He’s Serving LIFE in Prison… But His Sentence Doesn’t Define Him | God Behind Bars Podcast

“I TRIED EVERYTHING… EVERYTHING. IT’S NOT GONNA WORK.” Inside Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola Prison, Jake Bodine sits down with Charles Chandler for an honest conversation about PRISON, FATHERHOOD, FORGIVENESS, IDENTITY, and finding Jesus while serving a life sentence. Charles didn’t grow up believing his life would end up here. His parents served in the military, his family provided for him, and he openly admits that he made his life much harder than it needed to be. But growing up, Charles struggled with the absence of his father, who was working to provide for their family. As a kid, Charles didn’t understand the sacrifice. He only understood that everyone else’s dad seemed to be there and his wasn’t. That created a void. Charles says he tried money, drugs, women, acceptance, and life in the streets to fill it. Nothing worked. Eventually, his choices led him to Louisiana State Penitentiary with a life sentence. Inside Angola Prison, Charles began discovering something that completely changed how he saw himself. Instead of allowing the opinions of other people to determine his identity, he began asking a different question: WHO DOES GOD SAY I AM? Charles says experiencing the love of God changed everything. The void he had spent his entire life trying to fill finally made sense. But one of the most powerful parts of Charles’s story is what happened with his FAMILY. ❤️ For years, Charles carried resentment toward his father for not being there when he was young. Then Charles became a father himself. During a recent God Behind Bars Father Son event inside Angola Prison, Charles had an honest conversation with his own son about the years his incarceration had taken from their relationship. Charles told his son that if he was angry with him, he would understand. Instead, his son responded with grace. They cried, they prayed, and they talked about Jesus together. And through that conversation, Charles began seeing his relationship with his own father differently. The father he once resented had actually been sacrificing to provide for him. Now, as a father himself, Charles could finally understand. ❤️ In this episode of the God Behind Bars Podcast, Jake Bodine and Charles talk about growing up with resentment, selling drugs, receiving a life sentence, losing yourself inside prison culture, people pleasing, finding your identity in Christ, experiencing the love of God, forgiving your father, asking your children for forgiveness, and discovering purpose while incarcerated. Charles calls Angola the “home of a million masks.” After years of changing himself to fit the people around him, he says he finally discovered who he really is through Jesus. “I have to replace the opinions of other people with… Who does God think I am? Who does God say I am?” Charles is still serving his sentence, but his sentence no longer gets to define his identity. His past doesn’t get to define him. Other people don’t get to define him. Jesus does. ❤️ 🎙️ EPISODE CHAPTERS 00:00 Charles Chandler Inside Angola Prison 00:30 Growing Up With a Father Who Wasn’t There 02:33 Trying to Fill the Void With Money, Drugs, and Women 03:27 Choosing Life in the Streets 04:08 Receiving a Life Sentence 04:43 “Don’t Let That Place Change You” 06:20 Angola, The “Home of a Million Masks” 07:27 Finding His Identity in Jesus 10:01 Charles Realizes He Isn’t Being Himself 10:53 The Verse That Changed His Life 12:27 “Why Did I Have to Walk Through Hell to Find Heaven?” 13:30 Believing in Jesus Like the Easter Bunny 15:01 What Charles Would Say to His Father Today 16:12 The Angola Father Son Reunion 17:46 Charles Admits He Failed as a Father 18:27 Asking His Son for Forgiveness 19:17 Father and Son Cry, Pray, and Talk About Jesus 19:39 Jake on Forgiveness and the Love of Christ 22:29 Charles’s Message to People Behind Bars 23:46 “God Paid a Debt I Couldn’t Pay” 24:40 The Bible as an Instruction Manual 25:31 Understanding the Love of God 26:50 Final Thoughts 🎙️ THE GOD BEHIND BARS PODCAST Join Jake Bodine for honest conversations from inside prisons about Jesus, redemption, family, incarceration, forgiveness, and the life changing power of God. These are real conversations with incarcerated men and women, returning citizens, ministry leaders, and people whose lives have been transformed by Jesus. Subscribe to God Behind Bars for more prison testimonies, Christian podcasts, inmate stories, family reunifications, prison worship, baptisms, and incredible stories of hope and redemption from prisons across America. Vol 2 from God Behind Bars Music available now! https://gbbmusic.lnk.to/Vol2YT https://www.godbehindbars.com/ Instagram: @Godbehindbars Facebook: @Godbehindbars Twitter: @Godbehindbars #GodBehindBars #GodBehindBarsPodcast #PrisonTestimony