“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” John 8:36 ESV
My first interaction with Clessio was at Christmas time, in 2009. We rolled up the rehab center excited to meet the the two young men who Mark & Lori had brought there. Bruno came out first, and what I saw was troubled and combative young man, unable to keep eye contact, who seemed to be really struggling with self. Then we met Clessio. What a difference. Clessio’s appearance and demeanor radiated one thing – peace. Complete and absolute peace. He walked toward us, his dog-eared bible in his hands, and and embraced Mark & Lori. He was quick to rattle off the newest scripture he had memorized, and as he showed us around, he talked genuinely about his struggles and sobriety. We wandered through the kitchen and the bunk room, and ambled over to workout area with its brake-drum free weights and antique exercise bike. We stopped in at the garden, and checked out the recycling center, all the while Clessio bubbled on about what he was discovering in God’s word.Clessio and his Bible in the Garden with Mark
My time with Clessio was short. It was time spent observing more with my eyes than with my ears, as we spoke brokenly, only through translators. I had this one overarching thought however, that summed up this genuine young man – this is a man who has found Christ.What else could explain it? How else could the prisoner be set so free? Surely not by the rehab – it was full of other men who were still consumed by sin and addiction. Still prisoners. Still captive. No, this boy had found Christ, and in him, not only life, but life more abundantly.
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