thursday

met with the community relations board at the Milan federal correctional institution early this morning. about 1450 inmates at the prison currently, and 330 employees. I have high regard for the new warden at the prison; compassionate, smart, level-headed, happy. seems to be the case for everyone on the staff I've met there, come to think of it. heard from the chaplain about some community service projects some of the inmates are involved in. in addition to repairing and giving away bicycles, they are also knitting blankets, booties, and hats for stillborn infants to wear for their funerals. the kinds of things that need to be done that might never cross one's mind, eh? wonder if there is some kind of outreach opportunity for the church there?

a number of people from the church work at the prison, one of whom I bumped into in the parking lot. she's really excited about a new small group at the church she's helping get started up this summer. I'm excited as well – it's a group for people in recovery from addictions of various sorts (like alcohol, for example). been praying for that for some time now. looks like the Father's really up to something in that area. sweet.

yesterday I got to meet with a young pastor who's going to be working with his dad (a senior pastor of a church in a nearby town) to help lead a church in being an outward focused church. very inspiring and humbling at the same time. got to offer him some encouragement, pass on a couple of books, and pray with him. we ate together at Big Boy, and got to pray for both our server and our busboy. felt a little embarrassed in that we asked our server if there was anything we could pray for her about, she shared something with us to pray for, and then when I asked her how to pronounce her name (it was an unfamiliar kind of name to me), she said she knew me from the church. It dawned on me that I'd seen her in church recently, but hadn't recognized her in the different context. Ah well, a little embarrassment is probably good for the soul, from time to time.