Pass the BENGAY!!!
Monday, May 11, 2026
“Nothing makes rest so enjoyable as work; nothing renders security so pleasant as exposure to danger.” – C.H. Spurgeon
Last weekend, our Risk Takers for Christ basketball team traveled to East Palatka, Florida to play two games against the inmates at the Putnam Correctional Institution. It was a long and grueling day, made even longer by my alarm going off at 3:00 AM followed by me being the designated driver for the five-hour roundtrip drive.
And since several of our players couldn’t make the trip because of injuries and family obligations, I was going to have to play every minute of both games without a single substitute!
Once we arrived at the institution and sized up the other team, it became apparent who I would have to defend. At age 66, I simply can’t keep up with the younger, quicker players and so, my job was to battle “down low” against the bigger, stronger inmates. My goal was to keep them from scoring easy layups and grabbing too many rebounds.
Guess what? I was surprisingly successful at both, but boy did I pay a price the next day as virtually every muscle in my body ached from head to toe. You see, the men I guarded weren’t just big… they were HUGE! In fact, after our first game I went up to one of the men I had just been pushing and shoving around the court for the past hour and said, “I weigh 180 pounds. How much do you weigh?”
He looked at me with a smile and said point-blank, “330”.
But do you know what made my sore muscles worth it? The fact that I got to share the gospel after the first game and my personal testimony after the second one. More importantly, seven inmates made professions of faith in Jesus Christ and many more who were already believers were encouraged in their faith. I even got to pray privately with two of them – Johnnie and Billy – both of whom poured out their hearts to me. And then, before we left, some of the Christian inmates took large handfuls of gospel literature to pass out in their dorms to their fellow prisoners.
What a great day… now pass the BENGAY!
“Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
