We are making progress in our study of the sermon on the mount. I preached this morning a message entitled, "It Hath Been Said," from Matthew 5:27-32. Interestingly every time man thought they knew the law, Jesus said, "But I say unto you." We dealt with the subjects of adultery, divorce, integrity and vengeance. God gave us a good service. 

One of our biggest prayer requests right now is grace for Mac. He is an energetic/vocal one year old. All of you mothers can imagine trying to teach with a one year old. In most church situations you would have a nursery for a toddler. We don't have that capability yet. Please keep praying. God is able to help one year olds and He can give grace to minister with a one year old. He can also brings us those who are able to minister as nursery workers or Sunday school teachers. We need all of the above. :)

I enjoyed teaching my class with the older teens and adults. We are studying I Corinthians and have made it to chapter 13. Our topic this morning was charity. 

It's been an interesting week. I enjoyed going up to a pastor's fellowship in Perth on Thursday. (Katie and the kids were unable to go due to a Dr.'s appointment.) We were challenged with two good messages. The first was on making our hearts a Bethel, the house of God. The second was on having victory over the flesh. Both preachers were a blessing.

It has been a week of helps. I've done things like help move a huge aquarium and a ton of coal. (Literally) Those were two separate things in case you are trying to picture a fish tank full of coal. Many homes here burn coal in the winter time. I helped Alec fill a coal bin. We also helped Katie's brother's family move some things out of their home as they get ready to eventually head back to the States. They are going to spend a bit of time with us before they return to the US.

Logan and I have just returned from door to door. The Lord gave us one really good 25 minute chat and a couple other short opportunities to talk with folks in our community. Thanks for praying for those open doors. Please pray that God will bless the seed that was sown.

We are into some lovely weather. If I am repeating myself it is because we had a colder and wetter summer than usual. And for Scotland, that is saying something.

I enjoyed putting out flyers yesterday afternoon. I didn't speak with anyone while I was out and about. But, I did have an opportunity to witness to someone earlier in the day. God has given me one follow up opportunity with another person today as well.

Katie had a good ladies meeting last night. The first Monday of every month Katie has the ladies over for a Bible study and a cup of tea. Three ladies and 3 girls came! That has been a good ministry which the ladies look forward to. 

Car update: It is running better. The mechanic thinks he now knows what to do. Lord willing, next week it will get remedied. Thanks for praying.

It makes for an interesting subject title. And it made for an interesting message this morning. I preached my first ever message on murder this morning as I preached on "A Killer's Heart" from Matthew 5:21-26.

It is a beautiful day. God has given us a gorgeous end to the  summer. It is almost good enough to make us forget that we really didn't get a summer this year. I will enjoy that as I travel to Livingston this afternoon to fill the pulpit for a friend of mine. We are having a 2:30 service there.

Thanks for your prayers for our ministry. We had 5 HBC kids with us on Thursday and two other ones back today. So, praise God, they are still coming. Please keep praying for them.

Just for fun: Scotland has some interesting caterpillars. Here is a moth caterpillar that has two sets of fake eyes. He is about 3 inches long and over a half an inch thick. We almost stepped on him as we were walking this week.

I couldn't decide which title I liked best, so I used them both. God has blessed our family with one girl and today she turned 13! (Pictures below) We are excited to be entering the teen parenting years. My sister-in-law told us last night that we were going to have teens in our home for 19 years! Wow, what a thought! Please pray for our parenting skills. It was fun to have Katie's brother's family with us last night and today. Kirk hands in his paper for his Doctorate in History on Friday. He then has a few weeks before he defends it. I know he would appreciate your prayers for these big life events as well.

I passed out flyers in Edinburgh yesterday morning as I waited to help Kirk's family to our home. God gave me some great divine appointments. I got to share the Gospel with a man who has been homeless the last two weeks. He had been homeless before but it was 20 years ago. I also encouraged a backslidden believer to get back in the battle for the Lord. I challenged a older JW with the reality that Jesus is worshipped in Scripture. It was a good talk as I walked with him to the train station. Another lady was sitting in the park and I was able to speak with her for about 20 minutes. She said, "I'll be thinking about this while I am at work. (Please pray for her we had a really good chat.) 

One of the coolest experiences was handing an elderly woman a flyer and realizing that she was handing tracts out as well. She said she was 83 and that she takes the train up from England to hand out tracts in Edinburgh. She said, "I do this because Jesus Christ is coming back soon." The younger man who was defeated ought to have been handing out tracts while this woman set her burden down. Praise God for His soldiers who don't quit serving Him! 

Our vehicle still isn't back to us. I don't mind as I am hopeful that it is getting fixed. Mac and I are getting ready to get on a bus and go into Edinburgh. We've applied for citizenship for our two youngest. We were able to do this after acquiring permanent residence. For any visa or citizenship they require you to go and have your biometrics taken. (Picture and finger prints)  We did this already. However, somehow it never was sent to the Home Office. So, we are going in to do it again. Please pray that this in no way effects the application. Thank you for your prayers.

Wow, we didn't get a summer but we are getting a nice autumn. We have had a lot of sunshine lately and some really beautiful days. That is a blessing.

Our regular church folks were faithful this morning. Please continue to pray for visitors. I preached this morning on "The Law Upheld" from Matthew 5:17-21. This is the third message I've preached on the "Sermon on the Mount." It's been a good study for us.

God gave Kay Lee and I some wonderful visits yesterday morning. Please pray for those we met that we'll have wisdom in doing follow up. We had some great divine appointments. God's good. We're excited about His ability to build His church in His timing.

School started today at the Shore house. The kid's are excited to be back at it and it has been a good start. Thanks for praying for Katie and the kids as they get into the routine.

Mark Hikin and I started putting out flyers in his community yesterday. Their village is about a mile and a half from us and is one of the larger villages in our area. We have had people attend from there before. Please pray for new contacts. 

Some of you have prayed for our vehicle problem. We've had an ongoing problem with the vehicle's ability to run on LPG. Please pray for the mechanic to have wisdom as he works on it today. The van also runs on petrol but LPG is a lot more affordable. It's been a long ordeal but we hope to have a solution in the near future. Thanks for praying.

We continued this morning with the Sermon on the Mount. I preached on Matthew 5:13-16 on being "Bright and Salty Believers."

God gave us a good morning. Nothing unusual today other than our need for grace to have a one year old (Mac) in Katie's class. We have ordered a portable pack 'n play and hope that will help. It is back-ordered but hopefully will come this week. 

God's good. Thanks for praying for our ministry.

Parker was my door to door buddy today. We had three good chats. One young mother is open to a follow up visit with Katie. Please pray that Katie will have a great chat with her.

One man opened the door and I called him by name and said, "I prayed this morning that I would meet you." I had met him this past week in Loanhead and found out that he lived in this village where we were doing door to door. I prayed this morning that I could meet him again sometime as I went through the village. Isn't God good to give us those "wow" opportunities to acknowledge again that He is God?! 

We had 18 children on Thursday night. Please pray for wisdom for Katie in organizing this group. (I have some of the older ones now in my class, but she still had 15 with several 5 years old or younger.) Please pray that God will help us to be effective in ministering His Word to those who come. Thank you for praying.