Thursday, July 08, 2010

He's not really called Nigel

Nigel was in Zac's on Tuesday. That's not his real name but for some reason I have him marked down in my brain as a Nigel. It's odd as the Nigels I know have long bushy beards and he doesn't, but he said, 'You can call me anything you want if you're going to feed me muffins.'

I digress. He's an old friend of Sean's who trained for the priesthood in later years. He's now chaplain on an RAF base, the one that bodies of British military are flown home to. Sean said, 'You can tell he's had a bad week when he comes to Zac's for a rest.'
Afterwards Nigel corrected him. 'I don't come for a rest; I come for restoration.'

He was saying that he'd planned to come to Zac's but when he'd got home from work had felt tired and grumpy and changed his mind. It was only after he'd eaten a sandwich that he decided he would drive the hundred or so miles down to Swansea (and back the same evening). 'And what did I get? Andy telling us about speaking to inmates about his prison conversion and Gerry telling us about being taken to a church on Sunday and being moved to tears by it. I come feeling rotten and I leave smiling.'

He went on, 'People ask me why I go all the way down to Swansea and I say for a bible study. And they ask what we do and I tell them we study the bible. And they don't understand what's so special.'

You've got to be there.

4 comments:

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Hi Liz.. The same RAF station that my son is at!!! I have never been to Bible study.. but I did go to Alpha. And my friend here works in Prisons, doing Alpha. I think you do have to be there!!

Liz Hinds said...

Blogging uncovers so many connections, Ann.

CherryPie said...

It does sound like a special place :-)

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Nigel does have a difficult job.