Thank You God for Mister!

By: Ronald Mallett (5/18/2008)

“Thank You God for Mister”

The control center buzzed with unaccustomed frenzy, and I began to wonder if the Tuesday night bible study at Greeley’s Platte Valley Youth Center was going to be authorized. As I waited, a youngish Hispanic woman strode through the metal detectors, wearing a frazzled, time-worn expression that added a decade or more to her appearance. She signed the visitor’s register and sat down wearily, joining me on the lone bench in the sterile jailhouse lobby.

Glancing at the box of Bibles on my lap, she asked if I was a priest. “No,” I replied. “I’m a teacher of Bible studies.” Some of her tiredness faded as she turned sharply to fully face me. “Can you help me? My daughter Virginia is in here. She’s having a really rough time. She’s only 14, and is very frightened.”

Her questioned stunned me into sadness. How could I tell her? As a male, it isn’t appropriate that I closet myself with young females in the tiny counseling rooms. And we have no women volunteers in our ministry that I can refer to Virginia. (We have dozens of women volunteers working sacrificially in jails, prisons and nursing homes, but the need is immense and there just aren’t enough to go around.) “I’ll do what I can,” I promised – dismayed at the look of joy on the young mother’s face. I wasn’t sure I could honor her request, and was instantly sorry for the implied guarantee that I would do something to help.

Unfortunately, the mother’s worries are justified. Attempted suicides among teens and pre-teens in the state’s youth prisons are not uncommon. Just that night, in fact, one of the youngsters in my Boys Bible Study told of walking by a friend’s room and glancing in through the small, single window of his cell. His friend was sitting stiffly, in a stupor, covered with blood spurting from his sliced wrists. The speaker then testified to his own suicide attempt, in which he cut both wrists and his throat. “My survival is a miracle, and brought me to the revelation that God is real. It changed my life.”

The arrest of a young lawbreaker can be a good thing. For some, it gives us a chance to corner them with the truth of God’s reality and His love for them. For others, it is a final straw, an event that can turn thoughts of suicide into an act of suicide. Suicide among teens, in general, is a disturbing national trend. But the added factors of drugs, crime and incarceration cause suicide to be viewed more frequently as a viable option for at-risk and lawless children.

To all of our female readers: Won’t you help? You don’t need to be a bible scholar. You don’t need to be fluent in Hebrew, or Aramaic. All you need is the love of Jesus, a shoulder to lean on, and an ear to hear.

I also teach a Girl’s Bible Study, but I’m beyond age 66, and at times worry that an old codger like me isn’t really getting God’s message across to these young female offenders. But, last Tuesday, all eight of the girls in the room with me agreed that we should each say a prayer for someone else. Chills of great joy ran up and down my spine as one of them prayed: “…and thank you Lord for Mister. He is here every week for me. Without him, I wouldn’t be alive.”

Even now, tears spring up as I write this. There must be a woman out there who wants to get in on this tremendous Blessing. What wouldn’t you give to hear a grateful young lady tell God that you saved her life? Call 303-682-9593, or write to us at www.injail.org for more information, to volunteer or to make a donation to the ministry.
Ron Mallett