A ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

I have been waiting to write about the new found 'woman' in my life and resisted until today, but I can't wait any longer. When I say 'woman' I really mean a 'female voice'. I do want to say that Kerry knows all about 'her' and approves of her as well although it did take her a few days to accept that someone else can tell me where to go. Together, the three of us, the 'ménage à trois' (in its literal sense! - the household of three) have been travelling around for almost a week now and not a cross word has been uttered.

'She' of course is our Sat Nav, we've called her, Hertza. We were reluctant to give 'her' too much personality because after all it is only a gadget, but without her - see I'm doing it now - we would have got lost many times over and missed so much of what we have seen.

Each time we have travelled locally we have set the destination and then asked for a route using as few freeways as possible and it has led us around some beautiful, and not so beautiful, areas, towns and roads. We have found things we would never have found - including a cricket match! - and seen things we would never have seen, beautiful properties and run down, broken communities. We have seen signs that made us laugh - 'SOD THURSDAYS' (all I wanted to ask was, what about Mondays?) - I think this was a sale of turf rather than a social commentary - and we became confused when outside what looked like a Christian church the sign said, 'KORAN CLASSES'! Liberal or what? But I think the 'e' was missing, it should have read, 'KOREAN CLASSES'!

The Sat Nav has made a difference. The voice is confident, patient and even forgiving when we miss the turning, silently recalculating the route for us to get back on track without judging, condemning or moralising. She knows where we want to go and will carefully take us there, even if it is along a road less travelled.

Today we start the conference, there is an evening reception today (Wednesday) when stories from around the world will be shared about how God has brought transformation and life to churches and communities in diverse cultures, nations and ethnicity. The conference is a time to set the direction again and to realise that there are different ways to get there. It's great to hear the calm, patient, forgiving voice of a God who keeps believing in me even when I take a wrong turn and who invites me to take the new route to the same destination. I'm looking forward to being reminded of the destination over these next couple of days and listening to the route that God wants to take me to get there and watching out for the signs along the way. It might be along a road less travelled, but all I know is that He will be there for me and lead me. Maybe beside still waters, maybe through the dark valley, maybe to the table. All I know is that goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, wherever I travel, whatever turn I take.

Anyway, time to get into the car again, set the destination and listen to the calm, soothing, forgiving voice of Hertza. She really is very good!