Coal Miner’s Son

        As Roy stated earlier, after he accepted Christ, he began to have a passion for witnessing for Christ and leading others to Him. There have been many opportunities for Roy to do that, but there are some that were in a nearby correctional institution that he would like to tell about to show how God works and to give Him the glory.
        In December of 1990, Roy went to the correctional institution with a group to have a Christmas program for the inmates. The program included choral groups going to the different dormitories to sing for the inmates and then to the chapel for services and refreshments. After this experience, Roy volunteered as a volunteer chaplain until 2014, and the following experiences are from the correctional institution. One experience is about Cunard who was an inmate in the correctional institution, and he gave Roy permission to write about this. Roy must start from the beginning to show how God works. This started on Easter Sunday in 1994. A lady who was a nurse at a Cancer Center in Louisville was in a Sunday school class and requested prayer for a twenty-three-old young man in the reformatory who had visited the cancer center and had terminal testicular cancer. She wanted to know if anyone knew someone who might go see him. There was a lady, Sarah, whose husband, Jim, went into K. S. R. every Thursday with a group of men as volunteer chaplains for services. The nurse gave Conrad’s name to Paul’s wife.
        That following Thursday evening, Jim and Roy received permission to visit Cunrad because he was in the medical part of the facility and would not be coming to the chapel program. Jim asked Cunrad, “Are you saved?”
        He replied, “Yes.” Also, he had a Bible that another volunteer had given him. They chatted with him for a few minutes and then, proceeded to the chapel.
        Roy volunteered in the chapel during the day on Wednesday and would stop by to see Cunrad on the way to the chapel. He always told Roy that he was saved. Then on one visit he told Roy that he had never accepted Christ and was not saved. When Roy asked him why he had told them that he was saved, his reply was, “Someone was coming through the unit giving away Bibles and I wanted one. So I told him that I was saved so that he would give me one.”
        Roy asked him if he thought about asking Christ into his life. He replied, “I’m just not ready, yet.”
        As time went on, Roy would stop to see how he was getting along. When Roy asked him if he thought any more about getting saved, his answer was always the same,
“I’m just not ready, yet, but I don’t want to die in prison.” Roy thought, but didn’t say to him if you accept Christ you’ll get out of prison.
        The day after Christmas, when Roy went into the institution, the fog was so thick that the men were on lock down which meant they could not go out on the yard. Roy thought that he would stop and see Cunrad. During the course of conversation Roy told him that his brother, Claude, had terminal cancer and that the family did not know how much to tell him. Cunrad came back with, “They ought to tell him everything. The doctors told me last May that I only had about a year to live.”
        Roy said to him, “You have known all this time that you have only a short time to live, and you are not ready to accept the Lord.”
        Cunrad replied, “I’m just not ready, yet.” The conversation continued and he told Roy that he wanted to see a psychiatrist, but “they” would not let him see one. When Roy asked him why he wanted to see a psychiatrist, he said that he was being bothered by the situation and he wanted some peace. Roy replied “Cunrad, I do believe in psychiatric help, but the peace that you are seeking will not come from a psychiatrist. The peace that you are wanting will only come when you accept Christ as your savior come when you accept Christ as your savior.”
        He replied again, “Roy, I’m just not ready.” By this time the yard had opened up, and after Roy prayed for him, he continued to the chapel.
        One afternoon, two weeks later, the chaplain from the institution called Roy and told him that Cunrad was in the hospital and was very serious because the family had been called in for a bedside visit. He went on to say that when this happened that the person was not expected to live much longer. He said, “Roy, I know that you have been working with him and might want to visit him. When Roy went to visit him the next day, Cunrad said that he had something to work out before he would accept Christ and asked him if he could come back the next day.