Be sure to also read Jesse & Beth's Inspirational Testimony!
Please read the following powerful testimony
and then
Visit our Testimony Pages and read CPP Secretary Debbie's Moving Testimony.
Christopher's Testimony
All my life I'd been the center action of ridicule,rejection, and
abuse; but, as it's been told, all things are done for a purpose. I hated my life, I
hated everything about who I was, I prayed so many time that God would take my life. Being
the only son of a woman who cared only for herself, I was rejected and unloved, I was
never accepted as my sisters were. There was physical abuse also for not wanting to
participate in her manipulative games with men. She tried to claim I was the son of this
man or that man, but I always knew that the man who lived with me, played with me, who
taught me, and who loved me was my father. After being rejected so much by my
bio-mother, I created my own little world.
My father was all that I had. Even as a child I was not allowed to have friends or play
sports. My father tried, he was not always there to protect me, but he tried. I never used
drugs or drank, I promised my father I wouldn't. I had been baptized in a good
Christian church when I was a baby. Because of mixed religions and conflicting family
structure, I was trapped by confusion about God. What I knew I learned from my father. As
I grew up, I learned to follow the code of the streets of St. Louis, MO.
I grew up in poverty, oppression, violence, and death. My life took it's turn after the
death of my half-brothers. Then my father passed on in 1989. I believed I had lost the
only family I would ever know. There were times I attempted to commit suicide, I wanted so
much to leave this world, I just wanted to forget it all and be free. But then my
hell got even hotter. In May 1990, police came to my mother's home and arrested me
for a crime I knew nothing of. I was convicted and sentenced to serve the remainder
of my life in prison.
I was now in prison. I was about to commit suicide but I got to thinking about my father.
I sat down and asked God to come into my life and accept me into His home. I promised God
and my father I would live until I'm able to see them. I saw for the first time that
Someone wanted me to live, but for what reason, I wondered. While in prison, I
started to go through a transformation spiritually. I joined the prison churches and
became active in every program that was offered. I started to work on my own personal
problems and in the process I was able to assist others. I learned the truth of God
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God was working in my life. After some time in the year 1992, on December 11th, I
received a letter and birthday cards from a woman named Elizabeth
Michael. It was the day before my birthday and those two cards I will never forget. I
wrote her back and thanked her, not knowing that we would be writing for over 7 years. She
and her husband did something I couldn't believe, they became my new family and
accepted me into their lives. I felt the concern, love, and support of those two and
I remember her scolding me for wanting to give up my fight to regain my freedom. I started
to fully open up to them and then I knew God had sent them to me.
I wanted to spread the love and the joy that I have come to know, and feel, and accept. My
eyes opened wide with the possibilities of beginning a pen pal program to help other
inmates throughout the incarcerated communities. I presented the idea to my Mama and
Pops and they agreed. Mama and I were already planning and compiling a prisoner resource
directory helping needs in various fields. We placed our Pen Pal Connection information
and address in the directory and started
sending it to prisoners and chaplains.
Another reason for this, I want to involve the people of society because they fail
to realize that we are human beings too, and someday we will return back into
society. While most people give credit for lower crime to the government and
the politicians for harsher laws and punishments, it is really the people in
society who make the effort to reach inside these walls to help men and women to grasp
hold to the possibility of achievement. You have given us hope and love through your
prayers and sharing Jesus.
As God opens my eyes and heart, I give thanks to Him each and every day that I wake
up and see this world. I was once blind and bitter, but now I am what God wishes for
me to be, His child. God has entered my life and I want to never disappoint Him. THANK
YOU HEAVENLY FATHER.!
Please read Christopher's story of injustice
Be a PenPal who can make a difference in someone's life. Please sign up today!
Be sure to also read Jesse & Beth's Inspirational Testimony!