Comings and goings

Gripping cold.

That's the verdict on the weather here in Durham UK this morning.

It's only -1 but the wind chill feels more like -15!

Freezing.

I hate the cold.

I am beginning to long for the sun to make an appearance.

Walking through the city this morning, fighting my way through frantic snow flurries, my old fur lined green parka zipped right up to the hilt, with my black cowl wrapped around my neck and my black beanie pulled right down over my ears, I watch the people gathering in the city for business, for shopping, for appointments, for whatever. Their comings and goings seem as frantic as the snow flurries furiously swirling downwards like an angry snow-flake army descending to planet earth.

Busyness in the snow.

The city awakening to yet another day.

Comings and goings.

As I walked, my mind settled in on the current stuff happening in my own life.

Great change is coming for Dawn and I.

Big changes, all at once.

It is an exciting time, a thrilling time, a sad time in many ways, a nerve wracking time, and a little bit of an unsettled period of time too.

A time of apprehension as others make decisions about your life.

Comings and goings.

Comings and goings that are as furious and frantic as the snow flurries falling right now before my very eyes.

Dawn delivered me a mesmerising scripture in line with this period of time.

The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life; The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore. (Psalm 121: 7-8)

Truth.

Truth doesn't always hurt.

Sometimes truth soothes and brings you back into the reality of life.

The Lord is watching over our coming and our going!

Yeah.

That truth is comforting to say the least.

Whatever is happening in our lives right now, wether everything is full of stability, or everything, like my situation right now, is up in the air, then God is watching over the lot of it.

And further more the truth states that he will keep us from harm.

A student who I've known for a long time here in Durham came in yesterday and plonked an ultra thick bound manuscript in my hand. He had a beaming smile, and he excitedly declared that, "It is finished!" Of course he meant his Phd was finalised and ready to submit.

We got into a great conversation about his work which led to a great discussion about how man has shaped the church, and has sometimes done that at the expense of allowing God to shape it which in turn has led to some naff attempts by us, at carrying out its mission.

Yeah.

But my mind went back to that conversation and I felt a searing warmth go through me as The Truth that The Lord is watching over our comings and our goings soothed the jagged edge of the thought of some of the naffness that my own attempts to be missional have sometimes rendered.

So.

What am I driving at today?

Well, I guess everyone's lives are full of frantic comings and goings, ranging from settled stability to sheer pandemonium. I guess whatever is going on in the church, our jobs, our leisure times, our families, whatever, then The Lord has it covered.

Here's that scripture again.

The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life; The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore. (Psalm 121: 7-8)

Next week a lot of my own pandemonium will start to unravel.

In the meantime.

And I pray this helps someone.

I will try and keep focussed on the fact that God has it covered. He will keep us from harm, and he will be watching over us, relentlessly. So we can move forward in our flurries of frantic living, with an assurance like no other, whatever the outcomes will be, whatever the bumps and scrapes along the way are?

God has it covered.

Blessings.