[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 12/Jan/2020]
(Can you spot the hidden surnames of people from our church? There are 30 altogether, including some that are spelled differently but sound roughly the same. Answers will be given next week.)
One Sunday morning John looked through his window pane, saw that it was a sunny day and decided to go for a long walk with his friends. He put on his parka jacket and called on his neighbour Peter, but when he rang the bell Peter came to the door looking rather unwell and explained that he had a rough head as a result of the party he had been to the previous night. His headache was so bad that he could not bear the sound of his own dog, who was a great barker.
Undaunted John tried his friend Daniel, but he had a prior engagement, taking his niece to Alton Towers. Another friend Andrew was holding a new book, entitled “The Scales of Justice” which he said was a real page turner and he couldn’t put it down. “You must read it sometime” he said, before adding that he wasn’t much of a walker.
Finally John managed to find two friends, Elliot and Lewis, to join him and they set off together in the direction of the moor. On the way they saw a number of birds, including a jay, a house martin and some sweet little robins on a tree, as well as several grey squirrels. After a while they found that the path was flooded by recent heavy rain, so they would have to wade through. The only alternative was a path to the right involving climbing a steep hill, so reluctantly they turned back.
To cheer themselves up, they stopped at a local baker’s shop near John’s house and bought some cakes and coffee. John chose a plum duff, which had been his favourite ever since he had first tasted one at his Aunty Joan’s house. The others chose Black Forest gateau. Unfortunately, when reaching for his cake, John knocked his coffee over, causing a brown stain on the counter.
After such a frustrating morning John felt sure he would have been better off going to church instead that Sunday.
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Contributed by Helen Ruffhead; © the Author
