Cold

Easter has been cold, wet and windy and the fact that the central heating in my little flat chose this particular moment in time to fail was not appreciated. Luckily as it was Easter there were lots of church activities to get involved with which at least kept me warm most of the time. However the rest of the time was mostly spent in my freezing bed and so I’m now at home nursing a cold, though the heating fixed now. Will report more when I have something to say.

Bad Week

Well the last few days have definitely been fairly hectic so I haven’t had much time for blogging with everything as usual happening at once. I once heard a minister preach oh how if we were in God’s will for us then all our time usage would all nicely dovetail. As a result that thought always comes back to haunt me now on weeks like the one just passed. So if it’s true I guess I must be in the wrong place at the moment! Firstly we had some events in our area’s local group of churches following on from the Women’s World Day of Prayer last Friday that had been organized by an outside group. Unfortunately it seemed in there enthusiasm for their project they had neglected to arrange several matters including accommodation for most of the guest speakers thinking this had already been done by someone else. Consequently I’ve spent a lot of my time over the last week acting as an impromptu chauffeur picking up the guests from hastily arranged lodgings and driving them about to their speaking engagements. Some of them were none to gracious about their own experience of the administrative mess. But at least l got to know London a whole lot better as a result even if it hasn’t done my old banger of a car a lot of good.
On top of this it seems that the relationship situation I have blogged about in the past involving two of my ex-colleagues from a previous job has come to ahead. One of the parishioners who helps out as a volunteer with the club they run had also cottoned on to what was going on and started asking awkward questions. Without saying too much more it has caused a bit of a bru-ha-ha locally so I am glad I am no longer directly involved. It has meant however that I have had to spend a lot of time on the phone talking to the various parties involved. In particular trying to explain to their manager and my ex-boss about what I know of the situation, and why I did not say anything, as she tries to get to the bottom of the matter has not been easy.
With all this I haven’t had as much time to prepare for my own youth and administration work as I would have liked this week and probably got a bit snappy as a result. Whatever the cause it seems I managed to upset one of the church members with something I had said about Sunday school work as I often end up having to do her preparation for her.
If that was not enough my father has also been up in London helping to promote some pilgrimage tours that he does as a side line to his main work as a lecturer and teacher. Obviously I had planned to spend some time with him whilst he was here showing him around my flat and introducing him to the various people I work with but a lot of that had to go out the window. We did manage to meet up for a meal one evening in Kensington just before he had to get the train home but it was all a bit rushed.
So all in all not a great week, hopefully this one will be better.

Mother's Day

With Mothers Day just passed I thought this would be good place to thank my parents, but my mum in particular, for teaching me the most important thing in life. That is that Christ has taken care of my single greatest need by dying on the Cross for my sins, and has given purpose to my life, that is what truly matters. My mom is old now and her health is not that good but she knows she is going to be with the Lord, so when she talks about it, she does so with a smile on her face and great anticipation. She is a perfect example of joy in the midst of suffering and trusts God completely. He is her solid rock that she stands on in trying times and because of that she has a steady faith that does not waver with the changing circumstances.
She has faithfully loved her husband and three children. She has faithfully served us. She has laid down her life for us and made us her priority. She has set an amazing example for my sisters and myself to follow. Mom, I love you so much. Thank you for the godly woman you are. I will deeply miss you when you go home to be with the Lord, but praise Him that we never have to say goodbye.

Clear Warning

We had a guest speaker today at church who issued what seemed like a relevant and timely warning which I just to repeat here. He had grown up in Rhodesia under segregation and had to share his bedroom with his two brothers both of whom had become drunks as their way of handling their life situation. As he said 'this was not a particularly pleasant situation'. He had then gone to a Christian school and seen many of his class mates lives ruined similarly as they also turned to drink at some point. Lastly he had seen many good and intelligent class mates lives lost in accidents which were no fault of their own but involved drunk drivers. As a result he had always tried hard to avoid alcohol whilst living in Rhodesia. When he came to the UK to study he struggled with many friends who tried to get him to go to the pub telling him that the culture was different here. Here they said people don't drink to get drunk like in Rhodesia they just have one or two drinks to socialize then go home. He felt that while this might have been true in 70's, 80's and even 90's it was no longer true as programs like 'Booze Britain' show. I have to say that this rang a very clear bell with me as in the youth club I now run and ones I have been involved in the past I can think of several kids in their early teens who would often turn up slightly the worse for wear due to alcohol. In just about every case whilst they might explain it in terms of being an 'adult' behavior it was obvious in every case it was used as a way of coping (read forgetting) about other issues in their lives. Most of which they didn't have the strength of character or maturity to deal with and where those 'adults' around them were no better equipped to do so, or were abrogating there responsibility. In many cases these 'adults' were the cause rather than solution to their problems. So the warning is clear - don't think it can't happen here, especially if we as a society don't care enough to provide alternate role models.