mosaic

Most days are mosaics.

They're comprised of different tasks and different people, little moments of encounter and engagement, some large, some small, which somehow slot alongside one another to create a certain pattern to the day.

Yesterday was just such a mixture of cameo workings of God. Here's a sample selection of what I mean.

The primary school: the police were along at the school today, at both of the assemblies, to give all the pupils some much needed road safety guidance. The value for the month is 'safety' and this was a practical instance of just such a thing.

Correspondence: there have been a number of letters to which I've had to reply. They all take time. They're more than a hard-copy version of e-mail correspondence.

Such letters as these are works of art - and recepticles of grace: they need time and care in the crafting. Grace is never cheap.

And, yes, there's been e-mail corespondence needed too. Some of it equally time-consuming too. But all of it needed, all of it picking up strands of concern and involvement, and helping to tie up loose ends.

It all takes time, as I say. But time is a gift whereby we give ourselves. Part of our daily worship of God. Even in the little things, the routine things which seem so insignificant.

Emerging ministry: I had a long conversation over the phone with a man I've yet to meet. He's a minister working up north and we chatted a while about all that the Lord is doing there. The chance to engage with students at the campus where he is is wonderful: and the hunger they have (the students, I mean) for the word of God is huge.

Even an atheist college employee up there is urging this work to continue, the value's so clear and the need is so obvious and great. I'm keen to explore any ways there may be in which we can somehow stand with him in this work and see this work progress.

We chatted about all of that. And talked of much else as well. And as we spoke, this man declared that he thought this was one of those 'Holy Spirit moments'. I'd been suggesting to him just exactly what he had been hearing in recent days from two other sources.

God on the move, creative in all of his work: and involving us all in the wonderful things that he does.

The primary school SU group: today we got the SU group up and running again. There were 21 children along today, with two or three off ill who would otherwise definitely have been there.

What a great encouragement it was to have so many along! And they seemed to enjoy all we did with them.

They'd had Gill Proudfoot along at the school last week, explaining about the SU camps: so we said that these SU groups were just a rather smaller version of the camps. Fun and friends, activities, talks, and learning together all about the Lord.

Will there be horse-riding, then? one of the children asked, taking the comparison with SU camps just a shade too literally. We could have them in the playground! she volunteered.

Well, nice idea, but not really all that feasible, I'm afraid. We had some parachute games, though, as we sat round in the classroom on the floor.

And then an introduction to the theme we'll be pursuing in the coming weeks - the life of Jesus, by place names (following his ministry by seeing what happened in some of the different places where he went).

The time flew by, but I think the children enjoyed it all. They're a keen and lively group and they get on well with each other. The Lord is at work in their lives!

Shelter for a student: we'd had a request from the chaplain out at Heriot Watt University, who's part of our fellowship here. A Nigerian student needed somewhere to stay quite urgently. We've a cottage here which is presently not being used. So we made the match and there's been some work to do in setting that up.

I had an e-mail from the chaplain later on in which he said -

"When I told the student, she almost broke down with gratitude, which I had to remind her should not be directed at me."

Nor us, of course. The Lord is the one who provides: in every dimension of life. It's a privilege simply to share in the work that he does.

Encouraging one another: a fellow minister from further west was coming through to Edinburgh today: we'd arranged to meet on his way into town, take the chance to touch base and to work through a whole range of issues we've both been addressing.

I guess we do this too little. We're often immersed, way up beyond our eyeballs, in the daily tasks our ongoing work involves. It's good to be able to pause and stand back, to reflect with a brother in Christ, and to find that 'iron sharpens iron' as we talk.

God gives us one another in the fellowship of the gospel. We serve together in the sovereign work of God. It's good to meet and good to be able to talk things through with a brother.

Resignation: the manager of Falkirk Football Club resigned today. He and his family worship here and I've got to know him a bit, so I'd been in touch when I heard the news and we chatted on the phone later on.

He's a good guy and I like him a lot. Not least because he's a man of rugged principle, and wants to stand by what is right. I wanted simply to encourage him: it's not an easy step he's taken today. And it's always good at times like that to know you're not alone.

Which is the gospel all over again, in its way. God with us. Always.

Funeral: quite apart from all the other preparation work that I'd been trying to do (mainly in vain, I have to say, with all else that's been going on), there's a service of thanksgiving I'd been wanting to prepare. So I managed a good few hours on that later on, and eventually got the bulk of it all written up.

The Word of God. Released yet again, and I trust it will be with much power. Ministering grace. Bringing a sense of the presence of God into the darkness of grief.

Another day over. And like the Lord our Creator, I can stop at its close and see that it's been good. God's been there in all of the bits.

Every day brings a brand new mosaic. What a remarkable God he is!