Be Still And Know

Hebrews 13.3 NLT 'Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.' I am so grateful that when I was at university I was encouraged to visit in the local prison once a week. We visited the young offenders’ wing and so I was meeting people of my own age and that was such a valuable experience. I had never met prisoners before and so I assumed that they would be completely different from me. They weren’t. They were intelligent, interesting and amusing and it was very easy to get alongside them and fascinating to hear the story of their lives. Ever since that time I have always been happy to have the opportunity to visit prisoners and have had some amazing conversations over the years. Prisons, in the days of the Early Church, would have been completely different from anything that I encountered. The Romans normally stripped prisoners naked and flogged them prior to their imprisonment. Their wounds would not have