Changing Course

The Lord Jesus promises to us freedom from the soul. Though imprisoned by our sin, a relationship with Christ can unlock the doors to love, joy, and peace through Him. 2nd Corinthians 3 reminds us of the promise of freedom that the Lord has come to give us:
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

John Robert Hill Jr. was in prison for a litany of offenses, as CBN.com relates, "for hit-and-run charges, gun charges, and narcotics possession."  Hill went to prison in 2018, and his wild life, documented publicly, caught up to him.  The article states:

...he turned his reckless behavior of vandalism, theft, and robbery as a teen into a budding social media gig that boasted five million followers at the time.

"All you got to do to make this much money is to be a fool and act reckless...I could do that," he recalled. "I started being a nut."

The article says that his "...content of vandalism, robbing stores, and jumping on people's cars began to go viral, granting him fame and recognition among celebrities, but it also led him to a dark place."

Hill shared these comments with the God Behind Bars podcast.  He is better known these days as Holy Gabbana, and he discovered true freedom even while in prison. The article goes on to say:

His cellmate, Joshua, he asked Gabbana a simple question when they first met.

"He was like, 'Do you believe in Jesus?' I'm like, 'Yeah.' For that man to ask me, do I believe in Jesus? That lets me know that God was always thinking about me. Anybody else could have been my cellmate," he shared. "In that moment, God reached me through my cellmate."

He continued, "When I went to jail, Jesus wasn't on my mind, because to be honest. I wasn't thinking about Jesus when I went to jail. You may not be thinking about Jesus, but he is thinking about you. But God was literally setting me up so I could have an encounter with him."

Gabbana says his cellmate began to minister to him and show him the love of God.

"In jail, I encountered Jesus," he told God Behind Bars. "A lot of people they don't understand that God speaks through people... in that moment God reached me through my cellmate."

CBN reports that Holy Gabbana "said his life has completely turned around in the last several years. He now preaches the Gospel in prisons, juvenile detention centers, schools, and colleges." He relates, "I'm not dependent on drugs anymore. I've been sober for four years now. I don't even have a desire to get back on drugs or anything. The emptiness that I was feeling, the void that was within me could only be filled by Jesus..." The article notes that, "He also raps to share about the love of Jesus Christ."

Here is a young man, still only 27 years old, who has experienced so much out of life - much of it not good.  But, he has experienced the power of God in his life and has been radically saved.  He was physically incarcerated, but his soul was in jail, as well.  The presence of Jesus for Holy Gabbana, as for us, will totally change our lives and set us free.

He demonstrates Romans 1:16 - he is not ashamed to share about what Jesus has done for him. And, neither should we be ashamed or hesitant to tell our story. If we have been saved, born again, God has changed the course of our stories and is continuing to write an incredible testimony of His faithfulness - that's our story; as it's been said, no one can take it away, and we can be devoted to telling what Jesus has done for us - how He has brought us from death to life, from darkness to light.