Strange thoughts during the morning

Geoff of Father's Robe was at Christ Church this morning.  He preached on the prodigal son and explained the passage from the Fathers point of view.  He also explained something of the work Father's Robe does. 
When the prodigal son returns the father does not impose conditions and make him work for his re-instatement.  It happens immediately.  The symbolism of the re-instatement he mentioned was interesting.  The Robe represents righteousness, the ring authority, and the sandals son-ship (slaves do not have sandals).  He also pointed out that the party was spontaneous, not planned for a future perhaps more convenient time.
He asked us about our relationship with the Father, with the question "Are you in the house, but don't know the love of the Father?"
Geoff then told us about the work that he does.  He spoke to us of the poverty of the people and their riches - they have nothing but a tin roof separating them from the Father.  We of course have all sorts of thins separating us from the Father - TV's, Computers, Blogging, and all the trappings of our 'developed' society. Geoff also mentioned the work he has been involved with in Pollsmoor prison, where 1500-2000 inmates gave their lives to Christ.  Then came my first thought.  "What has happened to all those prisoners?"  "Have they grown as disciples?"  "What effect have they had on life in the prison?" 
Later in the prayers a recent TV program was mentioned which contrasted the care provided to a UK woman having triplets and an African woman giving birth for the first time.  In the UK there were three teams of specialists ready to receive the babies.  In Africa there was a long walk for the woman whose labour had started before she would get any attention from a someone with medical training.  The prayer was for her situation to improve.  Then came the second thought.  If the African woman and all those who live on that continent have a standard of living similar to ours they will have all the same distractions to put between them and the Father.  They will put the same distractions in the way because studies show that the more 'developed' a nation is the less likely its people are to have a faith in God.
Of course we should pray and act to help those who are less well-off than us, whether they be in Africa or Billericay, but we should also pray that all those who are reached by those we are supporting grow in their faith and become effective disciples of Christ.  Then we start to see more of the effect of Christianity in the world.