when you press the button to go over a 'bleep', you don't expect the cars to stop immediately.
Least of all if you're second in the queue driving a big van and you've already decided you are going over the orange light.
crash…
it happens
The van piles into theback of the car in an explosion of glass and green liquid. The car is pushed scratching, hissing and squealing onto the crossing and the bike is calmly and gently taken from my hands.
Expletives, tears, hands over faces.
Shouting, arguing, anger, fear.
Shock. People emerging from houses.
brooms, Cups of tea. Phone calls.
I didn't get into the office until nearly 11 and then felt odd all day. Cycling home tonight was quite strange.
You fear every car will pull out in front of you, or jump a red light.
For fifteen minutes a trip I make every day becomes a white knuckle ride.
All I have to show for it now is a story and a slightly 'clicky' and a bit twisted pedal. Her car is a crumbled mess. His van is bruised and bleeding in the road outside.

Lord, why did I forget my lunch this morning and return to the house?
What's that all about? Give thanks that no-one was hurt and all the kids were safely at school

Cell tonight was one of the best. Intense prayer, very moving. Sarah is a real inspiration. The loan for the business is just another piece of His plan for my life slotting into place. The lessons we have learned in the past couple of years and the financial hardship we have endured, (while the legacy will not go away quickly) has strengthened our relationship and enhanced no doubt the appreciation we will have when the money does at last start coming in. It will have more value than ever.
Pray for Sera, watching in desperate frustration as her sister in law dies slowly from a brain tumour. Pray that she can reach her husband, steadily withdrawing into himself as he deals with 'a nightmare that doesn't go away'.
Pray for Claire, diagnosed this week with a non-malignant cyst which is the reason she and N can't start a family yet.
We know Lord that we are not put into a situation or faced with a challenge for which you do not give us weapons and protection, and with your Love and support and guidance we can face the problems that confront us and make us strong. Thank you for revealing her demon so that she can now identify and confront him.
Pray too for J and K as Matthew returns this week from his aborted degree course in Lancaster. His path is now unclear and uncertain while he waits to learn whether or not a place is available on a different course in London. Pray that J's anger with her son and her disappointment don't weigh her down for long and that she can soon sleep again. Be with them too at this difficult time, adjusting back to having an untidy and loud aspiring musician in the house again just as they started to enjoy the peace!
Pray for D and D, learning too the nature of their own demon. Devastating news that the boys father has turned abusive, but we pray Lord that this issue can now be challenged. The boys behaviour can now be explained, their tears and pain consoled and slowly plans can be made to treat and heal the wounds of this new family in our church. Thanks for bringing dave into our group, and giving him an environment in which to safely unload these worries and for giving him the strength and confidence to share them with us.

Amen