Last Friday I got in my car and drove to Southport with three people I work with. The 50 mile journey took ages - just when we wanted to get there quick - motorways full of cones, winding A roads, slow coach motorists - the usual story. We were going for a conference, and when we got there, I met loads of people I recognised, and even more I did not. One person I recognised was a mate from my days in Scotland, Gary. We arranged to meet for dinner the next day.
I went to the conference centre to meet him - at this point it was windy and rainy, and I was glad of some temporary shelter. We met up and got ready for the pelting rain and squally wind, then made a run for it - only a few hundred yards to the curry house. As we rounded the corner the wind picked up pace as it came off the sea and funnelled down the road we were running down - the pavement was now a shallow river, we were getting drenched.
Just as we were about to cross a road, with a couple just in front of us, the wind hit what felt like hurricane force. What an incredible feeling. Overtaken by such a power that I felt powerless, out of control. Would I stay on my feet? Would we tumble into the back of the couple in front, or be launched right across the road we were about to cross?
We got to the indian, met the others and had a great meal.
Then, back to the conference, a place packed full of Christian youth workers. Towards the end of the meeting, in fact virtually the last words spoken, the bloke at the front described a beach that was full of litter after a day of sunbathers and children building sandcastles - and how the tide came in, went back out again and left the sand washed clean. A picture of God's willingness to free us up from the mess our lives get into. Nice story.
Except it hit me like the wind had done only a few hours earlier. The reason for this impact? Well, I was on a youth camp 8 years ago, praying with a load of youth workers, when one of them came over to me and described a scene to me. Guess what the scene was... go on, I won't spell it out.
The last 8 years have seen a lot of changes in my life - marriage and parenthood, seven years in Scotland. The last 8 years have also seen a lot of mistakes, deliberate and accidental. But no matter the changes in my life, God hasn't changed. He still wants to free us up from the mess, he doesn't give up on us, he gets us from where we are to where we need to be. Galations 5:1, look it up.
