It’s late in the day but I have finally found some space to stop and reflect… before rushing off to another meeting. Sorry to any of you who have been waiting patiently for me to post some bloggerel today.

the view from inside our car - which is why I call the car 'Shrek'

So, following on from yesterday’s pathetic effort by me, by my computer and by Microsoft, all seems to be happy again in studyland. It did require the ultimate computer techie solution… turn off and on again. There were one or two grumbles from the software, a couple of passwords got lost, but on the whole it was fairly painless.

That last paragraph was for the benefit of anyone who read yesterday’s bloggage and was on tenterhooks to find out what happened next…

Actually, what I want to reflect today is on a dream I had recently. I don’t think it was caused by too much cheese and while it may be one that means nothing I have been wondering whether God has been speaking to me through it, and to our church. I shared this at our Church Meeting last night and it generated an interesting and valuable discussion.

The dream is very simple. I was being driven in our car. The car was very sluggish. It accelerated even more slowly than usual. We went onto the A12 Dual Carriageway and while the car eventually reached top speed the engine was labouring hard to get there and keep us there. Finally we realised that the handbrake was still on. As soon as we released the handbrake the car leapt forward and was much easier to drive.

The question I have been pondering for a couple of weeks now is whether this is from God (it was more vivid than a lot of my dreams) or whether God wants to speak to me / us through it. I shared this at the last Deacons’ Meeting before last night’s Church Meeting. I feel that this may be a parable of our church.

We are functioning successfully as a church. New people are joining us, there is plenty of activity, people are being blessed, are coming to faith and are being baptised. But is the handbrake still on? Is it harder work than it needs to be? I have wondered whether the handbrake is my / our attitude to prayer. If we were a more prayerful people how much more could / would God do through us and in us?

I am not only talking about corporate prayer, but I am not ignoring this at all. But for each one of us a desire to pray more starts with us as individuals before it spreads through us as a church.

I’m still testing this to see if I have heard this right. But I am praying that God’s Spirit will be free to inspire us to pray, to want to share more of our lives with him, to involve him in all that we do. More thinking and praying to come…

Be blessed, be a blessing.

No direct link with the theme to today’s joke unless you’d like to suggest one:

A dodgy-looking guy walks into a very classy restaurant and orders a steak. The waitress says: “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you can pay for your meal.” The guy admits, “You’re right. I don’t have any money, but if I show you something you haven’t seen before, will you give me my supper?”

The waitress, both curious and compassionate, says, “Only if what you show me isn’t risque.”

“Deal!” says the guy and reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a hamster. He puts the hamster on the ground and it runs across the room, directly to a piano. The hamster then proceeds to climb up the piano, and starts playing Gershwin songs.

The waitress says, “You’re right. I’ve never seen anything like that before. That hamster is truly good on the piano.” The guy sits back and enjoys a fine steak supper with all the trimmings.

Shortly thereafter, he asks the waitress, “Can I have a piece of that fine blueberry pie I see on the dessert trolley over there?” “Only if you got another miracle up your sleeve”, says the waitress. The guy reaches into his coat again and pulls out a frog. He puts the frog on the table, and the frog starts to sing up a storm!

A stranger from a nearby table runs over to the guy and offers him £300 for the frog. The guy says “It’s a deal.” He takes the three hundred and gives the stranger the frog. The stranger runs out of the restaurant with dollar signs in his eyes and a big smile on his face.

The waitress says to the guy “Are you some kind of nut? You sold a singing frog for £300? It must have been worth millions!”

“No”, says the guy. “The hamster is also a ventriloquist.”