Alcohol: Three units. You drink one pint and in this heat, lose three pints out of the other end. Instant dehydration is no fun.
Fags: None. Never have smoked, never will. Would rather have a weight problem than an addiction to nicotine.
Caramac: Surprisingly little – it melts in the heat.
Walks: Decent amount of dog walking. Feeling fitter.
Fags: None. Never have smoked, never will. Would rather have a weight problem than an addiction to nicotine.
Caramac: Surprisingly little – it melts in the heat.
Walks: Decent amount of dog walking. Feeling fitter.
Hay-fever: Pretty bad. Ended up sneezing through the Grace at the end of a Circuit Meeting last week.
A bloke turned up on my doorstep the other day. It was my day off – although I call the day off a rest day because I never want people to think that I am not available for emergencies. Anyway, there I was in the shower and the doorbell rang. Ro answered it and guided someone to the lounge, leaving me to quickly look presentable. When I got down I was confronted by a middle-aged man who wanted a lift to Stamford, so he could make his way to Durham….so he could attend an interview at the passport office….so he could get back to his family in Vancouver…..because his UK passport was overdue. I am not going to say the name of the person; ironically, he did not give a name, but suffice to say listening to him was like having to put up with a double glazing sales agent who would not take no for an answer. In reality, this is probably a discredit to those who are in the double-glazing trade. He even produced evidence of past journeys – but to my mind, things did not add up. I did think about offering to go and buy a bus ticket for him or driving him to the station, but when I asked what plans he had from there, it was clear that there was nothing. Then I told him that I could not, in all honesty, offer a ticket to him unless he had other plans in place – such as someone to stay with. So I suggested he go to the Salvation Army (in fairness, I did not know what the Salvation Army had to offer, but was prepared to phone a colleague who would). It was at that point he made up to leave, saying that I had not listened and advising me that as pastor I should rethink my vocation! Unfortunately, I did not have the presence of mind to say that whilst his patter was good, parts of his story did not add up, and perhaps he should examine his logic of having had the money at one point to buy a fistful of tickets, having a family in Canada, and yet getting himself stuck here. -not that this would have been appropriate. When people do accost ministers, they know that the minister does not have the luxury of responding back in the same way. Anyway, I was left feeling a little disturbed, mindful of how vulnerable I could have been (my wife was listening in the kitchen), and still thinking about whether I did the right thing. In the end, I think I did, but there is always this feeling that ‘we can entertain angels unawares’ (Hebrews 13:2) and whether I had misjudged a genuine case. I guess I will never know – but he was the one who walked out.
I don’t know what to make of this. As ministers, we are urged to be ‘as wise as serpents but as gentle as doves’ (Matthew 10:16). At least I can say that I did offer a response. It is just that it was not a response that he wanted to hear. I guess the whole scenario is about the fact that to do ministry we have to be available, but we also at times have to make difficult decisions on the evidence we have. as for the reader, one of the things we can do is pray for this young man, even though he did not give a name. There have been times when I have met people who are not fraudsters but who, put simply, have just not thought through their actions. This case seemed a little different though. The stories and the answers he had ready to questions were a little bit too prepared.
mmm….