Pain

After a quick visit to my sister and family in Wales, i whistled back to Bath, this morning, in time for church. We were looking at Joseph from the Old Testament.

While famous for his coat of many colours, what one can overlook is the 13 years he spent in captivity - firstly when his jealous brothers sold him as a slave and then when he was falsely accused of raping his master's wife. He could have become embittered and dwelt on the emotional pain caused by his experiences, but instead he chose to make the best out of his situation. Quite how he managed to do this, having been so badly/unfairly treated is quite amazing!

God was with him during that dark time and some miraculous things resulted from his integrity and strength of character. The story resonated deeply with me (although i'm a 1000 miles away from Joseph's dude-ness) and i took up the offer of prayer after the service. I'm now sensing a gradual return of the inner peace i seem to have lost over the past week, which is great.

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I am driving to Germany in the next 24hrs to spend some time with Claudia, the boys and Claudia's wider family who are converging on "oma and opa's" house in Ost Friesland. We will be returning just before or during the weekend. How i'd love to visit Hamburg, but i don't think it will be possible, AGAIN.