This morning I will be received into Membership at my new church, and this afternoon I will be inducted as the Minister.

A morning cup of tea in a seventeen year old mug! I know this because I was given it (actually I was given two) the evening before my induction service in The Gathering Place.

It’s sitting on a coaster I have had one week, a fun gift as part of leaving present from Railway Town Baptist Church.

And not forgetting dear old Dibley Baptist Church who took a chance on a NAM nearly 23 years ago, and so gave the opportunity to start writing this story.

A special day and at the same time an ordinary day - I am sure with more cups of tea along the way!!

There are all sorts of guidelines about moving house with cats... some more helpful than others, it has to be said.  Over the last couple of days, now that they have been here two weeks, I have slowly been introducing the kitties to the garden... first of all just a few minutes, with me following very closely and scooping them up if they showed any signs at all of going too close to potential exit routes!  Yesterday, and this morning I have (at least temporarily, and ham fistedly) blocked the two gaps in the fence, and today they were actually allowed out, watched from a distance, to explore on their own.  I had all the trepidation I imagine of a parent letting their child play in the garden 'unsupervised' for the first time and watching from the kitchen window.  After around half an hour they each wandered back inside, looking for 'second breakfast' before settling down for a nap.

I am in a similar place, albeit as a grown up human not being actively watched or confined to fenced in space... Where are the boundaries and what are they? What is safe and what is unsafe? And yes, the mysterious truth that, unseen but still there, God is watching through the kitchen window of heaven to make sure that I don't do myself, or anyone else, any serious harm, whilst giving us the freedom to explore and experience life in this new place.

Unlike the kitties, I have not had second breakfast, nor will I take a nap, but I do know that this is a good place to be, and that God is with me.