Sunday again... I can do so much!

Just about to start last Friday's small funeral.

Life seems to be a bit of a blur lately. I am always rushing from one thing to another. Last Monday it rained so I did some work on Sunday's readings, thinking that could mean I could take some time off during the week. There has been no chance of that happening! I have been putting in some long hours and often not sleeping well at nights.
Fire aftermath
I mentioned that St John Headquarters had a bit of an explosion and fire that I came across on Thursday. I had visited it then, but had been thinking that I would pop across on Friday morning to see how people were. St John NZ had done away with Workplace Support Chaplains in favour of a counselling service people rang up for, so I had lost my paid chaplaincy job there and now continue to have contact as a voluntary chaplain. I had gone in to the office an hour earlier on Friday morning to get some work done. (I have a regular visitor for coffee on Friday mornings.) As I was working away, I had a phone call and visit from two of the leaders from St John. They asked if I could go across and spend some time chatting with staff who had been distressed by the fire etc. Of course I said "yes", whilst wondering how I was going to fit everything else in. The selfish vindictive side of me wanted say, "Where is your fancy new counselling service you replaced me with now?" I spent a big part of the morning talking with people for whom the fire had been a frightening experience. Sometimes it just added to stuff that was already happening in their lives. Later in the day I visited the hospital where a staff member had been receiving treatment for burned hands.
Community building
On Fridays a group we have assisted in getting off the ground meets in our building free of charge. They are "Women Across Cultures" a group of women from many cultures who spend the morning together. (Because of the presence of one or two women from quite strict Muslim backgrounds men are not allowed in the room.) We have a group of guys frequent our Space2B at lunch times. This last Friday the women were cooking up a lunch, a multi-cultural delicacy. They sent a message through to Space2B to see how many were there. In due course enough food to feed us all came through. I loved that sharing, it is part of my dream.
Another sad contact- the importance of crew members
I had heard that one of my fire fighters had experienced a tough situation on his day off. He was sitting watching TV when there was a fatal accident between a car and a motorbike on the road outside his house. He was first on the scene and stayed with the motorcyclist as his life ebbed out of him, then extinguished the burning bike before any other emergency services managed to get there.  I knew the man was coming on duty that night so I made a trip to the fire station to see him and see how he was doing. It was interesting how he said such an incident was so different when off duty. On duty when the alarm goes of you steal yourself up to face whatever and you have your crew with you. When it is unexpected and you are alone it is harder to deal with.
Mini Stroke
We have in our congregation a man we first met through our drop-in centre, his name is Robbie. He helps out in various ways and we support him too. As I was visiting fire stations on Friday I got a text from my wife to tell me that Robbie had suffered a mini stroke and been taken to the emergency department. I went there to see him and sat outside the curtain around his bed listening as the doctor checked him out. I realised that I loved Robbie like my own brother and was feeling deeply for him. He is OK, given medication and back giving me cheek, but that too was part of my Friday.
All of the above fitted into my Friday. I worked nearly 15 hours in total.
Saturday

Me and bridegroom waiting for the bride

Long distance shot of the happy couple.

Saturday was also a busy day. I was up early and working. I conducted a wedding and attended the reception in the afternoon. I was pleased with the way I conducted the wedding and the positive vibes I got about it all. I returned home and continued working at around 11 p.m. It was about 12:30 a.m. when I went to bed and a little after 6 a.m. when I got up this morning.

Two interesting things
We New Zealanders are masters of the understatement. I had to laugh as I talked to people who had experienced the explosion and fire at St John. "It was a bit scary" meaning really I was petrified. "Just a little bit of a mess" meaning the room was a blackened stuffed up mess. "I got a bit of a fright" meaning I was scared out of my brain.  Fire fighter involved with the motorcyclist said something like, "Yeah it was all a bit sad." I think he means it was a very tragic accident. Robbie said something like, "Didn't like it much!" which meant experiencing the stroke had scared the life out of him. We have a funny way of communicating our feelings. We understate them, when deep inside we have been profoundly impacted.
I am impressed with what I can do. I have been incredibly busy and having to fit a lot of stuff into each day. There have been times when I have wondered how I can possibly do it all. But I have! I have done it well too. I seem to be able to prioritise, think carefully about how to most efficiently do things and manage to come out on top. I have surprised myself with how I will write up a "to do" list and methodically work my way through it and still find creativity. Somehow the insight, the energy and the endurance "comes"... I actually feel linked to processes bigger than myself.