All in a days work

Very often the life of a Salvation Army Officer can be changed in a moment. We need to have the most flexible of schedules because things happen in life, and often those 'things' can have immediate impact.

Yesterday, following my interview on AM1230, I had a meeting with the family of Nellie Rowley. These kind of meetings are always interesting because, though on a morbid subject (the death of a loved one) they often turn out to be enjoyable times of remembering. Sometimes I am asked to conduct the funeral of a person I don't know which means I have to understand something of the person I will be talking about. But in the case of Nellie Rowley, I was able to participate in a conversation about her life, her quirks and her strengths. Then, with that meeting fresh in my mind, I went home to ponder what I should say about this lady and her Lord in Fridays funeral.

Last night I had opportunity for a different kind of pastoral care as our whole family went to support one of our young people as he played basketball. It was a close game that his team lost in the last seconds. The interesting thing was that, neither prior to nor after the game, would he acknowledge my presence. We were with his Mom, and she was very glad to see us but for this boy, there was a fear of looking soft in front of his friends. However, I know it meant something to him that he had people cheering him on so, despite his lack of enthusiasm, I feel it was an evening well spent.