Thought Picnic: Sharing the joy of being reunited

Surprise and suspense

We read of these stories in the news, sometimes, it is played out on television and you might be lucky to have a box of tissues beside you to wipe the tears as you are caught up in the story of life.

Many years ago on British television we had the programme Surprise, Surprise hosted by Cilla Black where her producers found ways of reuniting long lost blood relatives, the stories were so well told you just felt at one in happiness and joy with the participants who were left to play out their surprise and tears to the nation – it was good programming.

Appeals work

On Sunday, I found myself in the audience of such an event in church, it was heart-warming and wonderful to behold.

The protagonist, a young man with amazing vocal talent that lifts the roof during praise and worship though today is a happily married man with a child had until recently not known his father who by reason of unfriendly immigration policies had to leave the Netherlands sometime around when he was born.

For over 20 years, he heard stories but had no inkling as to where his father was until he appeared on a Dutch programme that aims to highlight the plight of people seeking their relatives. That apparently was a seed sown because it led to him finding out about his father and his father was with us in church just last Sunday being welcomed first as a guest and then the story of the meeting of father and son was told to us.

We can realise hope

There is no doubt that this miracle of reunification is in biblical parlance the granting of the heartfelt desires of this young man who has not only regained his father but he also has the joy of presenting his wife and his son too along with the many tales, hugs, tears and even more meetings that will grow from this encounter.

As a witness to what Facebook has done to long lost and forgotten friendships and now to this real life event of the bringing together of long separated relations – it behoves one to say that we must never lose hope and when we part, even though we die a little, we will meet again, somewhere, someplace, sometime and hopefully, it would not be too long to see the face, to see the smile and to hug one another like we can never be prised apart again.