BEAUTY IN THE WIRE

By: John Burri

Have you ever been in prison? Have you ever walked the track inside the prison yard? It can be a very lonely place, even though there are many others around you. You feel all alone and no one cares. Well I have - for five years and five months. For sixty-five months ... days and days ... that at times those days never seemed to end.

At first it was a scary, and hopeless place. Many of the days left me feeling empty and forgotten.

After some time had passed and joining in a couple of Christian services - one of which was my Catholic service, and another service called Alpha Prison Ministries - I began to see prison life in a different light so to say.

It was while behind the wire gate to my prison days I learned that God still loved me despite the ugly life I had led that opened the wire gate to my prison days. It was during this time I came to know that it was not God who put me in this place, but God who saved me from myself and my destructive ways. I myself had put me there.

I now look back and thank God for this time. Why would I say that? ... you might ask. Well, it was during this time my God drew me near to Him. He opened my eyes, my mind, and healed my hurts. It was during this time he spoke to me through signs in the sky and even one time when I heard Him speak, I looked around to see who had spoken.

What was it I had seen and heard? I have seen answers to prayers as I had prayed to my God -- a loving and caring God.

My first Father's Day in prison, I went out to the yard and was walking the track. This track was surrounded by a tall metal fence and topped with strands of razor wire. This was meant to keep one in and held captive, which it did. As I walked the track on that breezy day, my first Father's Day ... away from my dear sons and wife ... God showed me that He was there. How did He do that?

I was walking the track alone with my thoughts; alone even though others were walking that same track. After a little while of walking, something made me stop. I was on the west side of the track walking south. I stopped and looked up. It was a breezy day and as I looked up, there in the blue sky was a cloud. This cloud was in the shape of a dove. The dove, as I came to know represents the Holy Spirit -- the third person of the Trinity of which our God is: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As I stood there and looked at that cloud, a sense of peace came over me. I was filled with this feeling of peace and my lonely feeling went away. God was showing me Himself, and I came to know this in my mind as I stood there looking up at that Holy Spirit dove. God was with me and He was letting me know that He was with me at that very moment. He was with me always and would always be with me. Such a joy filled my heart and mind.

After a few minutes I continued on with my walking and when I came to that same spot, I looked up again and that cloud was gone ... but the message and comfort I received that day has stayed with me ever since. It was a Father's Day I will never forget.

This is just one event that had brought me to see the beauty in the wire. That razor-wire-covered fence may have kept me captive inside that prison yard, but it is my God who had set me free.

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Staff Note: Here is video clip of brother John you might appreciate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbOfXlOSKes

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