The Need for Hope by David Christenson
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ~ Jeremiah 19:11
Everybody should have hope. We all hope that our loved ones are safe and secure. We probably hope that good fortune surrounds them too. We also hope that we are able to live in a good home. There are many other signs of hope that I could keep on listing here but you probably get the point. But maybe not the focus that I have in writing this piece. There is another form of hope that has been a part of my life for well over a year now and will likely be two years sometime this fall when it first became something I wanted to do with the borrowed time I’ve been given here on God’s earth. And that is I hope I can give hope to those who have little or no hope at all. I am talking about those in prison.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ~ 1 Peter 1:3 +++
For those in prison, its one day after another that is pretty much the same as the day before, and the day before that. I have never been locked behind bars and wire fences and I don’t relish the thought of that at all. While at my Bible study session sometime in the fall of 2013, Pastor Kevin Koop asked those of us there if any of us knew someone in prison. I can’t remember if there was anyone else besides me that said they did but I do remember telling the guys about the one that I knew.
While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” ~ Mark 5:35-36 +++
I know a guy who is in prison. I got to know him about ten years ago when he was working at a farm I was calling on when I was selling John Deere iron. His dad had done some work for us on our family farm in the 1970s and 1980s. I have visited him in prison and it was an eye opener for one who had never been there before. There was a lot of security to get in, including emptying everything out of my pockets and even taking my watch off and placing everything in a locker. I visited the guy for almost the complete time allotted for visitation time. We talked about a lot of things and a couple of them have stuck with me. One was when he said that moment in his life where he had made a simple decision that had cost him his freedom. He had never contemplated that scenario before. The other one was how people can disappoint others. When I asked him to clarify that he said that the ones he figured were his best friends, they were the first to disappoint. They cut off all connection with him. No letters or attempts at visitation either. But he also said people were full of surprises too. And he said that is where I came in. He had never figured on me writing to him or even coming to visit. He is a Catholic and when he was younger he told me he was an alter boy almost every Sunday. And he said he misses that today. My friend told me that he knew that God still remembered him when I wanted to make contact with him and talk about our faith and the trials we all endure in our lives here on God’s earth.
Shonda Savage started me on another mission not long ago. She wrote for FGGAM about Bruce (not his real name) in a Texas prison who was a self-avowed atheist who had found and accepted Christ as his Savior at Easter time in 2013. I got his inmate number from Shonda and because I already had a J-pay email account from talking to my friend in another prison and I wanted to start to communicate with Bruce if he was also willing to do so. I sent Bruce that email on the 2nd of April and another five J-pay emails since then. But what made my day last week was when I had a snail mail letter in my mailbox from Bruce. That was on a Tuesday and I took the letter to Pastor Kevin Koop right after I had it read. I wanted to show Kevin this letter and for him to see how happy it made me; tears of joy were shed by me that day. I took the letter to my bible study group the next morning so they could all see it too.
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” ~ Zephaniah 3:17
So I am trying to give Bruce hope through this communication that we now have. He gave me hope too. I have hope that I can make a difference here on God’s earth and Bruce has made sure that I do have some of that hope. I can’t wait for my next letter from Bruce. I want to see what God is doing in his life between those letters. I have seen God’s hand in my life a lot these past few years but there is just something different about seeing how our Lord Jesus is affecting a reborn Christian who had no hope before he kneeled at the cross and repented and gave his trust to Jesus. Every one of us can give that kind of hope to one like Bruce. It doesn’t have to be someone behind bars. There are many without hope all around us. We need to seek out God each and every day and ask for His guidance and God will tell us what to do.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ~ Romans 12:12
Pastor Dewey Note: I feel moved by God to say this morning we are so very blessed to have David with us. David was on our radio program yesterday and Lord Willing, we will have the audio up in the next couple of days. David is pictured above on the right.
About David Christenson: He is a lifelong resident of South Dakota, grew up on a farm north of Claremont and attended school in Amherst and Britton, graduating from Britton in 1977.
David married Gretchen Tisher in 1984. Gretchen is also a graduate of Britton and teaches math and drama at Britton-Hecla high school. David and Gretchen have two children. Zach is an engineer for Continental Ag in Norfolk, Nebraska and his wife Amanda is a nurse. Margo lives in Denver and works as a Marketing & Outreach coordinator for MyLifeLine.org, a cancer support not-for-profit entity.
David started a cow/calf operation in the 1980s and farmed on the family farm after his high school graduation until December of 1994 when he accepted a sales position at the John Deere store in Britton. David left the John Deere sales position in March of 2006 and became a licensed crop insurance agent in May of 2006. David also started a rental business in 2010 and remained in the cattle business until January of 2012.
David, age 55, has had some extraordinary circumstances in his life. He was run over by a farm tractor before age 6 and had three heart attacks a few months before turning 40. Then he suffered life threatening injuries a few months after turning 50 in a hit and run incident. David was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 and skin cancer in 2014.
David started writing his recovery experiences on Facebook in December of 2009. Over the next four years those Facebook notes became what would become chapters in his book, “Why Are You Here?” which was published in December of 2013.