Awesome

Years later.

I took my nineteen-year-old grandson to Prayer and Share* at Torres** with me one evening.  I instructed him that we were not to say anything.  Our purpose for being there was to enable the men in white*** to assemble and to talk about issues important to them. Prayer and Share is led by men in white for men in white.

Prayer and Share starts with group singing.  Then there is a time to express gratitude. Next comes prayer requests. 

Then we break into groups of 8 or so, with a requirement that there be a volunteer in each group. Folding chairs are arranged in a circle.  Most often men in white who sat in my circle were men I had met previously.  A man took a prayer card suggesting subjects to talk about and when he was finished, he would pass it to the man on his left.

The card worked its way around the circle until all the men in white had had an opportunity to share.  Powerful sharing—painful, grateful, petitioning.

When the card reached my grandson, he blurted out—“You guys are awesome! I don’t know anyone on the outside as good as you.”

 Years later, a man in white will ask about my grandson.

*Prayer and Share is held on a weekday evening from 6-8:30p.

**Torres Unit is a Texas state prison near Hondo, Texas.

***In Texas prisons, all inmates wear white.