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Hold on . . .

Years ago as a youngster, I remember waiting patiently for the bus at the bus stop, and then round a curve the red and silver bus used to swing in and stop in front of us. The idling engine made a peculiar squealing noise as the bus waited and all the passengers got in, but just when the bus was about to start, I remember hearing ever so often a voice outside shouting, 'Hold on!'. The bus would wait and soon we would see the owner of the voice, some passenger who had nearly missed the bus and who had shouted out those words with authority to the driver.

Hold On!

I hardly hear those words anymore.

I guess it came from the days of the stage coach, when the stage coach driver was told to hold onto to the reigns and not let the horses take over. I can imagine those heaving muscular animals straining at their reigns impatiently, waiting to unleash themselves on the trail ahead, and I can also imagine the stagecoach driver holding onto to his horses for dear life and not allowing them to throw themselves into the wind. It must have been quite a struggle between man and beast.

Hold On! What a powerful plea. It meant hold tight, be in control, don't let go, stand firm, don't get pushed and pulled around!

Can you hear those words being thrown at you? What is it that you are being asked to hold onto today? Are they your principles, in the face of the wild horses of corruption around you? Is it from some temptation that is beckoning you in the seductive robes of a mare?

Whatever it is. Hold on. Don't let yourself be pulled forward. The reigns are in your hand, and though the horses struggle and pull, and though you hear their fiery breaths and hear their whining, hold on. I wonder as I write this piece what it is that you my dear reader are struggling to hold onto. I know what horses I reign in every day to write my piece. I know the doubts that assail my mind as I struggle to pen a message of hope to a world where hope is at an all time low. But with deep conviction come these words into my mind, 'hold on'.

I'm sure you'll allow me to wander into your house today and maybe find an exercise programme you are not holding onto, and I will wink at you and point to your exercise machine whose primary function thus far has been to hold towels! Or should I look in your book rack and find an unopened 'better yourself book', which you had promised yourself you would read? Or could I find worse?

Hold on! The reigns are in your hand.

And as you hold on, those wild horses are tamed.

I would like to leave one last picture with you.

Its that of a seasoned stage coach driver, confident, cool and with a can't be bothered expression on his face as he holds his horses. He has controlled so many such wild beasts that they know by now it is useless struggling against him. Look closer at that stage coach driver and see whether it is your face you find? And suddenly from next to you, you hear a rustle. You look and stare at the face of God. He smiles at you, "Move on," He says, "We've been holding on for quite a while, lets take a ride together..!" [email protected]

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