Watch the video for the big news! Gwen “stormed the gates of hell” and picked me up when I was released to go to the halfway house on April 30th. This song was playing on the radio while she was waiting and it was very fitting, she had to share it with me as we drove to the airport. Of course I never heard it before, like many things that I missed out on during the 351 days I was incarcerated. It was not until now that I felt the courage to share about it publicly.

In addition to “taking back what the enemy stole” another biblical metaphor seemed appropriate:

‬ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

‭John 11:43-44 ESV

I feel I’ve been resurrected, at least brought out of “the valley of the shadow of death” into the light. Not only was it a dark place but there was clothing I did take off that I will never need to wear again. I don’t think I’ll be able to put on a green dress shirt or gray sweats ever again. I’m so overjoyed to be out of prison and my family is even more so. My heart still aches for those left behind. My last message and prayer for them was:

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

‭Hebrews 13:3 NIV‬

I will always pray for the believers in prison, regardless of the circumstances that put them there.

The Lord did not neglect me or my family while I was incarcerated, even now I an still technically incarcerated, but it hardly feels like it. I can work 5 days a week and go to the park or a restaurant with the family about 3 times a week and even go to church on Sundays. I just have to spend the rest of the time in the halfway house and it’s like a 5 star hotel compared to the last place I was at. The beds are super soft, the towels are new, they don’t make us stand for count 2 times a day and the staff actually seem like they care.

I know everything else I may face in life will seem like a piece of cake after going through federal prison. I still have about 5 months to go to finish my obligations to the BoP. I look forward to what the Lord has in store for me.