By BARBARA WALKIN
Senior FN Reporter
barbara@nasguard.com
Readers were first introduced to a young Grand Bahamian named Tennyson Joseph back in 2006, when his father Paul Joseph shared a letter his son wrote from his jail cell in Florida.
At the time, Tennyson was 24 years old and his sentence time in the Florida State Penitentiary was quickly becoming a life lesson, he wanted desperately to share with other young men in hopes of saving them from that same fate.
It is now two years later and Tennyson is again sharing his experience with his father to spread a message of hope that would motivate and encourage other young men to stay away from criminal activity, and come to know the Lord Jesus, "and become a stranger to themselves."
The words in quotations, come from Tennyson himself, who recently completed his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion and Church Ministry, and following his calling despite incarceration.
Since being arrested in November 22, 2005, Tennyson began a journey that his father now sees as one that is God ordained. In previous letters, both published in The Freeport News, one can almost touch Tennyson and feel his spiritual transformation.
In the first letter in May 2006, Tennyson asked for his father's forgiveness after, as he writes, "I know what happened to me brought a lot of shame pain and heartache to my family, the ones that truly care and love me and especially you, but believe it or not there was light at the end of this tunnel. First and foremost I want to tell you how sorry I am, not for allowing myself to be in this situation, but for simply taking your love and wisdom for granted like so many other things in my life."
Tennyson further stated, "I just want to tell you that you have not failed in your efforts to raise a son in the manner that he should be raised. You have taught me and equipped me with all the tools that I needed to survive in this world and because of these tools I know it is the reason I have made it this far for so many years."
In his second letter in September 2006, Tennyson, who had rededicated his life to Jesus Christ said, "this is my real life story now behind the walls of a Florida State Recreation Centre (FSRCP. This is something not to be taken lightly, because many Bahamians have passed through the walls of these jails and many more are still here after 10 and 15 years."
He noted that what is of greater interest and concern, "is the increasing number of young Bahamians that have been arrested over the past several months."
Following his son's emotional correspondence, Joseph Sr., took the time to search the web and found that his son was right, an alarming number of young Bahamian men were being caught up in criminal activity and being arrested in the United States.
At that time he pleaded with parents, especially fathers, "too many of our sons and daughters are being lost to drugs and even more, to foreign prisons."
Joseph begged young people to learn from his son's mistakes. "You don't want to be locked away from your family and friends," he said, "my son has to watch his daughter grow up in pictures because he can't be there in person; you don't want that."
Today, Tennyson is reaching further and deeper after receiving his degree.
In an article titled 'A Stranger to Myself ... confronting my greatest enemy' he speaks of being truly illuminated by God.
"God has truly illuminated my mind and most assuredly brought me out of darkness and into his marvellous light. For I had a mind and could not think, ears and could not hear, hands and could not
feel, eyes and could not see and a heart that could not love," the letter read.
"During the early incarceration I wanted God to work quickly, but God desired to work thoroughly. There is just something about the nature of our being that always wants to justify our sinful actions and not wanting to accept the responsibility for them.
"Not knowing that although compassion leads God to forgiveness, it doesn't erase the consequences of our actions."
Tennyson said, God told him, "I won't take away your problems or prison sentence, but I'll go with you through your problems and be with you in prison."
He noted that as he submitted and surrendered to God's will and his way, this was the actual beginning of God working in his life. "This is when I began to confront my greatest enemy, which was me.
"As I began to look at myself through the light of God's word I realized that my sins were many and it had brought me to a state of complete brokeness ... brokeness of heart and spirit," Tennyson's article said.
"I had completely come to the end of myself, and how many of you know that it is only when we come to the end of ourselves that the Lord makes himself truly known to us."
"Do you know when we come to God and ask him to help us, we come, not when the burden is light, but when the burden is so great we cannot bear it any longer," the article read.
He noted that sin drained his strength and he was wasting away within. "I never realized just how much 'guilt' and 'sin' can literally suck life out of a person. Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you have to pay."
But, "praise God," Tennyson said, "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; thus as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5: 20-21). Yes, my sins were great and many indeed, but God's grace was greater."
The article further stated that God took away his mistakes and turned them into opportunities. "He took away brokeness and is using it for his good and glory."
He noted that man attempts to rehabilitate, but God can regenerate and give new life through Jesus Christ. "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away ... behold all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17)."
Tennyson said that God has made a tremendous change in his life. "He gave me a new mind, a clean heart and a desire to serve him. Before I came to know God in the fulness of who he is my only desire was to please and serve myself."
He admitted to being selfish, self-seeking and self-pleasing. "I was living for myself. One of the most dangerous facts about sin is that the more it increases in ones life, the more awareness of it decreased. We become numb to our own inner rebellion, although God has made many changes in my life and has done miraculous things through me, many still doubt the sincerity of my conversion.
"But, I don't blame them, Actually there were times when I doubted my own experience, looking back on the things I've done, the many people I've hurt and caused great pain to."
However, Tennyson's article said, "I have become a 'complete stranger to myself,' when I often find myself crying on bended knees for the salvation of the souls that I have helped lead further into the kingdom of darkness."
He explained that Christ-ianity isn't a matter of rules, but of a relationship with the Lord. "It does no good to be baptized if we haven't been born again, regenerated. It's not a question of joining a church, but of being joined to Christ, and it definitely would do me and countless other inmates no good if we be freed from prison and not free from the bondage of sin."
The article continues with Tennyson saying that he is thankful that, as a people, we are living in a day when tremendous gains have been made along educational and social lines.
'But we must confess that even the best of all these things have failed. Articles and books have been written, and clinics have been held on home and marriage. Yet the homes continue to break up and the divorce rate escalates.
"Law enforcement has become a science and it's being studied at colleges, yet the crime rate rises. We're more knowledgeable about child psychology, yet juvenile delinquency steadily increases," the article said.
"We're teaching more about sex and more teenagers are becoming pregnant, we have more comforts, but we're less comfortable. There's more talk about peace, but less hope for it. We've produced the best products, but the worst people. It seems like the smarter we are, the farther behind we get.
"The more we know, the less we can do about it."
Tennyson noted that man's trouble originates within himself. He noted that the problems of the world are the symptoms of which the disease is "sin" and the Lord Jesus is the only cure.
"Christendom has failed, Christians have failed, but God cannot fail. Actually God can do anything but fail. Jesus Christ became all things to all men, to the thirsty he is the water of life, to the hungry He is the bread of life, to the lost He is the way and to the sick He is the great physician."
"Thank God, He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore," said Tennyson's article. "What you do with Jesus Christ in this life determines what he will do with you in eternity. He will either be your saviour or your judge."
"I do not know how long I am going to live on this earth, I do not know how quickly I will be finished, I do not know how many days, months, or years I have left, but as we yield our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, we can make the most of the life we have left," the article ended.
In a post script (P.S.) Tennyson wrote, "Jesus did it for me, and I know that He can do it for you too. Only believe!"
This was his message to other young men and women in The Bahamas.
