My dear Friends,
There are times in life when I feel I hit the ground running
and don’t catch my breath until the pace slows down and so
it has been for me at the change over from 2011 to 2012. Two
days before Christmas we had to have our dog, ‘piglet,’ put
to sleep. He was very old and had lost the use of his rear
legs and much of his body and so sadly the time had come. As
you know or can appreciate a dog or cat becomes part of the
family and in our case a 17 year companion was no small
loss.
Christmas Eve and Christmas day were great with the frenzy
of umpteen services which left me upbeat, exhilarated and
exhausted.
On the 29th December our daughter, Abigail, gave
birth to her second as Emelia Rose came into the world to
our great delight. Again I have to say that the wonder, the
joy and the sheer amazement of holding a tiny baby just a
few hours old must be the greatest thrill in the world.
Baby, mother and grandmother are all doing well.
I had an appointment with my Oncologist just before
Christmas and received his prognosis just last week and I’m
delighted to say that my prostate cancer currently ‘shows no
evidence of active disease.’ That’s great news and probably
as good as it gets so there it currently lies inactive until
it comes up and bites me again [when I’m 94?]. Thanks for
all your prayers, love and support through this challenging
year.
Earlier this week, my wife’s mother died and although she
was quite old and frail the death of a loved one is still
hard. The funeral will bring together members of the family
who rarely see each other and that will be the upside as
brothers; sisters, grandchildren and cousins will come
together.
Tomorrow is the funeral of Rev’d Amanda Evans at Canterbury
Cathedral. Amanda, as you probably knew, was the chaplain at
the ‘Living Well’ and a truly lovely woman. We were ordained
at the same time, she at Canterbury Cathedral and me at
Rochester and we subsequently did our pottie training
together [That’s ‘Post Ordination Training’ in case you were
wondering] we become good friends and have kept in touch
over the years and more recently over our respective cancer
notes. She will be a great loss to many as well as me
personally.
Only two weeks into the New Year and both Lily and I have
laughed, cried, been amazed and been grateful to God for so
much. But where is God in all this? The cycle of life and
death, illness and good health, joy and sorrow, laughter and
tears are the colours of life and the complexity of being
human and yet Jesus experienced all the same emotions. He
cried at the grave of his friend Lazarus, rejoiced at
weddings and laughed on many occasions, knew hunger,
hardship and could party. Whatever 2012 has in store for you
and for me will, whatever we have planned, it will
thankfully include the unplanned, the surprises, good news
and bad but in all this be assured that our living Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, wants to walk alongside you and me
through it all. From the Bible, James tells us in his letter
that as we draw close to God so he will draw close to us.
Let him walk with you throughout this year.
With my love,
Jim
