The theory behind my days at home between touring with Third Day is that they are for recovery from traveling and preparation for the next trip. In practice, they become filled with lots of catching up- on sleep and with people, and end up pretty busy. In this particular 17 day break I have preached at City Temple, will have spoken on two Offensive evangelism roadshows, spoken at City Temple's Kingdom Academy and Alpha Course, and attended a handful of meetings. I'll also managed to have seen Cardiff Blues play a couple of big games against English opposition, namely Gloucester and Leicester.
With my eccentric blood count levels falling back to normal I'm trying to exercise more, and today I got out to Cosmeston lakes and enjoyed a spot of
Nordic Walking. A few months ago my wife bought me a set of 3 personal fitness sessions with Sarah Parkhouse, a friend of ours, in a fundraising auction for the
Gateway School in India. In one of the sessions, Sarah introduced me to Nordic Walking-which is basically like walking in a skiing motion with poles but without the skis. I love it- mostly because it's not as demanding as jogging, is more demanding than a simple walk, and is good all round exercise. I get some funny looks, and some shouts of 'Oi mate, you've lost your skis' or 'There's plenty of snow in that direction'.
One of my big challenges is to use these times at home wisely, and find a balance between rest, quality family time, preparation and study, socializing, and office paperwork. Over the next few days I'll be turning my thoughts to devotions for the
Third Day Live tour- I'll be challenging the audience each night to sponsor children in India and by doing so to support the final building work for the school, salaries for the staff, and the beginnings of construction for a children's home.