26th March 2012

Ah, this is the life! Idling the day away on holiday… mmm, sort of, I’d just driven a four hour journey with only a brief halt part way through. So I reckon I deserved a sit down to recover for a few minutes… I can hear my kids saying ‘get your feet off the table dad!’ Well I should have stayed much closer to home, but sometimes logic and common-sense have to go on the back burner as you just have to go with your heart. I had a busy weekend, after a busy week driving well over 300 miles all over the Midlands. Last night, as I was returning from Nottingham, I felt totally exhausted and whilst still determined to go camping I just couldn’t contemplate a long journey. So this morning was making your mind up time and motorhomes allow wonderful go-anywhere, just about anytime flexibility. Common sense suggested Delamere Forest again or maybe the Lake District at a push. But my heart said Deal, and I had no choice but to make the 200+ mile journey, and though I made good time after a late start it still felt really long. An early night and a long lie-in should do the trick, and then as much time as possible in the rather unseasonal sunshine for a few days.

Over the years I’ve learnt to respond to God when I believe he’s leading. Many times I get it wrong and it’s just my imagination rather than the Lord, but nonetheless I remain determined to keep stepping out in faith. That’s really why I’m here and not elsewhere, though it’s got to be a win-win situation as I love being here anyway. So this morning as I woke up I saw myself on the front in Deal meeting someone. Not really sure who, but basically an opportunity to connect with someone who maybe lives in the area. I remembered last year, when I spent a happy hour or so, with an older guy who was just out walking his dog and it turned out he went to my school in Derby and at one time lived very close to where I now live. Just a random encounter that passed the time in a fairly pleasant way. A few years ago Jane and I visited a church here and began to connect with that whole community of believers. Subsequently we were invited into a number of homes for meals, parties and the like, and we even house-sat one week looking after someone’s pets whilst they were abroad… that was a cheap holiday, though it snowed! But this past couple of years I’ve had to allow a more distant connection to develop with these nice people. Jane and I planned to relocate here but it didn’t work out, and I wouldn’t really want to do that all by myself. I’m lonely enough in Derby without starting from scratch on the south coast. I had a little moan to the Lord this evening… I don’t like being on my own. I never used to need a tripod and self-timer to take my picture!

Psalm 68:6 ^‘God places the lonely in families’ (NLT)