A week our of the hotseat
This has been an inspiring week so far.
In the sense that I have caught up with alot of people.. posted pictures..emailed friends..and have just been in one spot for a space of lovely time. I have realised that I really am a small town girl after all. When I drove back into Newcastle on Friday, just breathing the (probably badly polluted) valley air and squashing back into the smallness of it all was comforting. I do love my work,the travelling, the challenges and the freedom in many ways but at heart I'm very much a stay-at-home stick in the field of flowers (if you want to use mud then i have to be a pondlily). And I love the open spaces.. the hills that scream 'Roll down me!'. I haven't rolled down a hill in a while. I love travelling but I need that farm to return to.
It feels strangely like a time for reconnection and yes, there is peace. Even in the midst of the storm. God is very good.
So I am in Newcastle for a week. I was in Durban last week for our Make It Better youth group's outward bound camp at Vernon Crookes Nature reserve. Was dying to abseil along with the best of them down the side of the treacherous mount but I had to be all professional and grown up and encourage them not to fright instead. It's a pain being old sometimes... I love Durban. It's so lusciously green and hits you with these moments of breathtaking beauty when you least expect it. I don't know why but i have a strange sense of exhilaration when i'm there. And I love the quaint colonial houses and the way the houses, especially in the Berea area, have stern facades which reveal delightful secret gardens. I stayed at a B&B high up on Musgrave road and in the evening I would sit on the window sill and watch the day fade into a twinkling panorama of the city. Felt so good.
I locked the keys into my car at the B&B on Wednesday (the second time I have done this with the Toyota Tazz) and despaired of making it to church on time. I was really disappointed as wednesday night in durban is a particular highlight in the week. The last time I locked my keys into the car, it took them over an hour to arrive and another hour to get the door open. So i was resigned. Miracles of miracles.. the AA arrived within 10 minutes and unlocked the door in 30secs! Don't we underestimate God! He anticipated my desire and laid it in my lap even before I asked. That is the kind of God I serve.
So many things have been happening lately and sometimes it feels like the whole world has tipped its axis and bumped off into a crazy spin.. it's gone so far beyond what we ever thought or knew.. our ideas and comfortable realities no longer hold.. and yet... an anchor we do not even have the strength to cast keeps us tightly docked. It's a funny feeling being upside down and not having blood rushing to your head.
I was going to make this a long entry but I want to do a manicure for my mum. She's embroidering and if I leave her to it she'll only stop at dawn.
God bless you my friends, my family... Thank you for your prayers and thoughts... I appreciate each one.
