I always thought that once I finished in education, I’d stop thinking that a new year began in September (or in the case of Cambridge, October). That hasn’t been the case, because you can never escape the fact that summer is a time for holidays, rest and recuperation, and as such, autumn always feels like a kind of new beginning.
This is especially true for me this year. In my professional life, we’ve finished off the latest James Bond game and have started work on some great new projects. In my spiritual life, I’ve changed churches, starting a brand new one with a small group of friends and seeing if we can make a big difference. And I guess there are changes in my personal life too, with one of my best friends moving to New Zealand for a year.
These transitions were all marked by a couple of incredible back to back holidays. First I went to Greenbelt for the third year in a row. It’ll take a lot for it to ever influence me as much as on my first visit, but I still learned a lot. Plus, I finally got to see Jars of Clay! Then it was off to Tokyo for an extended farewell party for James, before Dave and I saw how much of the country we could see in a week (tick off Tokyo, Yokohama, Shizuoka, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kyoto, Uji and umm… Dubai Airport). It was incredible, I hope I can write some more about it soon.
All in all, it was a perfect way to embrace the new year. Hopefully lots of exciting times ahead.
