As I type this, I am sitting at my office desk. This means that I am not attending a funeral. Ten days ago I was saddened to learn that an old friend of mine had been killed while riding his motorbike. While details of what happened aren't clear to me, it doesn't lessen the fact that this man is now gone from this world.
Today, right now, his funeral is being held in Stawell.
And because I feel too busy, I have chosen not to attend.
I'm not complaining about this. It is a a fact of my life at the moment that some things are out of balance and I'm struggling to get them back into balance - whatever that actually means.
So, while I'm not there to share my thoughts, I'll share them here.
In 1992, I was appointed to serve as a Corps Officer at The Salvation Army in Stawell, Western Victoria. While there I met a young man and his girlfriend who wanted to do something for the youth of the town, and so we created a youth club at our church. It really wasn't much more than a place for teenagers to meet and hang out for a coupe of hours on a Friday if they had nothing else to do, but it was also a place where we got to meet some of the teenagers of Stawell.
His girlfriend bailed out before we had even started, but Darren was willing to stick to it for a while and get things started. Our first night didn't end too well, but some kids kept coming back each time we were there.
My favourite memory of this is the photo that appeared in the Stawell Times-News promoting the club. I'm reasonably short, and Darren is taller than me, and I foolishly stood on the downside of the slope. So when the picture appeared our height differences were greatly exaggerated.
Darren's mum was a part of the church family when we were there, and she still is. As she deals with the grief and heartache of the death of her son, I know that this church family will support her with love and with practical things too.
Is my life too busy? Possibly. Today I am reminded that some things are more important than work.
