Brian and Ruth Christine Newsletter
October 2003 Newsletter Edition 13
(Hand-written letter from BRIAN received October 25, 2003)
Howdy! This is Brian writing here. Hopefully Ruth took care of the September newsletter. I got into some trouble here in my prison and was sent to segregation (aka "SEG" or ""The hole") for 35 days. Then I was put on LOP (loss of privileges) in a cell for 14 days. So from August to just recently in October, I've had few envelopes and no contact with a computer to type a newsletter on. They take away your job when you get in trouble so I no longer have a way to type out the newsletter which means Leonard will have to do it, or perhaps Ruth will fin a way to get it done?
In case you're wondering why I got in trouble, I gave a poem to a female officer telling her exactly what I thought of her. It was really stupid and incredibly embarrassing, but I'm not going to try and hide the truth, so there it is. So much has come out of that one action. I'm not going to go into details, but I will say that I witnessed to Jesus' Gospel in the hole, almost lost my life (strangulation) and then went to a "peaceful" place for 30 days in solitary where I was (for lack of proper terminology) reborn. Being reborn is the only way I can describe it because when I got that solitary cell I could barely get up off the bed for meals, etc. God healed me physically and then started a massive spiritual overhaul inside. It's like Brian and all his junk died. It was a wonderful time. Though I've suffered unbelievably for my act of stupidity (almost lost my life and much more), I am so thankful to have gone through it all because where I am now with my Lord is further than I could have imagined before.
I found myself in there and I faced up to a lot of my own evil that I've either masked or just buried for years. I let go of many resentments and bitterness. I am learning more and more every day and meeting new people who I'm able to learn from, where before before I was too busy or proud or arrogant to hear them. There will be quite a story to tell when Ruth and I get out and we will write the book together.
OK, on the news front, a lot is happening very soon. In early November, my mom (Teri) is bringing little Abbey-Rose to see me and then Ruth and then me again before they return to Indiana. I've never met Abbey-Rose before and Ruth has only spent 7 hours with her, the 1st hours of her terrestrial life. I'm really excited.
Then on the 25th of November, we have our direct appeal hearing. This is held in Salem, Oregon with Ed (our lawyer) and the DA present before a three judge panel. Both sides present 15 minutes of oral argument and then a decision is made whether to affirm or overturn the convictions. Ruth and I chose to appeal only our robbery convictions because we accept responsibility for all the other charges. But neither of us has EVER robbed another person on this earth. Not only are the robbery convictions wrong, but they cheated and stretched it to get us convicted of it. Please pray that our Lord breaks Satan's stranglehold over us here. We are not appealing three convictions of "custodial interference", one count of "unauthorized use of a motor vehicle" and for me a special conviction enhancement called a "gun minimum" which that because I used a firearm, I get 60 months tacked onto whatever crime, even if it was something carrying just a week's jail time. This means I'm accepting the 5 year sentence. This is unusual because most everyone appeals the whole shebang, but we are accepting responsibility for these other charges/ convictions.
Most people do not win their direct appeal (less than 1% win) and there are two stages to go through after a direct appeal failure. But if a direct appeal is successful, the DA has to appeal to the Supreme Court, which can take a while (but less than a year usually). Normally the Supreme Court will concur with the appellate court however.
Now, if we won our appeal, Ruth would be finished with prison and I'd only have 2 years left. I would also become eligible to go to a forest camp where you fight fires in the summer and in winter plant trees and clean up beaches. Inmates live in cabins and deer are fed out of hand, is is beautiful wilderness with a river by camp. I've been praying for God o take me to the ocean, but I am not currently eligible to go to forest cam until the year 2011.
I have no clue what God wants to do with Ruth and I. He may not want us to win our appeal at this or ANY stage. I really don't know what His plan is and it's really hard not to hope in a successful appeal. I'm commended to simply take one day at a time, but I cannot deny the cries of my heart. I long to be in nature. I also long for Ruth and for our family to be whole again.
In SEG I really felt strongly that it was a turning point in our life, that we started on the path to whole family recovery at that point. It was possibly the lowest point in my life in there. I was VERY heavily afflicted with people shouting and cursing me and my precious Jesus, kicking their doors and much more I won't even mention. There was much physical injury. It was truly evil. But God has used it all to lift me up much closer to Him and I am so very thankful for the experience. Near death experiences often do have a profound effect on lives and it surely has mine.
I am trying to learn how to surrender my own self-will and exchange it for God's will. This is not an easy task. As a direct result of my letting go of bitterness and resentments, Ruth and I have been going through a wonderful growth spurt in our marriage. We're actually working through long-standing serious problems that before seemed to have no solution. Hallelujah! It's like I've been freed up to be the best husband and father I can be and Ruth the best wife and mother she can be. I'm so grateful to God for this. Thank you Jesus.
So that's the super-quick summary of what's been going on in our lives to date. A lot of people have asked lastly what they can pray for. I made a list (see below) of the 10 most important things we need prayer for. Additionally, we need prayer for the appeal situation and our robbery convictions which are unjust. We also need healing and restoration in our family including our extended family. I'm reaching out to those that there have been serious problems with in the past, and that needs God's healing touch.
Also, I started the process of clearing up old debt and at the same time started tithing monthly, but now I've lost my job and soon will have no money at all. I already committed myself to the tithe even if it was my last penny, so I will do it, but God will have to provide because I need to always be buying envelopes to communicate with my wife, children, and all of you. I spent 25 dollars on envelopes last week alone. I keep a lot of correspondence to around one hundred people. Please pray that we are able to get all debt cleared up and that God provides in His miraculous way. I had already saved up for a long time to pay the hundred dollar processing fee for a guy who does bankruptcy, but the court filing fee is two hundred dollars and the institution just fined me fifty dollars for going to the hole, so now I'm down to fifty dollars on my books, and no income whatsoever. I'm told I can't work for another eighty days too. Sigh. I just need a major miracle here. Seems like when I try to be responsible, Satan really socks it to me. God Bless each and every one of you. We'll keep you posted on our situation.
Love,
Brian and Ruth in prison.
1- Exposure of and deliverance from fears that bind and inhibit us from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ
2- Boldness to overcome ALL obstacles and difficulties in prison.
3- Power and resolve to overcome all the distractions and business in prison to truly commune with God
4- Genuine desire to share Jesus with those around us.
5- Truth to overcome the constant attack on self-worth/value in prison.
6- For God to satisfy the cries of our hearts (please pray xtra hard for this for me)
7- To give us a clear vision of, and a confidence in the will of God over and above our own wills.
8- To be hearing and doing what God speaks and wills.
9- To be conscious of other's needs and to have a heart to minister to those needs.
10- To put away our pride and judgmental attitudes and to love with God's unfailing Love.