It’s funny sometimes how things in your past can meet up with you in the present and catch you by surprise.

Just before Christmas this past year, we were invited by a friend to join them on a tour of the recently closed down Kingston Penitentiary. We accepted the invite and found ourselves on a ninety minute tour through the jail and the various facilities within the jail.

I had never been in a jail before and really only had Hollywood ideas of what a jail would be like. I was not prepared for the real thing. When we went through on tour, the jail had only been closed for a little over a month.  At that point, things inside the jail were pretty much the way they had been when the jail was open.  It hadn’t been cleaned which made the gross factor very high.

We took several pictures while we were in the jail, but let me tell you, the pictures DO NOT reflect what the jail was actually like. While the cells are TINY, the security was very tight and it made me wonder how anyone could ever escape. The atmosphere inside the jail was oppressive and depressing.

I recognize and agree that jail should not be luxurious and that the security needs to be vigilant to keep the residents of the jail behind bars, but I was not prepared for how awful jail actually is.

As we were touring the jail, Dan and I were remembering someone who was a friend of ours who is now serving a life sentence behind bars. We believe he was actually in the Kingston jail up until the time it closed. It was awful to think of knowing someone who is actually serving a life sentence in a place like that jail. To look at the cells, to hear the tour guide describing how the inmates would spend their days, and imagine what it would be like to spend 25 years in a place like that was almost more than I could bear.

We lost two friends almost 23 years ago now. The wife died and her husband was charged and convicted with murder and was sent to jail with a life sentence.  One bad decision made by one individual along with the resulting actions of that decision, irreparably changed the lives of a lot of people.

They were a Christian couple, they regularly attended the same church we attended, attended the same bible study group we were a part of and the husband video-taped our wedding with the help of his wife. Both of their extended families also attended the same church.

When we heard that the wife had been killed, we were shocked. I know bad things can happen to good people, but it’s still shocking when it happens.  To learn a short time later that her husband was being charged with her death, left us beyond words.

Both Dan and I were recalling these memories as we walked through the tour of the Kingston Penitentiary.  It made for a very sombre tour as we considered what that husband’s life has been like over the past number of years.

Neither of us felt at the time this happened so many years ago, or feel now, that the result of those actions shouldn’t mean a jail sentence. It’s just that actually walking through the jail and catching a glimpse of how awful life is in jail was very sobering when realizing that what we were walking through is someone’s reality day in and day out.

After the tour we discussed a case that was in the news recently of a senior lady who had refused to complete her census and was going to court. She was quoted in the news as saying she would serve jail time if that was what the judge decided. I wondered if she had any idea what jail was really like and at the same time I was intrigued by her conviction to stick to her beliefs about not completing the census, no matter what the cost to her personally.

As we were driving home from Kingston, I thought about Christians in other countries who are in jail because of their faith and I wondered if I could be like the lady who refused to complete the census and be willing to go to jail rather than bow to the system and do something or be something I didn’t want.

Thankfully, I live in Canada and I don’t have to make that choice. However as I pondered that question, I came to the conclusion that yes I would be willing to go to jail because of my faith if that was the situation I found myself in as I know who goes before me, who goes with me and who sustains me.

I hope that never happens, as it’s not something I would choose for myself, or anyone that I know or love, especially after having seen the conditions of jail and getting a glimpse into life in jail.  There is nothing on this earth that is more important than my personal relationship with Jesus and the same is true for you.

Enjoy the blessing of your freedom and use it wisely. Time is short and life goes by quickly.

Be blessed.