Stay With Me:
An Adventure in Going through It
Excerpts:
Before the first flight to Australia, I was really scared. Well, not scared. Nervous.
I'd never flown alone before and this was a long haul flight. So I asked a very old friend
who had done the trip herself.
She wasn't the kind of person who
would've found this easy under normal circumstances. She gave me her advice.
Arrive at the airport and start with the cleaner.
Ask them who to speak to next.
Follow the trail,
and do the same again
and keep going.
If you hit the pilot you’ve gone too far.
She even said Jesus had come in at
one point.
I asked her how she knew it was Jesus, and she laughed like I was stupid, and said,
"I know Jesus!
He was wearing Nike trainers…"
I told her I’d come in straight away.
By the time I got there she had drifted out again. I kept talking to her, and said that if Jesus ever
came in again and asked her to go with Him, she shouldn’t worry about leaving Mum and Dad
because we’d look after them.
And we’d all be along soon after.
Nanny used to be into boxing and wrestling. I haven't watched any since childhood.
But once
when I was lying awake, I turned the radio on to hear about the Mayweather McGregor fight,
which I'd been asked to write an article on.
The buildup, the fight, and the interviews after, got me thinking about my own life and faith.
Courage, tenacity,
belief, strength, power, skill,
training, hunger,
anger, pride, humanity, history, legacy,
peer pressure,
reputation,
Celtic spirit, money, pain, fun,
death, life,
individuals, groups, sides, justice,
celebration,
physicality,
anthems, words—
and those times when being punched in the face
is just part of your day job.
I was moved by McGregor saying that he was disappointed to have the fight stopped through
lack of remaining energy rather than actual damage done.
He pointed to the fact he could still
speak coherently, so he wasn't ready to give in.
He said he'd have preferred it to have ended with
his face on the mat, nothing left to give, rather than rescued
one moment before.