Happy Resurrection Sunday

Happy Resurrection Sunday all!.

Today many of us celebrate the historical Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Three short days prior to His resurrection, Jesus hung on the cross for 6 hours as He sacrificed Himself to pay the sin debt we owe for sinning against a just and a holy God. We call the day of Jesus’ Crucifixion “Good Friday”.Jesus didn’t have to subject Himself to be Crucified…In fact, if there was ever anyone LESS deserving of such a cruel and horrible death it was Jesus of Nazareth. By all accounts, He lived a perfect and sinless life. He healed the sick, performed miracles and taught God’s Word through both preaching and action. He showed us true love is self-sacrificial and our Lord died with His arms wide open as if welcoming all who want what He has to give us through faith.Many have questioned and even mocked how Christians could refer to such an inglorious day as the Crucifixion of our Savior as “Good”… the response is of course the resurrection of Christ on Sunday makes the Crucifixion on Friday GOOD!The fact Jesus rose from the grave PROVES God accepted His sacrifice on our behalf. Jesus’ resurrection proved He didn’t die for His own sins but for OURS. That Friday 2000 years ago was good because through it grace and mercy and forgiveness was offered to all.Grace is often understood to be an unearned, undeserved and unmerited favor. Mercy is not having to pay for something we deserve to pay for.Who among us can’t use grace and mercy in our lives? What a better world this would be if we all had a little more grace, mercy and forgiveness in our lives for those around us who need it…as we need it.Spring is a season of rebirth and renewal. It’s a time of year in which we FEEL hopeful that old things will pass away and all things will become new.We live in a world that needs hope. Our hearts and our minds need hope. I know I need hope.

Today marks the 25th year to the day of my incarceration. I have been in prison for 9,125 days as of today.It’s a difficult “anniversary” to wrap my mind around.I have spent at least half a lifetime in prison. I have been incarcerated since I was 30 years old and I will be 56 in 9 days. It would be impossible for me to list the people and the life experiences I have lost in the last 25 years. Having lost my mother last May tops the list. She is sorely missed.I began this narrative discussing what Resurrection Sunday means to me. I thank God He used my experiences and my losses to draw me into a saving relationship with Him through my repentance, faith and confession in Him. 18 years ago I gave my life to Jesus Christ and received Him as my Savior and my Lord. He did something for me when He died on the cross I could never do for myself. He shed His blood and in doing so He washed away all my sins. For all who will receive Him, He has paid our sin debt in full.Although my sin debt has been paid in full because of someone else’s sacrifice and payment, I continue to serve time in prison to pay the debt our judicial system and society says I owe…I am sure anyone reading this who is not already familiar with my circumstances must be wondering who I killed, raped, robbed, terrorized, or stolen from to have been in prison for the last 25 years.I would be interested to know how many people in our society think justice is being served by my continued incarceration. At what point can a man ask for forgiveness from a judicial system that is often so unforgiving?God offers grace and mercy but society requires “payment”. After 25 years of incarceration I’m not even asking for grace. I’m not asking for unearned, unmerited, undeserved favor… or even the mercy of not getting what I deserve.I have been paying my debt with the years of my life in hopes one day…one year someone will come along and say “enough Jeffrey Shortal you have served enough. Your debt is paid.”I have learned to manufacture hope over the years…often clinging to the barest of threads…hope is only as good as the object you have placed it in. I hope for a release from prison one day. I’m not sure anymore where that hope is supposed to come from. I know God has saved me from my sins and delivered me from hell but I don’t even ask Him to deliver me from prison anymore. However, I do ask Him to deliver me THROUGH prison. I do believe God is faithful to deliver us through what He doesn’t deliver us from.A little over a year ago we launched this website in hopes of tapping into the power of social media and bringing awareness to my circumstances and what I believe is an injustice.I know this is a “crowded space” filled with many people claiming to be in prison unjustly. I was hopeful my story would reach the right person or organization willing to help me. I am still hopeful something will change and THIS year will be my last year of incarceration.Please sign my change.org in support of my release from prison. Please reach out to me through our website and social media presence to help me understand who is reading my blogs and who is interested in my circumstances.I have struggled for ideas and topics to blog about. I have lived 9,125 days incarcerated…many if not most of those days have been the same day lived over and over again. It’s been difficult for me to know how to connect with an “audience” that I don’t know.Help me to understand what you care about… what you want to know about… Help me to know what you would like to know about me and what would make a difference to you.Thank you for reading. May you have a happy Easter Resurrection day and God bless.

Jeffrey