Vester part 2

As we pulled into the parking lot of the jail my heart was racing like a….like a… a heart would race… if you were really, really nervous, anyway. I was still looking for an out, a way that I would not have to go into that jail. When we walked into the lobby the door slammed behind me & locked, man that’s a weird feeling. But when the guard came out to see what we wanted, her question assured me of a way out. “Are you a minister?” she said. “Yes!!!!!!!!! I’m out! I’m no minister!!!!! I’ve got no church! Yes!!!!!!” is what I was saying in my mind as I mentally danced around. But something hit me like a ton of little red Gideon New Testaments, it was 2 Corinthians 3:6. It says: “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” I was a minister, from the time I accepted Christ. I just looked at her as nicely as I could & through my clenched teeth said, “Yes, I am”. I could hear the Lord laughing. She said follow me & lead us into a small room which contained only a small table & 3 chairs. We sat down & heard the door close & lock. I looked around to see that we were all alone, I was a little uneasy. We sat there for a few minutes then the door across the room was opened & in walked Vester & a guard. The guard sat Vester down & turned exited & locked the door behind him….WHAT!!! He locked the door? Hey, I didn’t sign up for this, I thought there would at least be a armed guard in the room, ready to shoot to kill if need be. But there was My friend, me, Vester & I prayed God was there. We just sat for a moment or two staring at each other, not so much in hatred, but in a lack of knowing what to say. I told him that God had led me to come & see him. Then we started talking about where we knew each other from & stuff. Soon we found ourselves in a conversation about Christ & his love for all people, I told him how God was a forgiving God & how that God wanted to show forgiveness to him. He looked me square in the eye & said “God can’t forgive me for what I’ve done”. I, in a shaky voice asked him what he could have done that was so bad. “I’ve killed a man” he said. I slid my chair back & coughed my tongue back up where I had swallowed it, I said to God, “Well what do I say now?” He said “Paul”. Yea Paul, he put men & women to death for accepting Christ. He was a murderer & hated Christ, but God forgave him & changed his life. We sat & talked about Paul’s life & when we got through I told him that Christ would forgive him too. His face lit up & he said “That’s what I want”. We prayed with him & listened in amazement as he said the sinners prayer . He lifted his head up & told us thanks. He went on to tell us that before we came, he was sitting on his bunk ready to give up. His family had became fed up with his “In & out” of jail & about had given up on him. He said that the guard came & told him he had a visitor. He told the guard that nobody was there to see him, but the guard insisted. He said that he was very surprised when the guard said it was ministers, & that he was really shocked when he saw it was me… Now at first I didn’t know how to take that, but God can use anybody. We continued to talk until they came & took him back to his cell. We sat in that little room for a few minutes waiting to be let out & in kind of a trance thinking how weird it was that we, as worthless as we are…were just used by God.
A few weeks passed & I received a letter from him saying that a Christian Lawyer (come on, I know that sounds like an oxymoron but it‘s not) had found out about his accepting Christ & got him a chance at going to a Christ based drug rehab, which he needed seeing how the majority of his crimes were committed when he was on drugs. I wrote him back & told him that I would drop him off a Bible at the rehab when he arrived.
We did get the chance to go to the rehab & drop off the Bible & a Max Lucado book “A Gentle Thunder“, but they would not allow him to have visitors, rehab rules. So we left them, went home & waited to hear from him.
About 5 to 6 months later I got a letter from Vester saying that he was in prison & was still very excited about his new relationship with Christ. He said that he was enjoying his new Bible & book, & that he was spending time with God daily. We stayed in touch for several years, writing back & forth & hearing story after story of how God was growing him spiritually.
The day came when I received a letter from Vester saying that he had been blessed with the chance to go to an honors camp, & if he did well it would allow him to be released early. In the letter he said that if he were to get out early he was scared that he would fall back in with his old friends & be back on drugs again. I assured him that my friend & I would be there for him as soon as he got out. That was the last letter I received from Vester.
About 2 months later I got a phone call from him. It was a Saturday late evening, so I invited him to church for that next morning. I asked him if I needed to pick him up, he said that his grandmother would drop him off. I told him I’d wait out front for him.
It was Sunday morning & I was on cloud 20...way past cloud 9, standing in front of the church waiting on Vester…& waiting….& waiting….no Vester. Needless to say I was a little down as I walked into the church & took a seat. What happened? Was he o.k.? I didn’t hear from him for a week, I didn’t call him, I wanted to see if he would call me.
Saturday again late evening, the phone rang & it was him. Not as excited as last time I invited him to church & offered to pick him up, again he said his grandmother would drop him off. “Yea right” I thought to myself.
Sunday morning came & I was out front about cloud 2, waiting on Vester…& waiting…& waiting…again no Vester. I walked back into the church more down than before. Did he really accept Christ? Does he even care about God? I didn’t contact him (you know just like a good “Christian” would), & I didn’t hear from him for about one year or so. I was very angry with him.
I was at a new vending company ( this one had bought out the other) My friend worked with this company & as I was in the warehouse he came in the door & said “Have you heard about Vester? He’s been shot & he’s in I.C.U.” When I got off of work I rushed home to get a few things & hurried up to the hospital, praying that he would not die.
Keep checkin’ I’ll be back with the 3rd part soon.

Vern

Vester part 3