David needs prayers; the system needs a heart!


Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!
Robert Burns

I’ll try to make this story very short.

David, a Michigan inmate and a dear friend, became ill in his prison cell at Kincheloe the other day. When it became apparent that he was really sick they rushed him to the nearest hospital at Sault Ste. Marie, in the Upper Peninsula. When it became apparent that he needed even more specialized care, he was given an emergency ride to Marquette, Michigan. That’s not next door. It’s a 165 mile ambulance trip for an unconscious and unresponsive patient!

Yet it must not have seemed all that serious to some prison officials, because David’s elderly parents weren’t notified for three more days!

Without hesitation, they made immediate plans to head north.

What a journey for this elderly couple---Grand Rapids to Marquette---400 miles one way! The past few days have been heart-breaking for mother and father. Little to no response from their 58-year-old son, kept alive in his hospital bed by a ventilator and the prayers of family and friends.

Then came even more devastating news on Friday. The parents’ visitation rights had been terminated. After pleading with prison officials, they were granted one more bedside visit Saturday morning, and that was it. David’s mom and dad tearfully returned to Grand Rapids.

Said their pastor: I found the emotional brutality hard to comprehend.  How can human beings behave this way?

Our team never gets hardened or calloused when it comes to matters like this. We experience the same pain and anger and frustration all over again. It wasn’t the first time. It won’t be the last.

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
When asked by the onlookers when they had neglected him in those ways, Jesus answered:
I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.

David is still in that hospital bed in Marquette, but now he’s alone. Except for the prison guard.

And he’s shackled.

We wouldn’t want him to escape, would we?





Comments

Bob Bulten said…
So well put, Doug. Thanks.
April 16, 2018 at 7:13 AM
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