9-6-12 #25

Some people don't get it and probably never will

I pray that this finds any reader well and enjoying life to its fullest. As for myself, it is well with my soul.

I am now in a new cell. I moved on Tuesday night, this being Thursday afternoon. I was approached by a man who calls himself a Christian and asked if I wished to move in. My current cellie at the time was an idiot, sorry about the derogatory term, but he was an idiot. He actually made a grinding wheel to sharpen tools for his hobby craft. Basically a major felony in prison. I had to GO!

So, I get to my new cell with an usher at church and lo and behold this guy has the entire cell claimed as his own. WE have roughly 80 square foot of wall space to hang our clothes, photos and such. He had AT LEAST 60 of that and made no move to give me any more space. On top of that, he laid claim to the top of my locker and 3 out of four plug-ins. Then he decided the box of my sweetener needed to be trimmed down, so while I was gone he did just that! Then he decided that my fan needed to be in a certain place, so that is where he put it, and after taping my extension cord to the wall he went on to tie the cord of my fan to it. So basically he was running total roughshod over me and that was that. How is it a person could do that who is not using or active in addiction?

Oh, and he was just running his TV without headphones as he deemed fit. WOW! I could never imagine treating someone like that moving into a cell I happened to be living in. I told him about it, which, yes, I resent having to do, and he seemed wounded by my saying so. Now I tend to have a temper. I mean I can "go there", if you know what I mean. I did not do that. I asked if we could pray, then I informed him I needed my space and he needed to respect that and pointed out issues brought forth earlier in this post.

Why should I have to point out "You have one wall floor to ceiling, I need the other wall floor to ceiling, not just a little strip of it"? We are all going to deal with people like this, who just seem to take more than their share or right and impose themselves on us. The first thing I do is take note of the fact that I have done much worse in my life to others. I acknowledge the pain it is causing me and the pain I have caused others. I then commit to never again inflicting others as was happening to me.

Then I pray, and outline what I feel is a reasonable request for appropriate behavior. What is vital for me is not allowing emotions or passion to flare up.

As Christians we are called to do all things rightly and in order. Chances are we will all fail, some, like myself, perhaps more than others. Does that mean that we are not to hold each other accountable to act right? NO! It is absolutely alright to speak out, but only after being sure that we have checked ourselves first. And then, if there is a possibility of differing views, we give way and step back.

I am miserable. Do not mean to snivel, but I am. If you think that I was wrong in this situation I hereby invite you to tell me so. I would in fact appreciate your input.

Be well and keep on keeping on. Pray. Pray. And pray some more!

russ

Prayer request update: Sharron, who I asked you to pray for, who had surgery, is now healing up and experienced a bit of divine intervention when the pain got too bad. :)