If you have never seen the clip from America’s Got Talent show and a man called Archie Williams then you must search for it on Youtube!
Archie sang “Don’t let the sun go down on me.” It is hard to watch without tears. He went onto the stage and opened up with this sentence: “I was just incarcerated for 37 years for somebody else’s crime. DNA freed me.” He later explained, “On the morning of December 9 of 1982 a 30-year-old white woman was raped and stabbed in her home. I was arrested on January 4. I couldn’t believe it was really happening. I knew I was innocent. I didn’t commit a crime. But being a poor black kid, I didn’t have the economic ability to fight the state of Louisiana.”
He continued: “At the trial, none of the fingerprints at the scene matched mine. Three people testified that I was at home, but they wanted somebody to pay. I was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole or probation. Days turned into weeks and into months and into decades. It was like a nightmare.”
He concluded with these words, “Freedom is of the mind. I went to prison, but I never let my mind go to prison. This is how I got peace from praying and singing”
“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13 v 20-21)
However you would describe your situation today. In your pain; with all your mixed emotions; perhaps distractions and even your failings. This morning you can either wake with those thoughts the most prominent or with this truth if you begin with God: He is your God of peace.
Don’t be tortured by your ‘prison’ today. Don’t allow this ‘prison’ to be the place you live in. Bring your God back into the centre of your ‘prison’. He is the source and the giver of peace. He creates peace and He makes peace. In the worst of disasters your God is in the middle making peace even if it is you that has created the disorder. If today you lay down your weapons of judgment for others and for yourself and invite your God of peace to come to you, He will.
Missions Paul 