people

The Lord has a sense of humour.

Someone was saying that to me both yesterday and today. And I guess most folk discover it for themselves sooner or later.

Having underlined on Sunday evening that one of the qualities charateristic of a pastor is his being good with people, the last two days for myself have been absolutely brim-ful of .. you guessed, people!

People with whom I've been talking through issues now facing us here.

An elderly man whose hearing and sight, along with his legs, are failing him more and more. He's glad of the chat (mine is one of the very few voices he's able to make out and hear) and the company too, and the prayer that we share in before I'm off and elsewhere.

A younger man who's recently come to the point of faith, and crossed the line and entered the kingdom of God - and who ever since then has been ill. We talk at some length about 'the wiles of the devil'; why and how it is that following Jesus involves us in a battle.

Leaders within the congregation here, whom I need to see and speak with as we fashion out a whole new sort of framework for the vital pastoral ministry we seek to see being exercised among us here.

There's a meeting then with my 'chaplain', who has come, I guess, to check I'm still OK. I am.

Every minister here in the city is accorded a 'chaplain'. Pastoral ministry, too, I suppose, in slightly different context.

The chaplain's involved in another, very different congregation in the city centre (different denomination and everything). We chat about that church and how things work out there. It's useful for me to be hearing how other congregations go about their ministry.

My friend and fellow-pastor in the church along the road is in for lunch. Douglas is back after some weeks away in his native America. it's good to be seeing him again and to have the chance to catch up. A lot of water has flowed beneath the bridge since I saw him last - both sides of the Atlantic.

It's mainly his story we have time for today, since I've already arranged to be meeting with someone else.

We've got our monthly congregational prayer coming up tomorrow night. There are things to be thought through, planned and prepared. These times of prayer are more and more important. I'm hoping there'll be more and more folk coming out to share together in prayer. That's when and how things happen.

I've a mountain of things to prepare. These are significant days. But there's not a lot of time! I'm having to prioritise.

At night I'm out again in various homes. Touching base with different folk. Praying folk into their future. Calling folk into God's future.

People. All sorts of different people.

I think of what David once said when Abigail came out to meet him - "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me." [1 Sam.25.32].

My prayer is, every day, that that would be the experience of those whom I'm with - that they will indeed feel, on account of what's said and done, that the Lord has sent me to meet them today.