Travelling in Australia is always fraught with danger for the intrepid explorer. For example I am generally prone to be bitten by all sorts of insects and coming out in lumps. So imagine my slight discomfort on a recent visit to a diocese which I will not name for legal reasons (Rockhampton) when my lord Bishop (for that is how you should really address them) showed me my sleeping quarters. In the midst of the room there was a bed, but dominating my thoughts was the mosquito net handliy placed above the bed.

I went to bed on my first night with the Bishop assuring me in the grand way they do before a congregation during the Absolution that “You should be okay!”

I woke next morning surrounded by the net and several hungry looking mosquitos on the other side. This happened for three consecutive nights. One night I heard the mosquitos sawing through the net, on the second night I heard them trying to tunnel under the net, and on the third night I witnessed the most extraordinary Mosquito Parish Council Meeting where I and my blood were the only agenda items.

In the end despite one or two bites, I survived. I have been asked to go on a number of televsion programmes already to tell my story of bravery!

I want to say in the area of invitation “you should be okay!” You may face rejection, you may face a fierce response, you may even put your friendship at risk, but I want to say in the end “you should be okay” and more than that, you will have a tale to tell, maybe not as long as mine.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2012 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.