Beyond the

Bars

Lawrence Allen Speight, III

Nothing in this testimony is fabricated.

Some names have been changed for legal

purposes. A picture of my former life and

criminal record have been included.

 Foreword

Lawrence Allen Speight III (Trey) is my nephew. He has

always held a special place in my heart. As a child, he was an

intelligent, energetic, confident young man. Everybody

loved Trey. All of the family had great expectations of him.

After all, at the age of two years old he carried a backpack full of

papers with him everywhere that he went. By the age of seven

hed exchanged his backpack for a briefcase.

Somewhere along the way, Trey got off track. His choices

were not in his best interest. His continual bad choices led to

undesirable consequences. Among them was incarceration.

We, his family, were shocked, disappointed, and hurt. Still,

we never gave up on him. We kept the faith. God rewarded

our faithfulness. Satan meant it for evil, but God meant it for

good.

Though Lawrence was behind the bars, God stepped in and

released the bars of captivity. Trey accepted Christ as his

Savior and Lord. He wholeheartedly served the Lord. God

delivered, nurtured, and protected Trey. Trey was amazed at

the miracles that God performed on his behalf. His letters

constantly unveiled miraculous experiences of God. I

told him that he should share them in the form of a book.

 Trey realized that his story could be a tool to lead others to

Christ. In this book Treys experiences reveal that if Christ

abides on the inside, physical bars are not bondage. His

testimonies show that freedom is available to all regardless of

who one is, where one is, or why one is in a given situation.

You did not pick up this book by chance. There is a

message in this book just for you. Be encouraged as you read it.

You will discover that you can be set free and live

abundantly BEYOND THE BARS.

Dr. Gwendolyn Speight Holman, Executive Pastor

End Time Kingdom Church, Portsmouth VA

Author of Thank God for the Lifeline

 Table of Contents

Tre-8: Before Christ................1

Never Be the Same......4

A Weekend at the Marriott.................7

Richmond City Jail.............11

Furious F-2..15

Dreams of Violence or Vision25

Quarantine....28

Encounters in Christ.37

The Church of F-2...46

Isaiah.65

New Level, New Devil74

Epilogue93

Words from the Author95

Tre-8: Before Christ

1
2
I was the big boy of the crew. Tre-8 was the name.

Unpredictable: professional: dangerous. Nine millimeters and

.45s were always in reach. My weapon of choice though? The

shotgun. In any situation, handguns would make a person

thinkbut a shottie would make a person faint. The crew wasnt

one to take lightly either. Krizz was down for whatever at any

time, and things would turn critical if he said so. J-cook had more

warrants than loose change. Blizzo got locked up for putting three

enemies in critical conditionand killing the fourth. Getting

respect and money was an average day at the office. As a teen, I

outlasted city-wide manhunts, shootings, the drug game, and

much more. As an adult, I was a stick-up star. In 2006, a chain

of events led me to skip town until things cooled off. I visited

family and laid low. Nothing couldve prepared me for what would

soon take place in my life.

3
 Never Be the Same

Chapter One

In December of 2006, I visited my Aunt Gwen and Uncle

Jimmy in Chesapeake, Virginia. As I relaxed in their home, I

enjoyed the calm environment. No gunshots. No drinking. No

smoking. The atmosphere was that of simply relaxing.

Uncle Jimmy shared some of the experiences in his life

before he became a Christian. He used to be a gangsta. The

morning I shared with Uncle Jimmy remains foremost in my

mind. Uncle Jimmy was waiting for some of his friends to come

over to fix his kitchen window. They, too, were ministers who used

to be gangstas. They were supposed to come over at 9:00 A.M.

However, they didnt arrive at the designated time. This was

strange, Uncle Jimmy explained, because his friends were never

late. In the meantime, out of nowhere, Uncle Jimmy started

talking to me about Christ. He ended the discussion with prayer

for me, prophetically telling me about my own life. He then told

me that the Lord had meant for just the two of us to talk. What he

was telling me was that our twenty minute talk wasnt just by

chance. God predestined it.

Not a second after he said that, the doorbell rang. Uncle

Jimmys friends showed up. His friends asked to pray before they
4
began working. Honestly, I didnt want to hear another prayer, but

I bowed my head out of respect. They prayed. Strangely, the words

spoken in their prayer were exactly the words that Uncle Jimmy

had just prayed over me. I quickly opened my eyes and looked up

in the middle of prayer because I thought they were playing a

joke on me. How could their prayers have been exactly the same

without their having been present when Uncle Jimmy prayed?

How could their prayers have been exactly the same when they

didnt communicate with each other before praying? It couldnt

have been that they heard us through the window because only the

screen was broken. As I realized that there was no logical

explanation, my Uncle Jimmy looked at me with tears in his eyes.

He told me that my life would never be the same again. Then

something hit me out of nowhere and my eyes watered up. The

next thing I knew, I was fighting tears. Needless to say, that same

day I left and went back to Richmond.

In Richmond, I found myself on the back porch at 2 A.M.

As I smoked, I did a lot of reflecting. I thought of the life I was

living. The more I thought, I noticed that every time Id go astray it

felt like something or someone was protecting me. I

concluded to myself that God was definitely real. Lastly I thought

of the prayer encounter with Uncle Jimmy. Your life will never be

the same, echoed in my mind. I looked into the starlit sky above
5
the street lights, and said Ok God. Im going to try You and Your

ways, 100%. It seemed like God prepared that whole night sky for

me to say those words. Then I put the smoke out and went into the

house.

I called my fianc at the time. I told her that I gave my

life to Christ. I asked her if she wanted to have a Christian

engagement. She replied in agreement. I wanted to fill her in

because I figured that the devil would try to throw a few shots our

way. Little did I know, Satan threw drama at me in high speed. It

was fast enough that I didnt see it even coming at first. However,

it was slow enough that I felt the pain.

The very next day, I had to go to court to finish up a petty

larceny case (to get off probation). It was going to be dropped to a

misdemeanor considering that I stayed out of trouble for 12

months. The plan was to go back to court, pay a fine, and leave.

When I got there, my lawyer told me some seriously bad news.

I had six violent felony charges in the City of Richmond. I was

charged with two counts of robbery, two counts of abduction, and

two counts of firearm possession. The charges carried a penalty of

five years to life each. So there I was, not even 24 hours from

trying Gods way- locked up and facing a lot of time.

6
 A Weekend at the Marriott

Chapter Two

I was fingerprinted and processed in Henrico County Jail.

I was to be held there for the weekend until that following

Monday. Then I would be transported to the infamous Richmond

City Jail. It was said that compared to the Richmond Jail, Henrico

was like the Marriott Hotel.

All I could wonder was, What will happen? Will I have to

spend the rest of my life in prison? If not all my life, then how

much time would I get? What about my family? As if that wasnt

bad enough, my fianc at the time came all the way from

Baltimore to visit me. She wasnt allowed to see me because I

wasnt classified in the jail yet. Then it got worse: she was given my

cell phone, and saw other womens phone numbers I had stored in

it. I didnt know where to go or what to do. It seemed like

everything was falling apart. In all honesty, what could I do or

where could I go? On top of it all, my mother was facing

difficultiesand I was making it worse.

I was heading to the infamous Richmond City Jail. It was the

type of place that you heard stories about. Sitting in the lockup, a

million things ran through my mind. All I could think of at first

was that God slicked me. However, I was the con- not Him. Then I
7
looked at the six warrant copies I had. The dates on the warrants

were dated weeks prior. Then it hit me: the police couldve kicked

down my door to look for me weeks ago. They never looked for me

nor ever served me the warrants. All of that happened to me 6

hours after I made that commitment to God. It was too much to be

a coincidence. After realizing that, the lockup door opened and I

was processed with the rest of the guys.

When I was fully processed, I was escorted to a dorm. My

mind was racing. Fear crept in; but getting an answer from God

was my number one concern. I walked in and adjusted to the new

surroundings. Minutes later, I saw a Bible laying on somebody

named Charles bunk. I needed that Bible. Maybe there was some

kind of scripture or story that could explain what was going on.

God does move in mysterious ways, but my situation was harder

to figure out than a Rubiks Cube. I asked Charles if I could hold it,

and he gave it to me. I started reading it. Then I heard a person

yell Bible Study in my cell! I didnt go because I felt the need to

keep my guards up: I figured it could be a set-up. I knew a little bit

about jail.watch your back and your front.

The next night however, the same voice made the same

announcement. So I decided to go. There was nothing fake about

it. There was no danger. That cell felt like it wasnt even a part of

the jail. For the second time, I felt something in that room. It felt
8
like the feeling back when my uncle told me that my life would

never be the same. When we left Bible Study, I went to my cell. I

told the Lord that I was still ready to do things His way, one

hundred percent. There had to be more to life then what I was

doing with it on the streets.

Suddenly, I instantly remembered something about quoting

Gods word back to Him. Problem was, I didnt know any

scriptures. Somehow, only one came to mind. So I gripped the

Bible and closed my eyes. I said I want to have the robe of

righteousness as a bridegroom decorates himself, and a few

other things. When I was done, I randomly flipped my Bible and it

landed on Isaiah 61. This chapter read back my prayer to me. It

was a direct response to my direct prayer!!!

I was in jail with all of those problems. I was at the worst point

of my life. However, I was smiling because that night it felt like

Jesus Himself spoke to me. Then I remembered once again what

Uncle Jimmy said. I remembered the tears in his eyes as he said

Your life will never be the same. He was right on the money.

Charles and I talked quite a bit. He was cool. On the inside

of my mind, I was getting more nervous because Monday was

approaching. I was getting closer to being transported to

Richmond City Jail. I was stressed because I knew that I had to

knuckle up. On top of that, it was still my first time being locked
9
up. Richmond City was nicknamed Gladiator School for a

reason.

10
 Richmond City Jail

Chapter Three

On Monday, January 8, 2007 I woke up for chow time. I

noticed that a few people, Charles included, were gone. I was

praying hard because my birthday was four days away and I

wanted to be free. The guards called me at 4:40 P.M. to pack up. I

left nervously to go downstairs. When I got downstairs, guess who

I saw? Yeah, it was Charles. As it turned out, Charles was being

transported to Richmond City Jail too. The weird part was that

Charles was sitting downstairs since 5:40 A.M. About three

Richmond transports had come and gone.leaving him there.

The God of our salvation worked things out. He put us

together so that we could breathe easily and glorify Gods name.

We both missed our preliminary court dates because we werent

transported in time. Charles and I prayed the entire time we were

being driven.

As we entered the Richmond City Jail sally port, all 8 of us on

the transport van were handcuffed. Two people shared one set of

cuffs. The officers then put us in a place called The Bullpen. The

name fit the spot perfectly. Picture a small 10 by 12 foot room.

Now pack a bunch of guys in it. Now tick those guys off. Then

sprinkle a few puddles of urine, and add a few dope sick guys
11
throwing up- thats the bullpen. As they shoved us all in the

already-packed bullpen, I started to look around. I instantly saw

somebody that I knew. I robbed him on the streets a few months

prior to that day. He was posted up with two of his homeboys. He

stopped his conversation and hunched forward, with a tough look

on his face.looking at me. I clenched my fists, expecting to fight.

Then I realized something: my good arm was handcuffed to

another inmate!! What did that mean to me? An instant beat

down. The guy continued to stare at me in a puzzled way, trying to

put a finger on where he knew me from. I remember asking God to

not let me get jumped while my good arm was cuffed down. As

soon as I finished that prayer, the guy simply shrugged his

shoulders and went back to talking to his homeboys. God kept me

invisible to harm!!

Since the coast was clear, I continued to look around the

bullpen. I started taking mental notes about everybody. That guy

knows everybody; this guy is scared; that guy is crazy; that girl in

the corner is crying her eyes out. Then I turned around and

wondered why the guards put a woman in there with all the guys.

As I doubled back to look, I discovered that the woman was not a

woman. He was a homosexual man with woman-like hair! It was a

quick wake up call to me reminding me of where I was.

The guards called us into the processing unit, five at a time.

12
After logging in all our property, they made each person strip

naked The squat-and-cough routine wasnt too out of the ordinary

being that it was jail. However, the naked fifteen feet walk to the

jail clothing booth was. It was degrading to do that in front of

officers and other inmates. You could tell who was new to it all

and those who were used to it. It was clear that the real convicts

cared nothing about the walk. So when it was my turn, I put my

go hard face on, and walked.

I was then given an orange jumpsuit. All of us were escorted

to J-tier. This was like a warm up dorm for those who werent

classified yet. They classified us by charges. That meant the worse

the charges, the worse places an inmate would get assigned to.

The day after Charles and I got to J-tier, he said Do you remember

when you said we might have missed our preliminary court dates

for a reason? Well it turns out that I was supposed to see a tough

judge nicknamed one-chance-Rubin. Instead, Charles had been

reassigned to see a more lenient judge: and so did I.

Upon entering the jail, I was picking up all of the loose paper

on the ground I could get. Any kind of paper was hard to come by.

I happened to find a lawyers business card on the ground. I

figured maybe it was good luck or something. I showed it to

Charles. Strangely, the card belonged to Charles paid lawyer. God

moves in mysterious ways, huh? For the weekend we stayed at J-

13
tier, we had many biblical conversations. Then the day came for

us to get classified. This was different because Charles only had a

failure to appear in court. This was extremely different from my

record. Charles would be going to a low felony dorm. Since my

charges were for major offences, I was going to one of the hardest

dorms in the jail.

While I was in the records room, a sheriff looked at my

charges. He said to me Oh, that aint good for you. Though I did

not know what that meant, I did know that it meant something

severe. I replied I dont know what that means, but wherever I go

is okay, because God is now with me. Satan never misses a

chance to place doubt. The guard responded, God aint with you

today!

You see, I was scheduled by procedure to go to D block or C

building. This was the building of 23 hour lockdown. The sheriff

left to get my paperwork processed. I prayed to Jesus the entire

time. I asked Him to keep His angels of protection with me. When

I finished praying, the sheriff came back. He said, I am going to

cut you a break today. It was amazing to see God move like that,

even through one who was against me. Instead of going to the

block with the lifers, I was assigned to F-2.

14
 Furious F-2

Chapter Four

F-2 was a rough place to be. F-2 housed real gangstas and a

lot of violence. A few others and I entered into the dorm. It

looked more like a city than a jail: dim lit areas, a few metal long

tables, and a bunch of ruthless guys roaming around. I sat my stuff

down and looked around. Somebody came up to me and asked

what I was in for. Robbery, I replied. Out of nowhere, he yelled

to the back of the dorm Aye T! Yo T! Whoever T was shouted

back Wassup? The guy beside me shouted Aye didnt your

peoples just get ROBBED on the streets? My heart started racing

as a potential fight was about to break out. This guy was basically

saying that I robbed Ts homeboys on the outside of jail. All of a

sudden, laughing broke out. It was a joke!! There I was scared as

a mouse, and everyone else simply laughed at it all. Very funny,

huh?

The other few guys who came in with me were linking up with

their homies and their hoods. I didnt see anyone I knew. So I

picked up my mat and started walking around looking for an open

bunk. I wondered why there were about thirty mats laying on the

floor in the front of the dorm. I shrugged the thought off and

kept on looking. Walking unveiled no free bunks; but there

15
were mats in each cut of every set of bunks. Basically they had a

cut to sleep in; sort of like being a step above homeless in the jail

scene. There were about 100 metal double bunk beds, but it

seemed there were more mats in the cuts than on the bunks. I

couldnt figure any of this out, but there was finally an open cut

that I could unroll my mat in. I unfolded it and laid down, just to

chill for a minute.

My eyes got heavy, and I was sleep before I knew it. Then

something urged me to wake up. So I slowly blinked my eyes

open. When I looked up, I saw six gangstas looking down at me. I

didnt know that I was laying in the Southsides gang cut. I walked

in the dorm and did the most dangerous thing possible, without

even knowing it! One of them said, Yo what you doin in our

cut? Another said, Where you from? I told them I was from

Baltimore. The biggest one out of the six said, Oh neva mind: he

dont know. He explained to me how things went around F-2. I

moved my stuff out of the cut without any problems. I could have

easily gotten stomped out. Laying on the floor would have made it

even easier. However, I was kept and protected by God. Looking

back at it reminded me of a modern day version of Daniel being in

the lions den! I moved my stuff to the only open spot: in the

front like everyone else who couldnt get a bunk. Everybody

named it sleeping in the park (no different than a homeless

16
person on the streets seeking refuge in public parks).

Then I noticed the conditions of F-2. The month was January.

The windows were busted, which made the (mostly metal) dorm

about 30 degrees at night. The shower water was constantly ice

cold. The food was served colder than the shower water ran.

Faced with those factors, plus realizing I wasnt going to be set

free in a long timeI started sleeping: a lot. I slept so much that

I only ate one food tray every two days. This went on for 2

months.

One day, when I returned from the bathroom, I discovered a

Christian booklet on my mat. I was so out of touch with reality that

I read it and went back to sleep. I didnt even care to ask who put it

there. I read it then went back to sleep. From that point on, every

time I woke up..there was something new that was Christ

centered. Weeks went by with that being my routine: Sleep and

Christ. Then one day.. something amazing happened: I couldnt

go back to sleep. I tried repeatedly. Nothing worked. So I got up to

take a look at myself in the faded plexi-glass mirror up front.

Something was different about me. My 240 pound body

shrank to 165 pounds. As I started to clear my throat, it was hard

to do. It turns out that when you rarely use your vocal chords, the

strength in them decreases. I smelled bad, not remembering the

last time I had taken the ice cold shower.

17
 Regardless of all those things, I looked like a different person.

Even through all the grit and grime, I had sort of a glow about me.

I took a shower, shaved, and cleaned myself up. There was

something brand new about me that I couldnt put my finger on.

Just then, an old man introduced himself to me. He was Brother

Jerry. He told me that he was the one who gave me the Bible

magazines and tracts. He then asked if I would like to go to Bible

Study. I said, Why not? It was a Bible meeting of all the

believers in F-2. So I met everybody and then I sat down.

Something weird happened: as they discussed scriptures, I

instantly knew about each one! Thats what was different about

me. I was literally stored up with scripture from reading all those

Bible pamphlets. I looked different and felt different because I

was different!!!!

Gods Word changed me without me even realizing it.

Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is living and operative. I

was filled with that living and operative Word..even through my

subconscious. I began going to the Bible Study non-stop. The more

I learned of God and His greatness, the more I wanted to find out

about Him. F-2 housed all types of hard criminals: bank robbers,

murderers, major drug dealers, etc. Fights broke out faster than

acne problems. Yet the Lord kept me invisible to it all.

One day, a big fight broke out. There were 15 people involved.

18
As I was sitting on the long metal table, there were about 9 guys

also sitting there watching TV. Directly across from us, guys

started grouping up. Then it got quiet. Sheer silence in a noisy jail

lets you know something is about to go down.because

everybodys watching. A few sentences were exchanged. Then out

of nowhere, Whop! Whop! They all started fighting. Punches were

thrown that landed with heavy blows. The fight started spreading

to the phones. More people joined in. It was brutal. Blood

splattered like water. One person jumped out and tried to blend

in with the watching crowd. Did he get away? Nope. Two guys

found him and dragged him back in the fight pit.

Then the fight got dangerous. It turned out to be 12 fighting

against 5! I found out when the stomping began. The 12 began

stomping the 5 guys as they got overpowered. Im not talking

about crowding around and simply kicking them. They started

climbing the jail bars all the way to the top.and jumping off them

landing on someones chest, someone elses side, the face, etc. This

went on for another 10 minutes or so. It ended with a heavy

amount of blood. Amazingly, those 5 guys were still alive. The

deputies showed up minutes later, after the fight was conveniently

over. The entire fight from beginning to end was 30 minutes long.

Thats how dangerous it was on F-2 at Richmond City Jail. The

officers came in and started taking the bloodiest guys to solitary

19
confinement. However, Proverbs 13:22 says that the wealth of the

sinner is laid up for the just. That fight enabled me to get a bunk.

I no longer slept on the floor. I was elevated!

A few days later, I was on my way to my second court

proceeding. I was nervous because it was my hearing for a

bond- a chance to get out. Other prisoners with half as many

charges as I had didnt get a bond. So right off the top, I

figured it was a lost cause. When my name was called to go

in the courtroom, I was praying. The defense attorney and

my lawyer verbally battled over my potential freedom. My lawyer

said every positive thing he could think of. In the same sense, the

defense attorney said every negative thing she could think of. I

prayed on the inside in the midst of it all. I was blessed with a

bond. That gave me a chance to finally get out! However, the judge

gave me a $60,000 bond. Having to pay only ten percent of the

total, this meant I needed $6,000 to be released. I never saved any

of the money that I earned in the streets. I was stuck.

The next morning, I went to the morning Bible Study. I started

to notice the Lord moving through and around me more. One day

a gangsta from the Jackson Ward clique came to me. He had one

reason in mind. That reason was to get me jumped. He

approached me and said All dem charges you got..now you

quiet once you come to jail, huh? I replied Not really. Im just

20
doing me. Then he spotted some of the books I had surrounding

me. All of them were Christ centered.

He asked if I was a Christian. I replied yeah. Then he shook my

hand and said I cant even pick a fight with you. God moved

mightily. Proverbs 16:7 says that when a mans ways please the

Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Shortly

after that, my lawyer visited me. He had some news to tell me. He

said the person responsible for accusing me of three of the six

charges I facedwas caught in the act sticking up a gas station.

My lawyer said this decreased the persons credibility as a witness.

That meant that the police had to drop the three charges! My bond

was also reduced from $60,000 to $30,000. God miraculously

blessed me. So instead of having 2 robberies, 2 firearm counts,

and 2 abductions.I was left with one of each. This was only the

beginning of all my blessings.

The next morning, Brother Jerry woke up after breakfast chow

snapping. He was shouting in a loud outrage. The guards here

treat us like animals in a zoo! We need to take a stand! Write the

NAACP! Write to the Red Cross! Somebody needs to see the

conditions of this jail! I personally thought jail finally got to him.

Everyone else thought he went crazy. I expressed to him that I

didnt think his way of snapping was Christ like.

21
 Though I didnt join in his fight for justice, I could understand

where he was coming from: crazy or not. Since other convicts

were used to the jails bad conditions, they brushed Brother Jerry

off and started joking him. A day later, nobody laughed anymore:

Brother Jerry wrote news reporters and got results. He was called

into the hallway and interviewed. He was shown on the news!! No

doubt, God was moving in F-2.

Throughout my being locked up, I was getting a visit from my

mother every 20 days. I knew that Mom was going through a lot.

She was taking care of my three little brothers and paying for

everything by herself. She was going through an emotional

rollercoaster. Meanwhile, I had a little rollercoaster of my own: I

needed to get out. I kept thinking about how much I wanted to see

my family and my fianc. I wanted to go home. I was depending on

God to be released. It was possible that I had an airtight alibi.

Around this time my lawyer visited again. Before I left my bunk

to be escorted by an officer, Brother Jerry asked me if I had an

extra stamped envelope. I was fresh out of stamps and envelopes.

So I told him no, then walked to my lawyers visit. I was excited

and pumped. If the alibi went through, then I would be free by my

next court date. I walked in the room, shook my lawyers hand,

and sat down. He had not one single shred of good news for me.

My airtight alibi was a day before the crime was committed. So I

22
was upset. As I downheartedly left the room, my lawyer handed me

a blank stamped envelope. I guess he felt it was the least he could

do. I simply replied thanks, but didnt care about it. He had no real

news concerning my physical freedom. As I was escorted back to

F-2 by an officer, I was in a daze. It didnt even feel like I was

walking.

As soon as I walked back in, I saw Brother Jerry. I looked down

to my hand holding the stamped envelope, then back at him. I

smiled upward and said Thank you Jesus! It was no coincidence

that I came back with nothing for myself, but had exactly what

Brother Jerry needed. To me, it was a sign of confirmation. God

showed me that if He could use me to deliver a stamped envelope

right on time, then He could deliver me right on time. I was amazed

to see God show me miracles and speak to me in a lot of different

ways.

God started moving so much in my life (beyond coincidence)

that I couldnt deny His existence. I decided that whatever

happened with my trial would be His will. More people were

assigned to F-2. Our little Bible Study of 6 increased to 12. The

funny thing about our Bible Study was that it was the only thing

that was constant. The dorm frequently went on restriction

(phones and TV cut off for weeks). So in a place where the TV and

phones stayed off.God started slowly having each persons full

23
attention and even memory.

Among the new 12 inmates was a guy nicknamed Malvo.

People nicknamed him that because he looked like the young one of

the D.C. Sniper partners. There are always nicknames given in jail

and prison: because everyone calls it like they see it.

I was nicknamed Baltimore or Preacher Man. Preacher

Man was everybodys way of identifying me as a Christian. My

Bible stayed on my hip. It became an extension of me. I kept it as a

soldier would keep a sidearm, or the way everyone keeps a cell

phone: on me and ready to use at any time. I wasnt a preacher. At

the same time, I have no problem talking about Christ.

Whenever I had the opportunity, I shared my past with

everybody. I then shared my present. Ironically, the same ones I

talked with about Christ ended up being the ones who put the

word out that I wasnt to be messed with. I dont credit anyone

except Christ because He changed their hearts. I personally

witnessed God change the hearts of certified killers.

A wise man told me that Satan is like a war strategist in

the spiritual battle; with human souls as the target. Satan, like any

war strategist, will attack the weaknesses and try to use them to

his advantage. At this point, he seldom attacked me while I was

conscious. But my subconscious was a whole different ballgame.

24
 Dreams of Violence or Vision?

Chapter Five

One thing that drastically changed for me since I was in

jail was my way of thinking. There is no way that I could have

mentally survived jail without Christ and truth. Of course, when I

really evaluate Christ and truth, I realize that the terms are

synonymous. Christ is truth: and truth is Christ. Christ opened my

eyes and allowed me to see the truth about myself. Facing the

truth about myself (past and present), made me a stronger person.

Admitting my weaknesses to myself gave me a way to build on

those areas. Just as the devil uses our weakness against us, we can

flip the script and use it too. Once I started taking spiritual

inventory of myself, I was winning the battle over Satan.

Nevertheless, I began to have random dreams, which

constantly gave me illusions about myself. I began to question the

meaning of those dreams. For example, in one dream, I was

leaving an all-you-can-eat spot with my Mom and three brothers. I

had a baby in my arm. In real life, I had no children. So, I looked

at my youngest brother. Once I looked at him, a bunch of horrible

cuts appeared on him.

A dream that immediately followed was about a fellow Bible

Study brother nicknamed Don the Artist. I was in front of his

25
house. As I went to meet him, I saw a tow truck in his front yard,

and a cat jumped in my arm. Now I never knew Don the Artist on

the outside nor anything about his house. Later that day, I asked

Don if he had a tow truck and a cat on the streets. He strangely

replied Yes. He then wanted to know how I knew that. Pretty

strange, huh? I didnt know if that was Satan trying to deceive me

or God giving me visions. I kept it in prayer continually.

Another dream involved more people and was even scarier.

One day, I almost got in a fight with a guy named Marco. Marco

came to the Bible Study from time to time. We were simply playing

a game of Uno. As I was winning, we started having some

disagreements. Eventually, I got heated beyond the norm. Marco

usually got joked and picked on. Yet he never challenged them. He

didnt buck on them, but he confidently got big on me. I went to my

cut and put my shoes on. This is what inmates usually do before

fighting, as the jail shower shoes tend to be unstable. Then I

opened my Bible and started to cool down. I went to him an hour

later and apologized to him. That same night, two guys who were

partners in crime started arguing with each other. A fight then

erupted between the two of them. That night I slept, I saw the

fight replayed through spiritual eyes.

There were two demons talking to both of them, almost as

invisible instigators. It was strange because earlier that day, I was

26
about to fight Marco. It seemed as if the two demons couldnt talk

me into fighting (once I started reading my Bible), so they moved

on to two other people. Strange again, huh? The dreams were

overcome through Christ and filtered by the Holy Spirit. However,

no one was prepared for what would happen next in F-2.

27
 Quarantine

Chapter Six

My mother steadily tried to get me bonded out of

jail. Every effort she made failed. I remained locked up. Though I

was feeling hopeless about my loss of freedom, I didnt want to

talk to her about it. I knew that she was going through a lot as well.

I called Mom just to say hello. She didnt answer, so I figured she

was at church directing her praise dance practice. So I went back

to my bunk. Malvo came over and kicked it with me. He wanted to

work out, and wanted me to join. At that particular time, I was

chilling, reading my Bible. I guess that he didnt like that. When he

left, he said I see gangstas get religious when they get to jail. As I

was about to respond, the Holy Spirit led me differently. I didnt

say anything. Out of nowhere, the whole Jackson Ward click came

and started messing with him! Later on that night, he spoke to me.

He couldnt even lie: he said Yo that was crazy. I said that to

you earlier and seconds later it came right back to me! We were

both still cool with each other. I then prayed and went to sleep.

The next day around 10:30, I called my Mom to see what was up

with her bonding me out. She finally answered the phone. She

sounded upset. I asked her what was up. She told me that my

28
lawyers fee had increased, and that her tax refund got messed up.

Satan was attacking her through finances. Every avenue my Mom

took seemed to be a dead end.

I felt low. I felt like Mom was going through unwarranted

pressures because of me. And in some aspects, I was right. She

was mad at me, and I was mad that I couldnt get out of jail. I had

no reason to be angry at her. She didnt do anything to put me in

jail. I was locked up because of the bad choices I made. At the time

I spoke to Mom, I wasnt thinking rationally. Our phone call ended

on bad terms.

So I did one of the only things a true inmate could do: I cried.

I felt defeated. I was losing my family, my fianc, and my freedom

bit by bit. In the midst of crying my sobs turned into prayers. Then

the praying increased. I started thanking God and praising His

name. I prayed that if it was His will that I wasnt released, that I

would be able to accept that. I then told Him that I wanted the

strength to pull through regardless of the consequences.

I gathered myself together, then went to see what Brother

Jerry was doing. He usually helped inmates with their court

situations. He was what some would call a Jailhouse Lawyer. He

would help file appeals or write judges if needed. He did this for

free. In the process of helping a person, he would also talk to them

29
about Christ. As I was about to talk to him, a man threw up all over

Brother Jerrys paperwork and materials. I immediately started

wondering why, out of all places, was the throw-up on Brother

Jerrys stuff. It couldve been a million other places. Also, why was

my Mom angry at me? It seemed too coincidental to me. When I

put two and two together, I came up with the theory that the devil

was plotting something. The devil always tries to attack in more

than one way, because he wants to prevent Gods Kingdom from

expanding. With me concluding that, I got a great urge to call Mom

back and apologize. So I called back and told her I was sorry. Mom

was joyful. When I asked her why she was so happy, she said

because the IRS called her back, made the necessary corrections,

and gave her extra money!!

God is an awesome God! I got off the phone with her as joyful as

she was. But the spiritual equation was still left unsolved. What

was going on in F2? There usually was dried up blood everywhere,

but never vomit. I went to talk to Brother Jerry, and he felt too

that something was going on spiritually in F2.

The medics came in to treat the very sick guy who was

vomiting. It turned out that he had a rare strand of the Norovirus.

Apparently, this was highly contagious. How did I come to that

conclusion? The answer was in the aftermath: F-2 got placed

30
under quarantine.

Brother Jerry and I looked at each other in amazement. We

had both agreed earlier that the devil wanted to prevent

something blessed from happening. So we looked for

guidance through Gods Word.

The entire church grabbed their Bibles and sought the Lord.

Five minutes later, everybody was getting pure confirmation from

different scriptures! We all agreed that something big was about

to happen.

Brother Jerry randomly turned to a scripture in the Bible. Guess

where it landed? On ISAIAH 61. God was speaking loud and clear.

We had a prayer call right after reading that chapter. We didnt

read the entire chapter in the prayer circle, but simply up to the

third verse. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because the Lord

has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He has

sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim LIBERTY TO

THE CAPTIVES, AND THE OPENING OF THE PRISON TO THEM

THAT ARE BOUND. Almost right after reading that, the guards

started calling people for early release!!! What were the odds of

that?
As it turned out, before the jail owners fully quarantined the

jail- they agreed to let those with 4 months or less left to be

released!!!

31
This was only the beginning of all blessings. Once the full

quarantine was in effect, it was extremely restrictive. We werent

allowed to even go to the chow hall. Food was brought to us. We

couldnt have regular clothes and sheet changing, etc. We

continued with our usual Christ-centered routine. As it was time

for dinner chow, we had to line up in the count time catwalk.

They fed us like we were on a farm. We were given styrofoam

boxes to eat out of. I was in line talking to my Philly, my brother in

Christ. All of a sudden my hearing went out. He was talking to me,

but I couldnt hear anything. All I could hear was my breathing.

My breathing got very short. Philly asked if I was all right. I tried

to tell him to get help. When I opened my mouth, I couldnt get

any words out. I looked at the jail barred window next to him with

my eyes, trying to signal for air. I couldnt breathe nor hear.

Something was fatally wrong with me. As Philly opened the

window, a gangsta in front of us, who had just woke up, slammed

the window shut. Now whatever was getting me sick instantly got

worse. I was sweating profusely. All I could do was think. My

vision got extremely blurred and my body was very tight. It felt

like I was dying. My breath left me. I hadnt breathed for 12

seconds and I felt my consciousness drifting away. I knew that if I

closed my eyes I would probably never open them again on earth.

32
What did I do as I was steps away from death with no one to call to

for help?? In my mind, I called on Jesus. Jesus, help me! was

my plea. The closer I got to death, the more urgent I called Him in

my mind. Suddenly, everything returned to normal!

Whatever I was attacked by, God delivered me. The Bible

declares that many are the afflictions of the righteous but God

delivered them from all of them. God did just that for me.

Apparently, I had a very serious brush with that strong strand

of Norovirus. However, God is stronger. Later on I found out that

another person in the pod had the same symptoms at the same

time that I did. He was very sick for the entire day. He vomited

constantly and was in serious pain. They gave him medicine

hoping to either restore him or admit him to a quarantine facility.

When the medics found out that I had a run in with the virus, they

gave me medicine too. By the way, I was alert the entire time. I

had witnesses and medical staff observing to validate my

experience.

No one except my Christian brothers understood how the

symptoms suddenly came and left. To God be the Glory. One

thing is for sure: I know exactly how Peter felt when he screamed

for Jesus to help him when he was sinking!

The next day was uniform change day. Quarantine or not, they

33
had to let us change our uniforms. To avoid a biological storm,

they decided to wash everyones stuff together. Usually when they

grab our clothes, they give us fresh ones right there. This time, we

had to wait 2 hours in our boxers and t-shirts until they brought

our uniforms back.

When they arrived, they just handed out 150 balled up

uniforms. Mysteriously, when I opened the uniform they threw at

me, I got the same shirt back. You may wonder what was so

special about that. Well, on my shirt top I wrote, Jesus 1 st on the

front pocket. On the back I wrote Deuteronomy 24. What were

the odds for me to get the same shirt back without anyone seeing

anything written on it? Next to impossible. Once again God

showed himself to be real to me, even though it was through a

balled up shirt top.

Later that same day a brother in the Bible Study asked to

borrow my flex pen to write a letter. Keep in mind that a flex pen

was as important as toilet paper on F-2. I said, No prob. Just

bring it back when you are done. He said that hed get it later on.

An hour or so later I looked at the ground and saw a brand new

unused flex pen about two feet away. I got his attention and

pointed it to him. I told him, God is good to give you your own,

aint He? The dude replied, No doubt! The blessings big and

34
small that Christ gave were nowhere near over.

My brother in Christ, Malvo (who I mentioned some pages

back), began to be tempted by Satan. A gangsta whose name was

G.B. was widely known and dangerous. He was locked up for a

very violent and ruthless double murder. G.B. always messed with

Malvo. How? It was usually started by playing. Playing is one of

the worst things you can do in jail.

There was more pride in F-2 than a lions cage. Throw in

embarrassment or disrespect from one person getting the best

of the other: then comes violence and blood. Its always unwise to

play with the devil, or whoever hes controlling at the time.

As the playing escalated, Malvo and G.B. began throwing

punches. After about two minutes, Malvo lost..but there wasnt

a scratch nor bruise on him. Then some of G.B.s homeboys told

him to cool out and relax. Thats when the situation did a U-turn.

G.B. snapped on his homeboys Dont tell me what to do!! You

chill out! How bout that bruh???

G.B. kept it real. However, the homeboy he snapped on kept it

realer. His homeboy blanked out, saying Dont try that G stuff

with me! Then he beat G.B. all over the place. It was crazy to see

just how fast God works. In a flash G.B. reaped what he

sowedplus interest! Be not dismayed. God is not mocked.

35
Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

36
 Encounters In Christ

Chapter Seven

After two weeks, the quarantine was officially lifted.

Additional inmates were assigned to F-2. This meant that the pod

flipped; new personalities, possible new problems, and possible

new guys to hopefully usher to Christ. A new person who was

sleeping on the bunk next to me was a Christian also. He was

sharing with me the difference between the King James Version

Bible and the New International Version Bible. I never knew

there was a real difference, except that some Bibles rephrase stuff.

He was sharing that any kind of Bible wording falls under two

categories: either the word-for-word translation, or the

thought-for- thought translation. The word-for- word means

that a Bible has been translated by every letter, comma, and

period. However, the thought-for- thought category means that it

was translated by every 2 or 3 sentences to bring across the basic

meaning of the scripture. Some argue that the thought-for-thought

category kind of waters down the accuracy of the Bible. Others

argue that the word-for-word category cant be understood clearly

by the average person in the 21st century. Both sides were

interesting to think of. Then, a Rastafarian person joined in our

37
conversation. He had some extreme views that were outside of the

Bible. The Christian brother I was listening to cut him short

Whatever you believe in is fine.but as for me, I go with what

was written and not what was thought up. The Rasta-man then

left and went to talk to somebody else.

The new brother looked at me and said resist the

devil and he shall flee, right? I agreed. Now here came the weird

part: every time that my new Christian brother and I

mentioned the topic of biblical translation, the Rastafarian came

to us thinking that we called him over. This happened about 3

times. He wasnt trying to be spiteful or ignorant: he seriously

thought we called him by name. Even if we were talking about

him, there was so much noise on F-2..that it was impossible for

him to hear us 30 feet away. Strange, huh?

The following Friday, our Bible Study was nicknamed

Freestyle Friday. This was basically a time where anyone had the

floor for 15 minutes to share anything God placed on their heart.

We sang some praise songs we knew, learned new ones that we

didnt know, had testimonies, etc. Something rare happened

during that particular Freestyle Friday. Two different people

brought two messages, which (unknown to them) fit together

better than puzzle pieces. Right after that, we sang the new song

38
we were learning. As we sang this song, two people in the Bible

Study got bonded out without knowing they were leaving! Why was

that so special? Because the song frequently said Set the captives

free!!! What were the odds of them getting bonded out while

singing that song for the very first time?? The chances were slim to

none. I wish you could have been there to feel how the Holy Spirit

moved!

A few days later, I encountered Satans attack and more of

Christs grace. What I found out was that the same thing the

enemy threw our way to hurt us.was the same thing that God

used to bless us. The outcome usually depended on the way I

would react. If I reacted in a bad way, then the devil slid his foot

in the door. If I reacted with the ways of Christ, it brought about

blessings.

I began to go through a huge amount of things. One of

those major battles for me was over my court proceedings. My

court date for the probation I almost completed (before getting

arrested) was on the way. I began to stay in the Word of God

constantly. According to Matthew 18:19-20, if two people touch and

agree in the name of Jesus for something, it will be done. So one

night, I touched and agreed with a brother. We both asked for

Christs MERCY and grace in our court situations. When we

39
finished praying, I cracked open my bible and it landed on Psalms

118. The subtitle was Praise God for His MERCY!! What were the

odds of that happening once we finished praying for exactly that???

Extremely rare!! Every verse in that chapter spoke plainly about

Gods mercy!!! The next day, I had a good conversation with a

gangsta nicknamed Fat Charlie. The entire time I was on F-2, I

never really talked to him. On this particular day though, he

wondered why I shared some of my commissary on canteen day. I

explained to him that Luke 3:11 tells us to basically share with

those who dont have. Fat Charlie was used to the rules of the

streets: dont even give anyone an inch.because then theyll

want a mile. While we were talking, he tried to dispute me.

However, you can only disagree with the Holy Spirit speaking for

so long.

He eventually loosened up and saw that God was still alive,

even in F-2. He was so happy to understand something of a Godly

perspective that he gave me a book. The book was titled From

Prison To Praise. He said that he wanted me to read it, then give it

back. The book was brand new; flawless almost. Now in Richmond

City Jail, there wasnt a book library. New books were very hard to

come by, especially Christian books. I thanked him and

immediately began read it. I started to slowly read and digest each

40
word on each page. I went to sleep, and planned to finish the book

the following morning. That next morning, Fat Charlie was called

to the front to pack his stuff up: he was being shipped to the

penitentiary.

When inmates are called to be transferred, they never

know the time of departure or their new destination. As Fat

Charlie was packing, he looked at me and said something told me

to give you that book, and apparently I wasnt tripping because

I cant take it with me anyway now! When a person leaves the jail

to go to the penitentiary, he cant take anything with him: no

commissary, no pictures, no books. So on average, the person

leaving gives all that stuff to their homeboys. As everybody

crowded around Fat Charlie, I wanted to ask him for extra soap,

etc. Then the Holy Spirit stopped me from speaking. Out of

nowhere, I realized that I had the best of all that Fat Charlie ever

could have given me: the book. As Fat Charlie left, the population

at F-2 carried on as usual.

Later that day, I went to Bible Study. I was hit with the urge

to fully read the Prison To Praise book. God led me to not eat

anything nor talk to anyone until I fully completed the book. I also

had a word that I was trying to define from Bible Study. The word

was OBEDIENCE. A simple dictionary didnt give an accurate

41
enough definition. I needed to learn of the biblical context. I began

to read the 100 paged testimony. It was a very good one. Although

I was tempted to eat, I didnt. Toward the end of the book, a

sentence jumped out at me as clear as day: the sentence was

Praise is the highest form of OBEDIENCE! I literally started

laughing and thanking God at the same time! It was a blessing

because that was a small miracle out of nowhere, like the Holy

Spirit answered me directly. I completed the book and put it on

the side. I looked up the word in my Bible. There were no

definitions of the word, so what I learned of the book was right on

time. I put the small book inside of my Bible and put both under

my blanket.

I went to the front of F-2 so that I could put some hot

pot water in my oatmeal. Canteen had come earlier, so I had

cakes and cookies to snack on. When I got back to my bunk, a guy

asked me if I had an extra jail request form. I politely replied no.

However, I noticed a quick glance at an oatmeal cake that I had on

my bunk. Usually when someone tries to con you for something,

they act as drawn out innocents. This way someone can take notice

and give them what they want. This wasnt the case, because he

quickly glanced as he walked off. The Holy Spirit told me to get up

from my bunk and give him a few of my oatmeal cakes. Honestly,

42
at first I didnt want to. I hadnt eaten all day and I just sat on my

bunk. But when the Spirit constantly urges you, theres a reason

for it. So I decided to put the newly defined OBEDIENCE into

action. I got up and gave him a few oatmeal cakes. He thanked me

and I okayed him. Then I ate and got my Bible back out. I flipped it

open to Psalm 119 where at the top of the page it reads

OBEDIENCE to Gods word. I couldnt believe it. Fifteen minutes

ago, I was looking for more understanding about obedience. I then

took a break from further searching of the word and obeyed God.

Afterwards, the Spirit led me directly to Psalm 119!!! To me, it was

more than a random occurrence. It was the Holy Spirit speaking to

me directly!

The very next day was just as amazing. The first thing on my

agenda was to call my family. Somehow, the first thing on the

Lords agenda was to call me. Every morning a broom was passed

around, allowing each person to clean their cut. I noticed

towards the end as the broom was returned to a deputy, that there

were two Bibles that were swept out of reach, beyond the bars. It

felt like an audible voice constantly urged me to somehow get

those Bibles. So I went on the mission immediately. The first one,

I reached with ease. The second one was nearly impossible to get

though. As far as my arms could reach, I couldnt get to it. I was

43
about to give up and go on about my day. When I turned my back

to leave, I felt an urge even stronger than the first: GET THE

SECOND BIBLE. So I put my mind to use. I retrieved a shower

shoe to try and slide the Bible closer my way. That didnt work.

Then I got an oatmeal cake box to try. I kept trying with objects that

failed. Then, I got the idea to get my sheet and try to reel it in. It

worked!!!! I joyfully walked off with the two Bibles in my grasp.

Then I wondered what to do with them.

I then saw three new guys just waking up on the floor. I offered

them the Bibles: one rejected, one accepted..and the

third decided to take the second Bible. I thought nothing of it except

that I followed a hunch of some sort.

An hour or two passed before something strange happened.

The person who accepted the second Bible came to me. Young

man, how did you know to give me that Bible? he asked.

Apparently, he didnt see all the work it took for me to retrieve that

Bible. As I was about to tell him the details, he cut me off:

because I was just laying on my mat just WORRYING about a lot

of stuff, WORRYING about my business, WORRYING about my

family So what was so interesting about all that? Then it

seemed like the guy dropped a bomb on me out of nowhere.

Exactly at that point, you offered me that Bible with the

44
cover ripped off it. The first page looking directly at me clearly

said HOW CAN I STOP WORRYING!!!!!! I was speechless! God

used me to get those two Bibles..because two people needed to

hear from Him!!!! God used me. It was nobody but Him

continually urging me to go recover those Bibles!!! I was looking at

the occurrence from different angles. For example, what if I didnt

do what God said? Maybe that guy wouldnt have known how real

Christ was. There wouldnt have been any comfort or reassurance

to that man. It seemed exactly like The Book of Acts 8:26-38. God

sent Phillip to bring a word to someone.when that someone was

in need of clarity. In the same sense, God literally used me to get

His Word delivered to those persons.

45
 The Church At F-2

Chapter Eight

Christ continued to show Himself real to others and

me on F-2. I frequently called my fianc at the time a lot. One day,

we decided to pray together over the phone. We were both geared

towards helping others. If a person would need to get in contact

with a family member or lawyer, I would get the message and

phone number to call, and give it to my past fianc. She would

pass the message or either do whats called a three-way call. As

long as the message wasnt on any illegal or bad type of stuff, she

gladly helped. She and I tried to help this one guy all day, which

started getting worse. He was supposed to be released in the

morning. Yet unfortunately he was still in jail. His family (who my

past fianc was trying to contact) wasnt picking up. I got a

great urge to pray for him. That day, I prayed a lot more than

usual. It was the first time that she and I had prayed together since

I was locked up. I prayed for my Christian brothers.

When I went to Bible Study, Brother Jerry was the instructor

for the evening. He said that he was being led by the Holy Spirit to

have prayer for twenty minutes. He did not know why. It was

clearly not the usual order of the service. I wanted to have the

46
prayer for the extended time because I, too, had the same kind of

feeling all day. One particular elder was against praying for 20

minutes! I really had a problem with that. I know that prayer is

talking to and hearing from the Lord. We were desperately

seeking to hear from Him. The Bible says that man should

always pray without ceasing.

How could a man of God find praying to be an issue?

Anyway, we still went on with praying for 20 minutes. Afterwards

we sang a few songs of praise. In the middle of our session, a guy

whose name was Thomas requested a song and asked if he could

join us. This was big, because Thomas was on trial for murder at

the time.

Moments later, He accepted Christ in his life in our Bible Study

that day! It was amazing to me because I felt that if we had not

followed the lead of the Holy Spirit and gone in a different order,

Thomas wouldnt have come over to us to request that song and

fellowship with us. Because we followed the leading of the Holy

Spirit, another brother was added to the kingdom of God.

After Thomas got saved, Pastor Jackson then brought the

Word of God. He spoke to us from James chapter 3. He talked

about the power of the tongue. He also urged us not to wish to be

the master; because he who wishes to be the master, shall receive

47
greater condemnation. The word immediately pricked the heart of

the elder who had spoken against having the twenty minute

prayer. He apologized to us all and said that it is important to

submit to the Holy Spirit. Christ had demonstrated the power of

following the Holy Spirit at that Bible Study. He showed me the

importance of His will. Now when I feel the Holy Spirit instructing

me to do something, I do itsit back patiently..and wait for the

results.

New inmates began to flood the dorm. In our Bible Study, I met

a new brother in Christ, Brother Jay. We both had a lot in

common- age, background, etc. He was a believer in Christ, but

never wanted to fully give his lifestyle up. As my Uncle Jimmy

says, we wanted the blessings but not the Blesser. He and I

shared spiritual weaknesses that we needed to improve on. One of

his weaknesses was cursing. I then shared with him that the devil

would probably try to tick him off in hopes to get Jay to get angry

and curse.

Later that day, a big ranking officer in charge of the entire jail

came to F-2. We rarely saw the regular deputies, let alone their

bosses. The boss showed up to relocate some of us all

randomly. The boss man pointed to 10 people, then at Jay. Pack

all yall stuff and go to the front of the dorm! The officer firmly

48
spoke. Jay wasnt a troublemaker though. He hadnt even been on

F-2 a solid week. Jay started snapping: cursing everybody out.

Then he started shouting that he wasnt going. This was a

dangerous thing to do. A refusal anywhere in Richmond City Jail

didnt mean a write-up like the average jail. It meant all out war. It

meant plenty of pepper spray. It meant bean bag guns, and a

bunch of other things. Then something amazing took place.

Though guards were walking all around Jay, it seemed like

NOBODY heard him. They didnt even bother looking at him. It

was literally like the guards focused on the other nine people as

they moved their stuff. They were walking right past Brother Jay as

if he were invisible to them. The highly ranked officer and guards

with him didnt seem to hear a word that Jay was shouting. If they

had, they would have beat him and dragged him out of sheer

anger. Those guards never forget who they tell to move. The highly

ranked officer wanted Brother Jay to leave F-2..but Christ did

not. According to Revelation 3:8 Jesus says The door I open, no

man can shut. How right He was.

The next day, I fasted for my court concerns, my family, and

my past fianc. As dinner chow approached, I wanted to end the

fast. I felt the Holy Spirit urge me to not partake of any meal. In

disobedience, I still was about to go.

49
 Once everyone was getting ready to go to the chow hall, I got

ready too. Out of nowhere, I heard a loud burst of thunder

outside! At the time it sounded off, it sounded like God asking me

Didnt you hear what I said? After that, dinner was definitely a

no-go. I stayed back and prayed. The interesting part about it was

that the sound that I heard was the only sound of thunder for that

whole day! There was none before it. and none after it!

God gave me a warning and I obeyed His command. A couple of

days later, I fasted again. This time it was for an increase of the

fruit of the Spirit. That day, I asked the Lord if He could make me

more sensitive to His Spirit.

Zechariah 4:6 says that it is not by power or by might,

but by My Spirit, saith the Lord. Though I wanted to be aware of

His power and His might, I wanted His Spirit to increase within

me. About two hours after I prayed, Brother Jerry came to me

with a message. He told me that God wanted him to pray with me.

Brother Jay also joined in. We all got on one knee in a small circle

right where we were. All around us, people laughed and talked.

We were not affected by them. Regardless, we obeyed the Spirit of

God. He moved through all three of us that night.

God calls all who accept Jesus Christ to be witnesses of His only

Son; to spread the Gospel of the new covenant He put into effect.

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Matthew 28:19-20 says to Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of

the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I

have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always- even unto the

end of the world. Later on that day, while praying, I asked God to

reveal to me what my personal calling was. I felt that my calling

was in Christian contemporary music. Though all are called to be

His servants/witnesses/ambassadors, we all were given different

gifts for the work God has for us. Ephesians 4:11-12 states And He

gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists;

and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for

the work of the ministry; for the edifying of the body of Christ. In

agreement with that, I believe that Christ has an unlimited amount

of ways within the five-fold ministry.

Many believe simply one scripture or two at face value.

However, looking at the entire Bible, there have been many

different gifts given from our Limitless God. Case in point, I knew

what I wanted to do. More importantly, I needed to know what He

wanted me to do. In order to let His will be done in my life, I

needed to know just what His will was for my life. After speaking

to God in prayer, I opened the Bible so that I could get some

clarity. Randomly, I opened my Bible. The page that I opened to

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was on Psalm 150. The chapter focused on praising

God..musically! That was more than coincidental because I

believed my main gift of praising the Lord was in the form of

music. I ended my fast that night a little ahead of schedule.

Honestly, I didnt know whether or not I should have

ended it early. So I prayed about it and asked the Lord. I went to

sleep. The next day, I fasted again, just in case I was wrong the

night before. My main prayer was for the Spirit of God to show me

what He wanted me to see. I decided to stay behind in the dorm

while everyone else walked to the chow hall, so I could have some

silence as I prayed.

Quietness was more like a luxury in F-2 than anything.

There was practically no personal space and practically no times

of silence. You needed ear plugs and a shirt to cover your ears;

that would bring the noise to a medium level at least. Ever since I

came to F-2, I learned ways to tune out the noise and to go to

another plane in the midst of the crowd. When everyone left to

eat, I nodded off to sleep and had a dream. I dreamt that I was in

another part of the jail. In the dream, we all went to the chow hall.

The menu had nothing on it but hot dogs, chips, and soda (unlike

they actually served us in reality). Brother Jerry was there. He

started to speak to me about Christ. Instead of listening to him, I

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rudely cut him off. My mind was only on the physical food and not

the spiritual kind. Did you know they have hot dogs here? I

asked brother Jerry as I continued to ignore him. At that time a

voice said, You have not done My will. Then I woke up, having a

gospel song stuck in my head as I became coherent.

Ten minutes later, everyone returned from the chow hall.

Imagine how amazed I was when my bunk mate told me that they

had hot dogs for chow. I believe that God spoke to me through that

dream. It is my belief that He told me that if I had ended the fast

early again, that I wouldnt have done what He wanted. It

was always exciting to see God move. Some dont believe. But

when God moves in our lives, we start knowing that He is more

real than we are. He is far greater than all of us.

Over the next couple of days, God taught me a thing or two that

I never knew. My fellow Christian brothers and I learned that

there is a right and wrong way to take communion. First

Corinthians chapter 11 tells us that the correct way is to examine

ourselves as believers. We are to partake in the right viewpoint of

how Christ Himself created it. To take communion wrongfully

would be to drink damnation to ourselves. Yet taking communion

the right way honors Christ. Once we learned this in the Bible

Study, a few of us attempted to take it correctly in F-2.

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 The best materials we could gather for communion were

saltine crackers and powdered kool-aid packets. We believed in

our hearts that God would honor our efforts. The next day after

Bible Study, the guards made the announcement for church

service. I didnt want to go since I was sleepy. However, the Holy

Spirit urged me to go. Sure enough, once we got there, the pastor

was having an official communion service! It was more

than a random coincidence to us that the day after we all desired

the correct way, it happened. God knew the desires of our hearts

and He granted us just that.

The next morning during count time, I told the guard that my

identification wrist band was messed up beyond recognition. I

didnt just find out that information. I tried to ride it out

because it would cost an automatic $25.00 to replace it. I didnt

want to waste that money because it could be used for a lot of

commissary. But this morning, the wrist band was ripped and

faceless. I told the guard, and he cut my old one off. The new order

was put in for it, and my $25.00 was kissed goodbye.

About hours after that happened, the high ranking

officers came to F-2. They came to relocate more inmates. I

prayed to God and asked Him to let me stay at F-2. Right as I said

amen, the officials came to my bunk. The Lieutenant asked me

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how long I had been at F-2. I told him around three months. He

remarked, Oh youve been here only three months and you have a

bottom bunk already? I replied, Yes. You see, a bottom bunk

meant a high status of respect in Richmond City Jail. Why? There

werent any assigned bunks, and no officers monitored the pods.

This was one reason why people nicknamed Richmond Jail

Gladiator School. At anytime, a gangsta would take a mat off a

bottom bunk, throw it in the middle of the floor, and the fight was

on. You either fought for your bottom bunk or got evicted.

So the Lieutenant stood there staring at me. Then I instantly

remembered something: my ID band wasnt on my wrist! Since my

replacement band wasnt given to me yet, I was a top priority for

getting moved out the block. I explained to him that my ID band

had gotten messed up and that I had just ordered a replacement

from the counting guard earlier. He said ok, and left. He continued

his tour around F-2. I thought that I was a goner! As I assumed all

my problems were solved, one more popped up. Commissary was

going to be issued that same night, and you could only get your

stuff by them seeing your ID wristband. In other words: no ID

band, NO commissary. I asked a guard as he was leaving with his

superiors how long would it take to get my replacement. The guard

slickly replied Whenever they feel like giving it to you. I accepted

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what he said, and decided not to worry about it. I went to Bible

Study instead.

In the Bible Study, our lesson was taken from Psalm 37.

Those scriptures remind us of the blessings of the righteous,

meaning anyone who accepts Jesus Christ. We take on His

righteousness when we accept what He did on the cross for us.

Less than an hour after the guard told me his slick statement, I

heard another guard call me. My brand new wrist band had

arrived! I was so happy to get it in time for my commissary order

that I stopped caring about the $25.00. Then the guard told me

that it was free!!!!!! It was free! It was free! God is an awesome

God!! Every time that I looked at that ID band, I had a physical

reminder of Gods blessings.

Later on, I had a new idea. Whenever Jesus was tempted by

Satan, he always responded with the word of God. Hed say, For it

is written In addition, the Bible, says that the word of God is

our only weapon to use against the devil (Ephesians 6:17). So I

came up with my own lists of it is it is written statements. Jay

and I both made a list separately and compared them. I encourage

everyone to do this. One example is Psalm 91:11. According to this,

we have angels that God commanded to watch over us and we can

give charge to them. So if I was worried about anyone or anything,

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Id say, Satan, in the Name of Jesus, I rebuke you for it is written

that Ive charged Gods angels to protect me! The word of God and

our faith is like a muscle. We must exercise it daily.

My court date was a day away. I was really nervous about

that, because I would find out what would determine my life. On

top of that, a small bother hit me also; my mattress receipt. When

an inmate goes to court, he has to turn in his sheets, towel, and his

mattress. It is also necessary to show the guards your yellow

receipt copy for those things. If not, the money deducting process

began. I lost my receipt about a month before that day. So, all

day, I searched high and low for my copy. I was blessed by

finding it under my mattress. I didnt even remember putting it

there when I moved from a top bunk to my bottom bunk. Common

sense and logical reasoning could not explain how I found that

receipt. Neither offered an explanation of when I placed the

receipt in that place.

Finding that receipt felt like a revelation to me. It seemed

like a sign from God that confirmed that He was with me.

The next morning, the guards woke me up at 3 oclock for court

call. They asked me for my mat, towel, sheets, and the receipt. I

was able to hand over all that they requested. My confidence was

at an all time high. My confidence dropped below sea level as the

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guard told me that I had somebody elses yellow receipt copy! That

meant that I would be charged. It seemed like a bad sign to me.

Nervousness stuck to me immediately. Though God

miraculously cut my 6 felonies in half to 3, I still had to face those

3 charges. A robbery, abduction and a gun charge still couldve

landed me a lot of time to do. I saw my lawyer as soon as I was

transported to the court building. He came to me with a plea offer

from the prosecutor. The prosecutor offered to drop the gun

charge if I were to plead guilty to the abduction and robbery. I had

things working out for me (such as a clean prior record, schooling,

no juvenile record, etc.) It didnt seem too bad of a plea. I then

asked my lawyer how much time would I be looking at if I pled

guilty. He said only about 7-10 years. Before he could finish that

sentence, I quickly cut him off and refused that plea. My lawyer

came back later saying the prosecutor offered to drop the

abduction charge also. That left my charge only with one robbery.

The robbery guidelines were 5 years at the worst case scenario for

me. I agreed to accept the offer. Id already served about five

months in jail. I wont get into the details of my case, but I was

guilty. My lawyer continued the case until the next day. As I was on

my way back to the jail, I was drowned in thought: wondering

about the past, present, and future. Regardless, I was in Gods

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grace.

That night I went to sleep and had a dream. In the dream, a

Voice from above spoke to me. The Voice questioned, Can you

change the color of any rock on the ground? I replied no. Then

the Voice replied, Well then, dont worry about your court case!

You cant change that either! I woke up in a whole different mind

state.

Although I was pleading guilty to something, I was

blessed. It couldve been 6 violent felonies. So I was in a content

mood. God had granted mercy and gave me a way out. The

consequences were a slap on the wrist compared to what it

couldve been. I had undoubtedly trusted God and He brought me

out. I went to the court, stood in front of the judge, and pled guilty

to the one robbery. The judge then rescheduled me to a sentencing

date. Then I had a revelation that hit me out of nowhere. The

receipt that I recovered was a sign from God that He was with me.

But I still HAD TO PAY for the mattress. The same applied to my

court issues. God was with me, granting me great mercy, but I still

had to pay for my actions. My Mom, Dad, and family members

were all informed of the decision of my plea agreement. The judge

gave me a sentencing date for August 29 2007.

On Mothers Day, the first thing that I did was to call my

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mother. She was not in good spirits. Needless to say, I played a

major part in her feelings of despair. She was highly upset because

I was not at home along with a few other things. She was right.

When I made my bad decisions, I abandoned my responsibilities at

home. I should have been the man of the house. Yet how could I

have been when I wasnt even in the house? Now that was some

stone cold truth. As my Mom spoke the truth to me more and

more, I was feeling low. I was reminded of my many mistakes, and

the fact that I hurt others. I told her that I loved her and that I

would call her back later. I then began to wipe the tears from my

face. It was never my desire to hurt my family. But in my state of

selfishness, I thought of no one.

After talking to Mom, I went to Bible Study. The air was thick

with regret. I wasnt the only person who was shedding tears.

There were inmates whose mothers had lost their lives because of

the bad choices of their children. We shared information about

our moms. When I listened to others talk about their mothers, I

began to thank God and praise Him in the midst of my pain. My

mother was still alive. Even though I am sure that my state

brought her much pain, agony, and despair, I still had the

opportunity to make her proud of me. I still had the

chance to make life better for her. The next day, I received a

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money slip with a note attached to it. The note said From Mom, I

love you. My day turned from darkness to light!

When we keep Christ first, He will handle everything! Our flesh

tells us as men to handle our biz, but as believers we have to give

God the ultimate authority in our lives. In doing so, God will

handle our business for us better than we ever could. An elder of

the Bible Study returned from court with great news. God had

delivered him. He was being reinstated; going home. He signed

over his canteen bag to a well respected dude named KP. KP was

about 58, 260 pounds of pure muscle.

He had been to the penitentiary 4 times already. You

name it, KP had done it before. However, God started to move in

his heart, and he came to the Bible Study one day. Vowing to stop

playin wit da Lord and tighten up, he became Uncle KP to us.

Since the elder signed over the bag to Uncle KP, the instructions

were to pass out things to those who didnt have in, F-2. KP asked

me what I wanted. I told him that I wanted a few clicks (a click is

one 15 minute phone call). So KP gave me the code and the phone

number. There was $5.00 worth of calls on the phone card. I was

happily talking on the phone, and the calls were well worth it.

The next day, KP came to me and asked me to give

another person the code and phone number, so he could use

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another call. I looked curiously when he said that. Why would he

give me the entire $5.00 phone card to use, then ask me to give

another person a click? KP was under the assumption that I was

only going to use ONE call! I used the entire 3 calls on it, not

knowing it was meant for me to use only one! The elder who left

intended for the phone card to be split up between any three

people. I felt bad and selfish. I didnt even consider the thought of

sharing the phone card. KP and I talked for a minute. He

understood that I had a fianc and he knew how it was. So he told

the other person that he couldnt call on the card: there was no

time left on it. Feeling bad about it all, I decided to order a $5.00

phone card for the next week. I vowed to give a few inmates a click

each. I upheld the responsibility.

The next day, I worked up enough courage to call my

mother. I was reluctant because I wasnt aware of her feelings.

Was she still upset with me? Did she even want to speak to me at

the time? All of these things went through my mind. The only way

that I could find out how she felt was to talk to her. My mother is a

very sweet woman who has endured a lot of hardships. Though I

wasnt responsible for all of her trials and tribulations, I must take

full responsibility for some of them. I dialed the number. I

sweated bullets as I waited for the response. As the phone rang, I

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held my breath. But as she answered, I was relieved to find her in

good spirits. I was happy and relaxed. Mom and I had a deep

conversation. She told me about a talk she had with her sister (my

aunt) Vennie.

Apparently, Aunt Vennie kept having the same dream

for a week. She told Mom that their own mom kept visiting her in

her dreams each night. Grandma Rose (their mother) had passed

away 16 years ago. The message that kept being delivered to her

was Tell Kippy that everything is going to be okay. Now Kippy

is my Moms nickname. Aunt Vennie didnt know all of what Mom

was going through, but she finally delivered the message. When

she told Mom about the message, she asked Mom what was going

on. Thats when Mom told her of my being locked up, and other

situations she was dealing with. I told Mom that maybe God sent a

message through Grandma to encourage her.

Either way, it was still a blessing to see Christ move

through my Moms situations. I got off the phone when the call for

church service was announced. We usually had church service

once a month. I attended as much as possible. I never

intentionally missed any service. During this particular service,

the choir director introduced himself. He then stated that he had a

song to sing dedicated to all of the Grandmothers! As if that was

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not shocking enough, he sang the same song that stuck in my head

earlier that morning when I woke up! I immediately stood up and

sang that song. I didnt care who was around, who was or was not

singing, or who was looking at me as if Id lost my mind. I was

praising God, and honoring Grandma Rose.

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 Isaiah

Chapter Nine

God has a way of constantly bringing back to our remembrance

what He wants us to consume. Many of my personal experiences

centered on Isaiah 61. I couldnt seem to get away from it. God

often confirmed things to me and through me from Isaiah 61.

I began to have a conversation with a new inmate who had

just been assigned to F-2. What was his name? ISAIAH. He was

gang affiliated, and straight from the streets of Wickham Court. I

had some talks with him, and we talked about some real things.

He wanted to make a change. He started seeing that he was at a

breaking point in his life.

Amazingly, Isaiah gave his life to Christ, and was baptized by

Pastor Jackson too. His problems werent all magically solved

though. He had a street reputation in his recent past, and with that

came problems. We prayed together about it all and opened the

Bible. Randomly, the opening was on Psalm 125. That Psalm

speaks of Gods protection for those who walk upright. It

encourages the believer to trust in the Lord and do good

regardless.

Isaiah was shown his first confirmation from God when we

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flipped randomly to that scripture. He and I bonded because we

were both brothers in Christ, and because we could relate to each

other. Some younger adults find it difficult to relate to older

people. But, being 20 at the time, Christ moved through me for His

glory.

The next day, Isaiah was heated about his reason for being

locked up. He blamed his homeboy, who snitched on him. He said

that his ex-partner blew his candles out so that he himself could

get out of the hot seat. Isaiah was angry. He had the Bible that I

had given to him in his possession. That Bible had personal

testimony excerpts in the length of a page, placed in random spots.

Isaiah randomly flipped his Bible open. It landed on a testimonial

that used scriptures from Isaiah 61. Get this: it was titled I WAS

GONNA KILL MY FRIEND WHO SNITCHED ON ME! That spoke

to Isaiah exactly at the right time. That was far from a being

coincidental. It was too random, too out of nowhere..as if God

Himself was revealed through it. Isaiah looked in amazement as

he realized what just happened. He turned right to the needed

testimony. The other reason was that the testimony was presented

to him by God, with scripture references. It was like God called

His personal name- then showed him that testimony which

matched his exact feelings!

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 Another blessing was in store for Isaiah. I told you earlier

that I ordered a phone card (when I accidentally used all of KPs

phone card). I vowed that I would let other inmates use it. I

wanted those inmates who had nothing to be able to contact

someone who could come to their rescue. Well, Isaiah was one of

them.

The next day, Isaiah decided to attend his first Bible Study.

Just before it began, Satan tried attacking him. A guy accused

Isaiah of stealing his shoes. The allegation was that Isaiah had

swapped shoes. He was said to have replaced the guys new

shoes with Isaiahs old ones. I personally saw Isaiah when he came

into F-2. He had on brand new shoes. I was able to back Isaiahs

claim that the shoes were his. When the Bible Study began,

irritation had already set in. First of all, Isaiahs family never

picked up when he called. Then someone accused him of stealing

their shoes. It wasnt going too well. However..God is always in

control, especially for them that have accepted His son Christ.

A guard walked in the gate, and called Isaiahs name. He was

informed that he had a visit! His family who he tried to contact

nearly all day was at the jail to visit him! People, when we make

the first step to God by accepting Christ, God works miraculously

on our behalf. God didnt just move for Isaiah either. After he left

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for his family visit, another guard came to the gate. He called for

the man whose shoes were stolen: he gave him a brand new pair.

The next day was Friday. The first thing on my morning

agenda was to get a haircut. I was getting one because I began to

take care of myself both spiritually and physically. Not only was I

building up my faith in Christ, but Uncle KP started a Christian

workout program. Isaiah and I were his only clients. As I sat on

top of the bucket the barber started his work. Halfway through the

haircut, the barber said I got some good news and some bad

news. Which do you want to hear first? After a few moments of

thought, I told him to give me the bad news first, and then to let

me have the good news. He said, The bad news is that I nicked a

little patch of hair out from the back of your head. I was a little

ticked off. I was already going to pay him the fee he charged, with

my last bit of commissary food. Then the good news was

announced. The haircut would be totally free.

I realized the purpose and goal that I needed to achieve

was completed. I wanted a haircut: I needed a haircut: and I got a

haircut. To top it off, it was completely free. Since it was free, I got

to keep my commissary. Then I had a revelation about the

experience. Sometimes we have to get nicked to receive our

FREE haircut. Right after I got out of the barbers chair, the

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guard called for the Alcohol Anonymous assembly. I was excited

about going, because Id never gone to one before. It was a good

meeting. At the end of it, the guest speaker passed out homemade

fudge brownies: something that I hadnt had since I was locked up.

The best way to describe eating those was that it tasted like

freedom!

When the meeting was over, I returned to F-2. Isaiah was

already stressed from being locked up and all that comes with it.

When the guards called him up front for a lawyers visit, he wasnt

any happier. He waited for a long time before they finally opened

the gate for him. He left as I told him I was praying for him. About

an hour later, he returned to F-2 with a huge smile. As it turned

out, they mistakenly called him for a lawyers visit. He really had a

family visit awaiting him.

It was a sincere blessing that Isaiah and I clung as

brothers in Christ. Together, we were both in morning and

evening prayer call, Uncle KPs Christian workout program, and

all things related to Christ. God continually revealed things to me

as well as Isaiah. However, predictably the more we get in Christ,

the more the devil tries to get us out.

Its a small world is a little statement with big meaning.

Isaiah began to encounter some people of his recent past, which

69
put his faith to the test.in the rawest forms. He held strongly to

his Christian ground regardless. Then one night, something

peculiar happened. I couldnt go to sleep and I stayed up very late.

In the Richmond City Jail, they turn off the lights and TV at 11:30

pm. However, somebody hotwired the TV. It stayed on all night.

There was no such thing as a bedtime in F-2. Therefore, a lot

of people usually would be up at night. But this night there

were only about 7 people up. I gathered around to watch TV. A few

homies then asked if I wanted to ride. In other words, they

offered me the chance to turn to whatever I wanted to watch. So I

took control of the TV when it wasnt supposed to be on. I didnt

trick the wire, so I felt no direct wrong in it. I did question

whether it was right or wrong though in general. I brushed it off.

No less than 2 minutes later, I heard a toilet flush. Then somebody

washed their hands. I turned to see who it was. It was Pastor

Jackson! I instantly felt busted. He called me over, and I knew I

was wrong. He explained it to me with the love of God, and I

received the correction. The Holy Spirit immediately clarified my

curiosity of whether I was wrong or not. Nevertheless, I was still

glad God moved that fast through someone else to show me. I

gladly obeyed.

The next day, I showed Isaiah the definition of and the

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reason for fasting. He decided to join me in one. The funniest

thing happened when we went to lunch chow. Nobody knew that

we were fasting except the two of us. We got offered so much food.

Not only that, but Pastor Jackson was an inmate that required a

special diet due to his having various medical conditions. He had a

leg quarter of chicken on the bone- very rare in Richmond City

Jail- and offered it to us!!! The pressure was enough to make us

buckle. Isaiah was extremely tempted, but he passed.

Later on, the guards called for church service. We both went.

We had a communion service. I shared with him the information I

learned about communion weeks before he came to F-2. I gave

him the scripture reference of 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Isaiah

didnt know how to find any books of the Bible by heart. He

happened to open his Bible, and it landed on 1 Corinthians chapter

11.which speaks exactly about communion!

We took the communion in Jesus name. I wanted to live

my life pleasing to Christ. Proverbs 3:6 says to acknowledge God

in all of your ways and He will direct your path. So I wanted to

make all my ways of Him, as well as acknowledging Him in them.

So I joined the choir, and Isaiah did too. We joined the choir not

because we could sing, but because each building only had one

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church service each month. The buildings alternated to use the

chow hall. However, if you were a choir member, you could go

every single Sunday.

After service, the chaplain of the jail wanted us all to stay

behind as the others left. We started off with choir practice. It was

great and time flew fast because we all had fun. After practice, we

had discipleship class. Since every 2 choir members were from a

different building each, it seemed like we were the spiritual

representative servants for each building.

Choir practice and discipleship classes were led by a true man

of God, a volunteer named Pastor Owens. Altogether Isaiah and I

were in the morning prayer call, evening prayer call, our F-2 Bible

Study, Uncle KPs Christian workout program, the choir, and

discipleship classes.

In F-2, the believers always thought of more ways to expand

Christ. An elder suggested that we make a prayer request box. We

all kind of brushed the idea off earlier that day. However, God

didnt brush it off. When the discipleship class started, the lesson

plan was about effective prayer. Not only that, but Pastor Owens

suggested how to make a prayer request box! God confirmed the

prayer box idea clearly. It was as if God directed us step by step as

to what He wanted.

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 When the creator of the universe make moves like that, its

hard to doubt and easy to believe. After the Holy Spirit confirmed

a word for us, He did the same for Pastor Owens. He began to

share something personal in his life that he was praying about. In

the middle of his talking to us about it, his phone rang. He picked

it up and commented a few oks, and hung up. He looked at us and

said, That was the answer to my prayer! God moved non- stop!!

As I continued in F-2 with Isaiah, my main brother in Christ,

God revealed more things to me. Isaiah told me about his brother

who was a year older than he. He stayed in trouble. So I asked

Isaiah if we could pray for him. Isaiah agreed. The next day Isaiah

woke me from sleeping, yelling Hes here! Hes here! Isaiah was

so excited that I honestly thought he was talking about Jesus

Himself. However, he meant that his brother (whom we prayed

for a day prior), had shown up on our tier at F-2! Isaiahs brother

rededicated his life to Christ. God added to the church of F-2 as He

saw fit: just as He did in the Book of Acts.

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 New Level, New Devil

Chapter 10

Ever since I had been at F-2, God showed signs and wonders in

that part of the jail. The nickname that F-2 carried at first was the

worst of the worst. Months later, the nickname changed to the

spiritual school block. The church in F-2 grew which meant

more of God being in the midst. Then there was a spill-over in

the Spirit of God that started to touch everyone.

We had just received a huge amount of Bibles that same

day. So we contemplated that a revival would put the new Bibles to

good use. No one had any ideas for how we could organize one, so

we prayed on it and ended the meeting. Later on that day, it

started getting hotter and hotter. Outside the jail was 95 degrees.

That meant it was close to 100 degrees in F-2. Picture an

overcrowded place; no air conditioning, no ice, no cold

water..with the humidity of Texas. Yeah, those factors produced

short-tempered gangstas: and A LOT of fights. However, Isaiah,

KP and I were called to choir practice. It turned out that the

chaplains room had a very strong air conditioning system. It felt

like a nice heaven, while the average person was in the heat of the

underworld. We worshipped and praised the Lord, and had fun

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doing so. Two hours later, we returned to the heat wave that was

waiting for us at F-2.

Once we were let in by the guard, we noticed a group of

approximately six inmates wrestling. In jail, thats how some

fights start. They start off as harmless playing and end up as

harmful fighting. So I prayed on it as I sat on my bunk. Isaiah did

the same. Then the playing got worse. The original six started

hauling others into the wrestling pit. Then the six started throwing

people into the showers: LITERALLY.

It was only a matter of time before someone would throw

the first punch to jumpstart the drama. Then other inmates who

got tired of the heat, started flooding the block- leaving all the

water from sinks and toilets running, to overflow water. As it all

got tense from every single angle, it looked like the recipe to the

end of the world.

Then out of nowhere, Brother Jerry Blow walked into the

shower with his clothes on. He had a look on his face as if he was

happy to do it. Everybody looked in confusion as he had

everyones attention. Heated gangstas started to laugh at him.

Laughter lightened up the atmosphere. When he walked out, he

began singing loudly. All of F-2 knew the song: Open the Eyes To

My Heart. Somebody started banging a rap beat to it on the table,

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then all at once, the ENTIRE F-2 BEGAN SINGING IT ON ONE

ACCORD!

People started having fun with the song. What couldve been

a dangerous situation was turned around. The Holy Spirit turned

it into a Christian pool party. Water was everywhere from the

flood before Christ took over. But what the devil meant for bad

God meant for good. The older guys started a soul train line and

the younger guys made a slip-n-slide down an aisle. With 250+ all

singing the song in unity, the jail bars shook and echoed.

Apparently it was so loud, that a guard from the outside called in a

riot code.

Suddenly, guards came running to our housing area in big

numbers. When they arrived, they were ready to face a war. When

they saw what was going on and heard the gospel song singing,

they all smiled at us and said we could continue.

Some guards even sang along! It was so much fun, that

the housing area across from us stared with jealousy. We praised

and worshipped the Lord. The inmates nicknamed the event as

The Baptism.

In the end, we all even cleaned up on one accord. Everyone

went sound asleep, except the church. There wasnt one fight nor

one stealing incident. Then, the Holy Spirit showed us something

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as a church: the revival we prayed to have- that we didnt know

how to bring about- God answered our prayer on that hot day. The

Lord orchestrated that entire event to give Him glory, and glory

He received.

The next day, we had our usual blessed Freestyle

Friday. I was stuck in between sharing a Christian Urban Poem or

not sharing it. I had to hurry up and choose before it was my turn.

Now the scripture reference for my poem was John 4:24. It reads

that God is a spirit. And those who worship Him must worship

Him in spirit and in truth. So my poem was titled Does Your

Spirit Say Yes. I wrote it to a Shekinah Glory song, which my

mother did a praise dance to. One good characteristic that I

learned was to ask God to direct my path in things big and

small. I learned that lesson from the patriarch David of the Old

Testament. He always asked God for direction. So I asked the Lord

to direct me. Then I randomly flipped to a page in my Bible. It had

a huge footnote where I turned with bold letters. What did it read?

You guessed it: JOHN 4:24. That was the answer God gave to me.

Christ clearly showed me that He wanted me to glorify Him in one

of the talents He gave me. I prayed for God to rid me of fear, and I

gave it my all

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 Does Your Spirit Say Yes

Now does my spirit say yeah?

Or does it say nah cuz I really aint care.

Tried searching for answers that really aint there:

Stuck in the world, I never really played fair.

So Im reading my Bible, sitting back thinkin

My minds cruising like its in a black Lincoln Turned to God, no

more Cognac drinkin Drowning: yeah I was into that sinkin

Thinkin of my present, problems at my door: Satan steady hatin,

Problems coming more.

But its all good though, God is in my core

Like alarms ringing when theres robbers in a store

As I think of my future, what lies aheada me

Try to maintain, even, steadily

Turned from my old ways no more felony

Bringing me back to this question: let me see..

Does Your Spirit Say Yes

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 When I finished sharing my God given inspiration I could

feel His pleasure. Everybody liked it. Even though I was nervous,

I was obedient to the Spirit. The next day, we had our daily elders

meeting. We praised God for the revival, and then we brought up

our next issue. As the spiritual battle was increasing on F-2, we

noticed that through Christ, we were winning. However, we had a

stealing incident that let us know the devil was still on his job. So

we came up with a solution. Our goal was to go to the F-2 Tier boss.

We were hoping of setting some new rules.

Now the tier boss was a well-respected 300 pound guy

named Mark. So we all agreed to pray on it, then talk to him later

in the day. Later on, we had just come from dinner chow. Once

the guard got us all in F-2, he shut the gate. However, a big time-

bomb was dropped out of nowhere. Somebody from F-3 (the tier

above F-2) had gotten bonded out. He was one of those types of

guys that knew about everything in Richmond. He called to

everybody to come to the bars as he was leaving. He threw a

folded note between the bars and he left. Turns out, he exposed

everything that dealt with street transactions, murders, gang

snitches, etc. The note IMMEDIATELY caused everyone to group

up.

There were at least 100 men ready to brawl. All of us

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believers were already together. We all said a quick prayer that it

wouldnt continue. Right before the first punch was thrown, a

guard came in to patrol the pod out of nowhere. They rarely did

random patrols. The officer asked whats all the crowd and

commotion about? Mark happened to give a response that

NOBODY expected to hear. He told the officer Oh nah officer we

all about to have PRAYER CALL!

Everybody almost skipped a breath once he said that. The

100 already gathered around began to form a circle for prayer

call. The church immediately jumped into action. Brother Jerry

directed the formation for the circle. Then it came time to recite

the Lords Prayer. It sounded like a spiritual military function in

there. It was undoubtedly the biggest prayer call we ever had, and

God got the glory.

Through a worldly view, all the men were only pretending that

the prayer circle was the reason they were up there. Even though

they covered it up with a prayer, the Holy Spirit covered them up

with Himself. Christ was brought in the midst. And no one was

upset by the time we shouted amen. Some even gave daps and

pounds to each other. It was ironic how we prayed for the right

words to say to Mark. However, God brought Mark to us. It was

another miracle from the Maker!

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 Two days later, Isaiah was given an idea by dream.

The idea was to purchase mints and to wrap a Bible scripture

around each mint. We would hand out the candy. They would be

called Testamints. The first people we would give one to were

those without canteen, then those with canteen. That way

everyone could get at least one. So with each church member

paying tithes, it was perfect. Some could buy mints. Others

who couldnt help buy mints would volunteer to be writers,

paper square makers, or scripture twisters. God said in Isaiah

55:11 that His Word wouldnt return to Him void, but would

accomplish what He wanted to. So we prayed that over the bag

of testamints. Then we passed them out one by one.

Remember, this was 200 different random scriptures

wrapped in 200 mints. This made it nearly impossible for us to

have any real say-so (as far as who got what scripture). Shortly

after, guys began running to us. Yo!! This scripture was exactly

what I needed! Some even were convicted.

One wild card type of guy took two, knowing he shouldve

only got one. He toyed with us that he got two. He immediately

came back 20 seconds later upset. He threw the second

testamint back in our bag. When we asked him why he did that,

he upsettingly said Because the first one I opened said THOU

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SHALL NOT STEAL! Needless to say, God was revealing

himself to all through the church at F-2. Now all the while God

made changes, we were about to go through a very drastic one

ourselves. As new people moved on F-2, a new Muslim came. We

showed the love of Christ to everyone regardless. However, this

guy was a persecutor to all believers. He teased the church, tried

to challenge the Bible, and even tempted the church with violent

threats. Appropriately though, the saying goes New level, new

devil.

During that time, Brother Jerry began catching the ear of

OSHA, the Red Cross, and the Local News frequently. People

began listening to what he had to say. Violation of local laws, food

malnutrition, and inhumane treatment of Richmond City Jail

started to surface. This made the staff at the jail extremely angry.

To make matters worse, the persecuting muslim was flying off the

handle every day.

He tried to hold open debates. The church declined his

offer and made him even madder. He then started cursing while

misquoting scripture in order to prove himself right. He

continued this for hours. Then, the owners of the jail walked in

F-2 to give a surprise inspection.

It was far from a surprise to Brother Jerry Blow though. He

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struck a nerve that caused the jail to spend a lot of extra money

for fans, cold water installation, cups of ice, and healthy food

portions. Brother Jerry once said that dogs and cats at the pound

were treated better than inmates were at Richmond City Jail. The

officers came in and walked straight to Brother Jerry Blows

bunk. They didnt become sidetracked with anything else, and

they knew exactly where he slept. The owners and officers read

through his legal papers; noticing drafts of more letters to other

organizations. They told him to pack all of his stuff. He was going

to the hole.

Brother Jerry knew it was coming one day. He spoke until

somebody listened on the outside. There was a sickening silence

as Brother Jerry slowly and sadly packed up his stuff. Everybody

just watched. As he began leaving by escort, somebody started

singing the same song of the baptism; Open the Eyes of My Heart.

Next thing I know, everybody was singing it .We sang, clapped,

and gave him a mini-farewell party. Brother Jerry smiled with his

head held high and joined in as he walked slowly to the gate.

In supporting Brother Jerry though, we upset the officers and

they put us on full restriction in retaliation. The deputies even

disagreed with their superiors, because it would be a harsh one.

In the heat of August, they cut the phones off. They removed the

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television instead of cutting its power, restricted us from

movement, and worst of allremoved those fans we were just

given.

The church peacefully tolerated the unfair treatment,

knowing that God would handle it. A lot of the gangstas in F-2

werent feeling the same way as the church, however. They

started bucking or refusing to cooperate with the officers. They

started to group themselves up. They yelled to the officers (before

they left out) that they would send a man bloody and bruised off

F-2 EACH HOUR until fans were restored. Some guys even

wrapped t- shirts around their faces before fighting- carelessly

welcoming pepper sprayers.

They held true to their word also. One by one, officers had

to take someone out or carry them out hourly. Even though Uncle

KP tried to talk them out of it, they continued anyway. However,

they at least agreed not to bother any of the church members of F-

2. God had placed His shield of protection around us. He did not

do it because we were so good. He did it because of His grace and

mercy.

Ironically, the next guy on the hourly beat down list was

the persecuting Muslim. He got the consequences of his words and

actions. The gangstas wanted to see if he could back up all that

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trash he was talking. The attackers beat him as he darted off to the

front gate. He was screaming mercifully for the deputies to move

him.

It was amazing to see Gods Word in action. If we just hold our

peace, God will fight our battles. Though verbal torture was

delivered to the church, he was only a pawn that the devil used.

Through the Holy Spirit, Satans defeat will always occur. Christ

said that the very gates of hell cant prevail against the church.

This means guaranteed victory against Satan. If we wait on the

Lord, He will fight our battles. Romans 12:18 says if it be

possible as much is within you, live peaceably with all men. From

what Ive seen, if peace is not possible, then God will either

remove one or the other from the equation. In that case, God

chose to remove the persecutor. Not only did God remove him,

but his followers of persecution also were gone. They were the

last to get beaten. Once they were escorted away, the officers gave

us back the fans and cut the cold sink water back on. Everyone

celebrated as it seemed like victory went to the inmates. The next

day though..the jail owners returned to F-2. They told the

ENTIRE TIER to pack up everything and go to the front gate.

On rare occasion, they would come to randomly relocate 10 or

15 guys. They never made the entire pod pack up to move before.

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We all figured that we were going the same place Brother Jerry

went. That was isolation. The officials chose 15 of us to

completely clean the whole F-2. I was one of the 15.

I began to find every single Bible and all of the Christian

material to reserve. On one of the metal picnic tables were

Korans, Buddhist books, etc. They were all thrown in the trash by

an official. Yet everything Christian related was allowed to stay.

My eyes were on the Christian pile. I was going to get them before

guys took them to make weight bags with. I would be able to give

them to new arrivals on F-2 (granted I hopefully wouldnt be

relocated).

Then the moving began. It sounded like an auction: You,

outside! You, stay here! You, find a bunk! You, to the hole!

Amazingly, not one church member was moved outside of F-

2. Isaiahs old bunk was beside mine and beside another brother.

This meant that we had a nice little church cut. Notice the word

had, as in past tense. We now had to try and hurry to get bottom

bunks beside each other, for the sake of the Bible studies. Isaiah

ran to a bottom bunk first. I ran to the next one second. Three

more brothers who knew the deal got the next three bottom

bunks. Then Isaiah noticed something strange. His old bunk was

decorated with scriptures, biblical pictures, etc. However, the

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officials made him tear it all down as trash. Isaiah submitted to

the authorities.

As it turned out, Isaiah had his same bottom bunk. How

did we know? Well there was one of his pictures jammed in the

corner of the bunk. It was a picture of an angel! We stared in

amazement as we concluded that a guardian angel was sent to

watch over our old bunk area. God put us back together and

expanded our real estate. We now had 5 bunks instead of the

previous 3.

God is amazing with no doubt. As we all regrouped, we

agreed that a spiritual war took place. Usually we had spiritual

battles on F-2, but not a full-fledged war. The enemy had been on

a rampage for some reason. We suffered the loss of Brother

Jerry, as he was sent to isolation. We then went through that

horrible restriction. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit built the

church better than before on F-2. We proceeded on with our

morning and evening prayer call, along with our daily Bible

Study. Later that day, we received a note from Brother Jerry. It

read as follows:

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Hello My Brothers in Christ at F-2,

I was put into isolation of C building when they removed me

from you guys. I have had a good run in making the jails

injustices publically known. How am I right now? HOT!! It is so

hot in here that I can barely sleep. But, I have God on my side.

The bosses told my wife that she could visit me. But, they denied

her once she got to the jail. The News Channel 6 also came to

interview me. The bosses denied that also. However, they did tell

the news crews to film the cups of ice being passed out to

inmates. Even though we all know theyre only doing that

because of the surprise inspection. Its all ok.

Also, it is a shame that they put you all on restriction because

you all sang a gospel song as I left. I will pray that God takes

the restriction off. You guys please pray for me.

God Bless You,

Brother Jerry

As the whole F-2 heard the end of Brother Jerrys letter read

aloud, handclaps began. That was the last that we ever heard

from Brother Jerry.

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 The next day was one that I dreaded. It was the day of my

official sentencing. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. court call. I was tired

because I stayed up all night long, reminiscing on all that God had

done for me. I went into the hallway after the deputy opened thes

gate. There were at least one hundred inmates ready to go to

court. All of us sat in the hallway. Though no one said so, I was

sure we all felt the same things. A brother in Christ from F-2 sat

next to me. We discussed Gods goodness. Nothing was

determined by our consequences. We talked about Christ

regardless of the future. Being blessed from the conversation, I

felt led to do a prayer call in that hallway. I asked the deputy if he

would let me recite the Lords Prayer. He told me sarcastically

that he would think about it. Clearly, the devil was on his job.

However, that deputy left and another took his post. So I

asked him the same question. He gave me an ok. I yelled loudly

as my voice carried through the hall, I am going to recite the

Lords Prayer and anyone who wishes to join me please do! As I

began, I noticed that only the brother in Christ and I were

saying the prayer. Out of about one hundred people, only two

were saying the Lords Prayer. My flesh was nervous and ready to

stop, but my spirit had no doubt. The Holy Spirit led me. I

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became excited because I boldly stood up for Christ I the midst of

the unknown.

In Matthew 18:20 Jesus says, For where there are two or

three gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of them. I

felt courageous that I openly spoke for the Lord. To step up and

out boldly in front of strangers was something that I had never

done before that point. God will give his children exactly what

they need to do his bidding.

On my way to court I had a million thoughts. I was looking

forward to seeing my family, my past fianc, and my lawyer. I was

on my way to being given my verdict. I prayed to be delivered

from the bondage of the cell. I wanted to be released. I wanted to

go home. However, more than anything else, I wanted Gods will

to be done. Sometimes we confuse Gods will with ours. Though

we pray in such a way, our flesh can want His will to fall in line

with ours. The more we move out of the natural realm and move

into the supernatural realm, we will know that all that really

matters is what we do for Christ. My main prayer was for God to

be my sole judge. I knew that He and He alone made everything

and everyone in that courtroom I was going to.

The officers took me to the front of the holding cell beside

the court room. My lawyer came and saw me outside of the

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hallway. He informed me that my sentence range was from 3

years and 9 months up to 6 years and 11 months. A feeling of

uneasiness came over me. However, the feeling left me as quick as

it came.

When I went into the court room, I saw my Dad, Uncle Frank,

and my past fianc. My mother was in the restroom getting

herself emotionally prepared. Meanwhile, I stood up and sat down

when instructed to. As I sat down, the prosecutor stood

before the judge and gave reasons that I shouldve been given the

maximum amount of time. In my defense, my lawyer then

proceeded to give reasons that I should be given little or no

additional time.

Suddenly, there was a noise outside the courtroom door. It

was my lovely mother. She collapsed in tears before she could

make it all the way in the court. She cared about me that much.

The judge took a few minutes to allow my mother to be tended to.

Then the judge asked me if I had anything to say before the

sentence was passed.

I prayed for God to be with me, opened my eyes, and

spoke. Your Honor, I would like to apologize to the victim, the

court, and to my family. Im not apologizing for the purpose of

mercy, but Im apologizing because what I did was wrong. I thank

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you for whatever you sentence me to either way. As the judge

took in what I said, I was sentenced to the minimum of 3 years

and 9 months.

I was blessed as I entered the courtroom, and blessed when

I left. I came from a more than likely life sentence, to only 3 years

and 9 months! I only had 2 and a half years left to do, which was

nothing compared to what it couldve been.

Although my family was upset, I couldnt help but be full of

joy. I smiled the entire day. As I returned to F-2, Isaiah and the

rest of the Christian brothers awaited what the sentence was going

to be. When I told them, some were discouraged. When I

explained what I started out facing to only having 2 years left,

they were amazed. To God be the glory!!!!

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 Epilogue

Lawrence put himself in an entirely different world

based on his actions. It all seemed to be a horrible situation. There

was no turning back. F-2 housed some of the worst criminals and

killers of Richmond City. However, God had a plan the entire

time. The Lord had to separate Lawrence from the streets. And of

all things, it worked. His 6 felonies that couldve gotten him 30

years to life..were miraculously dropped to only 1 felony. He

was given peace in the middle of the storm. He was shown Gods

power through daily situations in big ways. Lastly, he was shown

that even being locked up, God could still take him Beyond the

Bars. However, his sentence wasnt over yet.

He would have to go to the penitentiary. He personally

witnessed the Lord change the entire pod into His

headquarters in the jail. Yet jail was still only that- jail. Prison

was an entirely different ballgame. Would the same God who

protected him in F-2 do the same in prison? Every time he ever

heard of the big house, the worst acts were mentioned:

butchering, raping, gangs, etc. If Richmond City Jail was

compared to being his Exodus, then prison would become his

Deuteronomy. Find out what happens in..

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Beyond

The

Bars

II

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 Words from the Author

Its said that a wise man learns from his

mistakes.but a wiser man learns from somebody

elses mistakes. I pray to Christ that from your

reading my testimony of God, youll be that

wiser person. It doesnt matter who you are or

where youre from; regardless if youre in a cell or

a condominium. What matters most isnt who you

are, but WHOSE you are. If you dont belong to

Christ, give your life to Him. Talk to Him. TRUST

ME, He speaks back in many ways. If youre

reading this, its because God hand-picked you to

be blessed from the contents of this book.

Heaven is for hustlers, gangstas, pimps,

etc. BUT Jesus is the only door there is to get in!!!

Christ protected me all those times in this

testimony, plus more. He didnt do it only because He

loves me, but to show you that He loves you too.

In closing.

Imma ride with God, Ridin On

Its Heaven or Hell Homie Which Side you on?

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Lawrence Speight III, Gods Workmanship

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