11 Hours in Hall County Jail
I never thought one of the highlights of moving to Georgia for discipleship school would be getting arrested and spending the day in jail, but God has the tendency to give me really cool stories and this is one of them.
To make a long story short, a mixup at the a courthouse back home in California followed me to Georgia when I got pulled over one day and found out the hard way that I was driving with a suspended license. It didn’t help that I also didn’t have proof of insurance and was driving a car without license plates. So instead of making it to church, my car was impounded and searched and I was placed under arrest and taken to the Hall County Jail. Worst of all, they took my shoes when I got to the jail and gave me bright orange Crocs to wear instead (the only real crime I’ve committed). Pretty soon after I arrived, three other women were brought into my jail cell and the four of us spent the day together getting to know each other. We all had very different backgrounds and the stories in that room were moving. We were able to get along easily and I really enjoyed spending time with them and hearing about their lives. And it’s funny to say but I had a pretty good time in jail since I have a knack for making friends in random places.
But there was a lot of reality I was exposed to. The reality that jail and drug abuse and broken families can be relatively normal for some people. The reality that my cell mates and I were dealt drastically different cards. The reality that I was going to get out of jail by dinner time and the other women weren’t. All of it was sobering.
After my bail was paid and I was released, I spent some time thinking about what I experienced and one of the things that stood out to me most was the lack of hope in that place. It seemed that a lot of the inmates and guards I met had simply come to terms with the in-and-out-of-jail life they were either seeing or experiencing. It was a revolving door and too many people were okay with that. There was no hope for something better, for abundant life. But there is hope and I was able to share the good news—the gospel of peace—with my cell mates. I got to pray for them and talk to God about the justice system. I got to spend 11 hours with three women I otherwise would have never met, whose stories produced humility and thankfulness in me. I got to take my gift of joy to a place deficient of it. And most of all, I got to take those women’s stories home with me and keep praying that the hope I have found would become real to them. That whole day, with the laughter and tears and jail food, was a divine experience. I’m not sure why God used me to take the gospel to Hall County Jail, but I’m glad he did.
If you are in Christ, you are an ambassador of hope who has been brought into God’s marvelous light. Part of walking in the light is having the privilege of declaring freedom for those still in darkness. So be bold. Preach the gospel. Make disciples. Love people. God has anointed you to proclaim good news to the poor and set the captives free. Go do it.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
-Isaiah 61:1
