May 2026 – Paul Nordman

The Tug

“I was in prison and you came to me.” ~ Matthew 25:36 ESV

“An inner tug,” is the best way I could describe my inclination toward the incarcerated. By worldly standards, I was always a “stay out of trouble” kind of guy, and my friends were of similar ilk. Still, there was this ongoing tug toward those behind bars—the marginalized, scorned, or forgotten—a call I resisted until one day in 2009 a friend invited me to serve on a Kairos Prison Ministry weekend. I said “yes” then and have been saying “yes” ever since. Over the years, I’ve heard many Kairos volunteers describe their calling the exact same way, an inner tug. Maybe you’ve felt it, too, but like me, been reluctant to heed the call. So, today let’s look beyond the tug toward the imprisoned and glimpse the other side of “yes.”

Kairos is a sacrificial ministry. For a Weekend, each volunteer is responsible for: 1) raising financial contributions; 2) securing 100+ dozen home baked cookies for prisoners and staff; 3) writing a letter to each of the 42 Weekend prisoner participants; 4) preparing for the Weekend through 30+ hours of formation meetings; and 5) gathering for a 3½ day Weekend inside the prison. It’s a lot. Yet the volunteers keep coming back, reupping for another Kairos Weekend. What could possibly be worth such effort?

The answer: hope for the hopeless behind bars—forgiveness of sins, eternal life in Christ, inner freedom, restored relationships, and pure joy. Kingdom fruit sprouting in the unlikeliest of soils. Don’t take my word for it; listen to these inmates from a recent Kairos Weekend.

“For twelve years I didn’t speak to my son. I wouldn’t allow him on my property. When I came to prison, he was texting me from day one but I wouldn’t call him back. Last night, I called my son and asked him to forgive me, and now we’re talking.”

“A father is supposed to teach his child. I had to come to prison to ‘get’ this, but my life is no longer just me—it’s my kids, my family and others. I now have peace and peace of mind and I can give peace to them.”

“I have been angry all my life. I was bullied throughout school and tried to kill myself multiple times. I don’t like people, but I learned this weekend it is possible to have a family and trust other people.”

“It was tough growing up. My dad made me feel I didn’t have any value. . . I grew up not trusting anyone. But the [Kairos team] saturated us in love—like you saturate chicken in spices. They made us feel good. Now I want to saturate others. It makes you want to make others feel that love.”

If you have felt the Spirit’s tug toward prison ministry, but not known how to pursue it, please visit Kairos Prison Ministries International at: https://kairosprisonministry.org/volunteer-opportunities/

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them . . .” ~ Hebrews: 13:3 ESV

Father, please grace me to hear your call and obey your tug to wherever and however you would have me serve you and others in your name today. In Christ I pray. Amen.

Our Awesome Value

The other day, I saw a simple man doing a simple thing. Stationed at a busy intersection, he held up a sign, energetically waving it back and forth, up and down, blessing passersby in all directions with a priceless pronouncement free for the taking. Its message? “Smile because you are awesome.” People honked in approval, grinning from ear to ear, some perhaps as brightly as he. I thought, how refreshing his message in times like these, and how stirring the passion in which he proclaims it. What a relief from the divisions among us and the negativity around us. This is what unity looks like, even if in a humanistic sense. One man reaching thousands with nothing but a whiteboard and conviction. Like I said, a remarkable man doing a remarkable thing.

Yet we know from Scripture “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”¹ and “there is no one who does good, not even one.”² Indeed “all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”³ So, how are we then “awesome”? How do we reconcile “smile” with “unless you repent, you too will all perish”⁴? Is the Bible merely a killjoy, raining on our parade of positivity?

Not at all. So great is our God that He commands our awful nature of sin to prove our awesome value to Him. How so? Paul writes, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”⁵ John echoes, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”⁶ We are made in His image and purchased with His life. Of what value must we be to God, that He would redeem our sinful selves at a cost so incalculable that only He could know and only He could pay? Nothing less than awesome.

So, believe it, receive it, embrace it, and smile!

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”—Psalm 8:3-5 ESV

Father, though my sins were like scarlet, you have made them white as snow.⁷ How great your love for me, and how precious my life to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen.

¹ Romans 3:23 ESV
² Psalm 14:3 NIV
³ Isaiah 64:6 NIV
⁴ Luke 13:3 NIV
⁵ Romans 5:8 NIV
⁶ 1 John 4:10 NIV
⁷ Isaiah 1:8