It was a very nice weekend of catching up with old friends. On Friday night, we caught up with YC, someone we (particularly I), have known since I was a teenager. YC and I were both in the youth fellowship group of our local church in Klang. She went on to be a paediatric and married another doctor – a thoracic specialist, I believe. They have 2 children here in Melbourne so they visit pretty regularly. Once I was on a same flight as her husband and I gave him a ride from the airport to their children’s home in Caulfield. YC messaged me earlier on Friday arvo and I asked her to join Tress and I in our favourite local in Donvale. We caught up well and she shared her journey with us – her son has been facing challenges in his Masters’ course in Monash Uni and it has been quite a bumpy ride. They recently moved to Bentleigh East and when we gave her a ride home, we stopped by their new place, just on Warrigal Road.

On Saturday, we had a leisurely morning – sleeping in a little bit before taking the little fellow on a leisurely and a bit extended walk. Back from the walk, we drove as the crow flies, for Tress to pick up a toy for Abby. Tress recently joined a FB group where people offered up stuff that are no longer needed and the little toy that looked like a cockpit of a car, appears to be a wonderful toy. We then came back, and Tress did the vacuuming, giving the house a much needed cleaning. I tidied up the lawns – mowed, trimmed and swept, and then we went to lunch at Brendon Park before getting ready for another catch up with old friends in the city. King Ing and his family (his wife Lucy, and two adult children) had gone to Tassie for his daughter’s graduation. She finished medical school in Uni Tasmania and they came over to Melbourne for a short holiday. We hadn’t met them since we left uni in Sydney back in the late 80s’ so it has been over 30 years… they live and work in Singapore and we had a wonderful catch up, also taking in the Christmas decor that has lit up the city. We hadn’t been into the city for a while and it was certainly buzzing and it did feel like downtown Melbourne was already celebrating Christmas.

Yesterday at St Alf’s it was the third Sunday of Advent. Ben Clements, the new minister that replaced Mike McNamara, gave a wonderful sermon about the coming King. The text was on Manasseh, the king who turned badly against God and it contrasted with the faithful King that is Jesus. Ross had, earlier in the kids’ talk, spoken about Jesus who was born King. He gave a beautiful picture of a King’s bust made up of ice cream lids and it brought home the message well. Jesus was, from the moment he was born, King. He is, now, as Ben brought home so well, the coming King. It was a wonderful service that really heralded the coming true festivity of celebrating Christmas. It was terrific. Ben was a bit emotional at the end of his sermon and I think I get that. The songs we sang after, filled me with emotions too. I kept them in check of course, as always (often)…

After St Alf’s we headed to Donvale again, to have our final lunch for the year at our favourite joint. We bumped into Jason and Mel there, and Jason came to our table for a quick chat to say hello. Jason remarked that I looked “not myself” a few Fridays ago (!) when we caught up for dinner. I thought that was very strange, that he should have waited several weeks to tell me that when he could have asked me about it that night itself when we caught up. We had also met after that, together with Gerry and Jesslyn and he didn’t mention it that time either, so it was a very strange thing to say, after all these weeks. Part of me said maybe I was “not myself” because I had felt that catching up with him had felt underwhelming in recent times. I don’t believe he respects us/me, from the numerous signs and signals that he emits over the course of time, but these signals have sort of just washed past me like water off a duck’s back. They didn’t bother me much, and I still treasure our friendship, but I did feel the way I did – underwhelmed (maybe it’s the lack of generosity, maybe it’s the keeping and distribution of old unflattering pictures despite my requests, maybe it’s the annoying re gifting of kitsch that we get from them, maybe it’s… I don’t know…)

After lunch, we came home and as it was a gloriously sunny day, so I decided to oil the deck. I had bought the stuff for the job weeks ago, but it had been raining most weekends so I hadn’t had a chance for the job, until yesterday. So we “cleared the deck” of the furniture, plants and barbeque sets, hosed and scrubbed the flooring timber, and then applied the 2 coats of decking paint. Some 3 hours later, the deck looks far healthier and livelier. I’m just glad that this job, which had been sitting at the back of my mind for a little while, was finally done. Pity we’re not doing Christmas at our home…

As I rested my tired body last night, I thought of Ben’s sermon and that wonderful Advent service again. I am taught, again, that He is King. I need to live as though that is what matters. Again and for the umpteenth time, I wonder what is it I need to do in response. Come, Lord Jesus…