Now that we are headed into summer and kids are getting out of school I hear a lot of folks talking about their plans and then asking others about their plans.”Hey, do you have any big plans for the summer?” That kind of conversation is happening all over then place. I just had a great version of the conversation with my friend José this weekend.

It turns out that José does have some very big plans this summer. Actually, they start this week. He’s going home after about 16 years of incarceration!

Going home is the thing that pretty much everyone on the inside is thinking about and planning for. Yet when the time comes, it can be nerve wracking. As we sat with him in our CR Inside group this weekend you could see how nervous he was. 16 years is a long time. Things change. Places change. People change. And José has changed dramatically.

After giving up a gang mentality and life style, he has chosen to accept a Christian walk. He has done CR Inside for several years. He wants to be home, but home will be so different now.

This is our recovery though. We do the work then we have to put it into practice. Life is difficult. The world can be a big, scary place. That’s why we use sponsors and accountability partners. José is already set up with those. He’s got phone numbers and email addresses. He knows the drill. He’s been down for 16 long years, now he’s ready to…

–Rise Up!!