As most church pastors would testify, you never know what might happen on a given day. We might have plans, and the day mapped out, but God can change them.
Yesterday was such a day! I've had a busy fortnight and the plans for yesterday were for an early meeting, some sermon preparation, lunch at the church with our seniors, a committal followed by a thanksgiving service for a church member, evensong at the Cathedral where one of my deacons was being installed as an honorary ecumenical canon, followed by supper at the deacon's home. All of those things happened, except the sermon preparation!
Out of the blue, I had a phone call. My church administrator had tried to emphasise my busy-ness and put off the caller, but he described it as being 'fairly urgent'. And so I found myself talking with Pastor Victor Robert Farrell. He was, he said, on the 66 Cities Tour, speaking about one of the 66 books of the Bible at each city in one way or another. Our city was Day 61! Could we meet?
I have to admit it was a 'heart-sink' moment as I saw my preparation time drifting away! However, I agreed to the meeting, and I'm so glad that I did! VR, or Robert, as he is known, turned out to be a real live-wire. God moves in mysterious ways, and since our Seniors' Lunch was happening, I was able to offer lunch and chat with Robert at the same time. He asked pertinent and insightful questions about the challenges facing our city and our church, and then shared from Book 61 of the Bible with our Seniors' group for no more than 5 minutes, in a lively and inspirational way. I also put Robert in touch with our BU President-Elect, Chris Duffett, who happens to be in the city on most Thursdays, and who had followed the tour on Facebook.
I confess that I had neither heard of Robert nor the 66 Cities tour, but you can read about them here and here.
Today has gone more as planned, and the sermons are well on the way - thankfully!
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