The Walk to the Bank

An amazing rainbow hangs in the air in the early morning. Clear as crystal. The sun shimmers through a curtain of light rain. The river dazzles. We take a walk along the river down to the Branch of the Santander Bank. We do this at the end of every month. It’s become something of a ritual for us. A symbolic walk for us - an exercise in prayer and faith. We go there to ensure we have enough money in our account for the rent withdrawal which takes place on the 5th of every month and we do any transactions if we have to. We could do the transactions online from home, but it has become meaningful to walk to the bank. Its high tide, so the river is awash with all sorts of flotsam and driftwood from the recent storms that have lashed the country. People died in France and Galicia over the weekend.

We leave the river bank to walk up between two apartment blocks and past Escola Vasco da Gama. We think of last night, which was the first time we held church in the auditorium there. For just over two years we have been paying our rent, and each week, watching our place being used as the small fellowship into something more significant. Like a small plant that you keep in a plant pot on the windowsill it grows and stretches its roots till its ready to be planted out. As numbers increase and commitment to one another grows, now is the time to begin to just stretch a little. Not move entirely. That will come in time. But just feel that gentle moving to the edge of the nest. To feel what its like to meet with one another and worship God in another place.

So the rainbow fades. We return home. The sky is clear now and the rain stops. And God reminds us through his provision for one more month, of his unending faithfulness.