Renewal?

At last, now that things have somewhat slowed down a bit, I get a little breathing space. Settling down while on the job takes quite a toll on the human psyche. It doesn't help when you are transfered with a price tag on your head that says 'for X amount, you will get not just one, but two functions!'

I've felt like that since arriving here and getting myself involved in a tad too much of ministry related roles. I mean, if I am alone, I wouldn't feel it that much, but now, with the baby's arrival imminent, I find that I am rather alone with my wife on a lot of things. What most people in this town fail to realise sometimes is that we are here alone, without relatives or even close friends. And we're staying so far away from anything. If I get sick, it's 10 miles down to the nearest clinic. If my car breaks down, it's 6 miles down to the nearest workshop. If my car runs out of petrol, it's 5 miles down to the nearest station. If I need electricals, it's 10 miles. Banks? 10 miles.

If I need anything at all, I'm all alone up here. Even trying to service my car becomes a challenge because I work when the workshops are open, and I get off work as they do. Even doing my banking is a challenge because some of my loans are held in banks where the cash deposit machine earns a monthly salary or the real machine is located inside the bank whereby we have to do our banking during office hours.

The locals, I feel, will not experience this kind of situation and most of these things are just beyond them. Most of the people I know have someone to help them out with their chores like maintaining the car, like mowing the lawn, like buying groceries, like paying the bills. They have gotten so used to being a closely knit society that they have forgotten that some people do come in individually, with their individual baggage and responsibilities. Therefore, they will only know how to demand from you a level of performance that is so common here. 

I have been trying to observe people here and base their situation as a regulator for my own experience. And the only conclusion that I am forming is that most of the people who are so effective at work and in ministry are mostly helped out by their family members here and there. At least they have someone to fall back on. 

My situation here is that I am 10 miles away from any close friends that I have made, there's not much to choose from in terms of amenities, and the demands of work and demands on ministry is still as high as they can be. There's the time factor, there's the proximity factor, there's the convenience factor working against me. 

And people tend to forget that. 

But don't let this get you down. I'm just ranting because I have nothing else better to do on a saturday morning at the office.