The Long Walk Home

Seemingly I have spent most of January packing or unpacking bags. Tomorrow morning I have to pack my bags once again and head off to our second Relay training conference of the year. I’m excited and scared.

I have to do part of a seminar on intimacy, sexuality and friendship. I have to talk about worth, about how to believe God’s view of this world. I have to talk about intimacy and where and when it’s a good thing and where and when we might take it too far. I’m scared of saying the wrong thing. Of making the issues too simple or too complex. I’m scared of putting my issues out there and realising that this is a mere cathartic exercise for me and of no use to anyone. I’m scared that my 5 loaves and two fishes won’t be enough.

But I’m excited, to meet up with old friends, to play games of ‘dutch blitz’ and ‘5 songs with the word……in them’, of seeing what God is doing in the lives of these Relay Workers, to hang out and sing songs of hope in this world of darkness, to be part of team for a week, to laugh, cry and share lives with people again.

Hmm I think it might be a good thing that there is someone else in this picture, someone who is good at taking loaves and fishes and multiplying them, someone who is good at working through the weak and foolish, someone who knows the depths of my heart and who loves me the same, someone who welcomes me home and someone who has this world figured out. Trusting Him might just be the thing to do.

6 days in Ledbury await me. I guess it might be good to find out where Ledbury is.

This is the evidence of the knitting that happens round ours every Tuesday… Note the intense expressions of the first time knitters in the bottom photo…

Big long sigh. The weekend has come. The sun is shining. The day is stretched out before me full of endless possibilities of adventure and fun. As well documented here, I love Saturday mornings and the hope of all today might offer. For a start my wonderful brother is coming to play in 3 hours time. So I have 3 hours free in which to bum around, enjoy some more of God, listen to Saturday morning music, read the paper, do some cleaning and generally laze around some more.

Saturday morning music is important, it needs to be chilled enough to help you embrace the day and cheery enough to entice you out into the day.

Top tunes for a Saturday morning are therefore:
Crazy little thing called love – Queen
Praise you- Fat Boy Slim
Mr Jones- Counting Crows
Wake up it’s a beautiful morning- The Boo Radleys
I can see clearly now- Jimmy Cliff.

Last night I went to the first evening of a Book Group I have joined. We were reading “We need to talk about Kevin”.

A book which searches the horrors of our hearts, questions the sense in this life and wonders if endlessly passing the search for meaning onto the next generation is really such a good plan. A book which doesn’t have many answers but which explores the impossibility of simplistic explanations of the darkness in this world and our hearts. In short, perfect to chat about with some old friends and new friends over wine and food in a random Greek restaurant in London.

This week has been as mad as I thought it was going to be, but I have loved getting back into my job, chilling out with students, seeing what God is up to down here and reminding people of reality. Highlights have been; getting to talk about Narnia to Brighton CU and read out my favorite bits from the book in a jackanory type manner; beating a boy student at pool; getting asked deeply insightful loving questions by someone who cares about the answer; eating cake with my Relay boys for their birthdays; lots of coffee meetings with students; good times with mates at the end of the day knitting and discussing amazing books.

Diary moment over. These things are important to note on a sunny Saturday morning. I’m off to play.

Today Vanilla Ice and the classic, “Ice ice baby” started my day and enabled me to climb from my bed in the morning. The day ended with the last song on my journey home being the wonderful KLF and “Ancients of Mu Mu”. What better way to top and tail ones day…

Within the day Martyn Joseph kept me company with his brilliant new album “Deep Blue”,

See previous posts for beautiful quotes. I haven’t listened to a song that has scratched the itch in my soul for a while but a couple of the ones on this album have. I can’t quite explain the affect they have on me in any other way. Somehow the combination of aching lyrics and a deeply passionate voice do something deep within me and scratch at the itch. And a song that keeps you pressing the repeat button is always welcome.

I watched the most ridiculous episode of Neighbours ever today. The worst acting ever. I mean. A plane crash. Really. I think they might have overreached themselves this time.
Good fun though.