Date: 7/29/2008
<br>Author: Devin Pickard
<br>Title: Doing Right Time
<br><br>What accomplishments are you most proud of?  I dare say that a majority of us would list many of the same things.....high school / college graduation....various civic and /or work related awards / honors....being successful in the business world....raising a fine family.....etc.   We would all probably list those events of our lives that would be considered reputation builders and enhancers.....not those things that tarnished or tore down that which takes so long to build.  But as is the case with most everything in life, there are a few exceptions to every rule.  This past Sunday during the local jail ministry worship service, I identified two names associated with those few exceptions.....James Hassell and Bob McDonald.<br><br>James and Bob will both tell you very candidly that much of their past was lived on the wrong side of the law.  Back in the day, Hickman County was known as “Keg County” primarily because of folks like Mr. James.  He spent much of his time cruising the endless back roads of this fine providence with one eye on his trunk full of crystal clear elixir and the other eye on his rear view mirror looking out for the men in blue.  Needless to say, when James made large purchases of sugar, most folks in these parts knew that he wasn't making sweet tea or baking a cake.  They also knew that when he used the word “mash”, that it didn't have a thing to do with cooking potatoes.  The many adventures in the life of James Hassell landed him incarcerated on more than one occasion.  James says that many times his lifestyle landed him in places where he didn't need to be with people that he didn't need to be with.  He will honestly tell you that much of the reason for his boot-legging was to help support his family in very difficult financial times....but he will also tell you with a straight face that he still knew it was wrong....that it was against the law....and that when he got caught....and caught....and caught....that he deserved exactly the punishment that was handed out to him.   <br><br>Much like Mr. Hassell, there was a time when Bob McDonald was as well known around these parts as was Minnie Pearl, but of course for far more different reasons than for being from Grinders Switch or wearing a hat with a price tag on it.  Bob will tell you that he had every possible advantage growing up.  He was reared by the finest people around in Mr. Mac and Mrs. Mable and had two of the best brothers anyone could possibly ask for.  The McDonald family owned a flourishing funeral home business and were fully involved in every possible activity at the Centerville Church of Christ.  And yet, even though the world could have been his oyster, through a series of different events, Bob's life quickly spiraled out of control.  In Bob's own words, his life became consumed with two things and two things only....drinking and “drugging”. For years, Bob was in and out of trouble on a regular basis.  He had help offered to him from every imaginable source but rejected it all.  Sure, like most addicts, Bob had brief moments of sobriety....but if you blinked twice they were quickly gone.  Bob says that for whatever reason, the light in his head finally came on a few years ago during his time spent in the Arkansas penal system, and since his release, he has been a different Bob than what most folks remember from days gone by.  <br><br>James Hassell and Bob McDonald are two of the finest brothers in Christ that anyone could ever have.  They both are very aware of how their past sticks to them like glue....and I am not so sure that they would want it any other way.  That is certainly not to say that God hasn't long since forgiven their mistakes of days long gone by, because he has.  But, it is because of their past that these men are so willingly accepted by those who are being ministered to on “the other side of the lock”.  It is amazing to watch them interact with those who are wearing the same orange clothes that used to hang on their backs.  These two men understand what it is to be identified with a number rather than a name.  They have had their meals slid to them through an opening in a cell door and have had their contact with those on the outside limited to just a few minutes a week.  Honors and awards are of no concern to those who are rendering their debt to society.  The fact that someone wore the same type orange, shoe-string less shoes holds a whole lot more weight than having had your picture in the paper shaking a dignitary's hand.  James and Bob have lived the live of the prodigal....they know what it is to leave and what it is to come back home.  Their mission is now to show others how they can find their own way back home....via the smell of the cooking fatted calf.<br><br>Go the extra mile - Devin