Each time I drove to the prison I went down a road called Institution Road and that bothered me. I decided to rename the road to a more appropriate and hopeful name. I have unofficially but officially in my spirit renamed the road Inspiration Hill. When I go now I ride down my newly renamed road and I get ready for the wonder and inspiration in my life and the life of the inmates that I am blessed to teach. Let’s be honest, the teaching goes both ways in equal measure.
Let us touch on the hamster wheel and the fact that I had full capacity to get off the wheel and stay off but I kept getting back on. I am typically the calmest kid in the room but I was met with a challenge this week that took me to the very edge of that calm. I was hanging on by my fingertips. I found myself going over and over in my head and in my spirit this unbelievable situation. As a mature adult I know better, I know that once it is over and you have made up your mind, just hop on off that hamster wheel of frustration and don’t get back on.
Funny that this week I said that my peace was not for sale, but I must say that I rented it out for just a bit. And as God always works in my life, I drive in the rain down my newly named Inspiration Hill and I remember that behind those tall barbed fences are men that have lost all ability to live outside and enjoy the challenges that I enjoy daily.
I also remembered as I left and rehashed all the sweet lessons learned with Erica one of my most profound thoughts that I hope I never forget. As we were sharing and spending time in study in the chapel one of the men looked at me and said: “ Ya Ya, you know I have a life sentence but I don’t have to have a wasted life sentence.” I hope I never forget this because I think many of us humans are free on the outside but in bondage on the inside. This inmate had learned through a power greater than him to take the life that he has and make it count right where he lives at the top of Inspiration Hill.