Don’t Waste Your Life Sentence

You have a hard time when the judge

sentence

s you to

life

in prison because you have to consider what we have, all these inmates who will never see the front door again, they are separated from their families when their mom or dad dies, you know? If we can fix it, we'll let him go to the funeral or he knows we'll let him go visit them in the hospital, but they probably won't both know Thanksgiving together, know Christmas together, all those family moments are spent in the main prison. visiting room or one of the visiting rooms in the camp when the inmate's family comes and visits him and sees his nephews, sees his children, sees his family members, then he has to return through the visiting room extortion, family members have to return through the door. and get out of prison then that is punishment every time it happens that is punishment the glass system that we have in this nation is usually a very oppressive system does not believe in Christ knowing mercy and the main objective is to punish and protect the public but now for rehabilitate I really feel a weight on me that I hope the Lord processes in terms of power and not oppression and the reason I feel such a weight is because I know that most of you do not leave this place except to go to heaven and That is hard, it has to be a battle many times when I got off the bus and entered the doors of Angola I did not know what the next day would bring me because I have never been in prison, I have never been incarcerated, I have never been in jail, so I didn't know anything about prison

life

so I didn't think I'd see him the next day and when I got here all I saw was a group of guys working in the fields and I said that's going to be me. and I didn't know if I could do it or not I only weighed 130 pounds they looked at me young because I was young I was only 19 when I came to Angola and there were a lot of older guys that I was looking for Well man I'm not going to make it and that's all I told myself to myself, since I won't make it.

In a sense,

your

position here in prison at the next stop in heaven makes it easier for you to receive this message. of my people who are tempted every day to be idolaters with their freedom and prosperity, my Ladies are very small, they are considered 64 people living in the dormitory with 4 showers between 64 people, my personal belongings go in two boxes, probably about 20 inches deep and all personal belongings go in those two boxes, anything else you need to get rid of, you can have 4 pairs of shoes under

your

bed and two blankets and sheets, a pillow for you to sleep on and the The next person will probably be if I take my arm out of my bed when I'm lying on it.

I can practically touch the next person. The average day here is basically the same day every day in the morning, you around six, around six o'clock, a quarter past six. We're going to blow the whistle for us to go to breakfast, go to breakfast, probably spend about 30 minutes down there, come back to the dome, clean up, probably brush your teeth and the next day they'll blow the whistle again for you to go. work every day routine every day the same thing, what I mean is you don't have to do it, you know, don't think about anything different, it's just a routine every day, this is the main point.

Jesus did not come into the world primarily to give bread but to be bread I am the bread of life he who comes to me will not hunger believe in Me he will never thirst he came into the world not to give bread but to be bread he is going to give bread and you can miss it you can miss it thinking that's the main thing he came to do, give me the bread, but that's not the main reason he came. A lot of bread has already been taken from your hands and I hope it comes to you with great good news that he.

He came to be bread, not primarily giving bread, he has to take the bread out of the hands of many people so that they trust him as the bread. I've been here 15 years. I came to prison at a relatively young age, so it was a lot. Anyway, I never had the experience because I can breathe so young. I miss just being able to bathe in the tub. You know, I miss earning a paycheck, but nothing like getting a check every Friday. I have been imprisoned in Angola for 19 years and I mean some of the things simpler than when I was in society and even people now take for granted the simple fact of being able to go out at night, one of the things I miss the most is because arrive.

Going out at night when it's cool and walking down the street or in the garden somewhere is nicer to look at the sky and be able to have that tranquility right there. I miss that. I miss I miss being able to be in my room alone I'm Nessa, I drive my car. I miss coming home and leaving when I get ready, not when someone tells me to go to bed, nothing, not when someone tells me to turn off the light. I miss being able to turn my light off, you know, I miss being able to have the privacy of shitting alone, you know, without five other guys hanging next to me.

I've been in the shower and everyone else is in the shower and can go. I went into the store and got what I wanted, kid, I gotta get what they offer me. I may not like eating a certain type of cereal, but that's all. Maybe you want to choose something else. I miss the fact that I can't go to the store. Ball game, if I choose, I really miss not having the luxury of having the freedom to do what I want, what I want to do, just being able to share time with my family, you know, Christmas is a season for me that I love, I love that time. because that time represents a family to me every Christmas, my family felt comfortable all over the United States and we spent time together, we had family gatherings and I missed that the thing I have to say I miss the most is just not having an ability to really function in my role as father.

I remember that my son was not the firstborn, he was the joy and pride of my life. I was there when he was born. No, I spent every moment I had. You know with him. I missed the opportunity. of being a real father offered at my children's games my son was a football and baseball player I miss being at their games my girl is the one who is now going to get a doctorate she graduated from Lehigh in Baton Rouge and went south and she graduated from Southern she came back got a master's degree and I wasn't at any of those graduations she was a cheerleader she was at weightlifting meets I wasn't at any of those things those little simple things that we take for granted in life is boys, boys miss him, that impression escapes me secondly, he did not come to be useful but to be precious.

Oh, how many Christians receive it as useful or otherwise, Jesus Christ did not come into the world to help. you by satisfying the desires that you already had before you were born again, he came to the world to change your desires so that he is the main one, that is the reason why he came and so many preachers, maybe some have been put in this book and they have brought you right to where you are with your desires, natural desires that you share with every fallen human being in the world and you just say that Jesus came to meet you with that, well, he didn't, but I lived in the projects, it always happened something, it was routine shooting, it was routine seeing guys on the corner selling drugs it was you Routine not seeing gang members not doing that stuff and all that but it was just a negative environment I mean it was a fair environment I didn't seem to have any hope my superior The year when I moved in with my mom and when I got out of my head was when I basically saw my life take a turn because there was no more discipline.

You know, I had basically given myself over to doing whatever I wanted. You know, I made my own. rules I broke my own rules so when discipline left my life that's when I started taking, you know, the wrong path in life when I was young, sometimes we have a tendency to think we're getting colder, the world revolves around of ourselves and our thoughts and our ideals, you know, and I thought that all the attention should have been on me and that's why when things happen that are not in our focus and in our plan, we become disturbed and we know that we can run out money, no friends, no place. stay but we will never run out of people to blame and prison has not become the norm especially for young African Americans who then flooded into prison like never before and I was unheard of when I came here they had a unit that housed The white people when I came here were not everywhere the temptations that I faced before coming to prison were: you know the temptation of being involved in legal drug activities, you know, being promiscuous, oh, this, doing this, being rebellious with the Parents, you know these things, you know that.

Every teenager faces some of those temptations, depending on where you grew up, for me the thing was getting drunk smoking weed, you know, drinking, but when I overlooked my parents' attitude it was totally different, you know, I can prepare myself. I put on a little preppy look, you know, and I can, I could, I could play both roles back and forth. I know a lot of kids do that, I mean, you know, at one point they can hit you when your mom's around, you can brace yourself and you can, you know, play the clean little role and most of the panels, you know, we're so naive, Sometimes we thank our children, they never do anything wrong. 1978 I was working for the Army Corps of Engineers and I was working at Syd's bar and I went to a party that lasted all night.

I was also singing with a mean young man who was doing quite well and I went to an all-night party. Smashing the bottle of Severs Rieger and smoking, we created Red Bud and for the first time in my life. adult life I snorted some cocaine and it was a wild party and the next thing I knew I was waking up in handcuffs, some kids from my neighborhood came with my little bird to get me and I got in the car with him and one thing led to another A couple of years later I'm in prison, this is the first time I've been incarcerated.

I never received a traffic ticket for my incarceration, however, a bad decision often costs me the rest of my life and that is what happens when we are disobedient when we think mother and father don't have the answer we think we are old enough to have our own answers when we don't obey him when we are disobedient but no one can tell us anything when we think we are men These are the kind of traps and potholes we fall into and sometimes for life. Well young man, mm-hmm, welcome to Angola and I'm glad you're on this tour because I want you to see what prison life is all about. the boys and the camp jail in those cells 23 hours a day there are things that happen in this cell that you don't want to be a part of because these guys sometimes throw feces at each other and this goes on sometimes for days and If not Be careful, if you get too close, these guys take a toothbrush, make a handle out of it and use it as a weapon because these are the mines that these guys have created by being in these cells for so long that they think about. ways to hurt you or kill you although there are types that have changed but there are types that have not changed but you don't know what they are and these are the things that you would face if you make bad decisions in your life and find yourself here because it is easy to get into problems but it is very difficult to get out of them again, we like to get my prize.

A hurricane allows us all services like this, as many of you know, there was a time when they couldn't do it. Don't do this but now thank God we were able to bury this dignity in each other and finally respect my brother and be strong in the Lord and in the power of his life, put on the whole armor of God so that you can resist. schemes of the devil for we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, my brothers and sisters, while death once again invaded our ranks and removed us from his paths. life our beloved brother Quinn his soul has not departed to live in an unknown country from whose Bourn no traveler returns it becomes our sad duty to hand over his body to gray ashes ashes dust to dust and also iron column privilege to hand over his soul to our creator, our Redeemer Jesus Christ, with the confident hope of the resurrection from the dead in the glorious realms of life, let us pray that Jesus would come into the world to bless us in some measure now and I will get to that in a minute from this very moment . parable but mainly it is trying to forgive our sins put on righteousness become our treasure seal our eternity forever and then get to work in the world whether we are in prison or outside the same reality is here as outside the main thing is here, the other things feel really important, but that's why I said it may be that just your presence here allows you to see things better than people in my church can see things and just take it for granted, that's what it's all about. .

It's not about what it's about about him I feel like I lost a lot of ground over many years with my children, although my son looks at me and I can tell that he doesn't see his father and the extent to which he should see his son . his father when I see him I saw myself at a young age because I met my father here is not gold and I am forcing my son he had to meet me right here and leave and so on in the initial stage of myimprisonment I know my dad came, we came to visit me quite often and I was really inspired by taking that note to even know the situation, as dark as it may seem, the good part of it, you know, it seems like I got my dad back.

The part where you want to start being a part of my life and I'm lucky, I think as the years went by, God happened and things happened more with me being in prison, he got used to it, he and I had a disagreement about something and instead of resolving as two men like a father, his son simply chose to run away from me and I had talked to him in maybe five years. I hadn't seen him in five years and I kind of started to build that same bitterness and resentment has no form because, since you did what you did without the child, you just left and ran away without any explanation and the closer I get to you, The more you turn your back on me, so it's my relationship with my father and what really motivates me to be my son is to get closer to him and try to build a relationship with my daughter.

I always said, you know, I never want to be like my dad, and in the end, I ended up like my dad in the exact same situation. the one he was in, I got married young and then I got drafted into the army, but I came back, I had three kids, thank God he's giving it back to me, you know, it took me a long time to get my baby back and her literally. I hated me and she told me you know, she said I hated you, I said why she said because you abandoned me, you know and she had the right to do it because I put my own selfish needs and desires above her future, you know, and the I left and my son's daughter and my daughter with the coat, you know, and I'm sitting in prison with a life center, you know, and the bitterness had settled in me because of all this.

I miss, I love my children and I miss the title of being a father. The biggest challenge for me was overcoming failure, that was my struggle because the reason I said overcoming failure because I just had this condemnation hanging over me for having failed my parents, I had this light, throwing everything away, just, at once. moment and that was one of the things that I had to express to my parents when I came here after having overcome that that I really share with them that they don't have to feel like they didn't do what they were supposed to do as parents because they didn't want to release it, I wanted them to know that I did it and that the situation I found myself in had absolutely nothing to do with the way I was raised.

I've been here 30 years, you know, and I understand life in prison and it's a dog's life. Life in prison is not a good life. I don't recommend prison to my dogs and cats, you understand, but just because it's here doesn't mean it has to be. a cat or a dog and a lot of people in that society who are just on the fast track to saving lives, taking it one day at a time and taking life at face value, but you know, in a situation like mine, having my life taken away really made me appreciate it. life and really sit down and you know, give more value to life and some of the things that people think are small for me, not just for me in the world, for me I basically know how to live my life through the Travel Channel , go on vacation through the Travel Channel.

Watching reality shows and things like that, people

waste

their time in prison trying to hold on to what they thought they were representing in society and what I mean by that is you guys get to prison and what you were doing there. things that put them on the path to going to prison, people try to carry out that same image in prison and it's a

waste

of time because I mean, you can't be what you were out there, I mean, in reality, everything it is common. The point after you weren't woken up was to say that if that's what got me here, then I certainly don't want to keep doing the same thing that put me in the position I'm in.

You know, a lot of times people don't. I don't know how much you regret what you did, you know that they will never have that opportunity, you know, thirty years, you know, and I had the opportunity to share with my mother and share with my children, you know how much I am sorry for the pain. I have caused but when you come to prison your family is in prison your mother is in prison your father your sister your brother your sons and daughters are in prison with you when my children were going to school and everyone else father was there and asked me children, It was your father, they had to hang their heads in prison, don't work for bread, for food that perishes, that's just ordinary food, don't work for ordinary food that perishes, don't make your goal get rich, don't think. mainly about the salary don't think mainly about upward mobility don't think mainly about the praise of men don't do your job for these kinds of reasons I don't want to be satisfied with what this world can give that's why I'm saying it can It may be that many of you have an advantage in this verse that the people on the outside if the only hope we have is in this life in Cadillacs and cause and bling-blinging and whatever you know if our hope is in these things if I were hope is in money if I am hope is in and any drug alcohol if it was hope is in getting it done come on, come on, I met the rich man in the Bible who did it, you know, and he said by God, it went sumptuously, you know what will I do, I know what I will do, I will build bigger bones, you know, I didn't want to give anything away, but the Bible states avoid coming and said give food tonight, your soul is. required from the depths of the sea, we have no time to play.

I'm not wasting my life centers because I really feel like my life has a purpose and I think that's the first thing that made me realize that life was worth living even in the situation of circumstances I know I was in freedom, not in prison, I was on the streets and that may sound crazy, am I saying I would like to be in prison at all, but I develop a relationship with Christ in prison so you know, hey, Christ has? Freedom I was raised in the church, you know, and I knew the column of the Church, I knew I should call protocol, but I didn't know Jesus, I didn't know Jesus, I was here in this prison, my Jesus Christ, you know, became a reality. for me, you know? and I will share this anywhere.

You know it was here in this prison and I thank God. You know I'm sad and I'm sorry I had to come here, but you know that coming to the knowledge of the truth and the understanding and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. as I do now I appreciate it and I appreciate it a lot I constantly say well give me your love give me your joy and give me your peace for this day because I know that this day is bringing many things or even routine noises but it is bringing many different angles, many different personalities , many different people that I am in contact with and I want to be able to represent because that is why I am now a believer and I want to be able to represent the kingdom properly I want to be able to represent it correctly I don't want to be a hindrance to anyone every time you know I think about my children I realize that I still have a purpose that God didn't put in.

I'm here to try to continue to mentor you and try to change your lives and change other people, so that's what really wakes me up in the morning knowing that I still have a purpose. purpose, even in the situation I find myself in, which is very bleak. It may seem like you know, uh, I just look to God for strength and I just say no, just keep giving me the strength to persevere and look for tomorrow and hopefully not tomorrow. I can have an impact on the life of someone other than myself, eventually stop them from doing something from the bad decisions I made in life life will soon end we don't know where death is so it behooves us to know that we know Jesus because only then We can have a safe and eternal show, the other day, I was barely young. 35 year old man, you know that death has no age barrier, death doesn't care about race, creed or color, yes, you know, death doesn't care how old you are.

Look, we don't have time to play and one of the scriptures that really blessed. To me, the Bible says it's true that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, the joy was on the other side of the cross, you know, for me to have true joy, I have to strive, strive and achieve an off-road policy. Press to get to the other side of this cross I am very interested in this cross, can you know? Jesus said if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me in ancient Rome when a man took it up. his cross you know that he had already said goodbye to his family he had said goodbye to his friend goodbye to his loved one you know and when we take up the cross of Christ we say goodbye to sin goodbye to the line goodbye to home a long time goodbye to guarantee goodbye to murder goodbye to rape, goodbye to theft, you know that I am not coming back to you anymore Paul says that I count all is lost for the incomparable value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord so that I can know him and the power of his resurrection that I can share his sufferings and reach to be like him in his death if I can somehow achieve the resurrection of the Dead at the next stop after Angola heaven if he is precious if he is precious beyond anything in this world that you have already had to lose, I I know him, I know he's real, you know, and I think that's the pinnacle of my life, just knowing Jesus, you know, and if it hadn't been for this experience, I might never have met him, it's possible. that I myself would have died there, you know, living the evil life that she said what a man gains in the world, but still for his own soul, so that just basically told us that all the achievements that we get in this life, all its wars, so that we can win all the monetary gains, we can look for all the women that fact conquered does not equal anything relationship with God because that is what will ultimately count even in this place even with the desire to be Free we can still live a full life because what imprisons me, the only fullness of life is in Christ, that is me.

I mean, that's the only complete way you could be free, but if you're not in Christ, you're not complete. My name is Keith Jamal Morris. My charge of first degree murder. I am currently serving a life

sentence

for parole in Beijing or suspended sentence. I have been in Angola for 15 years I am 33 years old my full name is Ryan Christopher Hicks my charge is second degree murder my sentence is life in prison without the benefits of parole or parole or suspension of sentence my full name is in the jr shelter . I am accused of rape. I have a life sentence without the benefit of parole and suspension for obscenity, but I want to take advantage of this life while I have it because I understand that only in this life is what I do for Christ what He is going to do. any difference that's going to count is going to mean anything everything else is going to perish everything else is going to fall but the Word of God grace through faith I talked to a cat the other day it was like man I really want to come to Christ but I have to clean my life first fix my sins I used to think that way I also thought I had to change myself before coming to Christ or Christ changed me let me tell you my story it starts like this it's 5:40 6:00 in the morning Boston at your time just burning the service in my head I keep recurrently having visions in my head of a child crying at the feet of the ball the ball bad things he did now I'm sweating in my sheets change of sleep my mind keeps telling me I'm 6 feet deep You don't remind me even though he's still alive I can't tell the way I'm living my life I feel like I'm moving forward God, they tell me I should accept you that you're having a later world because the world is gone for the real reason I can't change like a mystery to me so I make believe it really is a heaven watching even though they say you loved the world so much that you shed your blood, see I've been, I'm too broke for lunch except I come as I can but I smell smoke my whole life is full of seeing because it's all I know the Bible told me you died for my sins if I believed Christ would save me from the end but I'm going to ask you to save my heart so we were like we were lost because of hate hurt people I thought I had to clean up my life first now I'm here and I just need to hold on to the light I'm ready to do it but Lord I'm begging you to understand my life is a mess will you take me as I am?

Will you take me as I am? I'm living, it's okay, but I can't change. Your mother wants to do it alone. I wonder how you could love me. My life is like this again, but you came down to see me as I am. My way of living is never wrong, but I cannot change on my own. I try to do it alone. I wonder how you could love me with my life so ugly, but you came down. and she died for me, will you tell me?