I grew up in the grunge era.

Grunge was characterised by a subculture turning away from the slick, lavish, extravagant styles of previous eras. Although it very much started as a small pocket of society it became more and more mainstream as bands like Nirvana started to dominate the music scene. Grunge took a sort of diy approach to music, fashion, design, and entertainment, often it all seemed a little thrown together and muddled through.

If the 90s passed you by or you weren’t even born in the 90s you might be wondering what on earth grunge has to do with discipleship?

When I was growing up my grandparents false teeth fascinated me.

Their teeth sitting in a glass by their bedsides seemed curiously strange but yet the idea of being able to take your teeth out oddly interested me. In fact I think I can even remember asking my parents why I couldn’t take my teeth out as well.

Last week I read an article about someone in New York who had become so concerned about members of his community struggling to afford to eat that he built and stocked a food box in his front garden/yard. As his neighbourhood heard about his initiative, people who had the means to helped him keep it stocked and together as a community through generosity they began to take care of those who needed help.

There is something that feels a little strange about navigating some of the process of relocating to the States on a day like today.

Not strange in a bad way but just an entertaining sort of strange, that my slightly odd sense of humour finds weirdly amusing as we ready ourselves to move to Texas while our soon to be neighbours celebrate throwing off the colonial shackles and their independence.

If you were to walk into the local tourist office in the town where I live they might show you some of the local attractions like The Giants Causeway, Mussendun Temple, Dunluce Castle or the Carrick -a- Rede Rope Bridge.

They will probably give you some information about them all and if your lucky they might dig out a map to help you find them or point you in the direction of the nearest public transport.