Future

One of the things I wrestle with in this strange time is what is the future going to look like. I’m not one for thinking way ahead. I’ve told you before I’m a plodder. But sometimes it’s good to look ahead, and sometimes essential. So I’ve been thinking: what it will be like in the future. I played golf yesterday with friend I haven’t seen for a while. As we went to check in at the pro-shop, we got chatting with the pro (like you do). When I asked how he was and how he was holding up, he said he was doing ok, but that was busier than ever. Golf membership it turns out is soaring! Who’d have thought? But the thing is, the gyms aren’t open (don’t want to talk about that because I’m really missing the gym) and so lots of people are turning to golf. I’m pleased for the pro. And I’m pleased golf courses are open because I do like to play golf. And, for now at least, golf is in! I was in a meeting this week where we were thinking about going back into the church and how we might lead services from there (this is where I’m forced to think about the future). What became clear though, is that there are still lots of unknowns. When will we be able to go back? What will we actually be able to do when we go back? Will we be able to sing? How long before a congregation can gather? How will we manage the space if 2m distancing is still in force? And if we want to continue to live stream, how will do that? What new equipment will we need? Who will operate it? By the end of the meeting my head was spinning. Questions, questions, questions. And not many answers. Truth is, we have little idea of what it’s going to be like or when it will all happen. I’m not good with that. I find, if I dwell on it, I become anxious. All I really want to do is teach. Some of us struggle more with the uncertainty of the future and what it might bring than others. I’m guessing we’ve all been shaken to some extent or other with the arrival of this pandemic. We didn’t see it coming. Not really. And there is the possibility it could happen again. There’s a phase Christians like to trot out at times like this: “I don’t know what the future holds; but I know who holds the future”. I find that a bit twee to be honest. But it does contain a deep and profound truth. In the Kingdom of the Heavens, in the bigger and far better story God, the world is a perfectly safe place to be. That’s what Jesus said when he told us we have no need to worry. It means that the bigger and far better story of God is bigger and far better than the story I can see in front of me, however far I can see. So, with every fibre of my being, I’m going to trust myself to the future of His bigger and far better story.