FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 2nd – 9th JULY
It’s that time of the year again when Father Frank’s Log will take a bit of a break, both to give the right side of my brain a rest, and also to give your sanity a rest. As I have often said, there are times when I sit down to compose the log, usually on a Thursday, when my mind is blank, and I haven’t a clue what I’m going to write about, and then some little thread of an idea comes to mind that I begin to tease out, and something appears at the end of it. Usually, that thread is connected to some ordinary event that has happened to me in the previous week, or something that has connected with a memory from the past. If there is a purpose to Father Frank’s Log, it is quite simply this, that, in all the various circumstances of life, the rough and the smooth, the serious and the silly; the happy and the sad; the sublime and the ridiculous; the expected and the unexpected; God is there, God is in all things, and God is present at all times. I have always found that, and, in my own stuttering way, that is what I try to convey in the log, in a light-hearted way. Faith sometimes has to be lived with a smile on its face, no matter what.
Perhaps the most memorable recent event came on the night that Scotland were playing Georgia at Hampden in the European Nations Qualifiers. Our Parish Pastoral Council were meeting that same night, lamenting our bad timing, and hoping that the meeting wouldn’t last too long, so that we could at least get home for some of this very important match. At some point in the meeting one of the members got a message on her phone. Scotland had scored. Almost simultaneously with that, we heard a massive whoosh from the adjoining kitchen as the sinks began to overflow. The rain outside, as at Hampden, was of Noah proportions, a veritable flood, and our drains just couldn’t cope with such a volume of water in such a short time. As the teams were being taken off the pitch at Hampden, back in St. Mungo’s, some of our parish council members were scooping out the overflowing water from the sinks, seeking out every bucket and bin we could find, and forming a chain to get rid of the water out into the yard. Others were using shovels to try and scoop up the water that had already accumulated on the floor; while the main man was out in the yard finding the valve that would release the pressure and stop the sinks from filling up. It was a horrendous task, but it was carried out with great efficiency and in a very good spirit.
Where was God in all of the this? Well, in the first place, if the parish council had not been meeting that night, can you imagine the damage we would have arrived into the next morning, with the sinks overflowing all night? In the second place, even though our exertions had extended the meeting, we were still finished, and on the way home, before play resumed in the match, and so, those who were interested, saw most of the game after all, which happily Scotland managed to win. Remedial work has now been carried out and, hopefully, we are protected from this happening again during this period of very unpredictable weather. We are, however, considering investing in an ark to keep in the yard, just in case.
Thank you for reading Father Frank’s Log, whether that’s weekly on the website, or monthly in the Flourish; and thank you for the affirmation and encouragement I receive. I will look forward to resuming the log very soon, as life goes on, and so does God, always and everywhere.
Meantime, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
It’s that time of the year again when Father Frank’s Log will take a bit of a break, both to give the right side of my brain a rest, and also to give your sanity a rest. As I have often said, there are times when I sit down to compose the log, usually on a Thursday, when my mind is blank, and I haven’t a clue what I’m going to write about, and then some little thread of an idea comes to mind that I begin to tease out, and something appears at the end of it. Usually, that thread is connected to some ordinary event that has happened to me in the previous week, or something that has connected with a memory from the past. If there is a purpose to Father Frank’s Log, it is quite simply this, that, in all the various circumstances of life, the rough and the smooth, the serious and the silly; the happy and the sad; the sublime and the ridiculous; the expected and the unexpected; God is there, God is in all things, and God is present at all times. I have always found that, and, in my own stuttering way, that is what I try to convey in the log, in a light-hearted way. Faith sometimes has to be lived with a smile on its face, no matter what.
Perhaps the most memorable recent event came on the night that Scotland were playing Georgia at Hampden in the European Nations Qualifiers. Our Parish Pastoral Council were meeting that same night, lamenting our bad timing, and hoping that the meeting wouldn’t last too long, so that we could at least get home for some of this very important match. At some point in the meeting one of the members got a message on her phone. Scotland had scored. Almost simultaneously with that, we heard a massive whoosh from the adjoining kitchen as the sinks began to overflow. The rain outside, as at Hampden, was of Noah proportions, a veritable flood, and our drains just couldn’t cope with such a volume of water in such a short time. As the teams were being taken off the pitch at Hampden, back in St. Mungo’s, some of our parish council members were scooping out the overflowing water from the sinks, seeking out every bucket and bin we could find, and forming a chain to get rid of the water out into the yard. Others were using shovels to try and scoop up the water that had already accumulated on the floor; while the main man was out in the yard finding the valve that would release the pressure and stop the sinks from filling up. It was a horrendous task, but it was carried out with great efficiency and in a very good spirit.
Where was God in all of the this? Well, in the first place, if the parish council had not been meeting that night, can you imagine the damage we would have arrived into the next morning, with the sinks overflowing all night? In the second place, even though our exertions had extended the meeting, we were still finished, and on the way home, before play resumed in the match, and so, those who were interested, saw most of the game after all, which happily Scotland managed to win. Remedial work has now been carried out and, hopefully, we are protected from this happening again during this period of very unpredictable weather. We are, however, considering investing in an ark to keep in the yard, just in case.
Thank you for reading Father Frank’s Log, whether that’s weekly on the website, or monthly in the Flourish; and thank you for the affirmation and encouragement I receive. I will look forward to resuming the log very soon, as life goes on, and so does God, always and everywhere.
Meantime, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
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