Today I’d like to share a couple people that shared quotes that I really like.
One is Toby Mack.
He’s a Christian rapper and singer, and he’s often said, quote, don’t care how much scripture you can quote, but how you treat people.
Another guy I really admire is Cory Booker.
He’s a senator in Washington, D.C., and he’s over at Second Look, and he says, don’t talk about your faith, show me your faith.
I’d like to share that I feel like I’ve done those things for 40-plus years, and I found a purpose in discipleship, whether I’ve been popular in prison or not, because sometimes that’s not always popular in a place like this.
The Kentucky Parole Board threw me away thinking I would live my life in a different way, but there in the quiet of being forgotten and thrown away, I found something that was very unshakable, and that was my faith in myself.
I’m one of the realest stories that there are, coming from a 21-year-old that made a grave mistake to now a 62-year-old who appreciates most everything.
I love different, and I lead different.
I try to stay humble, never forgetting the victim, and I try to stay really hungry to share my life and my experiences, because I think they could help other people.
I like to say I live so the lost wife can have a legacy, so him losing his life can mean more than hatred and a serve-out telling me I have to die here, and I’m going to stay true whether truth is accepted or not.
The step of a serve-out in my life is, some days, unbearable, but I can say some positives that have come out of it has renewed my hope for wanting forgiveness and redemption and restoration and try to walk in a good purpose.
I feel like comfort sometimes is the enemy of our calling in life, and God’s put me through a lot of growth zones, not comfort zones, over the past four decades, so I can share here and share with people who listen to me and feel a worth in my life.
I know we all continue to grow throughout our life, but I’ve done the work, and I feel like I’m past development stages because my mental, emotional, and spiritual spaces have shaped me for a second chance.
I’m taking steps to grow daily past a serve-out, because sometimes that can cause me to collapse under the fear of dying here, but having a chance to pray and cry for a second chance gives me strength.
For 40 years, every phone call, every visit, every message once we got tablets, every picture I get from family and friends, a video visit, getting to record on prison radio, it’s all a blessing, but sometimes it can be hard, too.
I feel a need today to ask people to, before they assume, learn the truth.
Before you judge, seek to understand the how and whys of people’s lives and take a moment to realize that what I didn’t realize at 21 was that every word has a ripple effect and consequence.
We’ve got to choose empathy over assumption and choose compassion over criticism.
Choose wisdom and forgiveness over haste and hatred if we’re going to let understanding guide our steps and kindness shape our words.
I’m testimony that one moment can change and shape a life forever, for the good or bad.
I knew someone for two months and six days, but yet I’ve been in prison over 40 years because of that chance meeting.
There’s a lot of ifs in my life.
If I had not changed jobs, if I’d not given up my morals, if I’d not trusted a lawyer who turned down a 15-year plea offer, I could have made a difference out there years ago instead of begging for a second chance.
I’ve never asked anyone to erase harm that’s been caused, but I do ask people to recognize growth and I ask people to help me advocate for second-look laws and second chances.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
