Happy New Year? You Bet!

 Happy New Year? You bet!

Another year has quickly come and gone like salts through a window woman. The quickest of my 54 years, thank you Jesus! Today marks 5002 days since my prodigal Absalom/Kylo Ren "ran away" (4-22-09) to live with his palpatinian adopted maternal grandmother to escape the responsibilities and adulting that his mother and I were expecting out of our seventeen year old son. Today marks 4919 days since Myrtha Mikel (http://ManassehEphraim.blogspot.com/myrtha-mikel-day-3338.HTML) crafted the original weaponized false allegation of abuse (that she eventually admitted to fabricating and that I was eventually acquitted of) that resulted in my prodigal son being goaded into agreeing with disgraced retired TPD detective Diana Baumann as well as District Attorney Tim Harris and his minions Jake Cain, Sara McAmis, and Amanda Self to commit perjury for them in order to bolster the case they quickly realized that they would loose because they were duped by Myrtha. 5002 days since satan initially came against me. 5002 days King Jesus has fiercely protected and provided for me as this spiritual warfare rages around me. By the numbers this first day of the new year marks: 5004 days since I last spoke to, hugged, and ate with my son at his 17th birthday supper at Cheddars on 4-20-09 5002 days since Brandon "ran away" on 4-22-2009 4919 days since Myrtha's weaponized false allegation on 10-21-09 4623 days since my wrongful arrest on 5-5-10 3775 days since my unjust conviction on 9-1-12 3571 days since I last saw my daughter on 3-23-13 3197 days since I last spoke to my daughter on 4-1-14 2974 days since my divorce on 11-10-14 1293 days since my last card/email from my daughter on 6-17-19 2431 days until my release date, that is without any "love" coming my way. However, with the implementation of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Reclassification Coordination Council's final report my consecutive Count 2 sentence has dropped to 75% from 85% and I fully expect that my two consecutive sentences will be retroactively "reclassified" to run as concurrent soon, resulting in my immanent release. Currently it has been 2 months month since my reclassification to lower security and 4 weeks since my move to a minimum security yard. I spent most of 2022 preparing for this move. I was not looking forward to barracks/dormitory living after having a cell for the past nine years. I lost 14 pounds and I began working out more vigorously, more often, to sculpt a buffer physical appearance. I remembered how wild the open dorms at Crabtree were. They truly were dins of inequity reminiscent of a tent city rampant with immaturity, meth, bath salts, K2, strife, racial division, tattoo stalls, and sex parlors. I needed to be ready to engage in some dogfight football, having just as strong as a defense ready as possible to augment my offence strategies. Unwaveringly, I trusted King Jesus and his plans for my minimum security move, but I knew I needed to be ready for whatever He was permitting me to step into. I have been so very grateful that He placed me at a calm, laid back facility. His timing has been more than serendipitous, I already see his purposefull hand at work. I attribute the relaxed atmosphere at the Jess Dunn warehousing facility to 1.) a strong faith community 2.) ample religious and educational programs 3.) the best food in my 10 years of warehousing with lots of fruit, fresh vegetables, as well as generous portion sizes 4.) 30+ television stations and a movie channel 5) staff, security, and unit officers that do their job well and are not goading, retaliatory, or out to play games 6.) the fact that everyone here has an "outdate", looks forward to going home, and does not want to add days to their sentence for misbehavior 7.) the reality that at any given moment over 50 percent of the incarcerated around me are stoned and/or zoned.

Following an honest moral inventory and reflection of the past 365 days, I believe that 2022 was a decent year for me, given the circumstances God has continued to allow me to be in. I have been covered under his pinions, a grateful recipient of His generous peace, protection, and provision. I do hate that I've been allowed to remain a victim of weaponized false allegations for a twelfth year in 2022. I hate that Ukrainians have been victims of Vladimir Putin in 2022. I hate that political refugees languish at our southern border in 2022. I hate that retrumplicanism continues to dupe so many folks in 2022. I hate that so many Christian Nationalists remain neurochemically addicted to the dopamine, epinephrine, and adrenaline hits/releases they get from Fox News and other conservative news outlets and then they think that that junkie high is some perverted form of patriotism or a move of the Holy Spirit, when really they are just experiencing the same physical and neurotransmitter effects that meth, a shot of whisky, porn, an orgasm, or slice of cheese cake have on an addicts brain. I hate that my both of children remain estranged from me in 2022. I hate that my brothers remain estranged from my parents in 2022. However, I trust in my King Jesus and the plans of his Father to work not only the events of 2022 out for our good and His glory, but of the past 5002 days as well. Full Stop: I hate that I remained incarcerated in 2022. Period. However, since my continued warehousing remained part of God's plans in 2022 I really tried to find His purpose for me. I believe that I found it at Granite through Celebrate Recovery®. I found it in my brotherhood with Ryan and David. I found it in helping others explore and write out their moral inventories. I found it in running and working out with my sober seeking fellow incarcerates. While I can't readily identify things I "loved" about 2022 as easily as I did the world and national events I hated in 2022, for me personally, the year was basically neutral, skewed towards the positive. I am so grateful for the health of my parents and their unwavering love, prayers and support. I am grateful for the continued health and prosperity of my two best friends and their unwavering love, prayers, as well as spiritual, emotional, and financial support. I am so thankful to my spiritual brother-in-Christ who worked so hard to draft my Commutation Application and whom keeps this avenue for Reflections alive. I am so glad that the first of my two consecutive sentences was completed. I am grateful for answered prayers for the beginnings of family reconciliation for my sister-in-Christ, for my continued good health, for this states newly elected Attorney General and reelected Governor, and for the smooth transition to this new yard and my integration into it. I am grateful for the Manasseh and Ephraim blessing. I am grateful that the Lord remains my refuge. I am grateful that it is by His stripes that I am healed. I hate that I'll remain incarcerated for any portion of 2023. Full stop. However, since my continued exile and warehousing have remained part of God's ordained plan I will really try to find my purpose here at the Jess Dunn storage facility. Once again I believe that I have found it through substance abuse recovery ministry. I look forward to seeing how the year plays itself out. I've signed up to be part of the teaching and mentoring program in the Religious Programs Department and have had a productive conversation with the education programs administrator about facilitating the college programing. I will remain true to my 2023 Core Value to be my authentic self and to not conform, or be cuffed, to the common element surrounding me, whether inside or outside of prison. Michael Todd of Life Transformation Church said that The Urban Dictionary defines connecting to relationships or things below their value because of loneliness and depression is termed cuffing.

No doubt many of my fellow incarcerates have intentionally cuffed themselves to the debased values that our state legislators assume we all ascribe to behind these fences. I continue to choose to remain uncuffed from the common behaviors that I see exhibited in the familiarity of the strangers I am surrounded by in this season of my life. In 2023 I will be cuffing with the Word and the Holy Spirit. My 2023 core values (aka New Years Resolutions) remain basically unchanged from the ones I published last year. What I have noticed upon reviewing my stated values from 2022 is that I've been provided with many more opportunities to exercise my Spiritual Gifts from God to teach/serve (Romans 12), from Christ to teach to equip (Ephesians 4), and from the Holy Spirit for faithful discernment (1 Corinthians). I have been especially grateful for the Holy Spirit gently teaching me how to really pay greater attention to his prompting and to take IMMEDIATE action without trying to talk myself into/out of his leading by either justifying, mystifying, or rationalizing what I believed I was hearing, feeling, or being lead to do (or not to do). God's Word has reminded me to keep my plans for 2023 highly flexible. Should He have me remain warehoused I will work towards facilitating in the various substance abuse and recovery ministries. I will pursue a job in the canteen or at the school. It would be great to be employed M-F full time again. I miss working (but not enough to go work in the kitchen). I will continue to run and workout everyday. Now that I see some sculpted abdominals popping through, I want to maintain them. I will continue in my daily Bible reading, devotional studies, and my open ended ongoing conversation with my King and Saviour. I will be grateful for the Manasseh and Ephraim blessing. I will be grateful that the Lord remains my refuge. I will be grateful that it is by His stripes that I am healed. If God allows this to be the year for truth to be known, justice carried out, and I find myself a freed man, then I will basically do the same, but on the outside of these fences. Prayerfully, my 2024 Reflection at this time will see me fully uncuffed, unchained, and unfenced celebrating my Commutation, and lauding the exposure of lies and liars and the revelations of the truth. God bless you, and me, in this new year! #cuffingseason 2023 Core Values 1. Love God, love others 2. 1190113 = Psalms 119:113 = Do Not Be Two Faced = have trust w/o worry, faith w/o doubt, hope w/o despair, show love w/o condition, give God glory w/o reservation, have peace w/o fear, joy w/o a roof, suffer w/o shame, serve w/o reserve, wait w/o fret, obey w/o delay, and show compassion w/o judgement. To be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent, physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. 3. 663423 = No Dice = Proverbs 16:33 = to remember that humanity my roll the dice, but it is God that orders the steps. 4. To be my authentic self and to not conform, or be cuffed, to the common element surrounding me, whether inside or outside of prison. 5. To be continually forgiving 6. To exercise my gifts = from God (Rm.12) to teach/serve = from Christ (Eph 4) to teach to equip = from the Holy Spirit (1 Cor.) for faith discernment 7. To trust in my King Jesus, the Lord Jehovah Shalom, that justice, reconciliation, restoration of relationships, and restitution ARE in His will and ARE coming. 8. To daily declare that it is/was through His stripes that I am/was healed.