Impossible is Possible – Reflection Series

It was November 1991, and I had just completed my first year in prison.

On this particular day, I was making my one allowed weekly call to my Pastors on Kauai.

The first peculiar thing about this day was that Pastor Larry answered the phone. That in itself was not unusual, but instead of handing the phone to his wife, Pastor Josie–like he did most every week–he said, “I need to talk to you!” It turned out that Josie had been sharing all the testimonies coming out of our prayer group—salvations, healings, and baptisms in the Holy Spirit!

Larry said he had been praying and the Lord told him that these new believers needed to be baptized in water. Without hesitation I said, “Not possible.”

In reply, he suggested I could use the bath tubs. “We don’t have bath tubs,” I said. But he didn’t leave it there. He said, “OK, so take them to the showers.”

“That’s not possible! We can’t do that!”

All the time I am thinking I just want this call to end, “Doesn’t he understand where I am at? What is he thinking!?”

I finally was able to get off the phone by promising to pray about it. Pastor Larry’s heart was in the right place, but there were all those rules and regulations that had closed every possible door in the past. To be honest, I had no plans to give it another thought. Why should I? It still just wasn’t possible.

A week later I decided to go to the monthly Bible Study led by the local Four Square Prison Ministry. It was only the second time I had attended their meetings. At the end of the service, the Pastor asked if I could stay for a few minutes. He wanted to talk to me. That was another very peculiar thing. He didn’t know me. I didn’t attend his meetings regularly. There seemed to be no obvious reason for his calling me out. But obediently, I stayed after the service.

When most everyone else had left, He walked over to me and said, “I understand you work in the maintenance department.”

Surprised, I replied, “Yes, I work in the paint department.” It turned out that he asked me to stay, because he wanted me to ask the person in charge of the maintenance if they could build something that could be used as a water baptistery.

Really? Didn’t I just have this conversation? It seemed like I was still on the phone with Pastor Larry. Again, I tried to explain that what he was asking me to do was just not possible. I tried to make it clear that as an inmate, I was not allowed to approach a department head, let alone ask them for a favor. But he would not take “no” for an answer, and he wouldn’t let me leave until I agreed that I would at least try before the end of the week. As I turned to leave, he assured me that they would all be praying for me. Great.

No one seemed to understand that the Department Heads don’t speak to inmates. I couldn’t even imagine my walking into their office and asking about building a baptistry. It took me until nearly the end of the week just to build up enough nerve to go.

When I finally did, I noticed as I approached, that the Department Head’s assistant was speaking with him. I waited, and when they finished their conversation, I asked the assistant if, in my spare time, I could build a container so we could do baptisms. He immediately said, “No!”

See? Didn’t I tell you? That’s what I expected. So I turned to walk away.

But as I turned to go, and the head of the department said, “Wait! What exactly do you need?” As I explained what I needed, he said, “I can’t allow you to build it, but I will have someone from the men’s camp build it, and it will be done by next week.”

Wait!! What?? Did that just happen?? I was in shock! How did God do that?

What I didn’t share, is that this prison had never had a water baptism before and has not had another since. That was the first—and the last. In fact, it was such big news that the local paper in Pleasanton, California ran an article about the 37 women who were water baptized in prison.

Reflection :
I had almost quit that job a month earlier, but I knew that God had placed me there for a purpose and hadn’t yet released me from the work I was doing. How easy it can be to miss the blessing that God has set in motion!

I realized later that the favor of God had gone before me with the Warden and the Head of Maintenance. I always believed that I was working as for the Lord, so I took pride in my work. It reminds me of the Scriptures about Joseph and the favor God gave him in prison.

At the time, I couldn’t imagine that these pastors would ask me to step out in faith and believe for something that was so obviously impossible. How often are we faced with a task that seems impossible? Oh me of little faith!

He truly is the God of the impossible. Today, what seems impossible in your life? Are there dreams or circumstances that seem beyond your reach? With God, nothing is impossible. He’s proven that over and over in my life.

And you can take that to the bank.

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26