final preparation

Saturday's when the time gets short and getting things all ready for tomorrow is the order of the day.

So it maybe seems odd that I take the day off! But the bulk of the work's all been done through the week and there's a lot to be said for the way that I use the day.

Outside, inside, sitting, standing; all sorts of different mainly little tasks. Mainly 'therapeutic' in a way as well. Cooking meals and cleaning dishes; digging soil and trimming hedges; reading, shopping, walking, dozing.

It's basically sort of 'switching off'. Not doing the things I usually do. And giving my mind and my heart a little bit of breathing space to stand back and reflect on all the Lord's been trying to say to us throughout these past few days.

Then coming back at night to get it all in focus once again. And do my final preparation.

And let the Lord so feed his word right into every fibre of my being that when I come to speak to folk tomorrow I'm speaking with a passion and conviction and a sense of what that word has meant to me.

I have to have felt the thing first. That's the point.

So the challenge of a Saturday, above all else, is simply this - to get that word from God right into my lifeblood and soul. Till I can hardly wait for the Sunday to come!