Furlough

Suddenly a word is in the news that has had little usage in recent years.

Furlough.

It is traditionally used to describe a time away from the front line for soldiers. I first came across it in a church context. As a young Christian I went to a Brethren church and was told that a lady missionary was coming to visit on furlough. I thought it must be some kind of vehicle!

Actually it is a vehicle of sorts. It’s one that allows you to take time out. To rest.

For many in the UK the word is not welcome. Its newer definition is being laid off from work with 80% of pay due to the effects of the Corona Virus on our economy.

But maybe in this lockdown, we can all experience some furlough in its original sense? The root of the word is ‘verlof’. This is Dutch and means ‘permission’.

We have permission to take time out right now. Permission to dream, to plan, to think. To do something different. Not to waste the time but to use it as time away from the front line.

So what will we do? Read a book we have always intended to read? Pick up the watercolours again? Study a language? For those of us with a Christian faith, to go deeper into a book of the Bible?

I appreciate that some reading this will be experiencing furlough with kids running around their feet and the sense that they have less time than at work! Yes, but it’s still a different time. There will still be moments that can be used in a different way.

I don’t expect that most of us reading these words will ever get another furlough. Let’s appreciate the blessing along with the challenge.

Summer Travels – Summer Reading: Top 10 Travel Books

As you take time out over the summer, always remember to take a good book on holiday with you. And as you travel yourself, here are a few travel books to keep you company:

1.       A Time of Gifts – Patrick Leigh Fermor

A young man walks from London to Constantinople between the two world wars, discovering a land and people that were soon to be lost as Nazi Germany began to take control. Beautifully written and fascinating history.

2.       Solomon Time – Will Randall

A teacher takes the opportunity to travel to the Solomon Islands. Totally out of his comfort zone, he falls in love with an entirely different way of life. Lots of humour and some great descriptions of a beautiful, hidden paradise.

3.       News From Tartary – Peter Fleming

The older brother of James Bond writer Ian travels with a companion through some of the hardest and least travelled lands, from Peking to Kashmir, back in 1935. A now-vanished way of life and the strangest of encounters.

4.       Chasing the Monsoon – Alexander Frater

In 1987 a travel writer decides to follow the Indian monsoon and in doing so, discovers the hidden India.

5.       Summer Journey Through The Fens – Edward Storey

Writer and poet – and local boy – travels through the Fens, exploring its history, and writing with wit and sensitivity about people past and present.

6.       Pies and Prejudice – Stuart Maconie

DJ and writer Maconie travels through his beloved North of England, discovering the real North and the real people that make it up. I love his sense of humour.

7.       A Walk Across America – Peter Jenkins

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, a student walks across America, discovering hidden lives and finding a faith he never knew he needed.

8.       As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning – Laurie Lee

From a peaceful Cotswold village to the violence of Spain on the verge of war in 1934, Lee sees things through a poets eyes. His writing is hard to beat. Quite beautifully written.

9.       The Whispering Land – Gerald Durrell

Searching for animals, Durrell travels through South America in the late 1950s. His style is funny and his travels through Patagonia are amazing.

10.   Patagonia – Bruce Chatwin

Another Patagona book – I really need to go there! In December 1974, journalist Bruce Chatwin decides to travel south into the hidden lands of South America’s Patagonia. There he meets hidden Welsh valleys in foreign lands and a wild land of changing seasons. Stylish writing.
 

Gerald Coates - Pioneer: The Story of a Book

‘Should I? I mean, really, should I?’

It’s early in 2011 and I’m considering a radical step. Leaving my job as Pensions Director for the Mars Group- and starting a Masters in Theology at Mattersey Bible College.

Roh, my wife, looks on as I pontificate. She knows she doesn’t need to say anything. I’ve made my mind up. I’m just trying to rationalise it!

It was a bold step, but out of it came much more than a Masters. My final dissertation was on the house church movement. It was 57 years since Arthur Wallis wrote his ground-breaking In the Day of Thy Power. My dissertation title seemed quite clever at the time: 57 Years of Restorationism in the UK: Ongoing Legacy or 57 Varieties?

The dissertation gave me access to a number of the house church pioneers- Peter Lyne, Terry Virgo, David Matthew…. And Gerald Coates.

I was grateful for the day spent with Gerald. I left him a copy of my last biography, Cheating Death, Living Life – Linda’s Story, a story of God’s miracles in what could have so easily been a tragic life. And I said that if ever he wanted a biography done, to let me know.

I heard nothing.

We corresponded on something else via Facebook. I suggested the book again. Nope.

Then Anona, Gerald’s wife, steps in. The book should be written.

And so it was.

Starting with reams of wallpaper to plan out the timeline, two further days spent with Gerald and Anona, a lot of recording, a glass or two of wine, a contract with Malcolm Down Publishing, rewrites, rewrites and rewrites… and finally a book.

Gerald’s is an important story. It tells of God’s goodness and the work of the Holy Spirit in our generation. I’m grateful to have had the privilege of writing it.

 

Feast

I’ve just been looking at a few of our photos from our September holiday in Wales. The sun shone- somewhat unusual for Wales!

One day we were out in the hills, when a lady walked past. As we were looking out on the beautiful landscape, she said: ‘Spiritual food for the soul. Feast.’ And then she was gone.

And it was. Spiritual food that is. So beautiful. We discovered a hidden lake, high up in the hills. And we had the most amazing views of Cadaer Idris.





So here’s the question. Are you feeding your soul with spiritual food? For those with a Christian faith, how much dust is on your bible? For those that don’t believe or are not sure, when was the last time you sat down and looked at the hills of Snowdonia? Or the Lakes? Or the Downs? Or the Peak District? Or maybe just a walk in the local park?

Feast.

Cathartic days

Once in a while I get away for a day. Today was such a day. In fact I drove north to see a seal colony on the Lincolnshire coast. About 3000 grey seals and about 1000 of them are new pups. To be able to go right up to them, to walk around them, was amazing. It's not often I get to take a day out, but to spend time on my own is my way of recharging the batteries. Some thinking, some praying and a lot of seal gazing!

Sometimes we get too busy. And when the urgent crowds out what we really need to do, it's time to look at the seals.