I've been meaning to write something for days but somehow never got round to it, never seemed to have the time. That in itself is a rather strange expression. After all I've had the same time as everyone else - 24 hours in a day! I guess I need to recheck just what I'm filling my 24 hours with.

In a recent post I mentioned about my son who was thinking of going to a new church in our area. This week, after much time spent in deep thought and conversation with God, he announced that he wasn't going to go to any church at all. In fact he thought that he probably wouldn't go back to any church ever! He finds the worship a bit boring and the talks too long. He would just rather hang out with people chatting about God and stuff. Part of me responded a very definite 'YES!' but my concern is that it can be so easy for those who opt out of 'church' to eventually not have any deep and meaningful conversations with other like-minded christians. But I often recall a young man who spoke at the Target Europe conference in Portsmouth in April and he asked, pleaded with our generation to please not make the up and coming generation try to fit into the church system that we have come to reject. So I listened. After all I know a number of people who have opted out of church and they are spiritually very healthy.

The interesting thing though is that he was really concerned about just how he would use his tithe. 'That is God's so if I don't give it to a church, then who will I give it to?' Then we had another long discussion about various options for him to think about. It was well worth having a very late dinner that day. That conversation was so important.

This Sunday we have decided (weather permitting) to go out for the day and just enjoy God in the natural world and really talk to each other. I'm praying for a fine day - weather-wise too.