Rusty Spigot, Dirty Water: An Introspective Journey for the Offender

By Michael Farlin

Rusty Spigot ... Dirty Water is inspirational ... inspiring and provocative: Brutally honest. The Author's "been there done that, what's next." He tells you in no uncertain terms, it's from Prison to the Pulpit. His message ... needful. His witness ... eternal.

-Dr. R. T. Linn, Associate Pastor, Alliance Bible Church, Tucson, Arizona

This courageous biographic discussion pulls out the stops and reveals the hidden tugs, pushes, self-doubts and spiritual triumphs of one mans transition from hopelessness to true freedom.

-Darrell Broaddus, Ph.D., M.Div., Administrative Segregation Unit, CDC-R Tehachapi, CA

A wonderful disclosure of tales from the inside as told from the outside. Pastor Mike takes us on an autobiographical journey through some of the darker days of his life and into Gods illuminating presence. He creatively tells his story of how Gods work of love guided him through some of lifes toughest lessons from inside prison and through the years since his release. He shares his experience with the hope that those who are incarcerated can see through their current situation honestly and seek Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490822198

Michael Farlin

Michael Farlin was born in a small Midwestern town where he grew up and graduated high school. At an early age he found himself in the grips of a destructive addiction to drugs and alcohol. He has successfully navigated life in freedom to become a pastor. Now after decades clean and free, he shares his story of hope for those incarcerated. He is married and currently pastors and lives in Tucson, Arizona.

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Copyright © 2014 Michael Farlin.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2220-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2221-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2219-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014900289

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/13/2014

Contents

To Chaplains And Staff

Acknowledgements

Forward

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One In The Beginning

Chapter Two Fixing The Beginning

Chapter Three Bill Of No-Goods

Chapter Four Retroactive

Chapter Five What’s In A Name?

Chapter Six Exception To The Criteria

Chapter Seven The Butterfly

Chapter Eight The Grapefruit

Chapter Nine Catching Milk

Chapter Ten Pain

Chapter Eleven Preparing

Chapter Twelve All About Him

TO CHAPLAINS AND STAFF

W ith this book I send my sincere thanks to all of you who have labored within the fences and walls of our nation’s institutions. I salute your resolve to be more than just a statutory requirement for our incarcerated populations. Maintain your faith and resolve and God will do the rest.

Prison populations have soared to staggering levels in the past thirty years. Those staffing our institutions are under more duress than ever. While my prayers are that the inmate populations will perhaps embrace these ideals, my prayers are also with those on staff who struggle each day to keep their own hearts in the right place. I pray this book will serve as a testimony that what you are doing for a living is not a waste of time.

To my wife, Cornise

When I told her at 3 AM one morning

I received a call to write this, she stated,

It’s about time!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all of those who have believed in me and prayed for me. There are many who helped financially as well. I want to thank all who educated me, worked with me, trusted me, saw my flaws and liked me anyway. To the congregation, I thank you for allowing me to be your servant. To my family, thank you. And to everyone…look what God did! He deserves all the honor and glory for the days I never knew He cared through and into the times I knew He was right next to me. And finally, to the South Pacific District and the Christian and Missionary Alliance, much t hanks!

FORWARD

A fter more than four decades in a variety of roles in criminal justice and rehabilitation enterprises, I am a bit jaundiced about prison conversions. I have known quite a few inmates; male and female, young and old, first-timers and lifers on a ten-at-a-time installment plan, and while this book was written by someone who found himself after being released, not while he was locked up, my skepticism was still pr esent.

I first met Pastor Mike when he was introduced to me as Mikey. That was in 1987 as he began the final seven years of his sentence. During those years he was a person whom I came to know well enough to place a degree of trust. He never disappointed. I felt his demonstrated personality was of the sort which could be successful in the free world. Obviously, I was correct.

He and I spent significant hours together discussing correctional theories in light of the changing political realities, including the advent of the for-profit prisons. I shared my career experiences working with male and female inmates ranging from diversion programs to probation and parole; even all the way to maximum security, condemned row and protective segregation. Pastor Mike seemed to be looking for any sort of commonality to understand and explain the ‘whys and how’s’ of success on the streets. Obviously there is none.

What I have learned is that different people, incarcerated or on the streets, arrive at their a-ha moment of change due to a variety of factors. Sometimes external events cause them to re-examine their lives. For others it is an internal awakening. And no matter the precipitation, the result is usually startling. It is as simple and perplexing as that.

Even while understanding correctional philosophy from political, social and economic perspectives, Pastor Mike has always harkened back to the individual’s responsibility for personal change. His insight reminded me of a carved wooden plaque on a southern, prison warden’s desk I had seen some years ago. It simply said, You Gotta Wanna. So while departments of corrections and others may provide educational, religious, substance abuse and socialization programs; and while some inmates may avail themselves to these opportunities, Mike knew and knows, it is the single person who commits to change who has the best chance of living successfully in the free world. When and where that commitment takes place is immaterial. That it takes place is vital.

This book is much more than a case study of personal triumph. Mike asks you to accompany him on his retrospective journey. Obviously painful to him at times, it is his hope that that his eye opening a-ha moment will cause you to reflect and consider what potential for change exists within you. He recognizes and addresses the fact that too many offenders continue to live through the rear view mirror of life and not through the windshield. They care more about things they cannot control like the past and where they have been, and not enough about shaping their future and where they are going. With this book, Pastor Mike is attempting to change that. He challenges the reader to define themselves in terms relevant to their tomorrows and not their yesterdays.

The questions posed at each chapter’s end are great places to start the process of examining what may be possible. But, Mike reminds us the value in the questions can only be realized through honesty. Personal change is