“‘When we approached the inner prison, we could see sets of eyes peering at us from a two-inch space under the steel gate. And when the gate swung open, it revealed squalor unlike anything I have ever seen anywhere.There were no sanitation facilities - in fact, the prisoners were forced to defecate in their food pans. The blazing African sun had heated up the steel enclosure unbearably. I could hardly breathe in the foul, stifling atmosphere of that place. How could human beings possibly live in such a place, I wondered. ‘And yet, here is what happened when Nego told them who we were. Eighty of the 120 prisoners went to the back wall and assembled in rows. At a given signal, they began singing - hymns, Christian hymns, in beautiful four-part harmony. Nego whispered to me that thirty-five of those men had been sentenced to death and would soon face execution. ‘I was overwhelmed by the contrast between their peaceful, serene faces and the horrors of their surroundings. Just behind them, in the darkness, I could make out an elaborate charcoal sketch drawn on the wall. It showed Jesus, stretched out on a cross. The prisoners must have spent hours working on it. And it struck me with great force, the force of revelation, that Christ was there with them, sharing their suffering, and giving them joy enough to sing in such a place” - Philip Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places, pg 239
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 18:54:42 +0000
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