Dear Friends

'Events, dear boy, events' is said to have been the reply of the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillin when asked what was most likely to blow goverments off course. What is true for goverments is, of course, also true for individuals.

Most people were probably unaware that Iceland had any volcanoes or, if it did, that they might still be active. So lots of people made their plans for an Easter holiday and jetted off to distant places, never imagining for one moment that their return home might be seriously delayed by volcanic ash. It is the unpredictable and unexpected which blows our lives off course and makes us deal with things we would rather not have experienced at all. And such things are almost always outside our control. serious illness, bereavement and redunndancy - these are unwelcome events which happen to us and with which we have to cope as best we can.

Although such things form no part of our hopes and dreams for the way in which our lives will go, we know they will happen. What matters most is whether we have the resources to deal with them. I don't believe that being a Christian guarantees that we will be shielded from unwelcome events - indeed, I know it does not. But I do believe that if we trust God he will enable us to meet them with hope and to find his presence even in those things we most fear. So though we may be shaken and challenged we shall not be overcome.

Every blessing

Michael.




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