A Christmas gift from behind bars

The question came up again just the other day:  With all the negative stuff that you guys deal with on a daily basis, how do you maintain a positive attitude?

Let me answer that right this second, because I’ve just opened the mail that arrived in our Post Office box today.

Seems our friend Roger, an occupant of the Muskegon Correctional Facility, shared the news with his bunkie that he was about to put together a little home-made Christmas card to Matt, me, and Father Jared Cramer (our unofficial chaplain who also serves on our Board of Directors).  His friend said that he wanted to sign the card, too.  And the word spread.  Other guys wanted to sign the card.  And they wanted to add messages.  Page after page of the tiny sheets got glued together.  I ripped open the envelope today, to find these electric-printer-generated words on the face of a pasted-together card:  Doug, Matt, Jared, and HFP Staff.

Here’s a sample of some of the messages attached to the holiday greetings:

Thank you for all you do for us!

Our prayers are with you today and always!

Thank you for all of your purpose-and-activated vision!

Thank you for all your hard work in helping us not be thrown away and forgotten.

There are not enough words that can express our appreciation for you.  You look beyond where we are to help us and uplift us…you make the world a better place.

Thank you for being a pillar of grace to the incarcerated.

Thank you for all you have done, from all the people you’ve done it for!

Every message was hand-written and signed.  I added them up:  28 signatures!  28 guys behind bars who took a moment to say “Thank you” to the HFP team. 

We won’t receive a more meaningful Christmas gift this year!

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