Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
Text: 2 Timothy 1:8.
My wife and I traveled about an hour southeast to the little town of Patterson, Louisiana. We had gone their to help with a ministers luncheon. The fish fry luncheon we hold yearly for the local ministers for fun and fellowship. It was August and was oppressively hot and humid outside, and the mosquitoes were revengeful!
My wife had baked some deserts the night before; brownees, pecan miniature pies, and coconut miniature pies. We brought them into the kitchen and she started helping Sister Suzy. I went outside under the big oak tree with Brother Bass to assist him in frying the catfish.
Brother Bass was a short white man who was probably in his late sixties in failing health. He revealed that he had COPD and had trouble breathing. But, in spite of that he kept active. In the back of his pick-up was a three burner propane rig for frying fish. He had three frying pans, but the middle burner did not work this morning. But two burners would be enough for ten pounds of catfish.
We set up everything and ended up with a little extra time, so we started to visit a bit. I mentioned that I was a retired truck driver, and Brother Bass replied that he started out driving trucks in Georgia, where he was born and raised.
Then he mentioned that he switched to armed robbery and burglarizing houses and business. I was a bit taken aback by that statement! He said that he was eventually caught by law enforcement in Florida, where he robbed several place there.
The authorities in Florida offered to give him a hundred-year sentence if he plead guilty. They said if he was found guilty by trial it would be a hundred and fifteen year sentence. Brother Bass told them that their wasn't much of a difference between the two sentences, so he chose the trial!
He was put on trial and found guilty of all charges and was placed into the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections for a period of 115 years! But they did give him the possibility of parole in the future. So he did have some kind of hope for the future.
He was sent to a prison in Raymondville, Florida call the "Rock," because it was a maximum security prison that had a death row wing. It was were all of hard core criminals did their time. After about five years of good behaviour, he was then transferred to a prison in Madisonville, Florida, which was a medium security prison. The years slowly dragged on.
In the meantime Brother Bass was given a Bible to read, among all of the other books of the prison library. He read it and enjoyed it. He asked the prison librarian, a fellow prisoner, if he could keep it permanently. The prison librarian did much care for Christian wanna-bes, so re refused.
After daily pestering, the librarian finally said that if he could memorize 1 Corinthians 13, then he could keep the Bible permanently. Brother Bass memorized it and repeated it to the librarian, with a scrawl on his face he blurted out, "Okay, you can keep it!"
Brother Bass was now a Christian, a baby Christian, but saved in Christ and slowly growing in faith. A few more years passed and he was informed that he was up for parole! After an interview was conducted he was rejected with the phrase, "no change!" Brother Bass was devastated but accepted it as the Lord's will.
The next year he had another parole hearing, this time during the interview, the asked about his Christian life and the positive change in his life. Brother Bass replied that he didn't want to use his new faith to get himself out of prison. He informed the interviewer that if the Lord wanted him out of prison, He would make it happen without anyone's help!
A little over six months later Brother Bass was paroled from prison! He said that the Lord must have softened up the hearts of the parole board to have him released so early. Brother Bass said that he served only 13 years of the 115 year sentence!
Well, after he finished sharing his interesting story, I looked down at my watch, and noticed that the fish had better get to frying! We happily double-timed it and got the fish to cooking. The ministers luncheon went well, and everyone raved about the fish. Nothing like catfish and a testimony!
William James Roop
Brother Roop teaches the Bible
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