Romeo, Your Number's Up!
It was 6:00 yesterday afternoon, and I was working in my office when the phone rang. It was one of the prison officials calling to ask if I could help Romeo. She knew he has been a regular attender at the Bible studies, and she felt we were the only ones who could resolve the situation. Romeo's problem was that he was being released! With €84 in his pocket, he was being put out on the street at 7:00 p.m. Friday, and the terms of his release state he has 5 days to get to the address in Madrid he gave the court when he was arrested. With that amount of money he could just make it from Lisbon to Madrid, but he's 600 very wet miles from Lisbon. That's 1h40m by plane, and over €100 in cash for the ticket. If he doesn't get out in time, he could go back to prison. The prison worker was concerned, because she knew he couldn't do it without help, so she called me.
I assured her our church would do whatever was necessary to help Romeo, and I drove out to the prison to pick him up. There he was, sitting on the sidewalk with a small sack holding all his earthly possessions he wasn't wearing. He said he was so glad to see me "in freedom!" There was a leaders' meeting at the church last night, so I took him back to town with me. The conversation in the car was interesting:
"How long were you in prison?" I asked.
"4 years, 10 months, ...and 1 week," came the reply, and it came with little hesitation. I was reminded again of how the prisoners count every day, awaiting the day they can walk out free. Moses (Psalm 90:12) asks God to teach us to number our days that we may walk in wisdom. I don't think we have to number them like Romeo did, but the prisoners are keenly aware of what each passing day means. So should we be.
As we neared town (about a 10-minute drive), Romeo said it made him feel a little sick to ride in a car and the passing scenery did things to his eyes. He wasn't used to seeing anything but prison walls. One of my earlier postings was on this very subject. Here´s part of what I wrote then:
I've often wondered how many of the prisoners (those not from the island) have actually seen any of Madeira. Whenever they are taken any place (the airport, the courthouse, the hospital), it is always in a prison van with no windows. All the beauty of nature around them, and even this they are kept from seeing. Their only idea of the island must come from what they see on the local TV station.
Romeo confirmed what I had guessed. He has only been out of the prison once, to get an x-ray when he injured his arm. Getting in and out of the prison van at the hospital was all he ever saw of the island. "This island is beautiful" "There are so many mountains!" "Funchal is such a big city!" On the way home, we had to stop at the supermarket: "It's been 5 years since I've seen anything like this!" He was still in a daze; literally, from one hour to the next, his whole life had changed.
We are letting Romeo stay in our guest apartment until his flight tomorrow morning. We bought him a ticket to Lisbon, and his friend in Madrid will send me money by Western Union for the ticket and €100 cash I'm giving him for travelling expenses. He'll catch the bus from Lisbon tomorrow and be in Madrid early Monday.
Abbie with Romeo. That paper in his pocket is the plane ticket.
The release even seemed to catch the prison administration by surprise, as Romeo's previous opportunities for release came and went with no action from the courts. He had no time to prepare for this. He was walking in the courtyard when his number was called: 11. When he entered the room, the authorities told him to get his things: he was free. Romeo told me that when he heard that, he dropped to his knees right there and thanked God.
One of the euphemisms we use when we talk about death is to say that a certain person's "number was up", or it wasn't, in the case of close calls. Romeo's number was up, and he wasn't expecting it or financially prepared for it. One day our number will be up, and we may be caught off guard as much as Romeo was. We may be taken by surprise, but we don't have to be taken unprepared. "Teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom."
I assured her our church would do whatever was necessary to help Romeo, and I drove out to the prison to pick him up. There he was, sitting on the sidewalk with a small sack holding all his earthly possessions he wasn't wearing. He said he was so glad to see me "in freedom!" There was a leaders' meeting at the church last night, so I took him back to town with me. The conversation in the car was interesting:
"How long were you in prison?" I asked.
"4 years, 10 months, ...and 1 week," came the reply, and it came with little hesitation. I was reminded again of how the prisoners count every day, awaiting the day they can walk out free. Moses (Psalm 90:12) asks God to teach us to number our days that we may walk in wisdom. I don't think we have to number them like Romeo did, but the prisoners are keenly aware of what each passing day means. So should we be.
As we neared town (about a 10-minute drive), Romeo said it made him feel a little sick to ride in a car and the passing scenery did things to his eyes. He wasn't used to seeing anything but prison walls. One of my earlier postings was on this very subject. Here´s part of what I wrote then:
I've often wondered how many of the prisoners (those not from the island) have actually seen any of Madeira. Whenever they are taken any place (the airport, the courthouse, the hospital), it is always in a prison van with no windows. All the beauty of nature around them, and even this they are kept from seeing. Their only idea of the island must come from what they see on the local TV station.
Romeo confirmed what I had guessed. He has only been out of the prison once, to get an x-ray when he injured his arm. Getting in and out of the prison van at the hospital was all he ever saw of the island. "This island is beautiful" "There are so many mountains!" "Funchal is such a big city!" On the way home, we had to stop at the supermarket: "It's been 5 years since I've seen anything like this!" He was still in a daze; literally, from one hour to the next, his whole life had changed.
We are letting Romeo stay in our guest apartment until his flight tomorrow morning. We bought him a ticket to Lisbon, and his friend in Madrid will send me money by Western Union for the ticket and €100 cash I'm giving him for travelling expenses. He'll catch the bus from Lisbon tomorrow and be in Madrid early Monday.Abbie with Romeo. That paper in his pocket is the plane ticket.
The release even seemed to catch the prison administration by surprise, as Romeo's previous opportunities for release came and went with no action from the courts. He had no time to prepare for this. He was walking in the courtyard when his number was called: 11. When he entered the room, the authorities told him to get his things: he was free. Romeo told me that when he heard that, he dropped to his knees right there and thanked God.
One of the euphemisms we use when we talk about death is to say that a certain person's "number was up", or it wasn't, in the case of close calls. Romeo's number was up, and he wasn't expecting it or financially prepared for it. One day our number will be up, and we may be caught off guard as much as Romeo was. We may be taken by surprise, but we don't have to be taken unprepared. "Teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom."
posted by EP | 11:20 PM | Permalink
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