Kayaking with Kallum

The other weekend I went Kayaking with my best friend and our two eldest sons. It was great fun as we'd not seen each other for sometime. Paddling down the river Rother towards Bodium Castle in Kent with the current and wind behind us it was relaxing and pretty easy work. In fact it resulted in the competitive streak coming out in all of us as we raced down the river. However, the only issue was when we needed to turn around and return back to the boat launch site. Our arm muscles started to complain as we suddenly found we had expended a lot of energy but still had the return trip home ahead of us!

Returning back has been a common theme all of us may have considered over the last over few months. The hope that we could go back to a previous place of normality is understandable and rightly at the front of our minds following the adversity and tragedy of the global pandemic across our world.

As I returned to my office on the Monday following, my mind was still remembering the epic events of our kayaking. My eye was then drawn to the two pictures that hang on the wall of the Prodigal Son & Daughter by Charlie Macksey. Returning is also a powerful theme in Luke 15, and here Jesus shares a wonderful parable of restoration and renewal from a situation that looked totally messed up and lost! It’s challenging but also shows us a restorative message of hope, forgiveness and a new future.

As I’ve returned to the school, I’ve had some questions over the last six months. However these words from Luke 15 have reminded me that God is a Heavenly Father who runs towards us and not away from us. Here embracing us with open arms of love and security to welcome us home.

“My son, ‘the father said, ‘you have always been with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:31