It’s been another ‘interesting’ mixed day in the life of a pioneer curate.

After Matins, as is now customary for me on a Tuesday and a Thursday, at 8.30am I go on a little circular prayer walk around Rochester. It takes about 30 minutes if I can remember to walk slowly (20 if I forget!) as I ask God to bless the places I walk past and bring to mind anything I need to pray for. If you are in the area why not join me?

The view from the Castle gardens this morning as I prayed was stunning. The cathedral was encircled by a skirt of fine white mist while the top half reflected the sunshine magnificently.
The building was radiant, if buildings can be
such! The crispness of the morning emphasised the strong lines of the cathedral and I felt God was saying and reminding me that ‘Before all this… I am’ It was hard not to praise God and be reminded of his glory at such a sight.

I returned to the office to find which desk is available for me today and from there had a few thoughts on paper for the Family Service I am speaking at in a few weeks time on the conversion of St Paul. WE have a baptism and so I am still in two minds on whether I should speak on the text or on baptism in a family service kind of way as I don’t think it is that easy to combine both and be both succint and engaging in the way I believe I need to be at such a service.

My normal morning coffee in ‘Spoons was fairly uneventful until the catholic couple I have been chatting with since my first visit there came in and we caught up with news from the Christmas break. The Christmas break does seem to have set things back a bit as conversations that I had been having with people have dried up. I would panic – but God reminded me this morning that he is in control!

After lunch I visited the sports centre and bumped into a guy I worked with on the streets in my YFC days some 12 years ago. He was 12 when I worked with him and is now nearly 25 and just been released from prison. I’m sad to say I did not recognise the face but knew the name and in discussion remembered the names of others in that gang and where vthey used to hang out – the exciting thing for me was he approached me and asked ‘didn’t you and your wife run a drop in in the high street?’ Is this a chance encounter or an encounter with mileage for the future? It’s a question that God will answer in time – and I wonder whether this encounter is part of why God reminded me this morning that before all this he is and so he is in control.

I then ‘tail ended’ my day with Choral Evensong in the cathedral which is becoming a space where (now) familiar words but unfamiliar music are allowing me to experience new things of God.

4 months in – and it still makes me smile that God has placed this pioneer where he has placed him, and I’m still amazed at what God is revealing to me through the unfamiliarity of it all.