Chaplain’s Notes Rev. Cari Willis

CHAPLAIN’S NOTES

Transformation

When I was a Chaplain on the hospice wards of the Federal Prison in Butner, I walked into the cell of a man I knew right away was riddled with cancer because he was skin and bones and his mouth was drawn in. I had learned already to just sit quietly by their side so that they could determine for themselves how much energy they could expend on a visit. This was my first visit with Bernard. He must have been in his mid-40’s by all appearances. I softly said my name and took his hand in mine. For a long while we just looked into each other’s eyes so that only our silence would speak.

Bernard finally mustered up the energy to tell me in a whispered voice that he had become a Christian when he was fourteen. He said, “And then of course I backslid two years later.” (This made me want to laugh out loud.) And then he looked at me again with piercing eyes. I knew then that he had committed his crime at the age of sixteen. He went on to tell about how a chaplain in the first prison he was in had befriended him and shared the truths from the Bible with him. He was overwhelmed at all the Bible had to say. It was then that he turned his life completely over to God. He told me, “Now all I want to do is to read the Bible and witness to the other guys that come in and out of my cell.” He then told me in his faint voice one story after another of how God had used him and moved him in order to touch the lives of his podmates. The stories were remarkable as it was clear that God had so perfectly placed him at the right place at the right time to touch the lives of so many. Bible studies and prayer groups were set up and then he would move again to touch more lives and to set up more groups. As he spoke his face radiated the love of Christ to the point that tears were springing to my eyes and falling down my cheeks.

Once he was finished telling me his stories, I stared at him with tears still flowing. I then told him with great earnestness, “You are a real and living testimony to the richness of God’s love.” With big eyes he stared at me and stared at me and started sobbing. His whole body was shaking. “That is all I have ever wanted to be –– a testimony.” And with shoulders that were heaving back and…

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