Left Behind

Today I was in a French health food shop (good intentions have started!) with my friend Sara. At one point I wonder off and when I went back to look for her she had moved and left her basket where it was. In that moment I was reminded of something funny that happened to me about a year ago when I was still living a Woodies...

So, Woodies is a church in Bristol which has student flats in the roof and I lived there from 2005-7 with a whole bunch of other students/volunteers/crazy evangelists! There were 16 rooms and we shared a large (and dark) kitchen and living room together. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of my flatmates in both years were Christians, though there were always a few of us 'Heathens' to keep them on their toes. One day I came downstairs (bedrooms were on the 4th floor with beams and sloped ceilings and the communal areas were the next level down) and it was unusually empty for the middle of the afternoon in a student house. Yet the lights were on in every room, there was food in the oven and someone had left the T.V. tuned in to Neighbours. Ordinarily you might shrug and acknowledge that this is typical behaviour for 'our type'. Except, I was well aware that 'our type' was not the same as 'their type' and I confess that the first thing I though of was... is this the Second Coming?! (Please don't get caught up on my theology, I was not and still am not very well informed.)

I spent a few minutes seriously not sure what to do, no-one was in their rooms and this did not bode well for my theory being proved wrong since the saved to non-saved ratio in the place was high. Finally someone returned home and my concern (fear is too strong a word though it certainly did make me wonder, hard) was alleviated. Until I realised that there was a chance my new companion (no names mentioned) was just not sufficiently holy!

Jokes. Evidently it was not The Rapture (theologians bite your tongue) and normality established we had a good old laugh together, particularly over my brief suspicion as to his/her salvation status. Funny what makes you stop and think even if, with the moment passed, you are all too willing to go back to avid disbelief.