Spring Harvest Day 3

We watched some of the Big Start from the Big top on the TV this morning during a simple breakfast of pop tarts before we left for the Big Top ourselves for the second day of bible study.  A most inspiring talk once again from Gerard Kelly who is rapidly becoming my favourite Spring Harvest speaker.  This was followed by another session with Malcolm Duncan and Ruth Valerio in Whitehall where we seem to spend most of our time if we are not in the Big Top.  Thom came with me and we left about ten minutes early in order to go across to the Sun & Moon pub to watch the Reading v. Southampton Premier League game whilst drinking shady (me) and coke (Thom) and eating a bowl of chips each.  This was Nigel Adkins’ first home game as manager of Reading – against his old team too – which resulted in a defeat for his side and a very good 0-2 win for the Saints.  With Norwich drawing and Stoke losing Southampton find themselves in 11^th place in the Premier League although still only seven points from relegation.  I feel that they are, however, pretty safe and that we can almost feel fairly assured that they will be playing in the Premier League next season. A great win. These three back to back wins are the first time this has happened for Saints in the Premier League since 2003.  This afternoon I went to watch the Watoto Choir singing and performing in Centre Stage before returning to our chalet to watch the Grand National from Liverpool.   A really moving performance especially when one of the group prayed for somebody from the UK who is struggling with their faith.  A wonderful evening of celebration in the Big Top tonight with a group formed out of the XLP Mentoring programme performing and a very passionate speech from Patrick Reagan who runs this initiative.  Many people tweeted what they were standing up for – hundreds of these tweets appearing on the stage screen.  Sara and I decided not to attend any After Hours events tonight as we are both quite tired and we spent the evening with Cynthia, Jane, Debbie and Paul drinking wine and chatting.  Gail, a former work colleague who is now a priest north of Salisbury, also joined us for a time.  Back in our chalet I watched the highlights of the Reading v. Saints game on the TV.