Prison Was a Blessing

I was adopted when I was 1½ years old from Colombia. I was adopted by good Christian parents. I was in church every time the doors were open. I regularly attended Royal Rangers and other youth programs. I always knew that there was a God who created everything we see today, but I never had a personal relationship with him.

When I was in sixth grade, I started to use drugs and alcohol. I started to rebel against everything my parents taught me. I started to work when I was 15 years old. I always had a good work ethic. But I spent my whole check on drugs and alcohol. I dropped out of high school in 10th grade so I could work more hours.

I started to get into trouble with the law and I was put on probation. I had to do drug testing twice a month. I still continued to use drugs. After a few failed drug tests, my probation officer sent me to Western Michigan Teen Challenge. I entered the program when I was 18 years old. I really didn’t want to be there, but I figured it was a way to stay out of prison.

After a few months of adjustment, I started to pay attention to what the pastors were preaching on. Teen Challenge is a place where they accept drug abusers. They had chapel every day and two 1 hour classes a day about each book of the Bible. We had a regular work assignment every day for 5 hours. We also had two hours of study hall for the homework we received that day. We had exams at the end of the month.

When I graduated in August of 2002, I started to attend First Assembly of God and their youth programs. The first Sunday I attended, I met a guy that offered me a job at a bakery. I started work 5 days after I graduated. I was also blessed with a car from my parents. Life was going good for the next few months, until I got too prideful, and I started to drink again.

I soon stopped going to church, fellowshipping with people from church, reading the Bible, and praying to Jesus, the only mediator between God and man. I soon started to get into trouble with the law again. This continued for the next few years.

In April of 2005, I was driving a stolen truck and I got into an accident on the highway. I remember the tires grabbing the dirt, but when I came to, I was outside the truck. I was not injured. I knew I couldn’t run, so I just waited till the police came. I was arrested for possession of a stolen truck. I felt kind of relieved.

That night in jail, I was thinking about my life and where I went wrong. I knew I had to give my whole life to Jesus Christ. I cried out to Jesus that night and told him, “Only you can change my life, I have only been able to mess it up.” Jesus gave me his Holy Spirit that night.

I knew I still had to pay my debt to society. I was sentenced six months later for 23 to 60 months in prison. I didn’t like to hear those words, but I had a deep peace that everything was going to be fine.

In prison, I attended service and Bible study faithfully every week. I also did a lot of Bible study correspondences. I had a daily prayer time so that I could talk personally with Jesus. I read the Bible daily and meditated on the Scriptures. The time in prison was a blessing because it gave me the time to get my life straight with Jesus, build a strong foundation, and change my way of thinking.

When I was released from prison on March 15, 2007, I was greeted with a new outlook on life and my family was there to pick me up. I have been staying at Alpha House and I have been blessed here; for it gives me freedom, but it also has some rules that are very helpful to me. I have Bible studies every Saturday morning with the Executive Director. He is a great blessing and he really cares about the residents.

There are two verses that let me know who I am in Jesus and how I am to live for him.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Tyler — Originally published in March 2008