On Tuesday, I just felt that I needed to get away to pray and so I drove to an area south of the manse that a parishioner had told me about. I drove there and found a knoll that overlooks Loch Vatten, which is a smaller loch of the larger Loch Bracadale (that is probably way too much information for you, I know, but I thought if you wanted to Google the location you would have a good go of it…so, carry on). It was a beautiful, partly cloudy day as the sun played hide-and-seek with the clouds. I had my trusty staff, well actually a rod, and found the perfect rock to sit on and pray. I had been there about twenty minutes and I heard a faint cry. I perked up and heard a voice again. This time I understood what was being said to me. A lady, who looked to be in her early 70’s, was calling out, “Are you alright?” She had seen me with my head down and actually thought that I was contemplating suicide. I introduced myself telling her that I was the Dunvegan locum. What ensued, after that, was a conversation that immediately reminded me of the one that Jesus had with the woman at the well. She immediately said, “Well, you are sitting in my sanctuary. Isn’t it beautiful?” I felt that for some reason she was trying to defend herself. Not wanting to debate someone I knew nothing about, and probably would never see again, I felt like the Lord had opened up this window of truth for her. I said to her, “Well, I can see why this place is so special to you…I have been captivated by the beauty, as well. But, even the beauty of nature calls us to give praise and worship to the Creator of it.” I continued by saying, “Because God has given us His Spirit to indwell us, we can worship God anywhere, here or in a church.” At which she was quick to respond saying, “I used to go to church in England when I lived there, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. It just didn’t seem to have life anymore to me.” I said, “I have only been in Dunvegan a little more than a month, but I have found the people here to be warm, friendly and sincere.” Before I could say anymore, she cut me off…not rudely, but enough to indicate that she did not want to talk anymore. She said that I could come back any time and if I did, to come by her house and we would have a cup of tea. I wish I could report a similar response as the woman at the well, but perhaps a seed has been planted and perhaps I will go by for the cup of tea before I leave.
Yesterday, a couple from the Snizort Parish came by for a visit. We drove out to see the Neist Lighthouse. Neist Point is the furthest west point of Skye. It is a beautiful place. They had been there once before, a long time ago. The wind was blowing so hard you could not stand alone and take pictures. We had to stand up against the car or we would have been blown over. It was fantastic. (Yes, I love the wind. I am sorry for the kind of wind that S. Texas is going to have later today. I pray that wherever you are today, if you are in that area, that you will not been in harms way). We visited for over five hours. I had a wonderful opportunity to speak truth into their lives. They are young Christians and have found great joy in the fellowship at Snizort. I was thankful that God gave me the opportunity for some informal discipleship training with them.Last night, I attended…now don’t laugh…a ladies guild meeting. The guild does projects throughout the year that strengthen outreach and support evangelism. Las night they invited a lady to come in show them how to do flower arranging. There is a rota of ladies in the church who do the arrangement for the sanctuary flowers each week and they wanted some fresh ideas. I was asked to open the meeting with scripture and prayer. I felt a little strange, as you might imagine, but it was really a great time. There were 11 ladies there and I reinforced to them that they could even make arranging a part of their worship to the Lord…using His created things for the beauty of the sanctuary. One woman came up to me afterwards and said, “I really appreciate your coming. We longed for this kind of support from our former pastor, who was with us for over four years. He never came to a single one of our meetings.” When asked to attend a few days before, I thought…naaa. The Spirit impressed me to go and now I know why.
