A Story From The Other Side of the Fence
“Old State Cup”
By: Michael Pitts
While sitting in County Jail awaiting sentencing and my inevitable return to prison, I began to reflect on my life and all of its mistakes. I had been born-again just over two years earlier and had backslidden three months ago and had fallen back, yet again, into drug use and addiction. My arrest had been the stopping point that allowed me to see myself, in my sinful state, and bring me to my knees, the place in which Grace and the Blood of our Savior could bring me into right standing with God.
Still I felt disheartened over my situation because I truly wanted to be used by God in the ministry of the King. I began to cry out, saying “God, How can you use a mess like me, I’m no good, my past is a shameful mess, I’m no good to you, I’m a convict with a terrible record. What church? What ministry would use a man like me?”
The tears began to fall from my eyes as I prayed; my heart was truly broken before our LORD. My hearts desire was to serve Him, to reach others for His glory, but my failures seemed to be too many and too large. As I lay in my bunk with a broken heart and spirit, I fell asleep and began to dream. I would like to share that dream with you.
It began as we enter a large, formal dining room of a castle from the era of kings and knights. Heavy rock walls frame a long thick dining table surrounded by heavy chairs and lit only by the glow cast from the flames of a very long fireplace. Over the fireplace, running the length of it was a thick mantle piece crafted from ancient wood. A top this mantle piece was beautiful glasses and goblets. They were magnificent; each one seemed to be a work of art.
Some were fine crystal, some beautifully hand blown long stem champagne flutes, and some were heavy golden goblets encrusted with jewels that gleamed in the fire light. Never before had I seen such a beautiful collection of glasses as they filled the length of the mantel piece. Then I noticed, there on the floor just to the side of the fireplace lay, what you and I know as an “old state cup”. It lay on its side: scratched, beaten and bent. No light gleamed from its side. The cup was abused and worn from its past service in some old institution somewhere. The old cup was obviously out of place in the regal dining room fit for a King.
Then an Arm reached down, extending a wise, old, weathered Hand from a formal robe, picking up the old state cup from the floor, fingers brushing the dust from its rough side and gently placed the cup at the end of the mantle piece, at the back, in the shadow of a golden goblet.
Immediately I felt the joy of the redemptive power given to us by the Saviors Hand, the cup was placed on the mantle with all the others. And just as I thought the dream might be over, that same Hand reached up to the mantle, extended fingers began to touch each glass, tracing the rims of some, feeling the stems of others, testing the heft of the golden goblets. Each one in turn as the Hand moved over the mantle, as if to choose one to drink from. Finally the Hand reached the end of the mantle, after touching one last fine jeweled goblet, the Hand reached the old state cup. Tracing one Finger softly around the frazzled rim, He took the cup from atop the mantle to be placed at the head of the dining table for His use.
I awoke from the dream and the tears once again began to fall from my eyes as I came to understand that I am that “old state cup” the LORD had chosen to use me for His service despite my faults and wretched past.
You and I, brothers, are all just beaten, scratched and bent old state cups, but the Father desires to use men just like you and me despite our pasts. We will reach those that came from a past like ours as no one else can. The Father will choose us because of our past. Thank you, LORD, for making me an “Old State Cup.”
Ministry Inside
July 2013:
Graduation From Discipleship Classes: English - 58 Spanish - 26
4,073 inmate visits to the chapel logging over 6,110 hrs. for 190 individual events
Death notifications - 9 / Crisis Notifications - 13
Family Happenings
Hello friends....it's so hard to believe that we are nearing the month that brings us Fall! :) I am happy since that is my favorite season of the year! The last two mornings, we have woke up to the low 60's and I couldn't be more thrilled about that! Last night, on a drive home from our friend, the Smiths, we had the windows down and I smelled burning leaves. Nothing like making one long for Fall! :) But I know, in reality, we still have quite a few more hot summer days ahead of us. This summer has not been as hot though, since we have had so many cloudy, rainy days. Our neighbor man told us we have had over 38" of rain since the beginning of June! :O That has to be close to being a record!??
The first full week of August was VBS at our church. Tamara is the only one in our family who is a "student" and this is her last year. Dan wasn't able to make it many night, since he was working at a final paper for school. Danny was the sound man and I was in charge of the parent's cafe. Making sure there were snacks and drinks there for the parent's who wanted to stay and visit for the evening. :)
Our last night, we handed out swords and shields to each of the children. It was a great week!!
Friday night when we left the house for VBS, something didn't sound right. It sounded like we were dragging something along under the van, so I stopped and here we had a VERY flat tire on the back!! :( Thankfully our neighbor man was home and had no evening plans, so he let us borrow his car. We would have been late otherwise.
We took the van to a local shop Saturday to have the tire fixed, but alas, they are not open Saturdays. So we used Dan's Jeep all weekend and Monday morning, we took the van to Walmart. They told us they could not repair the tire because the nail was in the sidewall. Well, as the service guy was talking, he said he'd like to look at our other tires and just like that, he spotted another tire with something in it, also in the sidewall. He sprayed water on it and it bubbled. I am still a little suspicious about that, but we ended up buying two new tires! :(
In it all, I am very thankful for a son who is willing to step in and change tires for this mama who never quite remembers how! ;)
Probably the most exciting thing that happened in our family since our last newsletter, is the fact that Dan had completed his very LAST class of online school. Friends, he is FINISHED!! :)
This last class was hard and a bit stressful. I, as his wife, always wonder why he even gets stressed over his classes, because he gets such good grades. But I know that the burden of doing well is on him. I know I would stress too, if it was me. But I am happy to say, he came away from his last class with a 98% average!! That means he maintained his 4.0 the whole way through. I couldn't be more proud of him!! :)
Now we need to find ways to take care of the rest of that student loan. :P
Last week was our first week back to school! Danny started his sophomore year of High School and Tamara is in 7th grade. Seems I was just in 7th grade having to write 500 word reports for passing notes! :D I am so thankful that both the kids are very excited about this year and the things they get to study about. It makes my job as "teacher" so much easier! :)
Our children also got to take part in Teen Court. Turned out there was no case, so the judge used it as a training session for them. Teen Court is designed for juveniles/teens who have their first run in with the law, but is completely run by teens, except of course for the judge. Choosing Teen Court, means that they accept that they are guilty and their peers get to decide what their punishment will be. It can be anything from writing letters of apology, doing a certain amount of hours of community service, etc.
Please continue to pray for us as we seek God’s will for our families future. I am looking into possibly getting a part time job to help out with our needs. There is also a possibility that Dan could get hired at another facility in the near future. We want to do what’s best for our family and trust God to lead us.
~Twila
Needs
Our projected 2013 support needs~ $6000 ($500 a month)
Received last month~ $200
Received so far in 2013~ $1250
(we are $2750 behind our monthly goal so far this year)
GEMS supports us by providing us with a house to live in. We do not receive monetary support from them. Dan does receive some income from the state that is sufficient to pay our recurring monthly bills, gas and food. We count on support to help cover anything above that, including dental, eye care, medical bills, car repairs, appliance replacement, clothes shopping, and other things that come up unexpectedly!
Thank you for prayerfully considering how you can help!
Love from~
The Henry’s~ Dan, Twila, Danny (14) and Tamara (12)
20764 NE Parrish Lake Rd.
Blounstown, FL 32424
850-674-1664
dansgirl77@gmail.com ~Twila
dfhenry74@gmail.com ~Dan
Find us on facebook (Yoking Up With Jesus)
Donations can be sent to:
GEMS
℅ Henry Family Fund
PO Box 180505
Tallahassee, FL 32318
OR, by Paypal to dansgirl77@gmail.com
(Be SURE to earmark checks for the Henry Family, since all the chaplains funds get sent to the same address.)
