2 Corinthians 5:7

I went off early this morning to the Opticians. I was due for an eye test in August but never got round to it - but Annie Domino is creeping up on me, and I felt my eyesight had changed a bit.

I was right - I DO need new glasses! Choosing frames is always difficult  - for a start, when I try them on, they do not have the correct lenses in - so I can't possibly see properly what they look like, then there is the cost of the wretched things. My current frames are called "Esther" [why? we know that the biblical heroine was beautiful, but it doesn't tell us she was myopic!] When I got them, they were half-price because they were about to be discontinued- apparently.Today, more than two years later, they still have them on sale [but at twice the price I paid] Can I have new lenses put in these old frames? The advice was yes, but it would cost nearly as much as new frames and obviously they are not as strong [Luke 5:36 etc]

The helpful assistant pointed out a pair she thought would suit.I picked up an almost identical pair which seemed a lot cheaper. The cheaper ones did not include lens price, so in the end would cost more. It all got very complicated. Finally we found a frame that we both liked, and which was appropriate for my varifocal lenses, and titanium, so would be strong enough to withstand going on and off whilst I'm wearing my crash helmet.

"They are a bit 'Sarah Palin'" I said. "Who?" said the assistant. "You know, the woman who is standing as the Republican Candidate as Vice President of the USA" She looked blankly at me [at least I think she did, I wasn't wearing my glasses] "I don't really follow politics and things"

"Look, the Democrat candidate is the black guy, Barack Obama, and she is the running-mate for the other one, McCain" "Oh - I thought they had elected the black guy already"

I was slightly gob-smacked. She genuinely thought that America had already got its first black president.

Bob teases me for listening to Radio 4 all the time and being a News Junkie - but I think it is important to keep in touch with world events. How else can we pray intelligently?

My Dad used to tell of a bloke at Bible College with him, who began his prayer with "Lord, as Thou hast read in tonight's Evening Standard.." - that's not quite what I mean!

My spectacles should be ready in about two weeks. And no they do not make me look like SP, a moose-shooting Republican, I prefer to think that they have more of the Tina Fey about them [smart and witty]

"Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely."

Let us continue to pray for all our friends in the States - that God will guide them as they vote for the new President, and that "In God We Trust" might be a reality, not just a motto on their currency.