​Hello, my name is Brandon Lakes and I was blessed to help lead a group of Campbellsville University men to go and play basketball in prisons down south. Thinking back on how God worked within my life during that trip is truly amazing. It was day two of the trip, but the first prison we visited was on Sunday (visitation day for the inmates). As we waited in line, there was a sweet little girl who could not have been much older than 18 months, with her mother ready to go in and visit Daddy. I did not think much of it at the time because it was the first day, and I was ready to hoop (well, now that I am 39, READY may have been a little overstatement).

After playing the first basketball game, it was time to hit the staff cantina inside the prison, this is where the Lord started to move. I saw that same little girl visiting with her daddy, and my heart just dropped thinking about my children (who are 7, 4, and 2 years old) and how difficult it would be to have to see them only once a week if I were lucky. My heart broke for this family, but later, I did not think much of the situation.

Fast forward to Thursday, the 4th prison of the week we were visiting, during the 5th basketball game on the hottest day of the week, my 39-year-old body said I was done. I saw three gentlemen talking in the shade underneath a tree and thought to myself, that is a great place to sit and watch the rest of the game. Little did I know that the Lord had other plans. As I began to untie my shoes and make small talk with these three guys, one of them asked me what other prisons we had been to this week. As I began to talk about the other prisons, that little girl popped into my head, and I began to share the story of the first prison visit and how my heart broke for that father. Little did I know that the Lord was speaking right to one of these guys. After telling the story about that little girl, one of the guys began to open up about how he had not seen his kids in 5 years since he had been incarcerated. The guy began to tell me how that story really hit home and he keeps praying that he will be able to see his kids soon. He went into further detail about how he never goes out to “yard” anymore and normally stays in his dormitory, but something (aka God) nudged him to come out that afternoon because seeing and talking with me gave him encouragement. I was able to call one of the other basketball players from our team over as we began to pray for him and for God to open up doors to see his kids again. God works in so many different ways and puts people right where they need to be if we just allow Him to. I had no intentions of telling that story, I was just tired and looking for shade on a hot day. My challenge to you is what story/testimony has happened in your life that God is just waiting for you to “look for some shade” to place you in the right place at the right time to share. Gods glory!!!

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