Family bonding day at the prison
Last night I attended a prayer meeting in Liverpool and Chris the Prayer group leader opened the meeting with some scripture, this would be the theme for our prayer time for September; John 1:11-13. This was on my mind all night & when I woke it was the first thing to come to my mind and as I drove to HMP Thorn Cross for day 1 of my placement. I thought of all the lads who are incarcerated there, if only they would put their trust in Jesus, they would have the right to become children of the living God.
Today at the prison was ‘Family bonding day’. This event was organised by the chaplaincy for any of the lads who have children they could visit for the whole day and have quality time with their children.
And what a day it was, not only was the sun shining but so were many of the faces of the lads when their children & partners walked in to the visit centre.
We had planned an eventful day for everyone storytelling, painting, colouring in, a visit to the prison farm to see the goats, ponies, chinchilla and the many rabbits, but one interesting event was the playing of the mighty Gamelan, this musical ensemble from Indonesia and it was simply amazing, it featured a variety of instruments xylophones, drums & gongs, the children and the parents all had a go and it was so much fun.
It was great to see the fathers having fun with their children, one guy in stood out for me, he cradled his 4 month old baby all day, he said there was a possibility he could be out next month and he was never ever going to do anything that would put himself back in prison, he said 'I don’t want to miss out on my little girl growing up', he wants to be the best father he can for her and I believe he will be, just as we are children of the living God our father wants to be there for us and will never leave us.
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