The Return of the Three Stooges

Although flung to all corners of the world, Scotland, Birmingham and Oklahoma - my two oldest friends and I have stayed in touch since we studied together at Strode's College, sometime in the last century. Last weekend we all managed to get together for the first time in a decade, which was great, although tinged with regret that such times are so rare.

We reminisced about weird and wonderful events, in places as diverse as South Mimms service station and Coleraine. We talked about the ludicrous speeches we'd made at each other's weddings, and of the time when the police searched my car for drugs and seemed genuinely disappointed only to find a packet of chocolate digestives. We re-kindled very old jokes, which have lain dormant for so long and caught up on many intervening years of life that have slipped by and wondered how long it would be before we were all in the same place again.

In one of our parents homes (who were on holiday) we all realised how strange it was that once there were three of us; then we all gt married over the course of four years, and have all subsequently been breeding - and that there were fourteen people around the table! Happily all three of us found excellent wives who are good friends too. So while all six of us were chatting around the dinning table, the kids all bundled outside and seemed to get on really well (despite being relative strangers), and played with bikes, balls, ice-creams, nintendo's and the like. Two of that great number of children had never been to the UK before, to see where their Dad grew up - and I was particularly moved that along with the sightseeing tour they took of places like the London Eye; they also saw many more personal landmarks such as houses he had lived in as a boy and the place where he became a Christian as a child (here), and the place where their Mum had, as an exchange student in London (here).

Despite the long drive, the many hours on the road, the late nights and tired children, it was a great weekend. There's something joyful, encouraging, stimulating and right about enjoying real fellowship with old friends. We talked about families, children, work, politics, curry, music, America, faith, prayer, culture, worship, joys, struggles, hopes, pains, achievements, illnesses and Jesus himself; with a sense that all of these facets of life are lived before Him, and all the blessings in life come ultimately from Him.

The weekend was a rare treat, and I come away with a profound sense that life was intended to more like that was - and less like today is.