Monday 30 April 2007

Climbing Ingleborough






In the afternoon Audrey and I climbed Ingleborough. The doctor advised me on Friday to get physical exercise. What better way to do that than by climbing Ingleborough.


These are some of the photos I took.
My legs are quite sore today.

Moving on...



This is a picture of the coffee session at IMC yesterday.
The lady in the foreground is Sharon Harper who runs a place called Pilgrim's Rest in Low Bentham. More of her later.
One of the problems I have is remembering what I did the day before yesterday.

Ruskin had a motto: "Today, Today, Today". I have a saying I often repeat in my mind: "That was yesterday. This is today." It works quite well, until you have to remember the day before yesterday. I don't.

So yesterday. I preached at IMC (Ingleton Methodist Church) and also talked about Internet Evangelism Day. This led me to talk about Andrew Service's church website, Ray sending out IMC newsletters by email and me setting up this blog.

Then I preached about Elisha from 2 Kings 4:8-32 "I know a man who can! - Jesus: the life-giver". It was a bit poignant really as it was a story about a boy who dies suddenly but Elisha raises him to life again.

I interviewed Andrew who lost his son Ethan nearly five years ago. It was very touching.

Saturday 28 April 2007

a day in the life...

After reading the letters mentioned below I went back to bed and slept in until 9.30 a.m. This was strange for two reasons: 1 I normally get up four hours earlier 2 I had forgotten my usual routine.

So I called my son Nathan to get him to Bentham and Craven College. I then arranged to see a doctor at Bentham Surgery. After that I went to the IMC Coffee Morning and told my news to Henry and Rev Roger.

Alison Service showed some interest in renting our house in Bentham. Back there I saw Dr Burnett and she signed me off work for a week with stress. Some day, huh?!

But I wasn't finished yet. I did some strimming and watched gardening programmes, which I haven't done for a few Friday nights now.

So, how do I feel? As though the world is collapsing around me but God knows what's going on. Audrey is still devestated but she appologised for being so negative about it all. Good of her really, considering.

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Friday 27 April 2007

the first day of the rest of my life

There is a cliche which goes: Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Well, for me this is really true. At about 4.00 a.m. this morning I got out of bed, made a cup of tea and looked at two unread letters from yesterday. The first one accepted my resignation from a £15000 a year job and the other wished me well in the future.

So as of today I am looking for work.

Let me explain. I have been working for the last 2 and a half years as an Evangelism Enabler for the Methodist Church in Burnley and Pendle. On Monday my employers and I both came to the conclusion that we had gone as far as we could with it.

I have some great pastoral and public speaking skills, but I can't get my head round communication and organisation.

So here I am setting on a path to find my way home. Where will that be? God knows.

But I would like you to join me on this adventure and together we can enjoy the journey.