6.15.17
Young people,
This letter is from Mr. BD, B.D. StreetPriest who comes in with Grandma Cherrie on the 1st and 2nd Sunday of each month. For those of you who were locked up the week of April 9th was there when I taught on loyalty and know who I am. Grandma Cherrie and I were there at the beginning of this month. The lesson taught on loyalty was called “Loyalty is a Choice”. This lesson is also enclosed and next week Mother Cherrie and I will send out part two of the concept of our loyalties being divided between God and this world. Where we speak of the world we (The Bible) speaks of any person, place or thing that we hold higher than him. The negative behavior (sin) is what separates us from Christ and leads us deeper into unrighteousness. This separation occurs when we put greater focuses on the people around us oppose to the God who is within you or can be with you if you do so choose to accept him in your life. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent (Numbers 23:19): hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good”?
Brothers and sisters, I want you to listen to these words from one of the inmates we mentor who today is serving 20-40 in state prison. We were all once where you are as you grow through life, taking the bumps and lumps along the way. The battle is not yours but the Lords so, here are those words I promised from someone who is not much different from you.
“When I was about your age, I began to show signs of moving down the wrong path to death or prison and didn’t even know the dangers of seeking instant gratification vs. delayed gratification. At the age of 12, I became a class clown and acting up to impress the girls and wanting the wrong kind of attention. I skipped the classes I didn’t like and was also told that I would amount to nothing. So I lost all interest in school and found joy in just hanging-out with my homeboys doing the the wrong things. That was my first taste of the street-life, I dropped out of school, ran away from home and pledged my loyalty to my new family, my street gang. We rolled around all-day in hot cars, selling and committing many others crimes in order to enjoy some of the finer things in life but it all comes with a cost.
I deeply regret I thought I had too much street smarts to hold down a 9-5 job that didn’t pay much. My two man homies were shot and killed at an early age this is the price we pay for that street life. I am lucky I wasn’t killed but I’m dying a slow death in prison because I did things without thinking it out and wish to god I could trade everything for a 9-5 job after school. I would give anything to see the smile on my mother’s face as she watched her little boy become a man but my family was my friends and gang members and we vowed to always be there for each other. So far I have been down for 6 years and have 14 more years to do. I am so alone my street family have turned their backs on me and I have asked my real family and God to forgive me for all the hurt and pain I caused. I just didn’t know how important family home and education is… but each of you right now have a choice to choose a better path and I pray to God none of you will go to prison or the grave so soon the choice is simple if you don’t change the course of your life!!”
Much Love,
Leon a.k.a. $keet
Now that story is 100% true and I can vouch for it myself because this brother and I grow up around the same places except he is a year or so younger than me. He got caught up in the system and is now stuck for a very long time and none of us want to see that be you!! Hopefully you are out by the time Grandma Cherrie and I return but if not we will see you on Sunday July 2nd at 3:30pm EST.
Blessings,
“B.D.” the StreetPriest”