For Sale

The pressure was strong. His sales pitch was impressive and tempting, yet I kept declining.

"Come on!" he was upping the ante, "I'll make it three and you choose the day."

I hesitated because the offer was great, but in the end I declined it, too.

Using the shower only happens three times a week in Ad Seg (the Hole). Although the showers are filthy, a full head-to-toes cleansing makes a big difference, both physically and emotionally. Plus, the shower is the only place we are issued razors in Ad Seg, making showers indispensable.

The officers who run the Hole have to work very hard, physically, whether they like it or not. Anything and everything an inmate would do for himself in an ordinary facility has to be done by the officers in here. And because there are over 100 cells and three tiers, the officers do a whole lot of walking and stair-climbing. I can only imagine how exhausting this gets over the course of an eight-hour shift. What amazes me is how they do it for 16 hours.

For some reason I can't figure out, some officers work overtime. Working overtime in a regular facility is easier because the inmates are assigned the heavy work. But in the Hole, the officer has to work hard, and do it for two shifts. The physical toll taken on these officers is easily seen in their body language.

One officer who works a lot of overtime had been given the "shower patrol." This meant cuffing, escorting, uncuffing, and issuing razors, all while juggling three showers at once. The job is taxing and frustrating. So to avoid the work, this officer resorted to his sales pitch. Making use of the kitchen, he grabbed sack lunches and began going cell-to-cell.

"Anyone wants to sell their shower time for a lunch, let me know," he said, as he walked the tiers slowly, showing the prize. He knew food was hard to resist for those of us in the Hole, since we don't have access to any extras.

I began to hear the cries of "Me!" and as he passed that cell he would drop a sack or two into the tray slot. Then noting the relinquishing of the shower on that day by that inmate on a piece of paper, he continued his rounds.

I heard a lot of tray slots open and close, so I knew his sales were up that day. His reserve of energy was safe, since he had protected it by trading lunches for showers. The tone in his voice grew more cheerful as he got closer to my cell. But unknown to him, I had already decided that I would not sell, no matter what the price.

By the sound of his jangling keys I knew he was close, so I picked up something to read. I was hoping to avoid eye contact so he would not try to convince me. But I was played. I thought I had heard his keys pass by, so I waited a few seconds before looking up, sure that I was safe. And there he was, standing at my door. With a used-car salesman's cheesy smile, lunch sacks in hand, he stood there looking. I almost yelled, thinking he was the clown from the "It" movie, but I didn't.

"I'm good," I said before he could ask. "I need a shower and a shave."

"I'll give you two," he offered as he held two sacks up to the window.

"No, I'm good." Not only did I want a shower and shave, I also didn't particularly like the content of that day's lunch sack, and somehow he knew that.

"C'mon," he protested. Then opening his eyes wide with a new idea, he decided to up the value and change when I would receive the sacks. "I'll make it three and you choose the day." His pitch was getting interesting. Saturday's lunches always included fruit. But then again, Sunday's always had meat and cheese that weren't of mysterious content, as they often were on other days. His offer not only piqued my interest, but also my stomach's. I knew in the end, though, I couldn't sell.

"Make it five lunches on Sunday," I bluffed.

"Too rich for me," he said as he walked away, still offering lunch sacks for showers to the other cells.

This world, the one you and I live in, has plenty to offer. As Christians, we are given the grace and freedom to enjoy life's pleasures. But not everything is beneficial to our lives-and those are the things that are most tempting.

How many times has life offered you something that is not particularly wrong, but it's not something you should participate in? Small choices that don't seem to make much of an impact are always in front of us, tempting us, but if we make the wrong choices consistently eventually we will be numb to what is right. No alcoholic becomes one with the first drink. No affair exists that didn't begin with small incidents of flirting. We do not become unhealthy with one bag of candy, but with months and years of unhealthy eating choices.

Not going to church one day, or not reading the Word one morning, or not praying one night before bed, will never cause your relationship with God to fail. It's a slow, ever-increasing pattern of choices that slowly make us cold, away from the warmth of God's love.

It's really easy to buy into what this world offers. I admit it, the world's pleasures are tempting; but most of those pleasures will lead us away from our calling in Christ.

Yeshua was offered the world, by the great tempter himself, Satan, yet He refused all offers. His purpose in coming to earth would not be thwarted. None of us will ever be called to do what Jesus was called to do-to die to save the world from sin-but we each have a calling from God.

The pressure to sell out is great, but the Power within us is greater still. Don't let temptation rob you of your high calling, because in the end you will end up unshowered and hairy.

Be wise-don't sell out.

This was authored by Adrian, who is incarcerated at California Institution

for Men. Enjoy more at https:thewallstalkstories.wordpress.com