingdom of God within us becomes a meaningless, sterile contemplation.

As Phillip was talking, I started visualizing a scene similar to "Taxi Driver". A transient hotel. Tight stairways. A trail of blood. A very angry man and two extremely scared men trying to get away, and just LIVE..... Janice invites these two homeless men into her apartment. She knows them well. She has a case of beer and wants some drinking partners. Being alcoholics and homeless, they oblige. They're drinking, laughing, singing and telling stories. After a few hours, the alcohol is gone, so Janice steps out to go to the liquor store. JD has been out all day, steps into his apartment and finds Phillip and Drew chilling in HIS apartment. They were laughing, yelling and intoxicated in HIS house. He knows them, but he does not want them in HIS house. It doesn't matter that his girlfriend invited them in, he simply does not want them there; they were drinking up HIS money, the money he received being a respected Vietnam vet and a prisoner of war. JD wa...

Danny: I remember the day you stepped into my life I remember how you gave me attitude! I remember when you fled in disgust I remember your humble return! I remember how you learned the evils of an unjust society I remember how your dreams would shatter yet I remembered how you continued to dream simple dreams ... and we became friends My friend: you were imprisoned for a crime you did not commit that unjust felony scarred your short fragile life you were the victim of people's greed you were the victim of people's pain you were the victim of a system corrupted you were the victim of people's rejection yet you stood ever strong in the face of too much adversity! ... and we became brothers My brother: I remember when you shared your life story I remember trying to process the unspeakable horrors you endured I sat before you absolutely stunned I tried to fill my heart with empathy yet we grieved together we wept together w...

When I came to Chicago, I noticed that our call for compassion cannot be lived as an idealistic dream. One night, I gazed at all the sleeping homeless men and realized I was standing in the midst of a sea of orphans; a hundred guys without families, ostracized and seeking someone to listen to their endless stories. I was encountering anger, grief, hopelessness, mental illness and incarceration, not a cute little orphan boy begging for another plate of food. We unconsciously commit acts of neglect and favoritism when we conform or are stained by this cruel world. The weak get weaker, the poor get poorer and the defenseless continue to be enslaved by dominating forces. Our challenge is to wash away that dreadful stain, by not conforming to the pattern of this world! As the world teaches us to prioritize money, power and popularity, we lose the capability to truly love and experience the biblical vision of “pure religion”. James was calling his listeners to live stain-free, by taking ...