SEIZING THE MOMENT!
August 1, 2025
Recently I completed the construction of a “hoosegow” or “calaboose” at my ranch to preserve some Texas history. A calaboose or hoosegow is simply a tiny jail designed to house prisoners for a short time. The same buildings were also referred to as pokeys, bastilles, lockups and holdovers. The small one-room buildings had no plumbing or heating and created an environment such that the guests would never want to return. The building at my ranch is constructed using rocks harvested from a location known as “Ranger Camp” at the YO Ranch. Ranger Camp was where Texas Rangers would camp with their prisoners enroute to a real jail in San Antonio or Austin many generations ago. We honor those men and women from the past and present who are dedicated to Texas justice without any excuses.
To ensure the feeling of an authentic jail I obtained some old, authentic, worn, black and white striped uniforms to display. I thought I needed a few more so I asked a friend, who is the chaplain for a local law enforcement community near my ranch, for help. Sure enough, he came through and the local sheriff donated some worn out uniforms. To get them, I agreed to attend a Sunday service at my friend’s small country church and get the uniforms after the service.
Typically, about 50 adults and 5-10 kids attend services at this church. Each Sunday as part of the worship service, the chaplain has the young children come up to the front of the sanctuary and he shares a quick message with them and solicits their participation by having them answer a few simple questions. If they are so inclined, he lets them share something with the congregation. What surprised me on the Sunday I went to get the uniforms was that the chaplain/pastor had one of the jail uniforms in his hand when he asked the kids to come forward. The kids came forward and the Pastor began to share the importance of doing right and forgiving someone who does wrong. Before he could say much, the kids started sharing their experiences with everyone. They knew what the uniform was and not only did one little girl identify it as a jail uniform, she described similar uniforms her family members had worn in jail. The pastor quickly turned the direction of the conversation. Before he could recover from this near mishap, a little boy started to share his personal experiences with his family and jail uniforms as well! It didn’t take long for the pastor to conclude his message of doing right and asking for or granting forgiveness.
For me, there were several learning experiences, some verbalized and some observed. We all are blessed to have opportunities in our daily lives to seize moments and make a positive difference in our service to others with God’s favor, especially when things don’t seem to be headed in the right direction!
Written by KING AEROSPACE Founder, Jerry Allan King-Echevarria.