麻豆约拍

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Carolyn Skinner, sports chaplain

Good morning.

My first experience of major events chaplaincy was at the Winter Paralympics in Canada in 2010. In a strange turn of events, I became known as the laundry queen! That鈥檚 because opposite our chaplaincy was the laundry room. One day a Mongolian athlete came in and I had naturally assumed that he simply wanted to look around our centre or find a chaplain to talk to. We pushed through this language barrier with various signs and much patience. He kept pointing to his trousers.

Somehow between us we worked out that he wanted them washed and dried in time for the opening ceremony, for which he needed to be on the bus in under an hour. I took the decision to wash them by hand. We then put them in the dryer and I was praying they wouldn鈥檛 shrink! Later that evening watching the Opening ceremony on TV, there he was with his team with the cleanest trousers! The next day he came to our centre full of hugs and smiles, and the rest of his team so that I could help them with their washing too!

I was so glad that both he and I had persevered through the communication barriers to reach a place of understanding and joy.

The Bible makes it clear that there will be many barriers that we face in life yet these can be overcome as it says in Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Heavenly Father, help us to persevere in understanding one another despite the obstacles, in order to reach a place of shared joy.

Amen