Colson repented and served

What a pleasant surprise to see an article in the April 22 Spokesman-Review about Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson. Many people remember him as a Watergate figure. He later ministered to the incarcerated and their families. For 35 years, he visited prisons every Easter, giving prisoners a message of restitution, redemption and hope in the midst of hopelessness.

I heard him speak at the Spokane County Fairgrounds a few years ago. The price of admission was a doll or toy to be given to a child of a prisoner for Christmas in the name of the parent. Many have heard of Angel Tree. There was a drawing for all the books he had written, and I was the fortunate recipient.

In 2006, I met Chuck again in Landsdowne, Va., at a gathering of Centurions - 100 people selected to participate at a Wilberforce weekend. Wilberforce was a British member of Parliament whose efforts abolished slavery in the British Empire. Chuck’s frequent question: “Can freedom survive without virtue?”

Like the Apostle Paul, Colson was a powerful man who fell off his high horse, repented, and had a changed life. His Lord greeted him: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Donna Kuhn

Spokane