Outside in

Took half a day today to get involved in some contextual Bible Study.  For those of us who are trained to start with the text and its context, it seems strange to start with our context and work inwards.  But, as always with this kind of thing, it is about the people you meet – and the fact that everybody has experience and insight to bring – and so everybody starts equal.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the JCB is continuing to move Perthshire around in what is steadily becoming our back garden.  Maybe we need a tree so that Poppy can get on eye level with the buzzards.  I also, for reasons which are too complicated to explain, bought a second hand car today.  Normally I avoid this because I lack the killer instinct in financial haggling and tend to think of the salesman’s children running barefoot.  But today, wonder of wonders, after the price had already been reduced by £1000, I did an Oliver Twist and asked for more.  And got another £400.  Is it the purple shirt, I wondered.  Unlikely.