Before I launch into my topic, I like to tell them that I am glad to be with them in that moment. I started making this statement when we go to prisons because I have found that the inmates I encounter here have a difficult time understanding why I would want to come and speak with them. They can’t seem to fathom why, with all the things I could be doing, I would want to come into a prison and speak to a group of inmates. I go on to say that I recognize that they also had a choice on that day. It was not compulsory that they attend this presentation and yet they decided to come. I acknowledge to them that I cannot know the real reason they decided to attend but I tell them that I have to believe at least some of them are there because they are hungry for something new in their life. I tell them that I admire and respect them because they are open to personal change and seeking something better for themselves.
Hopefully, at this point, they are feeling comfortable and ready to focus on the main topic for the day. Here then is a summary of the core message: relationships are the best thing about being alive, most everything else we do in life are activities which we must do, but spending quality time with people who reciprocate a mutual love with us is the best of what life has to offer. The reality is we were created and designed for relationship above anything else and our primary hope in these relationships is that we will be loved, understood and accepted so that ultimately we feel a sense of belonging. The most important relationship, the one we were actually created for is the one we have with Abba Father.