Last night I slept with a hundred men.

I went to bed Friday night and slept with a 100 men. Not literally. And not unrighteously. But I couldn't get them off of my heart and out of my mind. I cried for them. I prayed for them. I hoped for them. I dreamed for them. I wondered about them. And I prayed for them even more.

I woke early Saturday morning to ready myself for another scheduled wonder. And as I sat and made my face I thought more of those men. All of the sudden I found myself in a panic. I felt great need to go back. To tell them how much I care. To tell them how much I was and will be praying and how much I am pulling for them. To remind them of how much we need them to be mighty men of valor. "We" as in women and children and other men. We're seeking for heroes. We need them. I don't mean the football kind, or basketball players or golfers or movie stars of any sort. We need real ones. Real heroes. Real knights in shining armor. Real warriors. That stand up for right when tempted with wrong. That resist evil and stand strong for good. That fight "for" us instead of against. Men of integrity. And honest. Men living for others, rather than men living for self. Men sold out to Jesus not sold to the sin of this world. Men that help clean-up and not corrupt. Men that daily die to themselves to let the resurrected Jesus live again in their skins.

These men that were my focus aren't perfect men. They haven't lived lives that we would be impressed with. They did things that landed them in prison. But they've served their sentences, paid their time, they are soon about to be released and walk as 'free' men. Free.. as in on the outside of electrified razor-wired fences. But I am praying that they will also walk free as ransomed sinners saved by Jesus Christ our Savior. Men that know they've been redeemed and restored to live gloriously in the power of God's Spirit. Men saved to be sent to others in hopes to help deliver those they meet from the sin that they currently find themselves enslaved in.

Statistics tell me that that won't happen. Statistics would tell me that I am hoping for much. But I shall hope anyway and pray as I do knowing the power of my Savior's saving grace that saves, redeems, and restores!

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." - 1 Cor 1:26-30