revmusings

Posting here today with other Baptist bloggers for the season of Advent

This morning we went into town early to have breakfast and then get all our shopping and tasks done and be home before the crowds appeared.  It a yearly routine for us at Christmas time and works well.

We got our 8 item breakfast, a coffee for my other half and an orange juice for me.

As we went to leave we looked at the bill and realised that we hadn't been charged for the orange juice so we went back to the till, pointed it out and offered to pay - the lad serving us was astonished, his mouth fell open and he said 'I could charge you for it now' - we said yes and duly paid.

What a shame that he was so surprised!

We are quick to point out when we are over charged and we should do the same when we are under charged - its happened to us a few times and we always go and offer to pay - its called honesty but it seems its rare today.

I hope that it has made a good impression on him this Christmas time and that he might reflect on it at some point and wonder why we did it when,  I guess. most people would not have done.

I remember someone somewhere saying 'watch who God brings into your life'.

5 years ago I was preparing to move north after spending my whole life, bar 6 months as a baby, in one town in the south. It was a traumatic time, leaving friends some of whom I had known for 30 plus years and my precious family including a newly born grandchild - I thought my heart would break (in some ways it did) and that I would never again have such deep relationships with people.

This, of course, was not the case - God has given me some very precious friends here and they have all enriched my life in ways I could not have imagined. I have had fun with them, cried with them, been supported and encouraged....and challenged by them to be a better person, a better Christian and a better minister. Thank you to you all for being willing to enter my life and enrich it beyond my wildest imaginings.

There have also been people who are not friends per say but have been God's instruments in my life, people I have met all over the city in all kinds of ways: people from other denominations and faiths who have shown me a whole new world and guided me through this new world of multifaith communities - I have learnt so much from you and thank God that you have been gracious enough to welcome me into your midst.

But now I have to say farewell again and begin all over again. This time I know that the best friends will remain just that, good friends even when there is physical distance between us (I am so pleased to live in this technological age where communication across the world are so easy - I must get into Skype).

I also know that God will bring other people into my life to continue the work begun here and maybe take me once again in new directions...

Scary but exciting all at the same time.