Walking with Women

Believe it or not I do occasionally walk with women but most go at a slower pace and do not go the distance that I choose to- except for in the morning when the world and his wife pass me by as my feet are so very painful. I had ran out of Ibrufopen and this was no bad thing as it gave me a truer insight as to how things actually were re my body- all the aches and pains without the drugs numbing them. It was so bad I felt sick. The blood on my feet and socks is not from blisters but is oozing out from the nailbeds of many of my toes. I went to the 'Farmacia' and bought more drugs and stand in even more awe of the pilgrims of long ago. Walking this distance every day is physically arduous but exhilarating!
I have met one woman whom, I hope, I will see on return to Britain. I will say no more of her life story as some of you may meet her -other than half way through our day together she announced that she was gay. I ask her why she identifies herself by her sexual orientation as I, a heterosexual, do not say, oh by the way I am a fellatioist (is that the right word/spelling?). Why do gay people tell you they are gay? So what? Which other people identify themselves with what they do sexually? (I suppose sado-masochists do?). We have a frank discussion and I ask her all the questions I have always wanted to ask such women, also commenting that at an emotional level I can understand that it may be easier to live with another woman, but doesn´t she miss the joy of a penis? Such a wonderful invention of God's, such a magnificent organ- I mean it. I am fed up with Christians being so silent about sex. Sex was God's idea not the idea of the founder of playboy magazine. My friend tells me there are substitutes for a penis but I argue that a dildo is a poor imitation of the real thing- a bit like pornography is a poor imitation of the real thing.
We laugh a lot but there is much sadness too- my friend was a brethren and apparently you cannot attend their meetings if you are gay, so she left, feeling deeply rejected. Now I am not writing this from a liberal 'anything goes' point of view but as I understand the Gospel it can be summed up in 2 commands: to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and to love your neighbour as you love yourself. I don't see an exception clause of any kind like if they are gay or muslim or 'foreign' etc. Yes God created man and woman for each other, but we are fallen and all sorts of things in all sorts of areas of our lives are so much less than perfect.
Anyway I label my friend the 'posh pilgrim' and it has a deep irony to it as she is from the North with the chip maybe that comes from being  born way up there into a working class family (her words not mine) because she stays in a hotel every night!
Like many other women my friend does not like the writings of Paul. I tell her that he is one of the first people I want to give a huge hug to when I get to heaven. Him and C S Lewis and Eugene Peterson (I don't think he is dead yet).  Paul is such a guy of great integrity- wow what a brain 'married' to a real and living faith. I love his words in Ephesians 5 about women submitting to their husbands- what a doodle in comparison to the challenge to men- to love their wives as Christ loves the church!! Hey bring it on, yes please to be loved by a man as Christ loves the church YES YES YES. Wouldn´t that man be easy to submit too?
Much love, Kate