"What do I need to do?"

I had just finished talking and praying with one inmate, when I saw another young man that caught my attention. I went and introduced myself to him, and he told me his name.

"When is your court date?" I asked him.

"I've already been sentenced. I go upstate any day now," Ty responded. "Did you just know to come over and talk to me?" he asked.

"I try to look around and see if the Lord directs me to anyone. I got the feeling I was supposed to talk to you. Do you have any church background?"

"No. My grandmother goes to church. I went with her a couple of times."

"Do you know about Jesus—who He is and why He came?"

"No, I don't."

I shared the gospel with him. I told him about the problem of sin, the resulting judgment, and God's solution through Christ. I asked him if it all made sense. He said 'Yes.' Then he asked the question, "What do I need to do?"

[Short aside: Let me tell you, there's no greater joy than to hear someone ask you that question. It still makes me want to cry and jump out of my skin! The gospel is so simple, yet profound, rich, elegant, complete and thoroughly satisfying. How would you like to be able to hand out checks for $10,000,000 to anyone who would receive it? This is better. And as Christians, we all have the great privilege of introducing someone to the Savior.]

"Repent of your sins, believe that Jesus died for you," I began to tell him.

Excitedly, he interrupted me: "Wait, I want to show you something!" He went back to his jail cell and brought back a Bible. Inside the front cover, he had written four words in a vertical column:

Repent
Believe
Ask
Receive

"I was in a Bible study once and I wrote this down!"

"That's it. Do you want to do it now?"

"Yes."

Praise God that Ty received Christ. He prayed that he would be able to tell other men about Jesus when he goes upstate, and that upon his release, God would use him to reach youth.

"I've been thinking about marriage," he told me. "My girlfriend is in jail, but will be out soon. She is already a Christian. What do you think about us getting married right away?"

"Marriage is hard enough as it is," I told him. "I'd encourage you to wait until you're both out of jail. It'll give both of you time to grow individually in the Lord, and you'll be together when you start your new life as a couple."

"That's what I was thinking," he said.

Pray that these two will grow strong in the Lord, and that their relationship would progress in God's way and in God's time. Pray that they would cling to Jesus and be used to further His Kingdom.