The Flask.

I worked in this factory for over ten years and met lots of different people for the turn over was high....

One of my colleagues was there was Nishtha, she was lovely, sincere, and hard working. In this factory you were always moved around the various parts of the building, depending on what the job was that you were given to do. We all knew each other for there was only about 100 of us but you got the chance to get to know each other a bit better when you have worked closely with them for about a month or so, then you would have to move on to a different part of the building, or room there you would settle into the new job at hand.

Nishtha was religious, that was the way she was brought up and her culture. Sometimes she would wear to work, that showed the beautiful clothes from her culture and sometimes she wore western clothes.

One of the rooms that we worked in at this time, was a large room without windows, there was only a few of us working in this room say about 8 in total, the work was placed on a vary large table with people working opposite each other.

One day Nishtha and I started talking about religion. I always bought my flask to work, always, and it was there in front of us on the table. She told me she had been praying to various different gods, for she wanted help for her Mum who was unwell. I knew the country where her parents came from, they had lots of gods there, almost a god for every person in the country! I said to Nishtha, “You see my flask here, if I put eyes on it, nose and a mouth, all in pure gold, put a garland of pretty flowers around it and left fresh fruit at the base of it daily, and prayed to it to keep me safe as I go to work or travel far, would it be able to help me, provide for me and keep me safe, and answer any of my prayers?” She replied, “No” I asked but why not, I have now made this my god. She said, “It is only a flask.” I informed her, “There are millions of people around the world who do the same thing, but what they are praying to and asking for guidance and answer to prayer, it can never happen for, it is an object or person or other that they are praying with earnest to, but it can never ever help them.” She understood fully what I was saying. I also said to lovely Nishtha, “If I'm going 100 miles in a straight line to get to my destination, turning left out of my front door, will I get there if I chose to go in the opposite direction, turning right out of my front door, also going 100 miles?” Nishtha replied, “No” I said because all 'roads' don't lead to the same place....” We had many interesting chats together, and I learnt a lot from her.

Often I would loan colleagues, books to read about God, the God of Heaven, about various true stories of people with their true life experiences, both good bad and heartbreakingly sad. People would tell me where they have got to in their various books, and I would always have another one ready in my bag just in case someone had finished a book so I would have another one ready to give to them. Well one day, no one came to me and said anything, about where they had gotten to in the book they were reading, and I had noticed this, for it was unusual and almost home time. Then as I was working I could see Nishtha coming towards me, she stopped and said to me, “There isn't a day that goes by, that I don't think of Jesus and I remember what you said about the flask, many years ago” and off she carried on walking to wherever she was going, that made my day! I just sat there and smiled and thanked Him.

One day in the room with no windows, months later there was a different group of people, about 15 in total sitting opposite each other. Lunch times back then, most of us just ate where we sat, its strange now to think people use to smoke sitting next to us as we ate our lunch! But in this room smoking was never allowed, but in the other main building it was. I was engrossed in a good book one lunch time, many were sitting opposite me and either side of me when Jane, sitting opposite me, a very beautiful young woman, with gorgeous, brown hair, asked me what I was reading. I said, “A book,” for I didn't want to talk, for we only had a short time for our lunch break, I said this without taking my eyes of the page, she replied, undeterred she said, “I can see it's a book, but what is it about?” then the most strangest thing happened, but only Jane and I experienced it! As I spoke these next words, tears pored down her face more than she could cope with and she couldn't wipe them away quick enough!! I said, looking at her, “This book is about a man who smuggles Bibles into countries and as he gets to the boarders, he prays to God, “As you have made blind eyes to see, now let eyes that can see blind, and they don't see his Bibles.” I could NOT believe my eyes, and when I finished speaking, my mouth remained open, for about 5 seconds, looking at Jane, then as I stop speaking, her tears stopped! I got back to my book, amazing and thought, what was that about..... I should have followed it up, but it didn't.

Clearly, God loves you Jane, and I pray today, if you haven't found Him yet, that you will today.

Many years later still at the same company, young lads were now employed too, before it had been 99% girls and women. I was in the room with windows and was working on a table with four of us on it. I had said one day to Andrew, “To God, SIN is still sin even if it is BIG or small, this I had written down on a bit of paper and shown them, by saying “What does this say? “SIN” they replied and showing them in tiny writing, the same word. They on the table seem to fully understand this. One day when I'd returned from my holiday “Andrew said when I was back on the same table, but now there was a different lad on the table with us, he said to me “I kept your peaching going while you were away and had wrote down to Kevin here that “SIN or sin, it is the same to God and this is what Kevin had written down in his reply to him on the same bit of paper, “F*CK IT and f*ck it” They both burst out laughing! I had to smile ….

Keep up the good work, Andrew.