The Sandbag Times Issue No:32

From the Pit to the Palace...
This month has been very much of a roller coaster ride. There
has been so many positives in my life but also the hauntings of
days past. Thankfully, these days, thanks to my own faith, I can
pretty much talk myself around most problems that are thrown at
me.
When I look at others, I see struggles with very few answers.
Sometimes it isn’t the fact that there are no answers, just the
answers haven’t been seen yet. When we are in that position is
very hard to maintain a positive attitude. My thoughts and
prayers in this edition are very much with the Chennai Six and
their families. What on earth can I possibly say to give comfort
and reassurance to these very brave people going through such
a difficult time? Well, there is one passage that I know of that
can offer hope. This kind of dawned on me this Sunday when
we were sat down having an afternoon of musicals. One of my
favourites, and one I have also played in, is Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Of course the play/musical is
a dramatised production but the real story of Joseph can be
found in Genesis.
doing more than they know. We won’t know the true extent of
their suffering and hardship because we are not there but we
can be assured they are being guided. Just as Joseph when he
was suffering.
When we look at recent events, we can see the dtermination and
strength, not only in the lads but the families that will stop at
nothing to win the day. They will win.
We all know that life can be hard, it can pile pressure on like no
tomorrow but all of these trials will make you stronger. That’s
how it works. We’ve all heard the sayings, ‘What doesn’t beat
you makes you stronger’ and God gives his hardest battles to
his strongest soldiers’. When I look at the families and the lads
in India, I see those two sayings. He knows you will all pull
through regardless of what disappointments or victories may
come, he know the lads can endure this, even though they think
the opposite at times. He know the families will be their rock
and will never stop fighting. He know that the fight will be won.
In the mean time, whatever your faith, religion, denomination, I
would like to ask you all to pray or think about the lads and their
families. Give them strength to continue to fight with faith and
hope, guide the authorities to see humanity and compassion
and bring a swift end to this ongoing trial. Give them guidance
to learn and to help others once this has ended. Amen.
This has become one of my favourite chapters, not because of
the musical story but because of the many lessons that we can
take from it. The story originally talks of a boy that dreams
many strange things, these dreams turn into foresights for the
future. I don’t suggest for a moment that any of us will possess
that gift but it does show that everything happens for a reason.
If he didn’t get his dreams, he wouldn’t have been hated by his
brothers, they wouldn’t have thrown him in the pit, he wouldn’t
have been pulled out and sold as a slave, he wouldn’t have
ended up in prison for something he hadn’t done (something
familiar there), he wouldn’t have been in a position to help the
Pharoah, he wouldn’t have saved millions from starvation and
finally, wouldn’t have forgiven his brothers for a terrible crime
and reunite his family.
Now we don’t know what we have in store for us but I do know
that the guys currently sat in that awful prison cell in India are
www.sandbagtimes.co.uk 17 |