Wine

After a 4 hour Italian meal with the most random group of people I have ever sat around a table with, I was asked to attend a social club in the heart of a neighbourhood rumoured, at best, to be dodgy. That neighbourhood is also the place where I currently live, and so I though it would prove an ideal opportunity to experience local hospitality. TO cut a long story short, I drank a lot of red wine, Jamaican Red Label Apertif to be exact; and yet I am awake at 8am inthe morning feeling great. Having slept only 5 hours am I: a) still under the influence & therefore not feeling the full effects b) delusional and therefore writing rubbish c) fortunate that you are not here kicking my butt for drinking too much and pretending to be good at pool. The reality is that I potted 1 ball in 6 games. For any of you that have travelled to these fair shores, we have a soft-drink called Vimto, and the Red Label stuff tastes just like it. Served over ice, it is a wine that is consumed as if it were Sherry, in the quantities that one would associate with a beer drinker. If Jesus were to turn water into any drink for the guests in my home, I vote Jamaican Red Label. I have been exceptionally fortunate here in England. I am in an incredible community of people to whom life together is very important. Community is at those exciting early stages where many of us are getting to grips with what it means, and are therefore exceptionally joyous to be trying new stuff out. Mens groups where we play sports prior to worship songs, prior to full-on honest splurge of truth. Confession is new to me...but I like it. No, I dont like it, I appreciate its impact on my life; and I appreciate the honesty of brpthers who lay out their lives in the light, and therefore step full-on into the healing arms of Christ. Amidst the lies I have convinced myself of over the many years that I have pretended to be okay, there are some core truths, and I am delighted to be undergoing the process of discipleship whereby the Lord separates my deceit and lies from the core truth: I am saved. It has been easy to focus on sin - moreso than looking at the wonders of a life that I love living. Satan is incredible at turning our focus inward, at turning MY focus inward. Godspeed.