Healing in the Land

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." — 2 Chronicles 7:14

The Global Leadership Summit, put on annually by Willow Creek Community Church, is a powerful two days. A lot of ideas are shared. A lot is given to ponder. And it often takes weeks or months to sort it out.

My favorite part of this year's GLS was a short video about Warden Burl Cain, the warden at Angola Prison in Louisiana. I didn't know anything about Angola but what I'd heard on TV and the news, that it was a violent, dark place. It's a maximum security state prison where the worst of the worst of criminal offenders are sent.

In the video, Cain describes being asked to take on the role as Warden. He says he didn't want the job, didn't ask for the job, and didn't apply for the job. He took it on as a favor to a friend, and planned to be there just a brief time. That was in 1995.

Now, 20 years later, Angola is a different place. That's largely due to Cain, or rather his willingness to embrace the ideal of the Gospel laid out in 2 Chronicles 7:14. His mother advised him when he became a prison warden that it was his job to make sure the prisoners in his care had the chance to know Jesus. It's a call he's taken seriously, and it has revolutionized Angola.

As Cain said in the video, the land has been healed. The people are changed. Angola is a different place because the light has broken in.

This year we've looked as how we can live God's purpose. How can we answer the call? In Isaiah 6, the Prophet Isaiah is given a hard call at a hard time, and he responds, "Here I am, send me."

Cain, too, answered that call. It didn't come before the throne of God, but make no mistake, he was used by God where he was planted to make a difference. And he brought the light of God into a place of incredible darkness.

Some of us might be tempted to think we can't do the same where we're planted, that it's too challenging. What I like about this story is it's hard to imagine a more dark and hopeless place than a maximum security prison, yet God's light broke through.

All we have to do is say yes.