PenPals Blog

Stamps & Steeples

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:08:57 +0000

I received a letter back from one of my penpals this week. One thing he has asked for repeatedly is more stamps so he can continue writing me. I have no problem sending him stamps. I’d even cut back on Starbucks if he needed even more stamps. It actually blesses me that I’m able to. I can’t help but wonder how many inmates can’t write due to a lack of stamps though?

Here’s a crazy concept. What if more churches focused on “Outreach” instead of sky scraping steeples? Imagine how many people could be reached if churches did so? I recently drove by a new church building site in a small Texas town outside of Austin. My first thought was, “Why in the world do they need such a gigantic steeple?”. McDonald’s Arches aren’t that big! I can’t wait for the day when offerings are taken up for the less fortunate opposed to huge building funds. Personally, I think God frowns on steeples but that’s just my opinion.

If you would like to donate stamps, follow this link www.Christian-Penpals.com for more information.

Laminin?

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:46:21 +0000

What’s Laminin you ask? Well take 8 minutes and find out. All I can say is, “Wow!”.

Situations

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:51:31 +0000

Last week one of my Pen Pals wrote me a letter and included a poem he wrote as well.
So I thought I’d share it with yall.

“Situations”
Oh, how my mind seeks rest. Oh, how my soul seeks a friend.
But my soul still goes without, because of the situation I’m in.
My situation causes pain. It causes destruction and disgrace.
It even caused the ones who love me, to disappear before my face.
Some lasted for a winter, some through the spring and fall.
Some even lasted for a summer, but my situation out lasted them all.
Now it’s only me and my situation and it haunts me like a cause.
Some even think my situation will out last my time on earth.
But God forbids, he won’t allow my situation to last that long.
For God made me a real man, and my situation is not that strong.
So why did my situation scare them? was their love even real?
Out of sight, out of mind, regardless how it feels.
But I must respect my situation, it taught me to help myself.
It taught me to love everyone, but trust me, no one else.
It’s funny how situations occur, but even funnier how they end.
I’ll never forget my situation because it showed me my true friends.
But I’m glad I found a friend, in Jesus Christ that is who through my situations
will never leave or forsake me, but will love me until the end! - Raymond

Buried Talents

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:11:35 +0000

Dr. Myles Munroe once said that the richest place on earth is the graveyard.
The reason is because of all the people who take their potential and dreams with them to the grave. God has given everyone gifts, talents and ideas but we have a tendency to either sit on them or just let them die. Our environment plays a huge part in this; like who we spend our time with and the things we choose to do.

P.O.W.

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:52:03 +0000

I was listening to a video the other night on YouTube and it really spoke to me. It’s funny how two different people can hear the same thing but have a completely different reaction to it. I took the time to type out the poem and send it to both of my Pen Pals in hopes that it will speak to them as well.

THE Judge!

admin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:26:43 +0000

We should leave the judging to THE Judge! It’s so automatic for me to judge others based off what I think is right or wrong. I don’t like that. I want to become less judgmental. I think we as Christians can be the biggest violators when it comes to this. It’s funny to me how we even do it with things that don’t really matter.

Loneliness & Curiosity

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:20:05 +0000

I read all the forms that are sent in (from CPP) by people registering prisoners for Pen Pals. There’s a section on the form that ask the registrant to describe what the prisoner is looking for in a Pen Pal. The most common thing is just for someone to help ease their loneliness. That’s all they ask for.

Loss of Perspective

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:37:49 +0000

I tend to lose perspective very easily on how truly blessed I am. I ask God daily for little reminders. One way God has answered my prayer is through the letters I receive from my prisoner pen pals.

Last week at work we had an hour meeting that spilled into three hours. It was mind numbing and I began to doodle the phrase, “this sucks!” all over my memo pad. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. When we were finally released, everyone scattered like roaches. I was on my way out the door when the receptionist told me that she put a letter on my desk.

Pen Pals + Prisoners = Priceless posts

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:03:42 +0000

A couple months ago my wife Chelan asked me if I would pray about possibly being a Pen Pal to a Prisoner. My immediate response was … “Do I really need to pray about blessing someone’s life?” I believe the response, “I’ll pray about writing a prisoner” only comes from a person who has a difficult time with saying no.