NEWSID E NT'S P E RSP ECT I V E PRES
'I was in prison and you came to Me' When I was a boy, our family lived in a small city in the mountains of southern Peru. I would occasionally go with my friends to visit the prison on the edge of the city.
E Ken Denslow
4 OCTOBER 2021
It was a squalid place, packed with prisoners and vermin. Prison food was almost non-existent and the little they had was barely palatable. Family members found it necessary to bring food to pass through the fences where their loved ones were being held. It was not a place that I would have wanted to be confined. Many years later, I went one Sabbath afternoon with a prison ministry group based out of a local congregation to visit a prison for women. We were to lead out in a worship service with singing, prayer and Bible study. When the service concluded, there were some moments to mingle and visit with the prisoners. As I was standing in that makeshift chapel, observing those around me, I heard a
female prisoner ask one in our group, “Do you know how I can get a Sabbath School quarterly?” My ears perked up. I was immediately curious. Who was this, asking for an Adventist Bible study guide? She had her back to me so I slowly made my way around to where I could see her face. Then I heard myself say, “Linda? What are you doing here?” Linda (not her real name) was a member of my church. The last time I had seen her was when she and her family shared a potluck Sabbath dinner with a group at our house a few months before. We still had her forgotten casserole dish in our kitchen cabinet. Shortly after that day, they just disappeared, and no one seemed to know where they had gone.
Visit LakeUnionHerald.org
