40 Bicycles

There is a rather mean stomach bug going around at the moment. The first resident of the Roberts' household to succumb was Monika, who seems to be especially gifted at picking up infections in the various places she works as a nurse. Mark (the trappist) was next. This morning I walked into the sitting room and saw him slouched in the chair looking pale and drawn. He had about 45 minutes sleep last night and vomited every half hour or so. I sat next to Jonathan for the morning service and we discussed Monika and Mark's misfortune. Returning home after our fellowship lunch, it was Jonathan's turn; he felt ill and threw up in the car. A group of about fifteen of us got together on Friday night, of this group five now have 'the plague'. So far I have escaped, but I can't say that I fancy my chances of escaping it altogether. Today our church said farewell to two of our young people. One is going over to marry a girl in the US; the other is Dave, who is returning to be with his parents following his brother Steve's death. I must admit, I am going to miss having Dave around. He is one of my greatest friends and has had a deep effect on me. Were it not for Dave I would probably never have given much thought to theology at all. About three and a half years ago Dave encouraged me to become involved in a situation that necessitated my learning theology as quickly as possible. I haven't looked back since. The church will miss his enthusiastic personal evangelism; I will miss shared times of prayer and the spark that he always adds to the group activities the young people in the church engage in. Fortunately he will be visiting occasionally. Now that Dave is moving out of the house that he shares with Jonathan, Mark is hoping to move in. Unfortunately the noisiest younger brother remains.