Paul said, "none of these things move me...
that I might finish my course with joy…" 

     Sugar cane is a tropical grass which grows to approximately 10-13 feet tall and about 2 inches in diameter. Between the months of June and December, a mechanical harvester is used to cut the cane into one foot lengths called billets. The billets are then transported to a mill where they are shredded and crushed to extract the juice. The juice is boiled, spun and dried so as to convert it into raw brown sugar. The raw sugar is then taken to a refinery where it is dissolved, filtered, and granulated to produce pure white sugar, ready for the consumer's use.
     In order to be properly processed for man's benefit, sugar cane must endure some rather harsh treatment. It is cut, shredded, crushed, boiled, dried, spun and granulated. Likewise, if our lives are to be processed into something beneficial, "meet for the Master's use" (2Tim 2:21), we can also expect to experience some unpleasantry. Therefore let us do as the Apostle Paul did and remain unmoved by life's unpleasantries, thus preventing them from stealing our joy.