A week to go...

Apparently, in a week's time I will be in Uganda, or in Soroti to be more precise. I say "apparently" because it really does not feel like this will happen while I am sitting in England, in the cold, feeling miserable having just been trounced at rugby by the Welsh.

I guess I really ought to think about packing. Currently my pile includes anti-malarial tablets and a mosquito net, both of which matter, but neither of which are sufficient for a week under the Central African sun. Talking of which, where am I going to find sun cream in the UK at this time of year?

It is, to be honest, difficult to believe that in 6 days time I will be in shorts and wishing it was cooler. It would probably be easier if I had been there before as I could envisage the context and imagine myself there. The unknown seems somehow unlikely, even though I know where I am going, who I am going to see, and have seen many photos of it.

I do observe that there can be many realities which are different to our own, but ascribing value to that which we don't know by first hand experience is hard. This is one of the reasons that change is so hard, particularly change to something as yet untried. It can be exciting, it is often exhilarating, but it is usually exhausting too.

Note to self: this is worth remembering this when exploring, explaining, or exhorting the things of faith. I might be familiar, but that which is new to others will be usually be adventure, challenge, and intrinsically hard to believe.