Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. _Luke 9:23-24
A stocky inmate came up to me after the worship service, held up his hand and said, “This is my decision to follow Christ.” I looked at his hand and his little finger was visibly mangled in unnatural directions. I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I asked him to tell me more.
He explained in short sentences, “I was running a dorm for them at state (The Mexican Mafia). Then, I decided to follow Jesus.”
“I told them that I wasn’t going to do that anymore, because I had decided to follow Jesus.”
“At first they came at me. I told them again that I was not going to do that anymore. I was going to follow Jesus.”
“So they did this to me.” He s slowly turned his hand to show me the twisted, Z-looking finger from different angles. “It still hurts, but it reminds me that I decided to follow Jesus.”
I smiled at him, and praised God for his changed life and courage as a new believer.
Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can truly change a hardened heart. Z Finger (My nickname for him.) was serving time at a California State Prison. At the prison, he was an enforcer for the Mexican Mafia. In prison, he heard the gospel and decided to follow Jesus. Following Jesus was in conflict with his responsibilities to the mafia, and they didn’t want to let him go. So they beat him up several times. At one of the beatings, they left him with a mangled finger that looks like a Z. We met in jail, while he was going through the court system to have more time added to his sentence, for crimes committed while serving the mafia in prison.
Z Finger changed roles from being the one who inflicted pain on those who would not follow evil, to willingly accepting physical abuse for following Jesus Christ. Praise God!
