It may not seem like much to someone on the outside, but when you are incarcerated, letters are your lifeblood. They keep you going from day to day and bring the voices of those you love right into your head. Often times inmates can hardly wait to get that next letter delivered from the mail room. In prison there are few things to look forward to, and mail is one of them.
We are again blessed with this week’s blog coming from an inmate who gives us his perspectives on receiving mail. Be sure to see your call to action at the end. YOU can be part of Timothy’s story.
MAIL CALL
by Timothy Espinosa
Mail call – hope springs eternal! Here in prison snail Mail is alive and well. Yes, people still correspond with pen, ink, envelopes, and postage. (If you’re under 30 you might not even know what this is all about.) The age-old custom continues to connect incarcerated loved ones and in prison nearly everyone hopes they will receive some form of it. Maybe from a wife or a girlfriend, a child or parent. Some pay for various websites that promise to advertise their profiles and so secure them pen pals galore. Others wait for legal Mail, fighting their cases from court ruling to court ruling, remaining ever optimistic. Then there’s all the magazine subscriptions, some profitable, some trashy – all Mail.
Imagine someone somewhere has been thinking of them
Mail – when the list goes up on the bulletin board or the officer begins to make deliveries, people hope. They imagine someone somewhere has been thinking of them, cares about them or loves them. A desire for relationship and connection is woven deep in the human heart and it’s no wonder the prisoner hopes for this by way of Mail, separated as he is from friends and family.
I’ve had many cellmates over the years , some got tons of Mail, others received none. When you yourself receive Mail and your cellmate doesn’t it’s kind of sad. You don’t want to be overjoyed or flaunt it. It’s a less than ideal dynamic.
A quizzical look usually stares back at me, then a conversation ensues
The Answer for consistent Mail – the Bible. In prison they are readily available and seemingly everywhere. I can’t remember exactly when I first told a cellmate that if they really wanted some Mail they only had to open the Bible as it’s God’s letter to men. I’ve since found myself repeating this to other cellmates. A quizzical look usually stares back at me, then a conversation ensues. Sometimes it’s short, others it’s longer. Sometimes it’s seed planting, others it’s just watering previous seeds.
God literally has Mail for us waiting to be opened
It’s a sad irony at times that in prison men hope for Mail and all it represents, yet in the same prison Bibles literally abound. To think that the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God literally has Mail for us waiting to be opened, read and heard, is staggering.
Whether in prison feeling forgotten or free on the outside we all have Mail waiting. God’s Mail, the Bible.
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NEXT STEPS: YOU have the unique opportunity of sending MAIL to over 500 AIC (adult in custody) ….at the same time! Our mini newsletters to our prison contacts goes out every three weeks and your short note of encouragement will be included.
Please send your notes HERE
You next question will be, “What does that look like?” Here’s a quick view of the most recent one.
