If God were to open your door, what would He find?

He solemnly whispered that he had failed his GED exam by three points.

I asked what happened – this young man is quite bright and usually a good student. He responded despondently, “I gave up. Couldn’t do it.” Just at that moment, another horticulture student, Chance, walked up to us. This young man has been incarcerated since he was 13 and by all measures, Chance shouldn’t be succeeding academically like he is. He’s a former gang member facing a lengthy sentence. He never stepped foot in a high school. He comes from an impoverished area of Georgia. Still, he’s worked tirelessly to better himself, reading and writing constantly, teaching himself to be a master of multiple subjects. Knowing just how far Chance has come academically, I asked the young man who had failed his GED to share with Chance what he had just told me.

“I failed,” he said. “Failed what?” Chance asked. “My GED, I gave up on the ELA exam. I only needed 3 more points.”

Chance asked gently, “What caused you to fail?” The young man replied, “My dyslexia. I see a paragraph and I freak out. I can read to myself all day and all night, but under pressure, I mix all the words up.”

Silence ensued. Chance sat and thought. “What’s one way you can get better at reading?” he asked. “I know, I know, read more,” my student replied. “Yes, but you need to read out loud to someone,” Chance replied. I chimed in, “How about reading to your new bunkmate?” “I can’t,” he said. “He doesn’t speak English.” Chance interjected, “That’s perfect, he won’t even understand if you say something wrong, and, you can help him learn English.” I watched as a wave of realization crested over his face. I could tell this would work.

Chance began to speak. “Look, you have to look at this time in your life as down time. You’ll never get it back. You have to use it to your advantage. You can’t let the time do you. You need to work now, so when you get out, you’re ready. You can’t be a failure. You can do it. I believe in you. I know you can do it because I did it too.” HeartBound believes in these kids too.

When we’re young, we see the parts of us in the mirror that we love. We smile, we make goofy faces, we shoot Spidey webs from our palms. We dream of who we will become. When we get older, we start to see the parts of us that we don’t like, the blemishes, the scars, the zits that just won’t go away. But when God sees us, He sees the parts of us that He loves, the parts that He made. The world we live in might seem broken, but God made it good. In Luke, we read of the story of Zacchaeus, the detested tax-collector who had to make a decision – let Jesus into his home and reveal that he was a cheat, swindler, and thief, or close his door and preserve his dirty secret. As I recently relayed this story to our horticulture students at Burruss, I asked them, “If God were to open your door, either physically, emotionally, or spiritually, what would He find?” I asked the students to journal their response.

A silence settled over the room. Ten minutes later, I was handed a response.

“If God were to open my door, He would find a lost person trying to find themselves. A young man struggling with there [sic] inner self. Trying to not feel like he failed at life everyday. Wanting to be something so bad and prove that you can turn a big mistake around. Scared to open up and show the world the mental pain that he is feeling inside and can’t control. So he uses being a very hyperactive person to cover up all of his voids. He’d rather keep them hidden than cope with them.”

I handed him my own response. He read along, solemnly nodding. We’d both written something similar. He looked up at me and extended a hand. We shook hands in silence. Brothers, from quite different mothers, but with the same Heavenly Father.

The students you’re helping with your donations want to see the parts of themselves as God sees them – God-created and loved. They want to be good students, they want to pass their exams, and they want healing for their pain. Apart from prison ministry, I’m afraid that in the prison system, true change and repentance isn’t likely. You are making a difference and we - and the prison community - are so grateful for your support. Thank you for bringing healing and hope to these kids and so many more.