8 Days, 7 Nights, 25 Games, and Buckets of Tears

“Tis paradise, if you are here; if you depart, ‘tis hell.” – C.H. Spurgeon

From 1990 through 2011, I organized and participated in hundreds (perhaps thousands) of prison ministry trips throughout the MidAtlantic states. The majority of them were on Saturdays – where we would usually play four games in two different correctional institutions on the same day – or on a weeknight.

However, several times per year, I would accompany our softball and basketball teams on trips that lasted as many as eight days and seven nights. Those longer trips allowed us to accept invitations – and to reach inmates with the gospel – in faraway states such as Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. We even crossed the Canadian border twice and ministered in several prisons there.

During those first few “crusades” as we called them, Deanna would pack up our three kids and visit her parents in Pennsylvania while I was gone. After kissing my wife and kids goodbye, I would watch as they pulled away. Then, I would go back in the house… and cry.

Why do that? Wasn’t I excited about the opportunity to minister to thousands of inmates, to play as many as 25 games in a single week, and to fellowship with my buddies 24/7? Yes, all of that is true and yes, I was extremely excited about each and every crusade. However, watching “my world” pull away in that Honda Civic sedan or Ford Taurus station wagon reminded me just how much my family meant to me… and how lost I would be without them.

Once the actual crusade started, my homesickness vanished, and I had an absolute ball. In fact, I still consider those trips to be the highlights of my 35-year prison ministry career. To me, there is nothing better than playing softball and sharing your faith from sun-up to sundown every day… and I’ve never experienced such camaraderie before or since.

Charles Spurgeon’s sentiments in today’s quote reminded me of those long-ago trips and how much I hated watching Deanna and our kids drive away. Being with my bride – and Bethany, Matthew, and Christopher – was heaven on earth to me. In fact, it still is, and now I have the extra blessing of adding our six precious grandkids to the mix.

That is why heaven will be heaven… because Jesus will be there!

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 21:3 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President