This week, the Taketime founder, Clive McKie, was awarded a Long Service Award for 20 years of service as a Prison Chaplain at his current establishment.
Clive served at HMP The Verne for six years before this as a sessional Prison Chaplain. His current role involves visiting the prison one day a week and one Sunday a month. He engages in pastoral work, leads worship and supports a number of Chaplaincy Courses such as Restorative Justice and Forgiveness as well as running a Taketime group for prisoners.
Clive developed Taketime from his work as a Prison Chaplain and it all began when Clive was trying to find a way to help an inmate to learn to pray in 2006.
Amazing, transformational encounters are continuing to happen at the prison and below is one of the latest stories from a prisoner:
“I’ve always known God and at 13 I committed my life by asking Jesus to be my guide and to walk this life with me.
Then, in my late teens and early adulthood the temptations of the world were on offer – drink, drugs, boys and I grabbed them all and didn’t look back. It was often said to me, “If there is a NO ENTRY sign, you will go down that road.”
I would still call out to Jesus when it went wrong, which it did more often than not. But this continued behaviour eventually led to me being imprisoned. I pleaded guilty and knew that I would be alone physically, mentally and emotionally.
In my first few months I was struggling with remorse, regret, fear, abandonment, loneliness and anxiety. These emotions bounce off the cell walls with nowhere to go and I realised that I needed help.
I went to the only place where I knew I wouldn’t find judgement – Chaplaincy, knowing that I needed to reconnect.
I was given a CD labelled, “Taketime Meditations,” and that night, struggling to sleep, I put on the CD. The voice, which was calm and gentle, invited me to have a conversation which was private and truthful. For me the conversation became a realisation that Jesus had never left me, he just waited and walked silently next to me throughout the years and it was me who had ignored his presence and not trusted him to be in control.
I recently renewed my commitment in a special service led by Chaplaincy. Even as I write this, I know it’s hard to completely let go when you’re so used to doing it your own way, but that’s why this new journey is so special. Even when I ask for answers and don’t hear Jesus, I understand that the teacher is always quiet during a test or exam.
I’ve had many traumas in my life, including an abusive father and partners, and cancer at the age of 45. The negative effect of these things has been too much for me to face alone. But using Taketime, I have been able to revisit the traumas, to walk back through them with Jesus by my side and to feel their destructive power over me diminish.
I can openly say that the support and blessing of Jesus came in the form of a simple CD and my willingness to listen to the answer to the question I asked.
Glory to my Saviour – I’m now walking in his path and it feels so much easier to breath.”
Anonymous
Congratulations Clive, for a total of 26 years of serving prisoners and prison staff.