A Story of Peacemaking in Prison

It’s framed as a post about John Howard Yoder, his work and his abuse of women, but I’m posting it because of the exceptionally compelling personal story:

…I did not become peaceable by reading Yoder. That happened to me long before when I became Christian in prison.

I was convicted of arson in 1994 and served four years in a state prison as a result. I was an angry and very violent young man when I entered.

My hatred and resentment toward others eventually crushed me, when I realized I would never make it out of jail if I did not change. I prayed to God—if there was one—to give me what some other prisoners had: peace even in jail. I searched for God.

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