Footprints in the Sand

*As with most of his posts, this is a week behind, Brandon wrote this last Saturday right before he left on a fire Sunday morning.*

On September 1, I am hitting a major milestone-I will be eligible to submit paperwork to be moved to a halfway house. There are 25 or 30 halfway houses in Colorado and the one that I am applying for is located about 10 miles from our home and only about three miles from my office. 

Halfway houses are still ran by the Department of Corrections but they are meant to help prisoners "reintegrate" back into their respective communities. For me, the halfway houses offers some huge advantages-

1-I will be closer to my wife and kids and I'll get to spend significantly more time them.

2-I will be able to return to work at Spartan.

3-I'll have other privileges like attending my Church, the gym, and my kids' sporting and other events.

4-I'll no longer be in "prison" as we know it.

From a psychological standpoint, I'm trying to remain focused and not get "trunky". There is no mandate or guarantee that I will be moved. If I get denied, I won't be able to reapply for six months so Sallie and I are tempering our excitement. There are a lot of factors that go into being accepted and I tick the box for the major ones.
No prior history, good ties to the community, family support etc...but as I eluded to in previous posts, from the beginning my case has never been typical. Needless to say, that first week in September is a ray of hope for me and my family-we would appreciate any extra prayers you all could muster on our behalf.

For some reason these past few days I've been thinking a lot about my first couple of weeks in the prison system. Those were the darkest, scariest and most challenging days of my life. Being locked in a 8'x10' cell 24 hours a day with little to no human interaction was nearly unbearable-there were definitely times when I didn't think I could survive. 

As humans, we tend to block out so many things when we go through a traumatic experience. I know I had to block out so much of the environment-I had to go on autopilot, survival mode, if you will. But the further removed I've gotten from those hellish weeks, bits and pieces of memories have come flooding back to me-and some of them are really good.

I remembered that just a few hours after I was sentenced, I was being held at the Weld County Jail in a holding cell with 10 other people. I was kept in that cell for about seven hours. While I was in there, I met a kid named Joseph who was on his way back to prison for the 4th time. At the time, I was so scared of so many things-everything that I knew about prison was what I had seen on TV-and it was terrifying. I had forgotten that Joseph and I spent most of that first day talking about what I could expect. He answered so many questions that I had and really helped me understand what I was getting into. I had completely forgotten about Joseph until this week-he was a Godsend.

When I first arrived at the prison processing facility, it was terrifying. When I arrived, I had nothing, not even a toothbrush. I was classified as "indigent". Now, I found myself in the situation not because I didn't have any money-I just couldn't have access to it for 10 days. All I was issued by the state was a bedroll and toilet paper. I was locked up in Pod3-the maximum security are because of a flu lock down. Every single inmate in my area was a gang member, most with tattooed faces. I knew I needed at least a toothbrush and deodorant-but also knew I shouldn't expect any help from any of those guys. How wrong I was.

One kid-maybe 22 years old named Garry-a black kid who had spent most of his life on the streets saw that I had nothing-offered me a new stick of deodorant. I can remember thinking there was a catch-there was not. I didn't have to join his gang or owe him in return-it was just pure graciousness. After 5 or 6 days, I had everything I needed-all from complete strangers that I didn't even know a few days earlier. I wish I could remember the names of all of those hardened criminals who helped me out when I needed it most-I'd love to repay them or at least thank them again knowing how long I assume, it took them to save up and buy for themselves.

Sometimes I think that during our hardest, knee buckling trials God is pouring out blessings on us; but we are so immersed in the trial itself that it is hard to see it. I am so thankful that I remembered this week what God did for me back in those dark days-it completely reminded me of the poem Footprints in the Sand -

One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

Photo courtesy of Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office


Brandon Stephens, Weld County Jail, Wood Group, Sentenced, 5 Years, Prison, NFL, DRDC, Rifle Correctional Center, Colorado Department of Corrections, Jail, Judge Quammen, Steve Wrenn, Weld County, Executive, Oil, Gas, White Collar, Wood, BYU, Masters Degree, Colorado State University, SWIFT, Firefighter, Wildland, Sawyer, Fire, Inmate, Brandon Stokey, Miracles, Centennial Community Correctional Center, Delta Correctional Center, DRDC, Denver Diagnostic and Reception Center, Felony, Sallie Stephens, Greeley Tribune, Judge Thomas Quammen, DA Steve Wrenn, Weld County Court, Oil & Gas,. Halfway House, Centennial Community Correction Center, CCTC, Felon, 416 Fire, Silver Creek Fire, Spring Fire, Cabin Lake Fire