Jane often watches the Sunday output from Kensington Temple in London and I caught a bit this afternoon. Pastor Malcolm Duncan was doing a Q&A session and was asked how to respond to someone who was angry with God after his sister had died. It is a difficult question and, having had his own experiences of bereavement, he took a minute to gather his thoughts. His response was compassionate and wise – turn up to be with the person and turn down your inclination to try and offer words to fix the pain. What particularly struck me was the phrase “be ready for a long journey”.

I wonder if, in part, that was because it meshed with what I was speaking about at St Theo’s this morning? I wasn’t handling such a difficult question but exploring a couple of passages from the Bible, which led me to the title “being called and learning to follow”. The message was that we can treasure the moment we gave our lives to Jesus and all that, looking back, we can realise was happening around us to prepare us for it. However, what is more important today is our choice to continue walking with Jesus, following his lead.

Be ready for a long journey would have been a perfect phrase to drop into what I said. Some people have a very short journey between salvation received and salvation completed. The thief on the cross, to whom Jesus said “today you will be with me in paradise” is the most obvious example. For most of us, the journey is years or even decades in the travelling. Life is a journey and I don’t want to be found attempting it in flip-flops or without a water bottle. Even at this stage, what do I need to stock up on and what excess baggage could I leave behind?