with us it's personal

I try and take Saturday as a day off - at least until the evening: it gives me a chance to let all that I've been reading, pondering and tossing around over the previous days settle before I come back to it again in the evening.

It's not a lazy day by any means: a chance to be out in the garden, do some shopping, cooking, domestic chores of one sort and another. And today watching rugby on the TV and seeing Scotland take Ireland to the cleaners at Murrayfield in a World Cup warm-up match (well, they managed to beat them anyway, and scored five tries in the process!).

While I was out this morning, down at the shops in the village, I met our 'postie', Alex, who delivers the mail to the church. Last time I'd seen him he was on strike, down on the picket line at one of the Royal Mail centres where I'd gone to collect a package. He'd recognised me straight away, of course, and 'respectfully' asked me not to cross their picket line. I'd never been in that position before and wasn't exactly prepared for it: but I'd wanted to show him respect and had simply turned away.

He's still on speaking terms with me obviously, for he was willing to stop today and chat for quite a while - twice, in fact, as I bumped into him a second time some twenty minutes later. For Alex, that's quite something, since he's always going at quite a rate and most times loth to stop: when he first started delivering the mail he couldn't get away from the church hall quickly enough (or so it seemed!): as if the church was somehow worse than any barking, biting dog! But over time he's slowly come to recognise there's nothing to be feared from us - and so he often stops and has a cup of coffee in the hall and jokes and chats: and bit by bit we've gradually come to know each other more and more.

I'm challenged by the man, I have to say. He calls on every home and in a way he knows the private history of each person on his round. In that regard (and really only that regard!) he often makes me think of how the great apostle Paul went round each home, applying to each one the message of the Lord. A pastor and a postman all in one.

So meeting him today (Alex, I mean, not the apostle Paul!) reminded me again of just how very vital is this pattern of engaging with the people of this place, with regular encounters and the chance to be not just a well-kent face, but, more than that, a friend.

I had to laugh! Alex was complaining once again about the colour of the building where he'd just delivered mail. Royal blue. Not surprising really since it's the home of the local conservative squad. I'm wary, though, of any major argument with Alex over politics these days - what with him being pretty militant and all.

And I feared his complaint would conclude with a claim that he should be painting the whole town red (a political red, of course!). But no. "It should be green!" he said, a big, broad smile writ large across his face. And then I saw it was the football he was on about. The man's an avid Hibees fan! And good on him, for showing face in what is more a 'Jambos' part of town. A man who's not afraid to show his true allegiance - even in a 'hostile' part of town.

I like the guy! "With us it's personal", the logo says. Calling by on every home and bold in where he stands. There's loads that I can learn from him!