A Turn Up

About ten days ago I discovered that I had lost a gold chain that I habitually wear around my neck. More importantly, to me at least, was the fact that I had also lost the gold crucifix that was on the chain and which was my promise to myself about my renewed feelings of faith when I was deep in a crisis of personal despair about four years ago.
I think I had effectively gone into a period of mourning about this loss and was just about over the loss, mainly due to my wife realising how much the chain meant to me and her buying me a replacement as a very early and very welcome Christmas present, when, whilst cleaning up some things in my sons bedroom the cross made a very welcome reappearance.
How it got there I can only speculate - probably I had been cleaning up previously and had lost it - but the fact was that I had got it back again. It felt once again like a promise renewed and the hand of an old and trusted friend was back where it should be. All my other burdens seemed to have been lifted by finding it and putting it back where it belongs both around my neck and in my heart.
I have to say that this episode also reminds me of how I felt when my christian beliefs also became important in my life again and it makes me remember how much the knowledge that I am never truly alone because God is always present with me even when I despair.

Something Missing - Something Found

This week I have been on a course in a nearby City and whilst the course is enjoyable I feel that I will be missing out on something because I won't be able to get to the Wednesday Eucharist service at my local church.

I checked out the local churches to where I was but sadly I could not get to the the lunchtime service due to the timings of the course

This has become the break in my week and to be honest a bit of a high point and it has felt like a part of me is missing.

That being said the train journey to get to the course has let me listen to a couple of Podcasts that I have been meaning to listen to for a while.

One in particular relates to the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible and for what appears on the surface to be a rather dry subject is actually a very interesting discussion which can be found here . So overall the week has been enlightening in a number of ways

Mysterious Ways

"The Lord moves in mysterious ways"

Well that is the saying and he has certainly moved in a mysterious way to me today.

How? Well I find myself being in complete agreement with the Local Government Minister Eric Pickles, a man for whom, in a decidedly un-christian way, I have very little time since I firmly believe that his agenda for changing things in this area is appalling and harmful to say the least and probably being done for deeply spiteful reasons at the worst.

However I find that I am in agreement with his comments over the ruling about Council Prayers bring unlawful.

Eric Pickles in a comment to the radio news I listened to earlier disagreed with the stance that has been taken and from the majority of the comments listed on the story above - so do most of the commentators.

I find myself in agreement on a number of levels in that -what is wrong with something that is a tradition? No one forced this man to participate in the prayers at all - he could quite easily have sat or waited outside whilst those who wanted to pray did so.

The decision to have prayers was democratically voted on - yet has now been overturned by the spiteful anti-democratic opinions of one man and a coterie of "religious" bigots intent on imposing their "non-belief" on the rest of us

What a sad day for democracy!

That being said - it has certainly strengthened my belief in God and and our saviour Jesus Christ because making me take the same side as Eric Pickles is a minor miracle!!

Doubts

As I am sort of finding my way back into my beliefs I sometimes find it difficult not to have doubts.

Doubts about my reasons for setting out on this journey, doubts about the outcomes?

Has anyone else out there had / have these type of doubts and if you do / did how were they overcome?

For myself I tend to talk a lot when I am out walking, weighing up the pros and cons and asking God for some guidance for my GPS on this one!