You Can’t Change That Which You Do Not Confront

AM Psalm 1, 2, 3 • PM Psalm 4, 7
Micah 7:1-7 • Acts 26:1-23 • Luke 8:26-39

This first time I really read…I mean, really read, this Epistle from Paul…was after I came to know and love the writers we served on Arkansas’ death row. Paul had been brought before King Agrippa by Festus, facing death as called for from the whole Jewish community. Festus tells the King that he doesn’t think Paul deserves death. King Agrippa gives Paul permission to speak for himself. And so, he does. 

Paul tells the King and those assembled that he lived as a Pharisee (he went by the name of Saul then). He says he was convinced that he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. “With authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death…I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them event to foreign cities.”

Then Paul tells about his conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul saw the light. God speaks to him and tells him that he will rescue him from his people to open their eyes. To turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins.

Paul’s conversion reminds me of this writing from one of our writers on death row:

The Best Day of My Life

The best day of my life happens to be, 
What seemed to be, the worst day of my life.
Ironic, isn’t it?
It’s the day I came to the end of myself.

It’s the day I found hidden strength 
From deep within to confront 
The boogie-man said to be myself.

That day, inside a death row prison cell, 
Staring into a stainless-steel mirror,
I saw him:
I caught a glimpse of him through the red soaked eyes.

Recognition wasn’t immediate.
I was a stranger, yet not a stranger.
I was both. 

All along my accusers had been right about me.
I was the one who had been wrong.
No longer could I make excuses for myself.

They say, “you can’t change
That which you do not confront.”
My best day was my worst day. 
It forever transformed my tomorrows.

Written by Kathy McGregor and Kenneth Williams

Kathy McGregor is the Project Director of the Prison Story Project. Minister Kenneth Williams was executed by the state of on Arkansas April 27, 2017.