Friend, where are you?

FRIEND, WHERE ARE YOU? While spending the last three decades in prison, I have met some very intelligent men and women who were able to assist me in becoming a man of integrity. I've also met many who I wouldn't dream of associating with due to the fact that their lifestyles, I've been there, done that which is what led me here in the first place. While we were together in person or by correspondence, I thought those people and I developed a close knit relationship because Christ Jesus was our Lord and God our Father who made us family members in Him. When I say family, the meaning within my heart is: We were related by the Blood! Our days and months together somehow turned into years and personal association was bonding, at least for what I thought. I know what I was feeling toward these wonderful men and women, but I didn't know what they were truly feeling toward mee Yea, some expressed their heartfelt love and praised God for what He was doing through me in sharing my life, wisdom and knowledge of the Word to help them walk in a manner worthy of their calling. It is said, "Actions speak louder than words," but even words are honored in some difficult circumstances when there is distance between one another. There are many belief systems about promises and somehow, with some people, promises has lost its value. I should have said, people have lost their value in promises. "Promises are agreements to do or not to do something" (Webster's New World Dictionary, p. 597). You can also say, "Promises are commitments given for a purpose" (Smithism, my opine). The characteristics of any person will have its affect upon you whether its good or bad and we have to choose who we will associate with because even the Bible teaches, "Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals" (1 Corinthians 15:33). Therefore, we do pick and choose who we associate with during our life. One day, I was sitting on my bed thinking about some of those I connected with during this incarceration and several people rose to the surface of my mind by thinking of the love I have for these many men and women who so richly made an impacted in my life. Some were incarcerated at one time and some I met through correspondence. Those who were incarcerated, our communication person to person was the best of the crop, those by correspondence were just as wonderful and with both there were various kinds of promissory notes. I would not wish prison upon my worse enemy because I've seen many lives abandoned, left all alone in the midst of the most dangerous people in the State. The cry for help being uttered and going unanswered. The phone calls saying, the number you have dialed is no longer in service. The letters stamped, moved, left no forwarding address. And mainly the cries of loneliness, echoing down through the halls of the non-existent saying, "Friend, Where Are You?" Once there was a life thriving vigorously and luxuriantly until that friend went home, transferred out, or disappeared for some unknown reason. That's all right because the promise to keep in contact with each other was made on the heartfelt love you developed during your days, months, or years together. The expectation of hearing from whoever is always high on the tablet of your heart. As time passes, you do what you promised and write, and on several occasions with every stroke of the pen, the refreshing thought of your togetherness brings the smile of inner happiness of your close relationship to its fullest highlight. Your "Hope” is fully alive. Some of those people wrote back telling you of all their adventures as they struggled to make ends meet. Some of them never responded to your letters as you penned several of them in their direction. Then, those who did responded, as time moved on, they faded away into silence. In one experience, I remember one individual who gave me his address promising to correspond. I wrote and the letter came back saying, undeliverable, no such number. Picture this, this person and you sitting right next to each other, laughing and joking while he's writing his address down for you, and then weeks later, you find it was a fake. During his time in prison, we were the best of buddies, but in the end, "Friend, Where are you?" In prison, you was taken out of one society of the free and placed into another society of the incarcerated. You meet people from all over the State you live in and even some people from out of State who decided to hang around a little longer than they planned. A man of too many friends comes to ruin (Broken in pieces), but there is a friend who sticks loser than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Meeting that brother or Sister and believing their word, well, just remember one thing, you cannot be betrayed by an enemy. In every society, I know there may happen to be some snakes that sneaks around befriending people while wearing their nice snakeskin clothes and shrewdly looking to leave their venom in any relationship they develop. We can never tell if they are true or memorex. Giving their promise of contacting you when they arrive on the other side, I personally have written letters to many and those letters wasn't returned, therefore, I believed they were received. Writing this came with many tears and heartaches, but joy in knowing that those who gave their promissory words might be reading this while in their new skin they put on when they left. Oh, I have several people who are true to their word and their actions are speaking louder with their words. I do not have to say, Friend, where are you?, because I know where they are. Whether they are on the outside in society of the free, or on the inside, their correspondence keep our relationship strong, active, and alive. Jesus said, "…l was in prison, and you came to Me...Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers (Sisters) of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:36, 40). The thought life is crazy, yet uncontrollable. People, places, and things enter in from the past, the present, and even the future. Therefore, those who we have associated with at some point in our life, they will one day come running across our mind. And I say, "Friend, Where are you?" Wait a minute, let me take this up a notch. I have a special word for those who are walking on a higher plane that was given a big responsibility, "Pastors, Where are you?" I have written letters for and on behalf of prisoners who was arrested and sentenced to prison for the first time. They were so choked up over what happened to them, that the only person who they thought would be understanding and could help them through their devastating ordeal was their pastor. Concerning some of those brothers, I framed the letter to their pastors as if it was coming from them, and others, I was the one who wrote the letter on their behalf. Most of those pastors, it seem they were of the same School of Faith because their answers were, "Since you have become an non-active member of the Church, I cannot assist you." I couldn't believe the words I was reading. For sure, prison will cause you to find who your friends truly are. Writing a Sister in prison during the earlier years of my term, I had a difficult time sharing the Word with her because of her experience with a pastor. Desperate and in need for help, she went to a pastor asking for his assistance. He asked if she was a member of his Church. She said, "No." Then he said to her "Sorry, I cannot help you." Her arrest was the result of that encounter because she violated the law trying to get what she needed for her family. Being a member or not, a child of the Creator was in need of the Shepherd's help. Assisting her would have prevented a life from entering the prison system and she probably would have become a member of his Church as a result. But wait a minute, who's Church is it? Pastors are only servants of Christ (1 Cor. 4:1) and placed in charge of the Lord's Church who are His Body. Are you making any house calls to those who are shut in? What about visiting those in the hospital and your nonactive members in prison? And this is not only to pastors, but to the Believers and unbelievers in general. For a short Gospel address from me to you read Matthew 25:31-46 and answer the question, "Have you been a Sheep or a Goat? Be careful, for this is the Day of Judgment Jesus is talking about and He told us that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). You who gave your promissory note to someone you moved on from, shame on you if you have not fulfilled "Your Word." But don't worry, there is still time to do what you've promised. Go, and do what is necessary, "Now I know that you are a man (woman) of God or a true friend and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is Truth. Dr. Henry Smith