Pastor James Ryle tells his story: When he was 2 years old, his father was sent to prison. When he was 7, authorities placed him in an orphanage. At 19, he had a car wreck that killed a friend. He sold drugs to raise money for his legal fee, and the law caught up to him. He was arrested, charged with a felony, and sent to prison.
While in prison James accepted Christ, and after he had served his time, he eventually went into the ministry. Years later he sought out his father to reconcile with him, and when they got together, the conversation turned to prison life. James's father asked, "Which prison were you in?" James told him, and his father was taken aback. "I helped build that prison," he said. He had been a welder who went from place to place building penitentiaries. Pastor Ryle concluded, "I was in the prison my father built." A father's example builds a place to live for his children. Will it be a house, or a prison?
