Learning to Walk

delightful coincidence

Yesterday afternoon I joined GV and some (one) of the oldest St Silasites for communion.  It is a great afternoon which I am pretty sure I have mentioned previously, but yesterday afternoon will remain memorable for what was afterwards described as a "delightful coincidence."

After we had shared communion with each other we were chatting away about our hosts grandchildren and the schools that they attend down in England and, during the conversation, I mentioned that I had been at Bromsgrove for 2 years.  She reached down, took out an envelope from the table, gave it to me and told me to look inside; I really wasn't sure why as she doesn't know me well and it certainly couldn't have been a pre-planned something for me.  But I opened the envelope and inside it found a prospectus and lots of information on...Bromsgrove School!  It turns out that her grandson is considering going there; what a small world, and what a delightful coincidence.

weight watching

On Saturday YKW and I had our first session with a personal trainer.  It was good fun; a chance to do something together and (of course) to bring out our competitive sides!  However the end of the session wasn't so fun when out came the scales!  I was weighing in at 20 stone and 10lbs (131 Kg.)  Needless to say a lot of weight loss is called for, so I am to up the CV and cut out the weight training - at least for now - as I am blessed in that I stay strong naturally, but not light!

So for the foreseeable future we will be spending an hour a week with our new 'friend' and seeing how the weight comes off (me at least, YKW will have a different set of aims.)  I will update the blog once each week to say how it is going.  Next stop, 18 and a half...

earthly/earthily

Is earthily a word?

It doesn't come up as a spelling mistake in Microsoft Word, it does on TypePad but it seems to be recognised as a word here.

There were mixed views last night (at church, when I used "earthily" in the sermon.)  However, whether it is a word or not, I hope that the intention behind it was clear and that Paul's call for us to be 'Christly minded but not earthily/earthly absent' will be something that will help us as we seek to walk with the Lord this week.

footy

Yesterday afternoon one of my mates took me to my first professional football game in Scotland.  Despite the fact that the crowd were quiet and the team served up little in the way of entertainment (despite a 4-2 win [we left at 4-1]) I had a really good time as we sampled the whole match day experience.  I will be back...

sad

Things have been making me sad recently.  But I'm fine.  Just sad.

wedded bliss

Yesterday we were at the wedding of two of our good friends.  He is assistant pastor of a church in Glasgow and (or so we joked in the past) was one of Glasgow's most eligible Christian bachelors.  Speaking with the senior pastor of his church at the reception I commented that he might have quite a bit of female counselling to do come Monday morning; he knew what I meant!

Yesterday also happened to be 8 months since YKW and I got married.  How time has flown!  I'm not sure whether people would always agree that 'wedded bliss' is the right way to describe our marriage; my Dad was up the other weekend and apparently commented to my Mum that "I know where he got his ability to bicker from!"  But I'm on the inside, and it is wedded bliss.

?

There are less than 24 hours to go until my first valentines day as a married man.  I guess that means that I really should stop waiting (hoping?!) that the post man will have so much to bring for me that he cannot manage it all on one bike, but it also means that I need to up my game when it comes to gift ideas.  So far I am really struggling, and with YKW having said that what she would really like is a DIY book from B and Q and me thinking that something more romantic would be more appropriate she may end up with very little!

At least very little that she knows is from me as anything I send will be signed with no more than a mysterious '?'

exercise

Last night I went to a gym class with YKW.  It is the second week that we have gone and so the highly technical choreography is getting a bit more familiar, even if I am praying throughout that none of the rugby team will look through the doors of the studio!

I also came across this article on the BBC website.  However (if the rugby club banter is anything to go by) most men wouldn't manage to burn much more than a calorie or two and so would be well advised to stick to the gym classes!

second chances

If I hadn't been watching England's awful performance yesterday afternoon then I would have watched Dwain Chambers comeback as he won the 60m final at the world indoor trials (in athletics.)  The problem that is now facing UK Athletics is that Chambers has served a two year ban for taking performance enhancing drugs and they don't want to have him in their squad.  It will be interesting to see how this one ends, personally I hope that he makes the squad and think that it's a shame that high profile figures in British athletics have been saying otherwise, this article in The Sunday Times even suggesting that Chambers should be booed by fans.

The man has served his time, faced team-mates who have lost gold medals because of his actions, and dealt with the shame that such a 'crime' will have brought.  But it is now time for a second chance.  I hope that he gets it.

work in progress

I have been reminded this weekend of a great truth; that I, that we, are works in progress.  I am not sure what I think about that, because so often I wish that I could be the finished article.  But I'm not.  And the reminders that I'm not always seem to come at a time when I am in danger of getting carried away with myself, in danger of thinking that I bring more to the party than I actually do.

This reminder, this truth, is something that I pray will actually help me as I seek to serve God.  The week ahead will be busy and challenging for a number of reasons, with lots of meetings and things for work, but also the need to try and find a little more balance in terms of making time for my best friend.  But in it all I know that this lesson will be ringing true in my ears, and my prayer will be that I will not allow me to stand in the way of making the progress that by the power of God at work I can continue to make.