Chuck Colson died Saturday. I first heard his name when I was 14 years old. President Nixon was running for a second term in 1972 and it was the first time I had paid a lot of attention to the whole process. I watched both national conventions on TV that summer. The Watergate scandal was just beginning and it would consume the news the next two years. Colson, Dean, Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Liddy, Magruder, and others would become household names. Nixon would resign and President Ford would later pardon him. My high school civics teacher, Mr. Ison, stated in class one day that he used to begin the semester with a lecture on lady justice treating all citizens equally…blind to rank and status. But after President Ford pardoned Nixon, he could no longer give that speech. The negative impact of Watergate cannot be overstated.

Chuck Colson was one of the characters whose actions helped a paranoid President damage the Presidency and the American spirit. He was reviled by many for his dirty tricks and ruthless politics. As special counsel to President Nixon, he made his own illegal choices that landed him in prison.

Yet it was another choice he made that would change his life and the lives of thousands who live on the fringe of society. He chose Jesus at the lowest point in his life. Colson would later say, “I shudder to think of what I’d been if I had not gone to prison.”

The Prison Fellowship Ministries he started in 1976 has helped thousands of inmates and their families in practical and spiritual ways for the past 35 years. Royalties from his 20 books went to this ministry, as did the one million dollar prize for winning for the prestigious Templeton Prize in 1993. He had many offers that would have made him a lot of money when he got out of prison, but he chose ministry.

Perhaps the best summation of the two halves of his life was stated by Michael Cromartie, Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center: “He played political hardball for keeps. He was ruthless. He wanted to win at all costs and he had a reputation as a person who wanted to win at all costs … I think if he’s going to be remembered for anything, he’s going to be remembered as a person who had a complete turnaround in his life.”

When it became know that Chuck Colson had become a born-again Christian, most people in Washington were skeptical. The Boston Golbe wrote sarcastically in 1973, “If Mr. Colson can repent of his sins, there just has to be hope for everyone.” What the Globe editors did not realize is that they were right: anyone can repent and there is hope for everyone. Chuck Colson is one example of this truth. There are other examples all around us. Perhaps it would do us all some good to remember this truth when we think about the lost people in our lives. There really is hope for everyone. Don’t give up! Continue to pray for them, to witness to them, and to invite them to church. There is still hope.

Pastor Steve Hogg