Training on the Move

The last post came from a wonderfully refreshing visit high in the Rocky Mountains on what Val and I had hoped would be a relaxing and refreshing holiday with our friends.  But that was not to be.  Within two days Val was unwell and in due course flights were rescheduled for a return home.

The illness, although not life threatening, proved to be debilitating and exhausting and Val remains unwell.  So a whole month has passed without even a moments thought for blogs and blogging.

Which caused me to think through just how emotionally demanding the illness of a husband, wife or life-partner can be for the otherwise well person.

I’m happy to confess that for the first two weeks I could do little more than worry, pray, cry and feel alone. Each in different measures and despite the kindness of others, the support of Ruth and Ewan who happen to be at home just now, and the care of the National Health Service.

I am grateful that this would be preparation time for me with training events coming thick and fast from the middle of next month until the end of the year.

But on each of the courses I lead in the next five months there could be participants with similar cares and concerns and of which which I’m entirely unaware.

I’m challenged by the need to support learners so that they have time to learn in the midst of the noise of life that shouts for greater attention. I’m once again, also aware of the need for trainers, for me, to have some recovery time so that I can give my best and live out the call to availability and vulnerability.

Andrew

We’ve recently had the opportunity to spend time with some friends at the Potters’ Inn in the Rocky Mountains above Colorado Springs in the USA.

The day was marked out as a retreat, an opportunity to reflect, wonder, wander and pray.

A remote location in spectacular surroundings makes the opportunity to review and pray a much simpler activity. It seems, intuitively, helpful to take time out but it is tough too…

As I embarked upon the prayer walk I recalled Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s thoughts:

It’s a difficult lesson to learn today
to leave one’s friends
and family and deliberately
practice the art of solitude
for an hour
or a day or a week.
For me, the break is the most difficult….

And yet, once it is done,
I find there is a quality
to being alone that is
incredibly precious.

Life rushes back into the void,
richer, more vivid, fuller than before.

The itinerant trainer needs those times of restoration and rediscovery. I can commend a day out.

Along with many other residents of the northern hemisphere I will shortly be taking a summer holiday. Who knows whether there will be much ’summer’ to mark but a break is always useful.

Of course, holidays are a privilege. There are many colleagues working in Africa, Asia and Latin America for whom a paid holiday is just a dream.

But Val and I are fortunate to be able to take a breakwith friends.

Busy people do need breaks. With friends from church we discussed, this week, the sadness we all felt that Sunday is no longer a rest day for most folk in the UK. It has become another working day and, in my view, we’re all the poorer for it. I’m not making a religious point (although the Old Testament tells us that one day was set aside for rest in the creation). It is just that we can too easily work hours that are longer than necessary and our families and friends suffer as a result. And so do we.

As the proverb says: ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’.

With a busy training schedule this autumn I need time to refresh and regroup. I suggest we all do.

Andrew

Two things have happened today which have been a pleasure.

• John sent me an Email and said how much he appreciated the commitment of my colleagues in the International Communication Training Institute (ICTI) to working in partnership
• Bryony visited to discuss why I am a companion in the Northumbria Community and we discussed the growing discovery of the fact that I am passionate about the shared journeys we often find ourselves on in life

It was a revelatory moment. Because both incidents said something about my own, personal, commitment.

The Email from John was one of his typical encouraging communications. And it was encouraging. We’ve worked hard within ICTI to build relationships with colleagues and partner agencies so that whenever possible they get recognition for what they are doing.

That can make it difficult to tell folk about what we’re doing because we want to take a back seat. From the earliest days we decided not to attempt to do what our members and partners were already doing. Instead we wanted to make those things known to others and to help them work together. We are happy to give away our services if they will enhance what our members are doing or build up local churches and ministries.

That John was kind enough to recognise our efforts was great. Thanks!

It was Bryony who helped me gain an incite into why… Being a companion in the Northumbria Community means many things - probably as many as there are companions. But Bryony’s probing questions forced me to answer what is important to me. Many similar groups have a rule or way-of-life to which its members are committed. The Northumbria Community Rule is a commitment to being both available and vulnerable. I have seen that as commitment to sharing on our journey. To being open to give away whatever you have that others may also journey with me. It is a journey where relationship is valued more highly than reputation. Where others gain the applause without needing that myself.

So thanks, John and Bryony, for your for separate interactions today. It was a pleasure discovering more about myself.

Andrew

Money… We can’t live with it and we cannot manage without it. Despite the claims of the Visa and MasterCard empires I reckon cash is likely to be around for a good time to come.

Mind you we also take cash for granted when we have it. Meeting with training colleagues from across West Africa last week I was struck by how much they achieve with very little. One community radio station I visited does great work with equipment and facilities that would be considered entirely inadequate in Europe or North America. But the staff faithfully persists in serving its listeners.

One colleague told us of how their small community station was able to assist the national broadcaster after their facilities were flooded and unusable for a time. Great things achieved with very little resource. Yet we were still asked where additional help could be found.

And it was a good question. The various answers began to be revealed.One radio station had received help from a fund established by their own government, another from the EU and the one which had helped its national broadcaster had been helped by a European international broadcaster. Creative attempts by these folk to stand on their own feet and do their own fund-raising.

So now my ICTI colleagues and I are going to try and document the various sources of funding so others can tap into the help that is available. I’ll report back on what we discover.

Andrew