staccato

There seem to be loads of days like this when there's barely the chance to pause for breath.

Or to do the things I'd planned to do! Which were probably way too many anyway and wholly unrealistic.

Domestic

Being a Tuesday my day starts in the kitchens here with making the soups. 'Mediterranean Spinach' (shot through with diced courgettes) - that sounds better than the simpler, shorter and probably more descriptive 'Sludge' which is how someone refered to the soup later on - and 'Cream of Red Pepper'.

It gets people talking if nothing else and makes their visit here on a Tuesday always interesting and something they look forward to.

After that it's down to the shifting of chairs and tables, setting things up and getting halls ready for all that'll be taking place. I'm used to the daily routines so it doesn't take all that long.

Computers

There's a guy coming in, a sort of 'whizz-kid- type of computer buff, to chat through our computer needs.

We use them a lot (the computers, I mean), and are really that dependent on the things that if one of them chooses to give up the ghost or, as they say, simply 'crash', then we're really up the creek.

So we're trying to get them 'networked' and 'managed' by a firm who know what they're doing and will be there for instant support.

It takes quite a while, but it's time well spent and we all feel pretty positive, I think, when we're done. Including the guy who's come in, since he's likely to have got some more business.

People

I'd planned to get down to some early preparation, but it hasn't really happened yet. And isn't going to happen now at all!

I go back to the kitchen to see to the soups (blending, putting the cream into Cream of Red Pepper, that sort of thing), and by the time I'm coming out, people are coming in for their lunch.

Even though lunches officially don't start 'til 12 noon. We're 20 minutes shy of that. But hey, they're in for lunch and the soups are good to go.

So I start to chat to the lady and her girl. The girl's fresh out of her morning at nursery and they have to be somewhere else by 12.15. That's why they're in so early.

And yes, they like to come in on a Tuesday because they know that it's myself who makes the soup that day. And the wee, little four year old girl is my greatest fan. She loves the soups (except for one - a minty sort of soup, too strong for her).

So I stop and I chat with them for a while. The lady takes a bowl of the 'sludge' and a bowl of the creamy red peper and seems to survive them both.

She's glad of the welcome she's given and glad of the chance to chat.

Others come in, and before very long the place is just milling again. There's a lady from out on the south of the city who chooses to meet with a friend whom she knows right here. She really enjoys the sea of smiling faces which is always there to greet her when she comes.

Welcome is important. The fact that people notice when you come in through the door and are there to help when you haven't a clue where to go or what to do. It's little things that mostly make the difference in a person's life.

Good news needs to be 'felt'.

Douglas

I finally manage to get back to my desk, but before I've barely sat down, my good friend Douglas is there at the door. My lunchtime now.

We shift our seats when we've finished our soup and move to join a friend at another table to free up the table we're at.

More and more people are coming in. And though they'd be welcome to sit at the table with us ... well, who wants to spend their lunchtime in the company of two ministers of religion?

The friend we sit with, of course, has little choice!

We go on from there to pray. There are answered prayers for which we're glad to give thanks.

And there are things to be praying very particularly about at this time.

A meeting that I;ve got tonight. A meeting my brother's involved in today. Not an easy one at all. I sketch in the details so that Douglas and I can be praying really very specifically about that time. It's a situation where the sovereign intervention of almighty God is pretty much required.

My brother's at peace about it all, but it must be hard.

Landlord stuff

I have to leave. I've arranged to meet with a guy from a letting agency to negotiate a contract with the firm.

I walk round to the flat. And have to wait. The firm are less than half a mile away but the guy is coming by car. And that around here is not a good idea at this time. It's quicker by far to walk! Always. Miles quicker.

He arrives at last and we go over the things that require to be covered. He seems happy and I'm quite happy too. Another bit of progress on another front.

But another chunk of time as well, of course!

Meeting
The afternoon is rapidly flying by. Much as the morning had done. Probably a sign of my growing old - so they say.

And this meeting tonight is important, so I need to prepare. Whatever else may well have just had to be dropped today, I can't drop this. The meeting's too important and I need to be prepared. In mind and in spirit as well.

There's a guy that I have to let into the hall at 5.30pm, so I've got just a bit of time. Concentrated, prayerful, very focussed preparation. 'Til I've got it all clear in my mind how I need to be handling the issues there'll be tonight.

The guy's not here at half past five. Traffic. I live here, so I know better than to try to drive at this sort of time of day. I give him a call and tell him how to get in and say I'll call by later.

He's in to do recording work with Origin Scotland. It's good to have the contact with these folk and be able to share in the significant sort of ministry they exercise.

It's back for a quick bit to eat, then a quick turn-around. A quick look in to to the halls to see that the guy's arrived and everything's OK. Then on out to Kirkliston where the meeting's taking place.

It goes really well. There's a sense of the Lord being there. A spirit of praise prevails, and we end in a time of open prayer where countless different folk join in and say their bit in thanks to God.

It's humbling, but immensely exciting as well.

And a good way to end another day!