The bishop

This is how my week began. When picking up Peter Storey, former Methodist Bishop of South Africa and one of the people that I admire most in the world, from the airport on Sunday night, I arrived at the airport just fine (after missing a turn-off and having to drive in a circle around a big chunk of Durban). After driving by the Arrivals terminal, having Peter Storey fling himself into my bitty car, clutching his bag and offering to drive for me, I gave in to the pressure of traffic around me and drove out of the airport to get back on the highway. Things went fine for the first few minutes, as I attempted to merge into oncoming truck traffic in the dark on the wrong side of the road, while reflecting theologically to one of the greatest practical theologians of this century. Yes, things went fine, until I turned off on the first exit to Pinetown - the wrong exit to Pinetown - since no one had ever told me that there were two, and I was actually to take the second one. And so, there we were, the bishop and I, sitting in the dark on a fairly deserted road in South Africa, as I wondered why the scenery didn't look familiar to me and what on earth I was to do next. Redemption finally came when we stopped at a petrol station, and someone miraculously could direct us in the proper way. The bishop took over the steering wheel, and I was demoted to "navigator." Which, I thankfully accomplished with a minor amount of miraculous finesse, as we got to our destination, Pinetown Methodist Church. Peter Storey thanked me for the ride, described me as his "blind navigator," and we all went to tea at a Pinetown Methodist member's home and shared experiences about South Africa and listened to Peter Storey describe stories from his life, including his experiences in situations such as being the man in charge of peacekeeping in Soweto during the first South African democratic elections in 1994. It was a fairly awe-inspiring evening, listening to the Bishop's sharp mind relate how we need to emigrate to the New South Africa.