"My one wish...."

It was like a scene from some tear jerking film.

I was dropping of a reference for a friend of our church whose family had fragmented. Archie lives under the shadow of violence from his former partner and her boyfriend. Court injunctions and exclusion orders however hadn't prevented the four broken ribs that made Archie wince as he talked to me. But the real fight is only just about to begin. Archie has custody of his 5 year old daughter but the maternal grandmother is about to wade in to contest Archie's suitability to bring his daughter up.

"If you had three wishes what would they be?" a clever social worker asked trying to create a case. Archie drew hard on his cigarette, his hands and voice shaking as he continued to tell me the tale. "I only want one wish - I want to stay with my Daddy".

We live in a fragmented world; within a fragmented society surrounded by fragmented families and lives. There is a lot for the church to be doing. Now isn't the time to be sat around on our self-satisfied, pre-occupied couches with our feet up. The longer we sit there the more out of condition, flabby and obese we become. Now is the time to bring community and cohesion to our community's.

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