Dear Prayer Partners,
It seems like a long time to me since I wrote to you. I guess it has been a week. I am now into writing the book and some of it is really fun, but now I am back for the second time attempting to write through the trial. It's a tough thing to relive, but I feel I have to do it. I want to be honest about the whole deal and that includes all the unpleasantness. It's just hard to relive. I'd rather be writing to you.
Writing keeps me from engaging with inmates. Also, knowing I'm going to be leaving soon also makes it hard to set up a game plan for engaging. One thing that strikes me different from Duluth, is there are a lot more typical felons here, in the way we think of felons.
One guy I've met is a really nice looking friendly guy who I always greet, smile or have comments as we pass. He is really nice and from Georgia. One day I asked him what he did on the outside expecting to hear a profession. Instead he said, "Oh, I smuggled lots of things. I started when I was a kid. It was so much fun I was doing things around the city. But I must say I've had a good life, I can't complain. I got a lot of time up front in those 747s. I've been all over the world. I just acted like a spoiled rich kid, which I was, my parents had so much money. That's why they never knew where I was because they were always traveling themselves. They had homes in six different countries. I could have lived in any one of them". I said, "With all that money why did you do what you did?" He said, "It was the rush. Oh it was fun. The last gig I did I was smuggling hash hash out of Africa. I'd pack the stuff into the suitcases with false sides. I had really good looking women with a little child. I'd buy them a real nice dress outfit and a first class ticket for them and the little kid. I just told them to get on that plane and smile like you don't have a care in the world. The cops would see her and say we don't need to check her, she's got plenty of money". "It was so exciting, I made $100,000 every three weeks. It was a rush". And his face lit up like he was talking about sky diving. Then he said, "I've got another 15 years here, but I can't complain, I've had a good ride".
Another story. I thought the day of bank robbers was gone. I knew only one bank robber in Duluth, and he was a really stupid guy. There are a number of them here. They are really nice guys that surprise me when they tell me. The one guy today is in for six years for letting his son put a package in his shed. He claims he didn't know what was in it. But he said his son and his buddy are in longer and he is sure that when they get out they will do it again. He said they are professional bank robbers. They just study it full time. For them driving past a bank is like an alcoholic walking past a liquor store. It's interesting all the ways to get trapped in life. I've met a number of bank robbers here.
Our daughter, Lisa from Minneapolis and her daughter Hillary from Tennessee were here this weekend. It was good seeing them but I felt very bad. I got a spell where I can't sleep again and last night only slept one hour. I was so numb I could hardly respond to them today. It always bothers me when people travel so far to see me and I'm like a vegetable.
Other than that I feel good. I quit taking my pain pills a of couple days ago and it seems to be working. My only concern is I keep losing weight and am getting pretty thin. After a day like today I really want to be home. I just don't know how long it will take. From here, through, I don't think it takes committees. It's the BOP Legal Department, the Prosecutor in Minneapolis and the Judge. Please keep praying for that, ----and for my sleep. The nights do get pretty long.
It does cause concern when I see a man here with the same pancreatic cancer I have, diagnosed the same month, December. His chemo offended his body so bad they had to stop treatment. They put him up on the fifth floor this week to die. There isn't anything they can do for him. He is trying to get compassionate release. His has been on the warden's desk for a month and he hasn't heard anything. I did find out though that he has violence in his case and he still has 12 years left on his sentence. I do think that would make some difference.
Please pray for me also as I write the book. Pray for the strength, I need, and the ability to be as honest and as fair as I can be. There are parts I would rather skip over, but I believe that would take away from the story. I hope when the book is done it will encourage people, how God is so completely sovereign and he uses everything - all things for his glory if we submit to him. I hope it's an encouragement to people who face difficult situations. I am amazed at what God can do, and the resource he has in his people and the church. I'd like prayer for the name of the book. I didn't think a name would be so hard to come up with but it is.
Also please pray for the guys in Duluth. Please pray for Matt Tucker who is a young man with so much passion for God, and who I believe God is going to use in a big way in ministry. Matt is a Type A person, as I said with a passion for God, but still some ideas in lifestyle he is working away from. Pray that God will give him wisdom and a passion and understanding of holiness. Pray for Matt as he continues with the First Principles teaching now only one-to-one since the chaplain has shut them down for a season. Matt has to work though a big political system within the prison. This is so typical and is what makes prison work so hard. Small struggling Bible studies are not a threat, but when guys really come and the numbers increase political minds kick in. I would be hard for me to work with, but Matt is trying to do it.
Thanks for you prayers. More than ever I need patience in God's timing. I just think it's really time to be home.
Love to all,
Bob
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