Sunday was a difficult day for me. The Lord has wonderfully melded the hearts of the folk here with mine in such a short period of time. I have had some wonderful fellowship, learned a great deal about the Scottish worship culture…if there is such a thing…have had wonderful opportunities to speak the Gospel into peoples’ lives, both in and out of the pulpit and have been allowed to speak into the hearts of some of the more mature Christians of the need for intentional discipleship (which was warmly and enthusiastically received.) So, all that to say that Sunday was just a wee bit emotional, knowing that I will not, often, see some of these dear people again. The Lord has made a rich deposit into my life through them, and, hopefully, the same is true from me to them.
Last night, I had the joy of having Ben and Annette Johnstone in the Snizort manse for a spaghetti supper. You will recall, Ben and Annette were our friends that we met in 2006 whom the Lord used to precipitate my being in Scotland . They were on their way to the Isle of Lewis, where they will live when they retire, to do some work on their retirement house…scraping, painting, etc. So I feed them a delicious meal (if I do say so, myself, which I thoroughly enjoyed) and then put them up for the night. The ferry that goes to Lewis leaves out of Uig, where I was this past Saturday. We had a good time of fellowship and he gave me some information that I will have to let the Lord filter through my heart in the days to come…said news being that chap that handles the initial applications for transfer into the Church of Scotland told Ben that he felt that there did not seem to be anything that would hinder or prohibit my acceptance.
The past year or so I have sensed something working in my heart about Scotland as a permanent place of ministry. I have struggled with those feelings not knowing if they were from the Lord or fleshly intimations of wanting to be here. I have been keen to keep my eyes on the Lord, because I don’t want to be led by the flesh. I don’t want to be anywhere He doesn’t want me. My heart cry is to be in the center of His will. So, the conversation that Ben and I had about his conversation with the rep. from the C of S, has presented me with a further inclination that the desires that I have been experiencing are not of the flesh, but of God. It is still early. And even with this additional information, I am certainly not going to presume upon the sovereignty of God, in any way. I am opening up my heart to you in this way is for the purpose of pleading with you who have been reading the blog and praying for me to pray very specifically about this issue.
I moved a part of my stuff over to Dunvegan this morning and met a lovely man and his wife…Donald and Rose Mary MacLeod (pronounced like McCloud). His career was in the British diplomatic corp. He is quite…sorry, but there is presently a patch of very white thunder clouds exploding out of very dark clouds that is just breath-taking…oh, I wish you could see it…again, he is a very proper chap, but so warm, open and inviting. He lives in the former Dunvegan manse, which is about 200 yards to the west of
the manse where I will be living for the next two months….only 10 days, Linda…here I go again with the mushy stuff. Anyway, his son and family were with them for a few days and I had a wonderful time visiting with them. At one point, his son excused himself so that he could go practice his bagpipes. I said, “By all means, just play loud so that I can hear you…and he did. It was wonderful. I will be having dinner with the MacLeods tomorrow night and look so forward to deepening new roots in Dunvegan.
Last night, I had the joy of having Ben and Annette Johnstone in the Snizort manse for a spaghetti supper. You will recall, Ben and Annette were our friends that we met in 2006 whom the Lord used to precipitate my being in Scotland . They were on their way to the Isle of Lewis, where they will live when they retire, to do some work on their retirement house…scraping, painting, etc. So I feed them a delicious meal (if I do say so, myself, which I thoroughly enjoyed) and then put them up for the night. The ferry that goes to Lewis leaves out of Uig, where I was this past Saturday. We had a good time of fellowship and he gave me some information that I will have to let the Lord filter through my heart in the days to come…said news being that chap that handles the initial applications for transfer into the Church of Scotland told Ben that he felt that there did not seem to be anything that would hinder or prohibit my acceptance.
The past year or so I have sensed something working in my heart about Scotland as a permanent place of ministry. I have struggled with those feelings not knowing if they were from the Lord or fleshly intimations of wanting to be here. I have been keen to keep my eyes on the Lord, because I don’t want to be led by the flesh. I don’t want to be anywhere He doesn’t want me. My heart cry is to be in the center of His will. So, the conversation that Ben and I had about his conversation with the rep. from the C of S, has presented me with a further inclination that the desires that I have been experiencing are not of the flesh, but of God. It is still early. And even with this additional information, I am certainly not going to presume upon the sovereignty of God, in any way. I am opening up my heart to you in this way is for the purpose of pleading with you who have been reading the blog and praying for me to pray very specifically about this issue.
I moved a part of my stuff over to Dunvegan this morning and met a lovely man and his wife…Donald and Rose Mary MacLeod (pronounced like McCloud). His career was in the British diplomatic corp. He is quite…sorry, but there is presently a patch of very white thunder clouds exploding out of very dark clouds that is just breath-taking…oh, I wish you could see it…again, he is a very proper chap, but so warm, open and inviting. He lives in the former Dunvegan manse, which is about 200 yards to the west of
the manse where I will be living for the next two months….only 10 days, Linda…here I go again with the mushy stuff. Anyway, his son and family were with them for a few days and I had a wonderful time visiting with them. At one point, his son excused himself so that he could go practice his bagpipes. I said, “By all means, just play loud so that I can hear you…and he did. It was wonderful. I will be having dinner with the MacLeods tomorrow night and look so forward to deepening new roots in Dunvegan. I have one more gathering with the Snizort members tomorrow night for the mid-week prayer service. What began as a fish-bowl experience, has turned into a rich time of study and prayer. One of the fellows that did not seem to get on with me in the beginning, asked my on Sunday, if I would like to join him this evening at the weekly Rotary Club meeting. I told him I would love to. In the course of our drive into Portree, we had a chance to share testimonies and he told me of his burden for the lost in his community. He is a Gideon and committed to the Kingdom. I am so thankful that the Lord opened up this relationship to me. I was really blessed, but it makes it even harder to say, “Cheerio.”
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