Harrys Travels

Week 10

We have just returned from the final week residential for the Springboard course, this means its very nearly the end of a wonderful and manic 10 weeks. We spent the last few days at the YWAM base in Harpenden, the sun shone and we had a great time, it made me regret that whilst we have spent nearly everyday of the past 10 weeks with this lovely bunch we haven't 'hung out' enough. 

Tomorrow is Thursday which means we have just 3 days left, including Saturday when we will gather together for our final Sabbath meal. That means that on Friday morning at about 9.15 we will pray our morning prayers together for the final time at least for a while. As part of our morning liturgy we pray a blessing over each other. Most of the prayer time is done eyes closed head down but at the end we open our eyes and pray this blessing looking up at each other, meeting one anothers gaze and speaking these words (from the Northumbrian Celtic Daily Prayer book) into our lives:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you

wherever he may send you

may he guide you through the wilderness 

protect you through the storm

may he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you

may he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors

in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

Amen.

Its going to be hard to meet the gaze of my dear friends on Friday and pray this over them without shedding a tear or two :(

  

Tomorrow though I'm taking the afternoon off and heading into London with my lovely mother, who I don't get to see as often as I would like. Mum is just back from her travels through Asia and I'm sure has lots of stories to share, we intend to wander around the south bank then at some point head to the RA to catch the Byzantium exhibition which I've been wanting to see for ages.

Putting a smile on my face

For the past couple of years our friends at Stop the Traffik have been campaigning, raising awareness around the use of forced labour to harvest cocoa. Thousands of children are trafficked into slavery and put to work in plantations on the Ivory Coast, these beans are then sold on to producers of chocolate around the world.

Whilst I know it has been a hard slog to raise awareness in the general public and even harder to persuade multi-national companies to choose Justice over Profit, it is very nice to see some success. Just this week the largest producer of chocolate announced that their biggest selling chocolate bar will take up the fair trade mark in the Summer. This is a massive break through and one in which we should rejoice!! 

Its early days and one bar going fairtrade must be just the start but never the less we should take a moment to reflect and be thankful, to smile :)  

For more info have a read here

Beautifully Tired

My facebook status reads ‘Scot Bower is beautifully tired’. Thats probably a good way to sum up the missing months and express how I feel right now. The sun is shining today, its one of those late winter days where you can feel some heat, not a lot but enough if you stand out of the shade. Its been that way for a few days now, I even wore shorts last weekend when we visited the wonderful Vicki and Jo at the Wandsworth Boiler Room. 

The sun is a promise of things to come.

Shock-Horror I cleaned the land rover on Saturday, Its annual clean is becoming something of a tradition now and is the beginning perhaps of our pre-travel ritual. My mind is turning towards the summer now and I am beginning to get excited again about the road as well as the destination. 

Today though I have just finished my last teaching sessions for Springboard, all my edits for the book have been submitted and despite a caffeine withdrawal headache I’m feeling free and smiley for the first time in way too long. 

All I want to do is find some grass, lie down in the sunshine and fall asleep.