SMB Curry Night

On Tuesday evening I went to the SMB Curry night.  They are preparing to launch as a charity.  SMB have been going about 20 years and I have been to a curry night for them before.  The last time they were mentioned here was back in 2007.  The evening was very enjoyable and the food served by the Indian Ruchi was very good.  I hope that SMB made a reasonable profit on the evening.  As always, when I eat Indian food I eat too much.  This left me with bad indigestion during the night.  I never learn.

I had worked reasonably late.  On the bus on the way home I met Mark Pape, our former youth worker.  He now works for SMB.  He was travelling back from their base to Billericay.  With him was Ray, the youth worker from the Methodist Church, who I hadn't met until then.  It was Ray who I ended up sitting next to at the Curry Night.  Another one of those strange God-incidences?

The only other thing to mention is the quiz.  It was geared to my age group, so I was able to contribute a little, but that's not the point.  It was also quite controversial because of the number of disputed answers.  The quiz itself was fun, but the discussion afterwards was great.  (and it stayed friendly)

Praise in the Park - Lake Meadows, Billericay, 11:00am

It was not a pleasant morning. The rain varied from light to heavy as the clouds crossed the sky. I wondered what to wear, to keep reasonably dry, and reasonably cool. As I walked through the town in my bright orange cagoule, I was aware that I was, shall I say, rather noticeable. Despite my prayer, and that of others, I'm sure, the rain did not stop. We gathered in the park. Surprisingly, quite a few. We stood under the gazebos that had been put up for the following event - the SMB fun day. The weather didn't dampen the spirits of most of the people there, although the practicalities of keeping dry did mean that there was a different feel to previous years. We were there to worship God, and we did. I can't comment on the sermon, because I couldn't hear it properly, that was partly due to being further away than usual, and partly due to the sound of the rain. In Britain, we tend to think of rain as a nuisance, something that spoils our day, we begrudgingly say that we need it, and we know it's true, but does it have to be NOW? In the many other countries, rain is a blessing, and that is how it is seen in scripture. Take Matthew 5:45.