Goodbye Perth Hello Sheffield
Here’s the final blog post I intend to write. And if you’re still with us, you’ve done well. Give yourself a pat on the back, as I know that, as life has become more normal, blog posts have become decidedly infrequent.
We left Perth just over a week ago now. The weeks leading up to it were the predictable whirl of box packing, utility phoning and deep house-cleaning. But in and amongst these humdrum tasks were various farewells. These farewells involved colleagues, our landlord (who took us out for a meal), and, of course the Ellenbrook Gospel Community. With the Ellenbrook GC we had a final weekend away and a rather spectacular high-tea featuring copious scones, jam and cream, and some very nice china. We were sad to say goodbye, and felt keenly the smallness of the GC we were leaving. However we were reminded that Paul was content to leave the Ephesians to ‘…God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give the inheritance among those who are sanctified.’ And if it’s good enough for Paul, then it should be good enough for us. Besides, our experience has often been that God makes things go quite well in places we leave!
Coming back to the UK has been lovely. We have forgotten all about the possibility of ‘reverse culture-shock’, it has been absent from our experience since returning. The UK, and Sheffield in particular, seems a good deal more cheerful than the world news media would have you expect, despite the economic uncertainty and the rioting which greeted us. Sheffield is green, hilly and bit dirty. It is sometimes sunny and not too cold. The diversity and vibrancy of the street life is noticeable, and people are friendly. We’re enjoying picking up with old friends and looking forward to getting into our new GC, which is looking to reach our neighbouring neighbourhood (Heeley). England is the best test cricket team in the world.
We are immensely thankful for what God has taught us in the last couple of years; about himself and ourselves. We hope that, by his grace, we have taken a step in Christlikeness, however small and unsteady. If we compare what was achieved with what we wanted to achieve, then we have to say that almost nothing we imagined happening has happened, and much that we didn’t imagine happening has happened. There have been disappointments and failures, but we’ve learnt much about the joy of serving quietly and faithfully and being thankful. And the GC in Ellenbrook have been a great blessing, and we hope and pray that God will keep them, and prosper and grow them in grace.
Thanks to everyone who’s supported us or taken an interest in what we’ve been involved in for the last two years. Although I expect this to be the end of this blog, it’s most certainly not the end of anything much else.
