On Thursday April 22 through Sunday April 25, I had the privilege of being on the team for the Hughes 4 Kairos walk. There were 55 Kairos team members bringing God’s love to 40 Hughes "Brothers in White". A couple of comments from the closing ceremony:

"Christ has chased me for 37 years, this weekend I caught him."

"I just wish that my wife, mother, and daughter had been her to see me stand here and claim Christ" ... This comment was from a four time "loser" who said that he had been in prison in each of the last four decades. He commented that he owed it to his children and brothers to be a better example.

"I did something I don’t do, I opened up, I dropped my shield, because you have to hold onto Jesus with both hands"

"I tried to do it on my own, but it don’t work that way. I’ve got to have help. ...I’ve found my help"

As always, food plays an important part in the Kairos weekend. As I met my sponsored, my special "Brother in White" candidate that I would introduce to the Kairos community, Thursday afternoon and took him over to the food table he grabbed 3 bananas with the comment that this is the first banana he had seen in 13 years. My sponsored was 29 years old, and had been in prison for 13 years. Cookies are the glue that holds the weekend together. We cookie the entire prison, the Candidates, the Guards, the entire prison population. I had the opportunity to go and deliver cookies to the "Close Custody" section of the prison. These are the prisoners that are separated from the "general" prison population because of their aggressiveness. The look on their eyes as I walked into their cells, gave them a dozen cookies, told them that God loved them, that I loved them and was praying for them, told me that we are making a difference.

Does the all this prayer and effort make a difference? I want to tell you a little about the men who were the "pilgrims" six months ago. Most of them were selected to be vital team members serving the new "pilgrims" this weekend. We call them stewards. I have never seen men work harder, with such joy, or display as much evidence of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you, Northwest Hills. Thank you for your cookies, for your letters, for your place mats, for your support. We serve an Awesome God whose people have so much love to share with these men. Thank you so much for what you have done; your love makes all the difference. In the most real of ways you are "visiting Christ in prison." You are making a difference.

Bob Sicklier