A poem

Today - 22/06/2010

Between hope and despair is a nowhere place

where it is too soon for weeping

and too late for partying

and all is unsettled, uncertain, unclear.

And in this empty place

this place of waiting

there is, most strangely, a peace

a deep, deep, peace

that comes from the deep faith

that beyond all human understanding

somewhere amidst the uncertainty

God is at work.

And we, protected from the vast void of nothing

which is the possibilities of futures unborn,

we live and love and watch the flowers grow

in the unsentimental reality

that is the present moment.

A huge bike ride....

I haven't blogged here for over six months – shame on me.

Sometimes there are other thing that you just have to do.

Caroline is doing something I could never do. She is riding from John O Groats to Lands end in 9 days and is now over half way. This time last week I waited with her at the front gate for her to be collected in a van with her bike for the four hour drive to John O Groats. She set off last Saturday morning and that night was at Lairg. Sunday she went from Lairg to Fort William then Monday it was south Glasgow and Tuesday it was to Ullswater. Wednesday brought them to Manchester and yesterday they got to Ludlow. Today the should end up in Cheddar ( the cheese place which is gorgeous!!! feeble attempt at humour!)

Cycling for me is a pleasure and a utilitarian way of transport, but please, no more than 50 miles a day! I suppose if I did all the training I might have been able to have done some serious cycling when I was younger. ButI am shamed by all the mature people doing this bike ride!

But I have never been one for sports. No matter how hard I pedal I cant seem to go faster than about 14 miles an hour and some of these guys are pumping along at 25 mph as they sprint to a checkpoint! The sensible thing is to do as much physical exercise as we can as it is undoubtedly good for us ( and I like my daily uphill dog walk) but recognise our limitations as very few of us were born to be Olympic athletes.

I cycled today – down to the post office to post a parcel – about a mile each way. I guess Caroline will have done ten times that distance before I got out of bed this morning.

Through the ride they are raising a huge amount of money for the paralympics. Now there are some athletes that you really can admire!

See more of Caroline's bike ride here.... http://blog.rideacrossbritain.com/

Old friends and the importance of prayer

Yesterday I went back to the place where I had been minister up until 16 years ago. (I started there 21 years ago as a rookie straight out of college) It was a time of mixed emotions. The building looked the same but it was the people I went to see. There were several gaps where people who had played a key part during my time there were no longer around. (I like the phrase - "Promoted to glory") Sixteen years can turn a working man into a retired man or a young man into middle age and women also become more mature! They were very kind and said I hadn't changed at all! (Which of course isn't true)

We had many conversations which began with do you remember when... and it was good to remember.

It did my ego good to hear that they looked back to my days there with affection because the church was often full and we regularly had to put extra chairs in the aisles. Someone suggested that this was because I went to the prayer group every week. I hadn't really thought about that before - but every Tuesday morning I would set aside time to go and do nothing but pray and chat and have coffee and biscuits in Carole's sitting room. Since my time there the prayer group has continued but the ministers who have succeeded me have never attended the prayer group.

Those were difficult years for us as we coped as a family with the pressures of manse life, peoples often unrealistic expectations and the demands of a very young family. That little prayer meeting was an oasis for me in the week where I could be with God in the presence of trusted people where I was not afraid to show I was human and fallible too! So what I had done as a selfish "for me" exercise had been seen to benefit the church in positive ways. If only every church had a small group like that with its own "Carole" - a firm foundation who despite her own problems encouraged others and was steadfast in her faithfulness. Never underestimate the power of prayer!