I grew up in a church that really valued overseas mission and had a strong focus on sending people overseas to reach people with the gospel. But I was always intrigued about what happened behind the walls of a prison. It seemed that prison was a place much like a different country or maybe a different planet.

I remember thinking, “Why go overseas when the same needs and challenges were literally behind a barbed wire fence a few suburbs away?”

That curiosity about prisons kept bubbling away in my heart and mind for many years as I went through ups and downs in life, grew in my Christian faith, worked as a marketing executive, and eventually went to Bible college, which opened doors for me to minister as a hospital chaplain, ambulance chaplain, and a chaplain supporting the marginalised in the Sydney CBD. Eventually, by God’s grace, I was given the opportunity to serve as a prison chaplain for Jericho Road.

Reading the gospels, I’m blown away by Jesus’ power to see deep into the hearts of mankind and see us for who we really are. It made me think about how although I’ve got no criminal record and never committed a crime (apart from parking tickets, speeding, and not returning library books!), in my heart I am no different to any convicted criminal – even the worst. I am no more or less in need of Jesus’ love, forgiveness and new life.