Does Anyone Care If I Come Home? | Mornings with Mico

Good people, what's going on? My name is Meeko, this is Mornings with Meeko, and I feel like I wanted to encourage somebody this morning. I feel like I had to encourage somebody this morning with this, God is already on the other side of the gate waiting for you. I hope that settles, let that sit with you. But for me, if I'm honest with you, some of the letters that I receive that really kind of tug at my heart the most are the letters of people who are on their way home and just kind of sharing their thoughts and feelings as they're processing and whatever they're dealing with on their way out the door. And recently I got a letter from a guy who's returning to, actually he's coming to Cincinnati, and he was just writing and just sharing how he had no family. And I'm like, wow, that's no one to pick him up. That's no table to sit at for the first night home. That's no door to knock on, right? That's, you know, like the simple things that you look forward to or that you hope for, like that's not an option for him. And so he started reaching out to church for family, you know, as he should. And I don't know, that just kind of stayed with me as I was just seeing like, wow, like him needing, him reaching out for church family, simply for, you know, somebody to, you know,

help navigate life and be a friend, you know, when he touches down. And that also goes for the guy I spoke about the other day who came home or he hasn't come home yet, but he wrote, he's been down since 1994. So that's like over three decades. And he was just honest about his own version of that same situation where he was just saying that he doesn't have anybody. And to even like help him understand, like, you know, life out here or whatever. He was saying how, you know, the world that he's returning to is not the same one that he left, which it isn't, man. So a lot's changed since 1994. And I don't believe these are just two isolated stories. I believe that a lot of people, you know, cause well, I have letters from a lot of people, but a lot of us, you know, have experienced that at some point in time. And a lot of people writing in, you know, ahead of their release and they're all asking like some version of like the same question. And it's not, it's not that, it's not simply a plan that they're asking for, but like people, they're seeking people. They're seeking community. They're seeking, you know, you know, like what the scripture tells us, the body, honestly.

And I love how in Isaiah 43, starting at 18, Isaiah writes, forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in a wasteland. And I first wanted to start by saying it definitely takes courage to, as it says, forget the former things and then move towards the new thing. And in this case, these people are moving towards the new thing by seeking community. I think every one of us knows what it is, you know, to, at least most of us, right? To stand at a gate, right? And it could be a physical gate on your way out of prison, or it could just be, you know, a gate, you know, metaphorically like the edge of a new season, right? Or, you know, staring at a world, you know, on your way home and not even sure, like if you even have a place in it, right? A new city that you may be relocating to, or life after the divorce, right? Or first day after the funeral, after the death, after the diagnosis, or just, you know, any ending of a season, of a chapter, of a thing that we didn't necessarily choose.

I think the question at every gate is the same one that, you know, that these men are asking, or at least one of the questions that we would ask at a gate. And it's, is anyone there for me? I can recall my, I've had a few of those situations, and I can recall like being incarcerated and trying to maintain a relationship that just was not going well. And I remember thinking like, dang God, like, you know, she's happy, she's, you know, moving forward, but is there anyone out there for me? What is that gonna look like for me when I come home, man? And I don't know, I just love Isaiah's answer. Not specifically to that question, but just the idea of, you know, seeking something. God calls us to be a part of the body. So first I want to address that, like, that's not abnormal and it's not like a sign of weakness. That's genuine. He called us to be in community. So that is us responding according to our design. And Isaiah answers it this way. And he answers this, that God doesn't wait for us at the gate. He goes ahead of us through it.

It says that I am doing a new thing, right? This is current, this is present tense. It says they're already springing up. It says he is out ahead of you already while you're still counting down your days in prison. Like he's already ahead of you. He's already out here, you know, preparing people, preparing a place for you, a purpose, right? Before you even touch down, he's already ahead of you, right? So whatever your worries are about coming home, like they can be legit concerns, but we cast those before God. He is ahead of you. He is already out here preparing a place, preparing people. It's so funny, not even funny, but it's wow. Like the people that I spend the majority of my time with, the people that I'm around, the people that I lean on, the people that, you know, I call, you know, brothers nowadays, the people that I met after I came home. Like I spent so many years of my life like in the streets and just in the world where it's like that didn't transfer over into this season of my life. Nothing from that past season of my life actually fits today. And even at times when like I'll revisit it, it just still doesn't hit the same as it did once upon a time. I think sometimes God answers the prayer through people. And while you may be, you know, locked up and having that need, having that prayer, right? I want you to hear it in two ways.

Like in some cases, it's not a matter of when you come home. Maybe he's answering that prayer through the people that's around you now, right? Maybe he's answering that prayer that who's out there for me. Maybe there's people around you now that, and I would imagine it is, like he's not gonna have you in a space and there's just no women. Maybe for a season or whatever, but there's people around you that you could tap into. But then not only that, here it is. Cause your life ain't just about you, right? There are other people around you who are praying that prayer. And what if God wants to use you as an answer to that prayer? He wants to use you to bring about hope, to bring about encouragement, to bring about like a welcoming. What if he's preparing, you know, you for somebody to be a friend, right? To be a brother to, a sister to while you're incarcerated. Whatever gate that you're standing at currently, man, God is already on the other side of it. And somebody standing at their own gate, who's praying, God may be calling you to be the person standing on the other side of theirs. He may be calling you to be their answer prayer. I love how in Genesis,

and no, it's in Exodus when God, when the Israelites are held as slaves in Egypt and they're praying to God, rescue us, rescue us. The entire time while they're praying to God, God isn't even, he's not even responding back to them. He's talking to Moses. He's talking to their answer prayer. He's like, while they're shooting their prayers up to him, he's preparing and he's equipping Moses and he's getting Moses, the, you know, the leader, the, what's the word I'm looking for? It's like the reluctant leader, right? Like he was reluctant about, you know, his leadership. He's pouring into this reluctant leader to come be an answer prayer for the Israelites. And that may be the same way he's using you right now. And the thing is, it's about opening our eyes to it and embracing it. God, once we give our life to him, he gets to live through us the way he decides. It's not about us. And our stubbornness, our stuck on our selfness gets in a way at times, most times, all the time, honestly, of God operating through us the way he wants to, to be able to impact the people around you the way he wants to. So, get over yourself and trust that God is on the other side of the gate for you. And he's also asking you to be on the other side of the gate for somebody else.

I wanna leave you with this question. What gate are you standing in? And whose gate might God be sending you to stand by? Let that sit with you. Take that in prayer. Take that to the feet of Jesus today. Don't just hear that and move on about your day like no sit with God with that and ask me What God is there a gate that I'm sitting at that I that I'm worried about that I haven't just embraced the trust that you're on the other side of it already preparing everything that I need And also is there is there a gate that you're calling me to stand by Is there a prayer that you're calling me to be the answer to as a friend it's a brother as a sister As a support as a mentor Yeah, take that's on the day I'm gonna pray for Lord, um You go ahead of us into every new season and You're making away Even when we can't see it and we trust you we ask you to help us to continue to trust you That you're on the other side of our gate and Help us to open our eyes to recognize the gates you're calling us to be on the other side of That we can be equipped and prepared and willing To be the hands and your feet according to your will In the way that you've designed the way that you've purposed Whatever that looks like Lord we say yes, we're out to see the Sun Jesus