A Life Sentence in Prison That Could Have Killed Him, God Used Instead to Remake Him: James Sanders Story (Part 2)

In this episode James shares how the amazing hand of God was working in his life to do miracles he never imagined.  James' story has turned out so different than the story of so many others who've gone to prison...and Jesus gets all the glory!

Transcript

James: 0:00

I had to better myself because if I survived this prison sentence and I got out, I couldn't come out the same person that I went in. I couldn't because where was that leading? Where was all that gonna go? Even though I'd quit the drugs, even though I'd quit all that, but I hadn't quit the womanizing, I hadn't quit the abusive, I hadn't quit all the other stuff.

Phil Shuler: 0:18

HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the Safe House Ministries podcast, where we share stories of the power of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. Safe House Ministries is based out of Columbus, Georgia, and we are a ministry that exists to love and serve people who have been affected by addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. I'm your host, Phil Shuler, the Director of Development for Safe House Ministries here in Columbus, Georgia. Safe House serves over 1, 100 people each month as they transition back into our community. Safe House provides an abundance of services including 213 beds for homeless individuals and families, case management for obtaining job skills and long term employment. Over 300 hot meals every day, free clothing, and so much more. One of the most incredible services that Safe House provides is our free 9 12 month intensive outpatient substance abuse program, which is state licensed, CARF accredited, and has no wait list. Almost 100 percent of individuals staying in our shelters who follow our three phase program become fully employed within a few months. And 68 percent of individuals who stay at least one night with us End up finding work and moving into their own home. Thank you for being with us today and listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoy this week's episode.

James: 1:31

Wednesday after that, my life ended as I knew it. Oh, wow long story short, April 2nd, they arrested me for a sex offense.

1:41

Something that was from back

James: 1:43

No, something that she alleged happened. Between me and her. Okay. And, when I went to trial, I wound up getting a hundred and forty years. Wow. That's what the judge sentenced me to serve. A hundred and forty years. Wow. To serve.

1:59

That's a lot. That must have been a serious charge,

James: 2:01

it was. Very serious. But 22 years and 22 days later. Wow. I got out. Or I was going to get out. I didn't have nowhere to go. I'd been banished from the county that I'm from. That's where all my family lived. So I had nowhere I could go.

2:17

When you were getting out?

James: 2:18

Come time for me to get out. They're like, we need an address.

2:21

So from the time that you went in, Twenty two years and eight months, you said?

James: 2:26

Twenty two years, twenty two days. Wow.

2:30

What, when that first happened, how did that shake you? Did that was it something that was a possibility of sending you back into the darkness? Or was it something that, that you just, you knew you was wrong and you wanted to, you just, I don't know, like, how did that hit you and What did you do from that? And then, I don't know how, I'm sure it was a long court proceedings time, but then being in prison what did that do to you?

James: 3:00

It almost destroyed me. It almost completely destroyed me. But, I wasn't like your average individual in prison. I took advantage of every opportunity and everything the state of Georgia had to offer, I took.

3:15

You had a, something inside you that you wanted to do better and have a better life and so if there was resources offered you were going to take advantage of it.

James: 3:24

Exactly. I even took classes that didn't even apply to me. I took them just so I could have them. Yeah. To grow and

3:31

to build your knowledge base. Exactly.

James: 3:33

Knowledge. I love knowledge. Now, I love knowledge, but while I was in prison, like I said, I took advantage of everything they had to offer. Like I said, I got locked up. April 2nd, 2019, I was in prison, I took every class. They said, this class don't apply to you. Is there a reason why I can't go? No. Then sign me up. Then sign me up. But in that time, I got my electrician certification with mobile construction and in that time, remember I told you I got thrown out of school. I studied for my GED with a vengeance. Wow. With a vengeance. When I took my test, when I took my pre test, I was one of ten in the state of Georgia to get a perfect score. On science and social studies. Wow. I passed my You had a

4:29

serious commitment and dedication to being better.

James: 4:32

I had to better myself because if I survived this prison sentence and I got out, I couldn't come out the same person that I went in. I couldn't because where was that leading? Where was all that gonna go? Even though I'd quit the drugs, even though I'd quit all that, but I hadn't quit the womanizing, I hadn't quit the abusive, I hadn't quit all the other stuff. But I took a course. Corrective thinking. Miss Vickers.

Phil: 4:54

Oh.

James: 4:55

That class, if you've never took that class, and you've never heard about it, take it. It's a long class, but it's an eye opener. Wow. And you learn about the ripple effect. The ripple effect. You may not realize, just because you hurt that individual, you didn't just hurt that individual, you hurt everybody that loves that individual. Not only did you hurt that individual, you hurt yourself and everybody that cares about you everybody's hurt somewhere along the way. You may think it's an isolated incident. It's not. Nowhere close is it an isolated incident. That's true. But I got all the knowledge I could. I made sure that when I come out, when and if I did get out, I wasn't going to be the same person. I was not going to be the same person that I went in.

5:39

Wow. Now what's Was that a gift from the Lord that he put inside you, that desire?

James: 5:45

People come to me, believe it or not, when I was in prison, people come to me and they would ask me, Do you want? Do you want? Oh, of course I want. This guy come to me, and he was a real nice guy, and he said, Would you like to sign up for our faith based program? And at first, I was like, nah. I shunned it, shied away from it, because their dorm was a strict dorm. It was a strict process, a strict program. And I got to thinking about that's what you need. You need that more than anything. So I went back to him and he said come to the chaplain's office and sit down and talk to the chaplain Neal. This was

6:25

chaplain Neal? It's another chaplain. Oh, another chaplain Neal. What are the odds?

James: 6:29

Mr. Richard. What are

none (2): 6:31

the odds?

James: 6:32

Wow. It is. But I went up there and I talked to him and he had a little reservation about Let me in, I think he could see it that, I was rebellious that I may not be a good fit. But, needless to say, in the end, he smiled when he handed me the diploma when I graduated from the face to face program. He patted me on the back, he said,

Phil: 6:53

you

James: 6:53

proved me wrong, and he handed me my certificate. I've still got pictures of that, as a matter of fact. But

6:58

And was that kind of your first introduction to who Jesus was, or was that?

James: 7:03

I had been in church in my younger days when my grandparents, my papa especially, but I had never grasped it. I had never, like I said, I hadn't had that aha moment. I was young. Yeah. Some people realize, that's the work of God right there. You didn't do none of that. You can't take credit for none of that. You don't realize that at that young age.

Phil: 7:27

Yeah.

James: 7:27

But, as I got older, and like I said, when I was in the program, I got to thinking about how many times he stepped in, and saved me, and I pushed his hand away. Not real, not literally, but when I thought about it.

mixed: 7:43

Yeah.

James: 7:44

How many times he reached out to me, and I pushed his hand away. How many times were the drugs?

mixed: 7:50

Yeah.

James: 7:51

He saved my life.

mixed: 7:52

Yeah.

James: 7:52

He literally saved my life. And he gave me another chance. But I pushed his hand away. I started to womanize him. I let something else in. Instead of cleaning it, keeping it clean, I let something else in I pushed his hand away.

Phil: 8:05

Wow.

James: 8:06

But when I finished that course, actually before I even finished the course, I knew then what I had to do. I had to just let it go. I had to let You wanna You don't think God's got a sense of humor? Tell him your plan. Tell him your plan. You'll hear him laugh then. But I know what I had to let my plan go. I had to let my plan go and give it to God. Once I did that, everything changed. Everything changed.

8:34

You surrendered.

James: 8:35

I surrendered. They called me, and this was before I knew I was getting out. I thought I really, I wouldn't expect to ever get out. And one day they called me, they said Sanders, we need an address. And I'm like, for what? They said, you're going home what? When am I going home? Ain't nobody told me nothing. I ain't been to no parole hearing, ain't been to none of that. End of. They said we need an address on him. So I went to my counselor, and I was in the dog program then, training second chance greyhounds.

9:07

Really? Yeah. You really did take advantage of everything.

James: 9:10

Everything. I'm telling you, if you offered it, and I've stood benefit from it, Oh, I've got to have it. I've got to have it. If I'm going to gain knowledge from it, and I'm going to get some kind of what do you call it? Love from it. And dogs. Oh my God. I love dogs. I love dogs, but I come out of the counselor's office and I was bad because I didn't have nowhere to go. I was banished from the county that I'm from. That's where all my family lives. So I couldn't go there. I couldn't go to no other halfway house, no diversion center, none of that. I didn't have nowhere to go. So I come out of the office and I had my head down and the lady over the dog program, she said, Sanders, what's wrong with you? So I told her. She said, hang on just a minute. She said, come to my office in 30 minutes. And she walked out to the control tower and she told the guard, she said, send Jack, send Sanders to my office in 30 minutes. Exactly 30 minutes. 30 minutes rolled around and they said, Sanders, you need to go to the office. So I go up out of the office, she said, and you know who's had on the phone

none (2): 10:08

mike? Mike. Ha.

James: 10:11

She had Mike on the phone.

none (2): 10:13

Good ol Mike.

James: 10:14

Good ol Mike, saving grace. He was my saving grace. But she had Mike on the phone and Mike said Yeah, he said I got a bed for him. Send him on.

Phil: 10:22

Wow.

James: 10:23

And I was like, You gotta be kidding me. I'm going home. Wow. You've got to be kidding me. This is after 22 years and 22 days. Wow. And that was when he was running

10:31

the Beacon House. Beacon House, here in Columbus.

James: 10:33

He said, send him, I got a bed for him. She calls down there, her name is Ms. Coleman. She calls down there and tells my counselor, he's got a bed, give her the address, give her all that. She says, okay, you're going home Friday. Wow. And that

10:44

is amazing. Just seemingly out of nowhere. Nowhere. We know where it was from. It was from the Lord. Yeah. But just so unexpected and

James: 10:54

He said, my prodigal son, I'm going to give you one more chance, one more chance. That's

10:59

a miracle. Just wow. That God was working behind the scenes again. That's just amazing.

James: 11:06

Again.

11:07

It reminds me of how Jonah's rebellion against the Lord and running away. And God knew that it was going to come to Jonah getting thrown in the ocean, and God had already been preparing a fish to be ready to come, because it wouldn't take him long and he'd drown. And God had worked it behind the scenes to get that fish ready. Exactly. Sounds like what he was doing, working behind the scenes, and you had no idea that he was going to save you and bring you out and

James: 11:31

Mike was my fish. Wow.

11:33

A big fish. Oh man, I can see the correlation.

James: 11:36

But, I just I didn't, I was in awe. I was in awe that, who is Mike and who is anybody? They don't know me. They don't, why would he give anybody give me a chance? The person I used to be, why would anybody, and God's like my prodigal son, I give you one more chance, one more chance, 777. He said, you've used up quite a few of them.

Phil: 11:56

God is so good.

James: 11:57

Absolutely. Absolutely. Blessed beyond all measure. But. I think it was a Wednesday morning and they said Sander, let's go. And I'm still not believing it. I'm not believing it.

12:09

You're just in shock.

James: 12:10

I'm thinking cause it's April, April, I think, I'm gonna get to the gate and I'm going like, April's fro, carry yourself back in there and sit down, but they get me out there, they put me on the van, carry me to the bus station to get on the bus. Take the bus to Columbus. Ain't never been to Columbus before. Ain't never been even close to here. I have no crew, no clue who Mike Krug is. I have no clue who the Columbus Baptist Association brother Don will, Jim Black don't know who any of them people. But on my lens, they turned out to be Wow. They turned out to be some of the best things that's ever happened to me. But I got on the bus, sitting at the bus station, and a lot of people don't believe me when I tell them this, but I believe there's angels that walk among us. And a lot of people don't believe me when I tell them what happened. But I was sitting at the bus station, and I couldn't get a hold of Mike because the counselor had given me the number to his fax machine. Oh no. So every time we tried to call it, it went to the fax machine. So I'm stuck at the bus station and I have no idea where the Beacon House is or what the Beacon House even is and everybody asks about it. Nobody knows. Even the bus station manager, he had tried. I'm just sitting there and here I am, I'm fixing to give up on everything and just take off, I'm out.

13:25

Oh no, that could have been bad. It

James: 13:27

could have been very bad. Very bad. All of a sudden, the door flung open. And guess who was standing there? Mike.

none (2): 13:35

At the bus stop.

James: 13:36

He come to the bus station and he pulled the door and he said, Are you looking for me? And I turned around. And what I saw when I looked at Mike, on everything, there was a halo above his head. Wow. Mike was, I don't want him to hear

13:56

that. Yeah. I don't know. It might not be good for me. I don't know if he should hear that. Yeah.

James: 14:01

But Mike is an angel among us. You know what the people believe about him. I don't know.

14:08

I'll see Mike this afternoon. I'm not sure how that'll resonate with the leadership team.

James: 14:12

But like I said Mike, when I got to the Beacon house, He told me, he said, it's the end of the month, money's tight don't have nothing. All we got is 25 in the budget. I was just glad to be out. I was just glad to sleep somewhere that I wasn't confined.

Phil: 14:30

Wow.

James: 14:31

But to make a long story short, about a week at the Beacon House, like I said, Mike was hard at first. He was really hard on us.

mixed: 14:39

Yeah.

James: 14:40

And he was real strict. It wasn't that he was hard, he was just by the book kind of guy. Yeah. He had rules he had to adhere to. And all that because of the Beacon House. But He came around. After a while, he came

14:51

around. He softened up a little bit. Yeah,

James: 14:53

he softened up a lot. A lot? Alright,

14:56

did you have something to do with that? Or was that just the Lord's doing?

James: 14:59

All of the above. I thank God worked through me to try to get that little stiffness out of him. But, I took advantage of everything that the Beacon House, the Columbus Association, just like when I was in prison. Yeah. You offered it, and I'm gonna benefit from it. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take advantage of it.

15:16

So they helped you with just maybe getting a job and everything. Worked on everything. Okay.

James: 15:21

Everything. If it wasn't for them three men in the Columbus Baptist Association, I wouldn't be here right now. Wow. I wouldn't be here right now. Wow. Wow. But. Mike gave me my first job, like I said, working with IMG. Yeah. Wasn't making minimum wage. 7. 25 an hour then. It wasn't but about three weeks, I jumped up to 10 an hour because I was giving it my all, my 100%. I'm gonna make it or it's gonna kill me, one or the other. I'm gonna take advantage of this opportunity. I'm not gonna let the people down that helped me and I'm not gonna let him down again.

15:55

That is that is another truth. In illustration that you've given this just the fact that you really stood out it sounds like from the other workers and just your diligence your dedication giving it your best and That's noticed. I mean I've managed people and there's a difference when someone You can tell they're giving their all, and you can tell when they're not.

James: 16:21

Yeah, you've got to. You've got to. If you want something, you're going to get out of it what you put in it. That's

16:26

great. That's great. Wow. Praise the Lord. So that bump up to 10 an hour in about three weeks. And then what, so things kept on, keep

James: 16:34

going. It just kept going. It just kept getting better. And I kept thinking back on that. One more now. One more. Don't mess this one up. Wow. I'm going to open this door for you, don't mess this one up. Wow. Like I said, I went from making minimum wage, 7. 25 to three weeks, making 10 an hour. Now what? I'm saving every dime I can.

16:54

That's good.

James: 16:55

Mike actually walked into my room and was like, James, you can't have this kind of money laying around. You can't do, you got to open a bank account. I can't be responsible for that. Ain't nobody going to bother just laying around there? And, not bragging or nothing, there's 3, 000 laying there that I've saved up. I'm eating bologna sandwiches. I don't go out and eat. I don't do nothing. Everybody's talking about, Oh, I'm going to go here. I'm going to get me this. I'm going to do that. No, I'm not. I'm going to try to You were really

17:21

thinking ahead and trying to, yeah.

James: 17:23

I had to, I had to make the best of this chance that I was given. I had to, because like I said God had many times opened the door for me and me and my ways kick it shut.

mixed: 17:38

Yeah.

James: 17:38

I couldn't do it again. I couldn't do it again. Wow. Because a lot of people don't believe me when I tell them this. God will smite you. He will smite you. People go, oh, he's not, no, he won't. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

17:51

I have I felt the chastening of the Lord when I was not in line where I needed to be.

James: 17:56

You will. It's

17:57

no fun.

James: 17:58

You will. You'll look at me and you'll be like, why me? I'm

17:59

thankful that His mercy and His grace Abundantly outweighs his judgment and wrath a thousand times over,

James: 18:06

but

18:07

it's still there. It is there. Like in the end. That's what hell is. If you just reject his grace and his mercy for your whole life and you don't receive Jesus as your savior, you have to experience his wrath. So how long was it before so you're at the beacon house. How long was it before? You were introduced to Safe House Ministries and the Beacon House became a part of Safe House Ministries.

James: 18:33

For one, I wanted to give back. Yeah. If you do something for me, I'm going to be twice for you. Because I, I've got to, I've got to pay my tithes. Even, to me, tithes is not only to a church, tithes is to the ones that help me. If you help me, I'm going to help you.

mixed: 18:47

Yeah.

James: 18:48

If you help me, I'm going to help you twice. But, Jimmy Blanton, Don Wilhite and all them, they're associated with Safe House. So they're in and out of the Beacon House, so you pretty much will meet them and but starting pretty much well then, I've got over 780 hours of volunteer service for the Safe House Ministries to date, just to try to give back. Because they helped me, I've got to help them. But let me tell you, let me tell you this little story you're talking about. The seven minimum wage to the ten.

mixed: 19:22

Yeah.

James: 19:23

Remember I told you I got my electrician certification when I was in prison? While I was working and I told Mike, I said, Mike, I thank you and I appreciate this job, but this is not what I'm about. I did this in prison so I could do this, because I knew the pay was going to be different. He said, I understand, I completely understand. He said, this is just to get you, help you get to where you need to be. I went and applied for three different electrical companies. About a month into it, one of them called me. And they said, is there any way you can come in for an interview? I was like, yeah, sure, I'll come in. And I told Mike, I need to go to this interview. And he said, I completely understand. I completely understand, go to the interview. They said can you start tomorrow? I said, I need to work out a two week notice, with a job I'm working on now. They said we appreciate your loyalty and all that, but the position may not be open. So I called Mike, talked to Mike, he called Mr. Waller and talked to Mr. Waller about it and they said, sure, no hard feelings.

20:23

Wow. That was, that's good. It's good that you were up front and communicating and it's good that they showed grace and understood that they cared about you. It's, that's the reality. Yeah. They, it's, they cared about you. If they didn't care about you they'd had a different response, but that's good. That's encouraging.

James: 20:41

But it's all the doors that was open. And I told you, 725 to 10. 18. Wow. Within two months. Wow. Within two months. Just wow. Excuse me. Another avenue for Columbus Baptist Association safe house. All of it together. Mike says. You was in business for yourself at one point in time, right? I was like, yeah, but that wasn't a good time. That's when I was doing drugs. I was working more so I could buy more drugs, so I could work more, so I could buy more drugs and all that. He said we'll help you get your LLC if you would like to try it again. I'm working for Rich Electric then. Miss Bessie, she knowed about my past. She knew about everything and I explained it to her, was honest with her. She said, We'll give you a chance. And she's the one that gave me my first electrical job in Columbus after I got out of prison. But Mike and Safe House and Columbus Pipes Associates helped me get my LLC, my business license, and I started JLS Superior Interiors. And started my own business.

Phil: 21:44

Wow.

James: 21:45

So now, I'm an electrician and I'm the owner, sole owner of JLS Superior Residential Interior.

Phil: 21:53

Wow, that's awesome.

21:54

So now, and you were still at the shelter at that time. Okay, and started your business up and just. Continuing to grow and save and

James: 22:03

right. And then Mike told me one day, he said, look, you got to get out of here. We need to free up some space for somebody else who needs it. That's basically what he said.

22:14

You're doing good. Keep on going. Let's get somebody else in here to help.

James: 22:17

That's exactly what he said. He said, you can pay rent now. We, you got to go.

22:22

That sounds, that's the plan. That's the goal.

James: 22:24

That is exactly what it was. Mike said, you exceeded all of our expectations. You're good to go. Bye and it was a blessing. Like I said, he said that one more and he just poured it out and poured it out and poured it out and poured it out on me. Beyond all measure

22:37

And that is the end of part two of James's story. James started with 140 year prison sentence and how amazing the providence and the working of God. That brought that down to only 22 and a half years. And during that time, used his time in prison to rebuild and remake his life, and the Lord got a hold of James' heart. I love how he talks about. That class that he took when his eyes were opened and he realized, just like that story, when the demon was cast out of the possessed individual in the gospels. And the Bible describes that the heart was swept clean, but nothing came in to fill it. And then even worse, demons came in. James describes how he came to the realization in his own life. That he needed to replace the emptiness with something good, and I love. That his relationship with Jesus was rebuilt and reborn. Next week he's gonna talk even more about his relationship with Jesus. He's gonna also talk about his relationship with his children, and he's gonna share some really, really amazing and insightful wisdom that will be a help to anyone out there who might be dealing with addiction. But also a help to anyone out there who may have some loved ones or friends that are dealing with addiction and can learn how to be a better help to them. God bless you, and we look forward to being with you again next week.

Phil Shuler: 24:12

We look forward to being with you again next week as we share another testimony about the power and the goodness of God to change lives through Safe House Ministries. if you are someone listening to this podcast that loves to hear these stories of the great things that God is doing in changing people's lives for the better, and if you would like to be a part of that work, please reach out to us You can reach us at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus, Georgia, 31,904. You can call us at seven oh six three two two. 3 7, 7 3, or you can email us at info@safehouse-ministries.com.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-2: 24:50

Thank you so much for being with us this week for the renew restore and rejoice podcast of safe house ministries, we pray that God will bless you this week. And we look forward to having you back with us again next week for a new episode.