Praying for a Changed Life

As the Regional Director for Prison Fellowship Australia in the Central Queensland area, Sam Betros regularly speaks to prisoners about Christ’s transforming love.  To look into his kind eyes and hear him talk about helping others, no one would guess that this 73-year-old man has a past that was mired in gambling, addiction, theft, depression and more than 40 years of prison.

His path to a life of crime and imprisonment began early in his life.  Frequently caught trespassing, stealing from unattended newspaper stands and shops, and running away from home, his parents put him in a training school for uncontrollable boys.  Unfortunately the school administration was corrupt and the children were abused and exploited.  “I called it, ‘the Boys Training School from Hell,’” Sam says.

Growing up in this environment, Sam’s crimes against the community only increased as he got older.  “I always felt justified in committing crimes,” he says.  “I never ever thought of the hardships, life threatening situations or ruinous circumstances that I left in the wake of my crimes.”

He was only 16 years old when he was sentenced to prison for stealing a car.  And so began a life spent in and out of prison, with each sentence getting longer, until the day he was released at the age of 55.  Feeling aimless and worthless, his depression had again set-in and he began to think that death was his only escape from a life with no meaning.  He walked to the centre of a long bridge with the intention of jumping off.  “I felt I had reached my limit and I just did not want to live anymore,” he recalls.  But just as he stepped over the guardrail of the bridge and prepared to jump, he was startled by a car horn and looked up to see a large sign on a building reading: “JESUS IS THE WAY.”  The words resonated with him, so he stepped back over the guardrail and headed in the direction of the sign.  The sign was on a local coffee shop, so Sam went inside and was seated in a booth near a bookstand that contained various books and journals including a Bible.  He reached out, picked-up the Bible and began to read. 

That moment was a turning point in Sam’s life.  He began attending church, admitted his outstanding crimes to the police and set about to change his life for the better by becoming a follower of Christ.  Sam is thankful for the miraculous way that God touched his life and he is especially grateful for all those who had prayed for him while he was in prison, especially the staff and volunteers of PF Australia in Queensland.  “Many times they had helped me upon my release,” he says, “and time after time I failed their expectations of me.  But they never gave up on me and kept on giving me opportunity after opportunity.”

The more Sam learned to follow Christ, the more his life changed for the better.  “The effect that Christ’s power has had upon me has released me from every psychotic disorder that had governed my life, in the areas of compulsive gambling, smoking, criminality and manic depression,” notes Sam.  He even seemed to undergo a physical transformation to many that knew him.  “The difference in him now is an inspiration to all who minister to inmates,” says Martin Howard, of PF Australia, “a physical release is now visible on his face, and his eyes have become open and loving.”

After working with his local church for many years, Sam decided to follow his passion for helping and speaking to prisoners.  He joined Prison Fellowship in Queensland as an accredited volunteer in 2000 and was appointed as a Regional Director for PF Australia’s Central Queensland Region in 2001.  In this capacity he works with two chaplains and a support group at the Capricornia Correctional Centre.  “His service [with PF] has always been an encouragement to our leaders,” Martin says. 

PF Australia helped Sam spread his message by publishing his book, Broken Chains, which he gives away to prisoners.  And it has become a very popular book on the shelves of prison libraries.  “Sam loves to tell his story of God’s redeeming work in his life,” says Jan Davis, PF Australia Administrator in the Queensland office.  “He is walking proof that God can change anyone.”