Steven

Allow me to introduce Steven
Steven was born in birmingham, growing up in handsworth.
As an adult he moved to quinton, was a single parent living on welsh house farm estate.
He made a foolish decision in order to earn a lot of money. He agreed to bring some illegal drugs back from central america.
He was caught and was sentenced to serve 25 yrs in a nicaraguan prison.
We heard about steven through an english lady working here in nicaragua. Brendan had the opportunity last week to visiting stephen in prison here in nicaragua. The male prison in nicaragua is hard place to live. Gangs fight regularly, nutrition is poor and medical care seems to be negligable.
The last time stephen spoke to his mother she was telling him how hard it was for her realising she may never see him again. Stephen speaks to his son as often as he is able, but with very few people here in nicaragua who can buy him credit for his phone, we're not sure how often that is.

Its a striking feeling to realise that a british man in prison here was previously living just a few roads away from us at home in quinton. In fact brendon even recognised him when they met. We feel some sort of connection to this man, and a lot of compassion for the situationhe finds himself in.

We've been thinking about a few verses from the bible as we've pondered this man's story:
Jesus quoted this ancient prophesy when he started his public ministry: " the spirit of the lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the lord's favour." (Luke 4:18-19. NIV)
The prophet Isaiah wrote these words to encourage the israelites towards a more practical sense of spirituality:" Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke... and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood" (Is 58: 6-7 NIV)
These are examples we try to follow and as such we feel a growing burden for steven. He is a member of our own community, living in our own parish. In that way we could perhaps consider him to be our own flesh and blood.
Its not that we would condone what he has done, and one could say that he is recieving justice. However we would love to see him shown mercy. For his sake and for the sake of his parents and for his son.
He has served 5 yrs of a long sentance is a very long way from home.
We will be trying to visit stephen on the 30th and will be setting that day aside as a day to be praying for him.
We would be really grateful if anyone, who feels able, would like to join us in praying for him on that day. Our prayer is for a swift release from prison, or initially for a transfer to a british prison.
We'll be taking him some food and a few bits and pieces he struggles to get hold of.