Yes, jail is a place filled with noises.
They are constant, magnified, haunting,
      mysterious and frequently silencing.

Listen! Listen! Listen!
Clang of the bolt-locked cell doors.
      God present.

Click of the PA monitoring system.
      Speak Your quieting in my soul.

Gasps for air from one withdrawing from heroin.
      Air and oxygen--unseen gifts.
      Breathe through me.

Sobbing in the night.
      Allow me to weep for all.

Tongue-lashing of family in an inmate's phone call.
      Speaking gently to each other
      as one made in Your image and likeness.

Drum-beat of fists pounding on walls.
      Heal and bring peace to the disquieted.

Fists-beating of an inmate in her attempt to escape.
      Compassion fill these guards with Your gentle care!

Thunder-roar on TV of B-52s, B-1s, F-6's at war in Iraq.
      Hammer these weapons into instruments for
      manifesting God's love with us.

Rumbling motors of heater, wash machines,
      water font, flushing toilets.
      Keep our technologies for life alone,
      rather than killing.

Screams of inmates releasing tension.
      Strengthen the sorrowful and teach us all to pray.

Guards shouting orders in the middle of the night.
      Love binds human spirits. Teach us!

Water and mud slides over Honduras and Nicaragua.
      People wail in their losses.
      Shelter us from storms and
      recreate the face of the earth.

Talk, talk, talk shows--Jerry Springer, Rick Lake, Jennie Jones, etc.
      Unclutter my mind from jabbering.
      Make sacred my Words by the WORD.
Amen!