DEFINING "FREEDOM" (Part 1)

The holidays were over and the New Year had just begun.  The New Year rang in with loud shouts through the vents, empty milk cartons popping, and inmates kicking their cell doors!  Although the sounds were disruptive to an otherwise quiet night, it was nice to have a break from the monotony even if it did keep me awake.

My cell-y and I were both handling our extended stay in the SHU very well.  However, time and confinement were taking their toll on us.  We were getting restless as the walls seemed to close in on us.  Our hope was that we would be moved this week. so the anticipation was growing deep inside.  The feeling was much like I experienced when I was a child waiting for Christmas Day to arrive.  I had to suppress my enthusiasm when I heard the jingling of the guard's keys as they marched down the "range".

When you are confined long enough, you learn to "trend" any activity.  We observed that the majority of movement took place on Thursdays.  This 'first' Thursday of the New Year was our new Christmas.  We awoke with eagerness that morning when we heard the guards bring new inmates on the range.  One of them was placed in the cell across the hall from us.  Our new neighbor was out-spoken and found that he had "friends" in other cells on the range.

We listened intently as he talked about the "shakedown" that took place that morning and the injustice served to him.  He was not the only one who landed in the SHU, there were several others that moved in that morning.  This could only mean that we were going to be moved out today!  It took every ounce of self-control to keep from doing a "Happy Dance" right there in our cell!!

Shortly after our lunch trays were collected, the guards marched down the range and told us to pack up because we were leaving.  This was it!!!  This was the moment we have been waiting for for the last 35 days.  We put all of our possessions in our bed sheets and tied up the ends to make a make-shift sack.  I was caught up in all the excitement of this moment when suddenly I realized that I would be facing new changes.  I was used to my cell-y, the routine, and the cell.  This had become my world.  I knew it well and it was all about to change.  Who would be my new cell-y?  What is the new routine going to be like?  How many people would be in the new unit?  These questions and more began to spin around in my head.  I began to pray and ask God to take away my anxieties and worries.  I asked Him for courage and confidence to face the new world I was about to enter.  I knew I could not do this on my own and I needed to draw on the Power of the Holy Spirit, which is promised to Believers.  This is a lesson I have been repeating for the last two years.  It is finally becoming second nature to bring all things to God before the problems get "worried" into a crisis of belief.

The guards came to handcuff us behind our backs.  We then had to squat down and pick up our sheets with everything inside.  We marched down the range, as our over-sized knapsacks were hitting the back of my legs.  They put us into a "bullpen" with five other men.  Inside the room were seven plastic bins with our names on each one.  We were told to change out of our stylish blaze orange jumpsuit and put on our green and brown wardrobe.  I opened up my bin and found the clothes that they had me wear when I first arrived off the bus.  I had only worn these clothes for an hour, so they were still clean.  When they gave me these clothes, they were too big for me.  Now hey were even bigger!!!

I was also very excited to find two new books in this bin that they would not allow me to have in the SHU.  One of the books was my new ESV Ryrie Study Bible, which my thoughtful wife had ordered for me.  I quickly thumbed through the pages to see all the resources it had.  I wanted to spend more time to read through it, but there wasn't any time.  There was also a clean plastic bag filled with snack food they gave all the inmates at Christmas.  Apparently we couldn't be trusted with this bag of candy bars and chips in the SHU.

Now that we were all out-fitted in our ill-fitting green uniforms, the soldiers came back and put on our hand cuffs and shackles.   We still had to carry our own possessions, so it was a challenge to hang on to it all without dropping anything.  I held on to my new Bible with all the strength my fingers had in them.  We got to the front door and I could see the sun was out and the ground was covered in sparkling white snow.  This is the first time I had seen the outside since I arrived 35 days ago.  I couldn't take my eyes from looking out the windows.  It was beautiful out there!  I wanted to take it all in, but the brightness of the sun reflecting off the snow was too much for my eyes and they began to water from the brightness.

The soldiers had a passenger van parked outside the door warming up.  There was another soldier in a pick-up truck with a shotgun loaded and ready, in case one of us thought we had a chance to run away with our legs shackled together.  As we stepped outside, the rush of cold air was over-whelming.  It was very cold, but that didn't seem to matter to me, as it was fresh and clean.  I was the last inmate to board the van, so I didn't have to navigate the narrow passage to the rear seats in shackles.  I sat behind the driver's seat next to another inmate.  The soldiers seemed to be having a good time with each other as they were poking fun at each other the entire time.  One of them squeezed on the seat next to me and others sat in the back and in the "shot gun" seat .  We drove up to the first barricade and stopped.  A soldier got out and opened the two steel arms so the van could pass through.  The driver began to pass through but one of the gates was closing on its own.  The driver hesitated briefly and then decided he could make it through before the gate hit the side of the van, so he floored it and the van lurched forward through the barricade without incident.  The soldier closed the gate and walked up to the van.  As he reached for the door, the driver hit the gas and left the guard standing there.  Then stopped and let the soldier catch up again.  They all had a good laugh over that.

This brought memories of my youth to mind when we would pull the same stunts on each other.  I wanted to share in the laughter with the soldiers, but I did not think that it would be appropriate for me to join in their moment.  It was enough to smile and actually enjoy the company of other people, even if they were soldiers.  Once they finally let the soldier in the van, we proceeded 300 yards down the hill to our new home.

(to be continued......)
McFreedom