Update

Well, I suppose it is time for another update. It has been another full couple of weeks since I last blogged. Last weekend was the wedding celebration of Will, a member of the Wood Green congregation, and staff of the LMC (Metanoia Books), and Yvonne, his Chinese wife. Will is 65 or so and has never been married, and has been a well-loved part of Wood Green for the last three decades. It was clear that everyone was delighted to be celebrating with him....a joy to be there.

I suppose the bigger news for me personally is that I have been dating my friend David now for about three weeks. We have been hanging out as friends regularly for the last ten or eleven months, but despite repeated coaxing from him I had resisted the idea of us dating. I finally decided I had nothing to lose by (to use a British expression) giving it a go. I have decided to press forward in spite of my reservations about the 12 years age difference between us, the complication of a cross-continental relationship, and my own phobias about dating and see where this goes. Theres a part of me that would like to be able to see down the road and see what the long-term prospects of this relationship are, but I know I need to relax and take it one step at a time. I do believe this is where God calls me to be right now.

David is a mental health researcher whose passion to help people with mental health issues stems from his own experience as someone who was first diagnosed with mental health issues sixteen years ago, and who has learned a lot of coping strategies and ways of reframing the way he thinks about things. I met him at Wood Green almost a year ago, as we were just reminiscing today, at the LMCs annual Leaf Party--that is, property cleanup/preparation for winter party.

He is a patient, gentle person with a good sense of humour and we talk about anything and everything. We both tend to analyze things quite a bit, which I realize can be both a good and a bad thing. But I feel really comfortable with him and we genuinely enjoy spending time together. So I continue to commit our relationship to a lot of prayer asking for continued discernment as we move forward.

May you be blessed as we enter this Advent season!