September 2011

"I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my
feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth
Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord. Blessed
is that man, who makes the Lord his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor
such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You
in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more that can be numbered."  - (Psalm 40:1-5)

Greetings!
 
A pastor once said, "Tough times don’t last, but tough people do." It is not easy to be a Christian in prison. Some say it is nothing more than jail house religion. Believe it or not, the same things that take people from the street to the penitentiary are found in all prisons.
 
Violence, drugs, alcohol, gambling and the list goes on and on, all are in our prison system today. To practice the Orthodox Christian faith in prison is not easy. There are very few Orthodox chaplains, and many prison policies do not have Eastern Orthodox Christian as a choice for their practice. The reality is we have many converts and cradle Orthodox Christians in prison, "sprinkled" among the many prisons in the USA.
 
We realize that our little ministry does not compare to the many evangelicals who minister to prisoners. I am thankful the Gospel is being preached and chapels are being attended. Our role is to be a cup of refreshing water in a dry and lonely land, where the practice of the Orthodox faith can be difficult.
 
As the Psalm above says, "God’s blessings are too numerous to count." Please remember prisoners in your prayers. You can simply say prayers for "Fr. David’s list."
 
By God’s grace, with your prayers, we will not give up. We will "tough" it out through the grace of our Lord.
 
May the beauty of heaven consume you,
 
Fr. David