grade 3

There are people who fix things. And I don't mean just Jimmy Saville.

Today I've been in their company quite a bit.

There have been one or two problems we've had with our computers here. Including the fact that e-mails people have sent to us here have not been getting through.

Which, of course, you don't really know until they start ringing up and asking why all of a sudden we've gone all rude and aren't even giving acknowledgements.

Not the sort of thing that we can fix. The folk we use as our IT guys are great. They can usually suss the whole thing out. Mostly over the phone.

But today the guy was in. He's been before. A really pleasant man who just gets on with his work. No hassle. No coffee even.

And sure enough, he sussed it out. He explained what the problem was. Or rather where it was.

"The server", he said. "That's where the problem lies. You'll just have to wait 'til they've sorted their problems out. And once they have you'll get your stream of e-mails coming through again."

Robert is a 'fixer'. He gets things sorted out.

I went to another 'fixer' this afternoon. Commonly called a physiotherapist.. A sports physiotherapist, but that was an incidental feature of the practice. You couldn't call what brought about my injury - you couldn't call that 'sport' at all.

It just sounds impressive when I'm asked where I've been. A sports physiotherapist.

He's a 'fixer', as I say.

He asked about the in jury. What exactly happened. Where it hurt. What it had been like these past few days. And what I had been doing in the meantime.

All the background stuff. Getting the picture. Understanding as best he could what the injury was.

He explained about hamstrings. Grade 1 injuries, he said - you're talking about 2 weeks off. Grade 2 - maybe four weeks out of action. (He was using 'sporting' terms). And Grade 3 - well, that's the worst sort of damage to your hamstrings and ... I don't think he gave a time factor there at all: he simply said it's bad and sometimes needs some surgery.

Eventually, with all the background details done and dusted, he took a look.

I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that, he said. The last time I saw anything remotely like that, the guy had been kicked by a horse.

Quite a good analogy, I thought. That's a bit what it felt like last week. Being kicked by a horse.

He gave it a grade 3. Explained about the nerve that's been affected, too, and how he'd have to work at that to get that back to working well again. Gave me a series of simple little exercises I should do. And fixed up to see me in three days time again.

He's a 'fixer'. He gets a damaged body working well again.

At least I hope so! I'm paying good money for this!

There was 'fixing' like this in the evening, too.

Our Leadership Team was meeting again. The processes are the same as we assess the damage there's been and determine how best it's fixed.

The sort of thing the IT guy was doing here this morning. Understanding the problem and figuring out what's needed in response.

The sort of thing the physio, too, was doing on my damaged frame this afternoon. Understand the nature of the injury, see just what's been harmed. And then decide the best way to reverse the damage done.

That's as good a way of putting what we're up to as any, I guess. How best to reverse the damage that has been done.

The first part of that is simply understanding what's gone wrong. And then going on to figure out the best way to alleviate the pain and heal what has been damaged in the hearts and lives of countless different folk.

We have to be ready to give a clear lead. That's for sure.

The physio didn't do much this afternoon. At least in terms of 'hands-on' stuff. That'll doubtless come.

And we didn't do much ourselves tonight. Not in a 'hands-on' sort of way. No definite course of action just yet.

But I think we're beginning to see what the injury's like. And beginning to see what some of the early 'exercises' are we're going to have to encourage.

It could be a while before anyone's back on their feet.

What happened last week at big church was 'Grade 3' sort of stuff.