What You Were

“And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11, NIV.

After a 27-year career of putting people into prison as a police officer in Irving Texas, Roy Burson finds himself on the other side of the planet ministering to prisoners in Thailand. “If you had told me I’d spend my retirement in Asia, working with prisoners and loving it, I would have told you that you were crazy,” said Roy. But God’s hand has clearly guided him in that exact direction over the past six years as he has lived in Pattaya, Thailand as a missionary with the International Mission Board.

At one of the prisons Roy visits, a convicted murderer recently handed him a list. After coming to faith in Christ this man had led several other prisoners to faith and had started a church in the prison. The list had 29 names. Five had committed murder; three were in for rape; several were robbers; one was a kidnapper; and several more were drug traffickers. But all of them had been saved by the sufficient grace of Jesus when they repented and believed.

“I looked at that list, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 came alive,” said Roy. “It thrills me to know that we serve a God who can change the hearts of men, regardless of what they have done. They were the scourge of society, but now they are precious in the kingdom.”

Roy has decided that he’d be crazy not to love the work that God had given him to do among the prisoners of Thailand.

Pray that:

God will continue to miraculously transform lives among the prisoners of Thailand.

Doors will continue to open for Roy to enter into prisons all over Thailand to share the good news that God can give spiritual freedom to any prisoner who will repent and believe.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.