THE PRODIGAL(3) LOCKED UP.

ROUND HERE, EVERYTHING REMINDS YOU THAT YOU'RE LOCKED UP -
THE WALLS, THE BARS, THE BARBED WIRE, AND THE HEAVY DOORS SLAMMING.

EVERY MINUTE, EVERY STEP, BEING WATCHED ALL THE TIME - YOU JUST CAN'T GET AWAY FROM IT.
And when you're locked up, you also have to say why you're doing what you're doing and explain your every move.
When you're locked up, your loved ones feel really far away, and you feel just as far from your favourite places; journeys you'd like to make; places you used to go to incognito just to watch the pretty girls and the world going by.
When you're locked up, everything looks the same, sounds the same and even smells the same after a while. In fact, anyting new can feel like a threat to your little routines.
But one way of getting out is in your head. Maybe you've read some great thinkers, or done some thinking of your own. What about that poem you read yesterday; what was that about freedom? Could it be that there's an inner freedom to be had?

TRAPPED.
Joseph had an extraordinary life, full of unexpected twists and turns. He was a dreamer, and his father's favourite son. Hated by his jealous brothers, he was robbed, driven away from home, and sold as a slave in a foreigh country. Talented and upright, he became the trusted servant of a high official, and enjoied God's blessing. But then he fell victim to false accusations, and was thrown  in jail. There's lots of darkness, and lots of light too. The one thing that doesn't change is God's hand on him  (Genesis, 39).
Think: What would happened if Joseph had given in to his master's wife's demand? Would he have been free?
Where can we find the strength to resist compromise?
Did God let Joseph down?
How can we cope with major injustice?

JONAH - DOWN A DEEP HOLE.
Jonah is sent by God to his people's worst enemies: God is fed up with seeing their bed behaviour, and instruct Jonah to tell them just that.
But Jonah gets scared and decides to run away. He boards a ship to take him as far away as possible. Out at sea, God sends a violent storm; he recognises he's the one responsible for what's happening and asks to be thrown overboard. Although they are suffering the consequences of Jonah's disobedience, the seamen do their best to avoid doing what he suggests, but in the end Johah is thrown into the sea... (Jonah, 1)
Think: Does God reject those who disobey Him?
Do we have to hit rock bottom before we'll change our way?
What can keep us shat away?
How can prayer help us to find a way up from bottom?

CONFRONTING OUR DEMONS.
Jesus has just calmed a storm on the lake, saving his disciples from death. 
Now there's another storm - this time, it's a inner one, one that's destroyed a man's life and perhaps that of others around him, too.
The scene takes place on the 'other side' of Lake Galilee, where pagans live - they keep herds of pigs, considered to be unclean animals by the Jews (Mark 5).
Think: Have you ever been through any storm?
Have you ever felt as if you'd lost control of your own body? As if you'd been taken over by something else?
What helped you regain control? Who or what else helped you? (Marie-Josephe Dubertret, chaplain at Villepinte prison).

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