Joy

I was freezing. Sitting in a cold metal folding chair. My feet on a carpet soaked with icy water. By all accounts I should have been miserable.

It had been freezing in Abilene for the last two weeks. And for some reason the heating system in the prison chapel had been turned off. In fact, the system seemed to be blowing cold air. And it was below freezing outside.

To make matters worse leaks had sprung up all over the ceiling. Buckets everywhere catching ice cold water dripping from the ceiling. Huge portions of the carpet soaked with water, almost forming puddles. My chair was in the middle of one of these heavily soaked areas.

And those folding metal chairs aren't too cozy in cold damp conditions.

Such was the state of the chapel out at the prison for our Monday night bible study.

And we couldn't have been happier.

Because of staffing shortages and the weather our study hadn't met in a few weeks. So this night, all back together again, felt like a reunion. Hugs, smiles and laughter all around. It was good to be together again.

To sing together. Pray together. Talk about Jesus together.

We were in a freezing cold, soaking wet room inside a maximum security prison. You could hear the drip, drip, drip of buckets collecting icy droplets. And guess what we talked about?

We talked about joy.