Last night I watched a trail for a another programme. I am not sure now what it was for… However, the advert for it made me roar with laughter. A seasoned bus driver was recounting a time when a passenger had alighted his vehicle and shouted, “You are all going to hell!”
Quick as a flash the bus driver corrected him, “No we aren’t mate. We are going to Ilford!”

It is important to know where you are headed.

For the last few months I have not been blogging because I have been very busy working on a new project. My new book “Good Grief” tells the story of my journey of sadness and inner turmoil following the death of my mother and my Grandmother. It explains how, for months, I was circling slowly in a small desert of uncertainty – much like the Israelites did for some 40 years. Like them, I was unsure of any direction, and felt aimless and largely alone in my wandering.

Interestingly, the Bible says that the Israelites shoes did not wear out during this period. (Imagine not going to Clarks for a fitting for that length of time, Mums!) So it was with my journey. God protected all my resources so that they did not perish either. In fact, in the midst of a season of despair and hopelessness, I found that God was depositing wisdom, mercy, new ideas and understanding within me.

During this time I would wake up crying but with a new sense of discovery. Only small things, but things that really mattered to me.

The truth is that God knows where we are headed. He knows what we need to encourage us on our journey too. Friends of mine have just moved house. They have ended up as neighbours with someone who advised them years ago about starting their new charity which is now a thriving concern. It was almost as though God wanted to pat them on the back and say “See! I told you so! Well done!”

I want to ask you one question today. If someone from your past were to bump into you, an old youth leader, friend or pastor, what would you like them to notice about your life now? What would you attempt today if you knew you could not fail?

I hope, like me, you are starting to feel God fanning the flames of new ideas in you and that you realise that your shoes still have a lot of life left in them.