Tom and I have just got back from a rather wet weekend taking the Via team on their last retreat together. You can read about it here.
My favourite bit over the weekend was being on the beach with Tom: exploring rock pools (we didn't find much but Tom gave himself an icy bath in one (we forgot our towels) and I enjoyed sitting in the sun whilst he did it!); watching the waves; praying that we would know the love of God like the relentlessness of the tides; finding green sea glass - produced by that well known sea creature... A truly wonderful time with my man. (Andrea also made me laugh an inordinate amount...!)
The course finishes next Sunday and so does the leading of it by Tom and I. It's not going to run in the autumn due to both lack of applications and a 'coincidental' desire in us to start pushing into trying to connect more with our local community and exploring what God has for us in terms of next steps (clearly next steps are always the same steps of making disciples in all contexts, but it's the specific focus on context we're looking at exploring).
Along with it comes a need for change in job for Tom: the course doesn't run, he doesn't have a job! So we're praying and looking and asking around about this. It does give us some time to rest a bit though and I am certainly looking forward to having our house back to urselves again for a while. No longer will I have to spend time searching for scissors which have been put back in a different place, and I will have a big cupboard free again. (Little things for...)
It feels strange: exciting but also sad. It's odd when your lives for the past 3.5 years have totally revolved around designing, building, running, altering, delivering a course which takes up most of your time, energy etc, not just 9-5. Then suddenly it stops. Just done. HOWEVER, it also feels super-exciting: to be exploring, expanding, putting what we've learnt into practise in different areas.
Change is good and hard all at once.
My favourite bit over the weekend was being on the beach with Tom: exploring rock pools (we didn't find much but Tom gave himself an icy bath in one (we forgot our towels) and I enjoyed sitting in the sun whilst he did it!); watching the waves; praying that we would know the love of God like the relentlessness of the tides; finding green sea glass - produced by that well known sea creature... A truly wonderful time with my man. (Andrea also made me laugh an inordinate amount...!)
The course finishes next Sunday and so does the leading of it by Tom and I. It's not going to run in the autumn due to both lack of applications and a 'coincidental' desire in us to start pushing into trying to connect more with our local community and exploring what God has for us in terms of next steps (clearly next steps are always the same steps of making disciples in all contexts, but it's the specific focus on context we're looking at exploring).
Along with it comes a need for change in job for Tom: the course doesn't run, he doesn't have a job! So we're praying and looking and asking around about this. It does give us some time to rest a bit though and I am certainly looking forward to having our house back to urselves again for a while. No longer will I have to spend time searching for scissors which have been put back in a different place, and I will have a big cupboard free again. (Little things for...)
It feels strange: exciting but also sad. It's odd when your lives for the past 3.5 years have totally revolved around designing, building, running, altering, delivering a course which takes up most of your time, energy etc, not just 9-5. Then suddenly it stops. Just done. HOWEVER, it also feels super-exciting: to be exploring, expanding, putting what we've learnt into practise in different areas.
Change is good and hard all at once.
