How Leroy Met Jesus in Prison

wanted to share with you one of the more amazing prisoner letters we've received. It comes from "Leroy" who is an inmate in a prison in Missouri. He read An Anchor for the Soul and then wrote to say thanks. You'll have to squint a bit to read what he wrote because I carried his letter around with me and it got wet in my backpack.

But I think it's worth reading.

He says he was trying to find "his place in religion." That's an unusual statement. No one has ever said that to me before. Then he says he tried being a Baptist, but that didn't "fit." Then he tried being a Mormon and then a Catholic, but that didn't "fit" him either.

I pause to say that I appreciate his ecumenical spirit. If you think about it, you've covered a large waterfront theologically when you go from Baptist to Mormon to Catholic.

But nothing seemed to "fit" him.

After reading "An Anchor for the Soul," he realized the problem: "I came to realize that all this time I have been looking for a place, and I should have been looking for a person (Jesus Christ)." That's a major breakthrough, isn't it?

Millions of people get tripped up right at this point. They look to religion (even good, evangelical, Bible-believing religion) to save them. But religion saves no one. The only way to find peace with God is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Leroy concluded that "I was allowing my religion to get in the way of my faith." Then he adds, "Thank you for helping Jesus Christ lead me in the right direction."

His final sentence is a word to all of us: "The last thing that I would like to say is to your readers, please do not allow your religion to get in the way of your faith."

I can only say Amen to that.

The Lord is doing great things in prisons across America. No walls or barbed wire can keep him out.

Let's take Leroy's words to heart. Don't trust in your religion. Don't look for a place. Look for a person--the Lord Jesus Christ--and put your trust in him.