It's coming up to four years since I started working as a volunteer at Anglicare in Emergency Relief, and about three and a half years since I first played a song in the cafe. There is rarely a day when I don't look forward to going to work and even though it doesn't pay an income, it pays out grandly in other ways. It can be very humbling to work with people whose struggles are so great that their very presence in my office is a miracle in itself. It is uplifting to be a small part of a solution to whatever problem is being presented. And often as not, clients have many problems on many levels.

I have been trialing a few new songs at cafe though my capacity to add to the repertoire is slowing. There are probably about 30 or 40 songs that get regular play, with a few dropping in and out of favour depending on my mood and how the gig feels. The latter is a fuzzy concept, but I seem to know at least when not to do one. Now and then I get a request and sometimes I can find the song and learn it by the following week. I am constrained by my limited guitar-playing ability, so many songs I would love to sing and are quite within my range are out of the question.

I don't know how long I will remain where I am. Some decisions are in my hands and some are not. The next few weeks will determine how great my agency to act is. Unrelated events can conspire to create watersheds in our lives and how we respond holds the key to much more besides.