On December 30th, I had a show at the York County Jail, in Alfred. A large group of inmates came to the show, and there was a presence of peace that was noticed not only by the chaplain, but some of the unbelieving guards working there. It was truly a special day.

I did something, however, that day, that I almost never do… I locked my keys in the car! While waiting for AAA to arrive to unlock the van, I was standing with an inmate waiting for a ride to his work release site. After finally hanging up with AAA, I shared my woes with him. Suddenly, I was getting a rather in depth lesson on all the ways someone could get into a locked car! He admitted to owning six ‘slim jims’, the thin metal devices designed to open locked cars. He told me about other household items that could unlock a car, and how to prevent setting off side air bags. He even told me that Jaguars were the hardest cars to break into, but he could do it in under five minutes.
Then I told him I was there for a chapel service. Suddenly, he told me he himself had NEVER broken into a car, and these were just things he knew from ‘working on cars.’ It was all very amusing.

Isn’t it funny how people think they need to present their best sides when they learn someone is a Christian… even if their best sides aren’t truly them at all. How different this is from how Jesus dealt with people. He pointed out their sins, as was the case with the woman at the well. In fact, the people who Jesus most strongly rebuked weren’t the flagrant sinners, but the religious elite who refused to humbly own their sins and shortcomings. I wonder what He would have said to my new friend that day in the York County Jail.