cash deposits

Although it's technically a Bank Holiday weekend, for some reason the Nat West bank up town was open this morning. Thankfully!

I'd paid in a sum of cash using the 'Quick Deposit' facility on Thursday evening in order to ensure it was available on the Friday. But the sum had not been credited to the account at all.

E-mails getting lost in cyberspace is one thing (annoying, but by and large I can cope with that): cash getting lost down Quick Deposit 'black holes' is rather different - and in this case was creating rather more problems than a lost e-mail.

So when I discovered that the Bank was open this morning, I was up town first thing to try and sort the thing out. It turned out that someone had poured a can of juice through the Quick Deposit letter box and so the Bank had the cash but couldn't decipher the account details.

Sometimes I think that something similar has somehow happened with the riches God has given us in Christ. He's made this massive 'cash' deposit, but in the case of so many of us it doesn't seem to have been credited to our accounts! At least we don't seem to be in a position to enjoy it for some reason.

Maybe the church has unwittingly 'vandalised' that Quick Deposit box...

One guy who's helped us here to learn just how this 'cash' God gives can end up where it's meant to be, being credited again to our accounts, is Martin Aliga.

He leaves to go back home tomorrow to Uganda - and we'll be sad to see him go after the last two years he's been here with us all.

We had a BBQ tonight down at the halls to mark the man's departure: and then a time of praise and celebration which he led.

It was a lovely sunny evening and a fair old crowd of folk came out - a brilliant mix of old and young alike: and some who simply came with friends who'd said, 'Why not come along with us?' The poor folk didn't really have a clue just what was going on - but they figured that a BBQ on a night like this was something way too good to miss!

That surely is the way it's meant to be. A chance to meet and mingle and to chat with one another over food and drink.

I was chatting at length with a couple that I hadn't met before (I've spoken with the lady on the phone and so enjoyed the chance to put a face to the voice).

They spoke about the way the Lord had led them here to Edinburgh - in really very striking and exciting ways.

For them, God's word to Abraham had been a very special word - "Go .. and I will make you a blessing."

In some ways that's exactly how I see young Martin's moving on just now. The Lord himself has called him on and back home in Uganda, I have no doubt, the Lord will surely make the man a blessing all the time.

He's certainly been that for all of us. Freeing us up to worship God. Helping us to make that 'cash deposit' of the gift of Jesus Christ, our own. Ensuring that it's credited to each of our accounts!

Life gets very problematic when a pretty simple system ends up vandalised!