WorshipCentral

I just had one of the craziest nights of my life. My band and I headed into a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas USA to lead worship. Being one of the most violent and serious prisons in the States, we had no idea what to expect.

Throughout the day we lead worship for about 1000 of the most dangerous prisoners. Locked up for horrific crimes. Usually these are the men my heart burns with anger against. People you hear about who rob innocent lives and cause incalculable hurt and destruction. In the world’s eyes here is the scum of the earth. I thought my heart would be hardened against them, I thought I’d despise them. But do you know what my heart went out to them. They were warm, friendly, kind and encouraging. It blew our minds. In the midst of such evil we saw a light; we sensed something of God. The man doing sound for us was serving a 99-year sentence. I hate to think what he must have done to deserve such a sentence and yet He was filled with the joy of Christ. Watching a number of these men passionately worship was one of the most incredible sights of my life. I will never forget one man weeping and throwing his hands in the air as we worshipped and sang about Jesus. Never has the song ‘Amazing Grace,’ felt so appropriate in a set of worship

Here were a group of men who had sunk to the lowest depths. Living in a prison, with little to do. Watched 24-7, treated with suspicion, deprived of any luxury; many serving time for mistakes made in their youth. Don’t get me wrong most of them deserved to be there, for the safety of society but also for justice sake. But in this terrible environment, some of these men who had found faith in Christ, clung to the hope and the truth that their sins had been washed away. Something truly great, a remarkable gift lavished upon them meant they could be made new - grace. It seemed fitting that they were all dressed in white, their daily uniform. A beautiful picture of what God’s amazing mercy has the power to do.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin…wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”  Psalm 51

I still don’t quite know what to make of it all. To be honest I feel quite choked up about it. How amazing is our God that no one is ever discounted from His redeeming love? How incredible it is that God would have mercy on us, even though we’ve turned our backs on Him time and again? How deep is His love that he would delight in a group of men whom the world despises? We’ve all fallen short of the glory of God, every one of us. We all stand as equal before Him, but for those who’ve called Him Lord, who have surrendered their all; for that person there is grace, hope, a second chance, and a new day.