THEY'RE HOME

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are home on Canadian soil.

Last night while working on the blog I thought I would post for today, CTV reported that the prime minister would soon be holding a press conference.  That press conference changed my blog for today.

In my political experience, Friday press conferences usually mean one thing.  Bad news the government wants to try to bury.  But I felt different about this one.

Reporters had been saying all day long yesterday that even if Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was released from house arrest in Vancouver, it would still be months before the "Two Michaels" would be released from prison in China.  Reporters were certain the Chinese government would act as they had in the past.  E.g., Once they got what they wanted, wait to release political prisoners so as to try and save face. 

Thanks be to God that's not what happened. 

I am not one to cry easily. 

But two things made me cry in the last 24 hours around this story.  Maybe they did you too?

The first was yesterday evening when prime minister Justin Trudeau delivered the unexpected and amazing good news that, "The two Michaels had left Chinese airspace and were coming home."  I teared up then, and I'm tearing up now as I write.

The second time I cried in the last 24 hours was when I saw prime minister Trudeau embracing who I think was one of the Michaels after they landed safely on Canadian soil?  As I watched a young prime minister hugging one of the Michaels, I thought of the Prodigal Son.  This image of homecoming on the tarmac touched my heart in a way Rembrandt's famous prodigal homecoming painting hadn't. 

This prodigal story rings truer for me.  I love that it was hard to tell who was the father and who was the son on the tarmac.  It was hard to tell who was the hugger and who was the hugged.  

Prodigal interchangables?  

Both standing.  As a woman, I like that.

This post is dedicated to Connie Cook, my neighbour, who died this evening around the same time the Two Michaels cleared Chinese airspace yesterday.  

They're all home now!

Cb

Amen

Image credit photos-public-domain.com

 

Image Credit pinterest.com

 Image credit CTV News
  
(Video credit CPAC)


 


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