Tuning into ‘normal’ life is not at all easy. The whole world carries on as if nothings any different and yet for me nothing can ever be quite the same again. It’s a bit like living in a bubble, everyone I know understands my situation and is so very considerate and caring. And it’s encouraging when I visit my daughters to see that they too have a collection of sympathy cards from their own network of friends and relatives. It’s like everyone is rallying round to support and encourage at a time when it’s really needed. I spent the morning with my youngest daughter, who’s not returned to work yet, and that was enjoyable as she’s more than willing to share in retail therapy, the favourite tonic when feeling a little low.
The bubble burst just a little this weekend when I realised I had a problem with my car tax. I’d completely forgotten that I’d previously registered my car as a disabled person’s vehicle as that entitled me to free road tax. Obviously that now had to be cancelled and the unexpected £215 bill sort of brought me down to earth quite nicely. Apparently the only way to re-classify it and purchase the new disc was a personal visit to the DVLA in Nottingham, which felt a little over-complicated and quite a trek. But my daughter quite happily accompanied me… though I suspect the close proximity to Ikea softened the burden somewhat!
One of Jane’s friends kindly took the time to phone and make sure we were all ok and we had a good chat. She’s been so thoughtful visiting herself and then sending her husband out with food on a couple of occasions and this time she mentioned that they’d been thinking of me when they went to a folk music festival and maybe I might be interested in joining them sometime. It’s strange when coincidences occur and as a Christian you have to consider that maybe the Lord is saying something. I learnt my craft as a guitarist playing in rock bands over 40 years ago and more recently spent many years in worship teams. I’ve not played regularly in public for a long time now and miss that part of my life… it’s great fun! So how do I progress this seed thought? Well at the moment our church is if anything over-subscribed with musicians and worship leaders so I need a change of direction… I’m no longer interested in playing rock music; I enjoy the blues but that feels quite a purist and narrow genre and so I’ve been thinking of exploring the folk music world and maybe learning a song or two to see how that feels. Then came the phone call… as a prompt? Let’s see what happens.
1 Kings 19:11-13 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (NLT)
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