Transcription
9/28/2013
William David Linley
ID No. M-08788
Graham Correctional Center
P.O. Box 499
Hillsboro, Illinois 62049
Hello world!
I've enclosed our third newsletter distributed to our veterans group. It's a positive tool to remind veterans that we are men of integrity. We don't have to think like convicts. The peer pressure to "fit in" is huge in prison. Prison reinforces the dysfunctional behavior of teenager mentality. It takes a real man and courage to stand-up for things like honor, respect and integrity. Many do though. I'm surprised that it's not complete chaos.
GrahamVets falls under the Chapel program, so I try to help out with the newsletter. Without a full time Chaplain, though, my work hours are cut to one-day a week. So my time is really restricted; otherwise, we'd have six or seven letters published instead of just three. It's a positive start though.
Can anyone tell A. Turner I need an address for him. My letter was returned last month. I want to thank him for sending me some cash. I used part to cover the phone account so I could reach my family, and with extra postage money, I am able to write more letters like this.
Koinonia House Ministry (Khnm.net) is a group that is working very hard to influence the prison in a positive way. To break the cycle of destruction to families and repeat offenses. Check them out.
They visited us again for the fourth time in two years. They would visit more, but without a Chaplain, it's difficult. Last year they, with Willow Creek Church, donated a couple of computers to our Chapel. We now use one to display announcements and words to songs every Sunday service. A big help for worship services.
The other helps the Chaplain do assignments. Now we can assign a person to a list, i.e. Church, A.A. or GrahamVets, for attendance within two days. It normally required seven to twenty-one days before a person could be on the list, which permits the movement within the prison for attendance.
Until next time...
David
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Replies (4)
Sincerely,
Calhoun25
I was happy to receive your letter the other day and hate that it took so long for me to respond. I try to send help anytime I get the chance and it is available to me. I hope the family is as well as the situation allows. I know things are hard all around and the family will adjust as they can.
I try to do anything I can do to assist you, please don’t ever hesitate to let me know if I can do more, I mean that with all my heart. You are such a bright, radiant spirit and you deserve no less in life than the warm light you emit so abundantly. I know sometimes darkness and shadows creep their way near us, and that is when we are to call on our soul-friends to flex on our behalf. I am here to serve as your soul-friend in that way. I am here to remind you that your current pit is seeding your next, sweet fruit.
Please find solace in the seed, knowing that any suffering you may be enduring is evolving your life forward, even if it feels just the opposite. Life insists on its own evolution. Thank God, lest our tears feel purposeless. When, really, the salt we shed is a promise of rhapsody to come. And if you find you cannot raise yourself from the pit, and then simply rest right in it, beloved. Settle in; take a nap; and only rise when you feel darn well ready to! Again, I am here for and with you.
In my own life, I found that everything changed for the better, at least my attitude did, and that's the beginning of changing everything else, when I discovered who I really was--a holy child of God, put here to "be God in my little neck of the woods." You may be the only one in your space that's "being God" to those around you, sharing His love with them. Or you may be being that more genuinely than most others are. "Being God", to me, is simply allowing the goodness we ascribe to God to flow through you, like water flowing through a pipe. When water flows through a pipe, the pipe gets wet, too. When you allow God's love to flow through you, you get the benefit of that love too, since you're experiencing it first and then sharing it with the rest of the world.
You're not “wasting your life” when you're expressing kindness and love to others. You could be totally paralyzed and bedridden and still be a blessing to the world, by simply beaming out your love to the world. Your life would not be a waste. It would be a beacon, sending light and love to everyone everywhere, whether or not they even knew you existed. Nobody has to know your name or even know that you exist for you to make a difference in the world! All that has to happen is for you to be the love that you already intrinsically are, as a holy child of God. That love will be felt and will make a difference, even if no one knows you exist! That's how powerful love is. Others will feel that love and be moved by it, even if you can't move.
Act in ways that you think God would act toward those around you. Remember “What would Jesus do?” It’s like that. When you start "being God in your little neck of the woods", you don't need to spend so much time asking of God or imploring God. You're allowing God to be Himself through you. You're His voice, hands, and feet. He isn't somewhere off in the skies. Jesus taught us that the kingdom of Heaven is "within you". You don't need to look somewhere outside of yourself to find God. He hid himself inside of you, the last place most humans look. That's why Jesus had to remind us of that.
Love everyone as you do yourself and forgive all the time. Trust me when I say this it is just as difficult out here as it is in there to forgive all the time, but Jesus did and continues each day.
David, know that you are loved and although letters may not flow as often you are not forgotten…….God Bless!
The reason for the move is because we sold the house and moved into an apartment until relocation to North Carolina. The move should happen somewhere around July or later I will let you know.
Take care.