Alan's reflections Tuesday 9th June

The Grand Canyon, Arizona

Tuesday 9^th June 2009

We’re almost there. My vision was to begin our great journey at an iconic Christian location and end the journey at another such place; so we started at Lindisfarne, a cradle of Christianity, in the north of England and in a few days we travel to Lake Junaluska in North Carolina for a Methodist conference. After the conference we will enjoy our stay in Tennessee with our very dear friends here and, of course, our Yorkshire family who are flying out for a holiday.

Dorothy and I will be forever indebted to a great team of people back in England who have taken on extra tasks over the sabbatical period so that we could enjoy this experience with the knowledge that everything back home is in capable hands. All the arrangements made through Thomas Cook and Imaginative Traveller have worked very well. There have been numerous occasions where communications both in language and culture have presented difficulties but nothing that couldn’t be surmounted. Dorothy’s meticulous attention to detail planning in the months leading up to the sabbatical have paid dividends over and over again.

Along the journey we have been privileged to meet many people who have offered friendship, help and hospitality. We have seen wonderful panoramas of the world, stood in places where major events in history were fashioned, experienced the different cultures and religious expressions of the countries we have visited, but it is the people we have met along the way that have made this experience so special.

As for me, I have yet to comprehend just how this sabbatical time will affect my future ministry. Our lap top computer, which has travelled with us, is loaded with enough projects to fill two sabbaticals but for the most part I have been content to listen, absorb and experience the variety of stimuli that each day has brought; from the snow of Siberia to the sultry heat of Tennessee, from chilling minutes standing in a Nazi gas chamber to the spectacular views from the rim of the Grand Canyon, from sleeping on the hard ground of the Mongolian desert to the luxury of American hotels, from endless hours waiting on trains at border crossings to the freedom of driving across America, from the warmth of Methodist hospitality to the mystery of Buddhism, from incomprehensible dining menus to real fish and chips in San Francisco – a kaleidoscope of experiences that will take who knows how long to assimilate.

I offer my deepest appreciation: to everyone who has played a part in this time, you know who you are; to the Methodist Church for making this space available; to Dorothy, my soul mate and travelling companion, to our heavenly Father who is forever with us wherever we are on this magnificent planet.

Alan