“Who is this letter from, anyway?”

Usually when I take a letter in a handwritten envelope out of our mailbox, I know where it is coming from: prison. No one else sends handwritten letters these days. I knew some of the prisoners by name, from having visited with them. But who was Stan?

Even more curious, Stan claimed to be from Nigeria. I asked my prison-visiting friends about him; no one had ever heard of a Stan from Nigeria being in the Japanese prison system.

On my next visit there, I found out that Stan did in fact exist, and had gotten my contact information from another foreign national I had previously met. Both had recently come to a saving faith in Jesus, while in prison.

I spent time hearing Stan’s story, and learning about the reasons for his incarceration.

“The truth is,” he confessed, “I was a prisoner long before they arrested me.”

The Japanese prison system is harsh and old-school. Stan described it as being like “the fires of hell”. Yet now, looking back at how he had been in bondage to “living it up” for so many years, Stan saw that incarceration had actually presented him with an opportunity.

“Prison is where Jesus met me,” he shared. “I was like the prodigal son, returning home to the father. Before being arrested, I was truly in bondage. Now in prison, I am finally free!”

Stan’s story reminded me of the parables of Jesus. I found myself thinking about the lost son, the lost coin, and the lost sheep. I imagined what the ninety-nine sheep—the ones who didn’t get lost—might have said to the one lost sheep.  “Why couldn’t you get your act together,” they might have said, “and stay out of trouble?” 

Then I imagined that lost sheep—like Stan—finally found. What might that sheep say to ninety-nine? “Why are you so busy doing other things?” he might ask them. “Why aren’t you all-in for Jesus?” 

Maybe Jesus would comfort the wayward sheep, and challenge the safe ones. Maybe that is what he meant, when he said, “Many who are first will be last; and the last, first”. 

Stan has told me how he wants to serve the Lord once he gets out. I am encouraging him that serving Jesus doesn’t have to start when he gets out of jail—he was already following the Holy Spirit!

No bars can hold that back.