Well, due to popular demand - I'm back!!!

It seems that my blog is more of an annual blog and I'm not promising to blog regularly just in case you're thinking I'm back in the game.

However, I received an e-mail from a friend who has been working as a Methodist minister in Kenya for the last 5 years and has been told that he and his family are to be moved back to the UK in September. I thought that the closing words of his letter were worth posting as a thought at the start of 2007 (he's a bit of a footy nut - hence the trophy references):

"And where is my allegiance to God in all of this? I have asked myself this question many, many times over the last 4 or 5 years on this Kenyan Safari (Safari is Swahili for journey). "Am I supporting the right team?" I have asked myself when confronted with heart wrenching situations of poverty and hardship and inequality. Where are the "glory days"? Where are the trophies and shields of victory? In the absence of silverware the armchair supporter soon shifts their support elsewhere. Am I an armchair supporter I ask myself, or like my allegiance to Leeds United have I no choice but to endure the dark times of struggle clinging on to the hope that one day…one day…one day…?
The Bible is perhaps not read as avidly as the back pages of newspapers these days but it contains comparable accounts of winners and losers. It narrates amazing victories by the underdogs, think of David and Goliath and how many times John Motson has used that analogy in FA Cup ties! We also find within its pages the tales of the mighty falling and being cast out into the wilderness for many years…Leeds United? However the overall message of the book, or books to be accurate, is that God’s allegiance to us, humanity, is unwavering. There is the promise to be with us at all times, good and bad, easy and difficult, whether we feel like we’re winning or loosing. God is not a supporter who chooses those with the most success and moves on from winner to winner, in fact the message seems to be that God is more likely to be found alongside those with less to make a song and dance about.
We have just celebrated Christmas and in this we see God’s love for us in sending his son, Jesus, coming, not as a king in a palace, but as a humble baby in a dirty stable. Our own personal stories are a mixture of success and failure, moments of elation and episodes of despair, occasions when our loyalty to one another or to God is unquestionable and other times when we feel like we have let people down and maybe even ourselves and God. Thankfully it is not a matter of our sometimes wavering allegiance to God; rather it is a cause for celebration that God’s allegiance and commitment to us is unfaltering and enduring.
May we all be aware of God being one of our most faithful supporters as we enter in 2007.
Happy New Year!"

And a Happy New Year to you from me too. Lou.x