Here I am, twelve months since this silence started, since we were told to stay indoors, and we are just starting to see the hope from the life ahead of us. What will the future hold. Like explorers at the foot of a mountain, I feel the excitement of knowing that we will soon hear the voice to start walking and we shall begin our ascent, up and up into a new land. Jesus is our shepherd. We have all had to learn new ways of working, teaching online, constantly talking to a computer hoping someone will answer back, meetings online, isolation but thankful of being with your family. Most of the things that I love have been far from me, walking in the mountains, meeting people and getting to know them through all sorts of activities, making music with other musicians and yet, I am eternally thankful because I have my family and we are all safe.

I was thinking about the passover, how God told all the Israelites to stay home, but be ready with your coat, sandals and walking sticks and eat the passover meal quickly. How when I was in the Army we were trained to eat quickly so that we could get out and be ready. Ready for battle, or ready to do our duty. I feel this is a time of waiting, creating space and being prepared as there will come a time when our shepherd, like Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, will call us into action and He has a plan so wondrous for us that we could not possibly imagine it.

Like the blood on the doorposts, we are safe only through the blood of Jesus, and as strange as this culture may be by proclaiming “believe your own truth”, I know that if I tried to proclaim my own version of truth to God he would probably laugh and destroy me in but a moment, but thankfully I do not proclaim my own truth. Jesus pleads for me and other believers, He knows me and all my sins, He knows how I will more than likely try to steer things to my self-centredness if left to my own devices, but I have my family that He works through, and friends which He works through to remind me that even though I am a sinner, I am also forgiven if I confess to Him. I am reminded by the lives of evangelists that they can be held up so high that we could think they are not sinners, but they are just as sinners as each one of us.

It is not much at the end of the garden, but it is a space, and it has evolved through raising the roof and adding a decking floor, and now adding an earthen roof. It is warm when the fire is lit and it is peaceful at night when all the cars have stopped racing past to get to their busy lifestyles. Birds sing and frequently fly through this space, the bird feeders also attract the wildlife, and it is a place where my prayers are said and where I feel God looks down. Of course God can hear our prayers anywhere, in anyplace, my life being saved in many dark potholes is testament to this, but it is a space dedicated to him and I think He likes this, He like his children to do stuff for Him.

So pray with the Spirit, for the time is coming when we are to be called forward, confess your sins to Jesus who will wipe away all our tears and give us a white wedding robe, and turn to Him the Father in Praise for death has no sting in this life if we are with Jesus.

Amen