Joy in the ditches with Tommy

Phil’s Story

It was a particularly cold and damp day cleaning out the ditches at the Tab. Made all the worse because it had been a while since the ditches were cleaned and so the rubbish was a few inches high and had been soaked with rain most of week, just to add to the stench.

For me this made Tommy’s take on his walk, all the more remarkable. Without prompting, and about halfway through cleaning the ditches, Tommy paused and said:

“Do you know what, this is a very strange experience for me. Before I knew God, I was up there walking those streets, but I felt like I belonged in the gutter. Now I am literally down here in the gutter, and all I feel is joy”.