You need to let your imagination take you to the sands of the Sahara and there you see a man on a camel, slowly riding through mile after mile of the sun-drenched desert, desperately searching for some signs of life. His supplies are very nearly gone when tragedy strikes – his camel collapses under him...
Now on foot, he is urgently looking for a refuge from the heat and, most importantly, a source of water. Then amazingly, right in front of him, under a canopy, there is a street vendor with a stall loaded with goods. Not at all what you would expect to find in the middle of the desert.
The man staggered over: “Thank God I found you!” he cried. “Please help me. I'm in dire need of some water.”
“Well,” said the vendor, “I don't have any water. But would you like to buy one of these fine ties.”
“What am I going to do with a tie?” the man croaked. “What a ridiculous think to be selling right out here in the desert. Why haven’t you got something useful!”
The vendor replied, “That's all I'm selling sir. If you don't like it, I can't help you.”
Angry and disappointed the man left the vendor and struggled on for many more miles, praying each minute that he would find refuge from the scorching sun. Then in the distance he saw what looked like a restaurant. After rubbing his eyes and squinting several times it was still there. He couldn’t make sense of a restaurant located in the middle of the desert. Was it a mirage or was it real? He decided to check it out anyway.
As he approached it didn’t disappear, so surely the place actually existed. And it must be a reputable place because there is a doorman standing outside. Mouth open in amazement, he approached the doorman who took one look at him and put his hand out to stop him entering.
“Excuse me sir,” the doorman said, “but you can't come in here without a tie!”
You may be aware that our new FBC Centre is well on the way to completion. We expect to take possession of the building during January but are hoping to be able to part use the building over Christmas, especially on Christmas Eve. I’m not suggesting for a moment that Finchampstead is like a desert, but I am hoping that you will find time to pop in for a coffee (or water!), use the sports hall, visit the library or Children’s Centre or just attend one of the many activities that we expect to be based there.
On Sundays the Centre will function as the gathering place for our Church and you are more than welcome to come along to those activities as well. Jesus once said that he offered people the water of life.“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.” (John 4:13 NIV)
Not wet water to quench a physical thirst but a connection to God that quenches the thirst for the spiritual and meaning to life. We want the new centre to be a source for satisfying both kinds of thirst – and what is more, you certainly won’t have to wear a tie.
