deep breathing

This has been the day when I've effectively taken a huge deep breath.

A bit lke a diver who's got to hold his breath for a good long while.

Or a kind of spiritual Phillips Idowu, preparing himself for the sprint up the track to the board from which he leaps to do his triple jump.

Eleven days out from Christmas, I'm doing the rocking back and forth, getting the rhythm going and taking in air, getting myself all set for my own little version of that long run up the track to the triple jump.

There are five school assemblies along at the Royal High, starting tomorrow morning. They all need a lot of careful planning.

A different talk each day, pitched just right, punchy and brief yet getting the message across.

There's the usual Wednesday lunch-time service as well - but with a seasonal, Christmas flavour this time: and our sharing in the breaking of bread as well. Praise, preaching, prayer, and communion - all in a brief half-hour. Easier said than planned.

On Thursday we've got the primary school along, en bloc, to the church for their Christmas service. Another great opportunity for sharing the good news of God.

But a lot of preparation too. Not just in terms pf the message I'll give: but in terms of the powerpoint presentation as well, the visual side of things, from beginning to end. The songs they'll all be singing, the talk: and the Christmas rap which we taught the Primary 7s!

Thursday afternoon I've a service to take along at one of the nursing homes where some of our folk now are.

It's great that they hold these services there and I'm glad to play my part. But I should maybe have fixed on a different day, or at least a different time of year! More preparation for that.

And then there are the coming Sunday services: this week with a Christmas flavour. And I can't do that without thinking ahead to the services through next week as well. Christmas Eve (at 6pm and 11.30pm) and Christmas Day: and then, before you can blink, the next Sunday too has come round!

I make that about 14 different messages to bring: over the next 12 or 13 days. Without (as they say on the radio game 'Just a minute') - without repetition, hesitation, or deviation.

It's a good job there's so much to be said about this remarkable birth to which we still look back!

But I need a good long, concentrated run at this, to do the basic planning. And I set aside today (in the main) for that.

I love this time of year, I have to say.

And I always think it's wonderful how many different opportunities there are to speak about the amazing gift God has given. But, as I say, I've long since learned that this sort of 'triple-jumping' requires that I plan in advance to take that deep breath.

Our 'fellowship group' met again tonight as well. That was pretty exciting, too.

One of the folk is starting an 8 part course on the whole of Luke's gospel for the people she works with each day.

That's quite an undertaking!

Everything about it is quite an undertaking. Starting a group like that at your place of work is quite a big thing. Being prepared to lead it when you haven't a clue who'll pitch up is a bit of a challenge as well. And packing the whole of Luke's gospel into 8 short half-our sessions ... well, some would say you were mad to even think of it!

In fact, it's not that daft. You start at Christmas and end at Easter - which is pretty much what Luke does too. You don't ask folk for a massive commitment of time: 8 fortnightly lunchtimes.

And you divide the whole of the gospel into 8 neat 'units'. Which is not that hard to do. And then you simply try and figure out what the basic lesson the whole of the 'unit' conveys, and see which manageable section of text encapsulates that lesson.

It's not as crazy as it maybe sounds! You should try it yourself and see.

Anyway, we applied ourselves to tackling that tonight. As a group. Since the first of these sessions is due to take place in a matter of two days' time!

The first three chapters form the first of the 'units' and we settled on the story of the shepherds at the birth of Jesus as the passage they would read.

We're also thinking about doing this ourselves and inviting others in - for a similar 8-part course, running in tandem with that taking place at the person's place of work.

As a sort of 'dummy run' prior to the real thing there: and as a short crash course on the gospel of Luke for friends who are just on the fringe and merely sort of thinking about it still.

So at the end of the day I'm up to my ears in Christmas!

Ready to go, like Phillips Idowu and those of his ilk.

No wonder one of the pictures that's used to describe the person who's following Jesus is that of the athlete!

It's tough on the knees, the triple jump.

And if I'm going to hit the deck running, and soar through these days by the power of the Spirit of God, it's going to be tough on my knees as well.

Prayer's as much a part of the preparation process as anything else.

As an old Puritan by the name of John Owen once famously said - “What an individual is in secret, on his knees before God, that he is and no more.”

We forget that at our peril.