We enjoyed Sunday morning services on our first Lord's day of 2020. We had good attendance and a good spirit. I love seeing our church people stick around and visit with one another after the service. 

We appreciate your prayers for our ministry. We've got three months and then Pastor and Mrs. Anderson will be here for a 6 month ministry. Our furlough schedule is coming along nicely. We appreciate your prayers for just the meetings for our furlough calendar.

This morning I enjoyed preaching on God's servant, Caleb in Joshua 14. Caleb must have been a great blessing to Joshua. Here was the only old man (other than himself) in Israel. Both of them had wanted to see God's people take the promised land, 45 years previously. But, they didn't let the passing of time keep them from doing what they knew God would do through them. They wholly followed the Lord.

It was windy enough to wreck our sidewalk sign this morning. :) Don't worry, it's not the first time this has happened. That sign is chained to a tree and tight against a wall, but it blew a panel out anyway. We used to see these signs fly through the air during church but we replaced our closest sign with a water filled sign. It has stood up to all the tests the wind has given to it. It bows in the wind like a punching bag stand and so it doesn't get destroyed.

We had a good morning. The Lord put on my heart to re-preach a message I wrote and first preached several years ago on, depression. The main character in the story is Elijah as found in 1 Kings 19. My message was, "Dealing with Depression." We are in a great battle and there will be times of discouragement. But, God's Word shows some good truths about dealing with depression in 1 Kings 19. 

Our next fun extra ministry is Tuesday evening as we watch the BJU Unusual Films production of, "Sheffey." I'm looking forward to it. It is a great Gospel film and a good challenge on living our lives for God. Thank you for praying.

I enjoyed preaching the latter half of Luke 2 this morning as we looked at baby Jesus Temple dedication and the two worthy servants of the Christ found there. My messaged, "Walk Worthy of Declaring Christ." God gave us a very good spirit this morning and we are thankful for our church family.

We didn't have any guests this morning but we had a 14 year old first time visitor in our midweek service. We also enjoyed the ministry of camp director, Pastor Randy Tannis and his wife, Laurel. They spent Thursday night with us and we had a wonderful time catching up with them. Pastor Randy spoke to our adults/ teens and Laurel worked with our children's class. We took them over Friday morning to Missionary Keith Cashner who took them to Carlisle.  They are on a special mission trip/ family holiday. It was good to see them.

Tuesday night at 6:00 PM is our Christmas Eve service. We appreciate your prayers for that special evening of ministry.

I was able to get out yesterday and today doing Christmas flyers in Loanhead. The frost on the ground today made the black tarmac white. Obviously it was a cold day, but the Lord gave me two divine appointments in the cold. I spoke with the first man for 10 minutes and the second for about 20. Please pray that God will work in these men's hearts. All told, I think I put out around 450 flyers in the last two days. Thank you for praying for our outreach.

Also, the Lord helped me to get my article written for the "Views from the Pews" column of our county paper, The Midlothian Advertiser. I'm priviliged to get to contribute bi-annually. The emphasis of my article is man's need to get back to the truth of God's Word. I'm limited to 350 words and really have to be succinct in what I say. Please pray for God's blessing upon this article. I'll put the text below. This article will not be printed until the end of January.

Have you ever tried studying while someone was practicing the bagpipes? I don't know if I've mentioned that three of the boys are taking bagpipes. (Logan (14) Parker (12) and Nelson (9). God has blessed them with good instructors at a local bagpipe band in Penicuik. They are making good progress. I'm sure we'll have a set of bagpipes with us on furlough. 

I had another interesting Scottish history moment today. Almost two years ago I bought a set of books from the 1850s, The Memoirs of Dr. Thomas Chalmers. They were compiled by his son in law a few years after his death. Dr. Chalmers was the most influential man of God in Scotland in the 1800's. He was the leader of the Free Church of Scotland when they came out of the church of Scotland because of their conviction on the separation of church and state. Each book was around 500 pages. I finished that set today and am very thankful God gave me the opportunity to look into this man's life and a significant portion of Scottish church history.

The interesting moment was when I read about him laying the first stone for the New College property of the Free Church of Scotland. It was interesting because I was sitting in the library at that property in Edinburgh reading about it. I'm so thankful that God has put us in an area rich with church history. I praise God that He saw fit to bless this nation incredibly in the 1800's.

It was a blessing to have two ladies visit our church this morning. One of our church ladies was asked in front of the building if a church was meeting here. She said, "Yes and you are welcome to come." Praise God they came and we were thankful to have them with us.

I preached a Christmas story messsage this morning from Luke 2 where we considered, "The Birth of the Gospel." It was a good morning. Thank you for praying.

Our next two special events are Christmas Eve at 6:00 PM - Christmas Carol Sing Service. The second is New Years Eve Film Night where we'll show the film, "Sheffey." Both are great Gospel opportunities. Please pray with us for God's blessing on these evenings. Thank you for your participation in our ministry with your interest and prayers.

I'm thankful that God has put Don Dillman close enough that we can meet weekly to put out Gospel flyers together. After a rough weather day yesterday there wasn't a calm today - but it was calm enough. I think we put out around 300 flyers in Loanhead. God gave us a couple divine appointments. I saw the mother of a young man who got saved a few years ago. Please pray that she will greet him for me as she promised to do.

Please also pray for the UK elections tomorrow. I'm praying that God will give us a government who will best protect religious liberties. Unlike the USA, we elect our Prime Minister by electing the majority party in Parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the party. Israel's government is very similar.

Today we are getting a deep low pressure system that is pushing accross the UK with wind gust close to 60 MPH. So, I think rather than put rocks in my pockets, I'll lay low this morning. I was able to hand out our Christmas flyer in Edinburgh yesterday. Edinburgh has a large Bavarian Christmas Market in the heart of the City. The flyer has the Luke 2 Christmas story and an invitation to our carol sing service on Christmas Eve. 

Katies first Ladies' Christmas Evening was last night at our house. This one was for our church ladies. Friday is the one for our neighbour ladies. Last night went very well and each lady who attended very much enjoyed the evening. Thank you for praying for these extra ministry opportunities.

I'm thankful for the tools God has given to us to keep people informed. However, I wish they were mechanical and not computerized. Today is our busy day and because of a mac update, I had to relearn how to upload my sermon. Praise God, that is done now and we are getting ready to head to the Trust Service (assisted living facility.) We're looking forward to using technology (computer and projector) to minister to the folks at the trust as we have a Carol Sing Service today.

I enjoyed preaching this morning on Ephesians 5 and challenging our church to Live in the Light. That message is now uploaded, praise the Lord. Thank you for your prayers. God gave us a great morning.

This has been a good week to get out and put out flyers. On Tuesday I put out more of our Christmas flyers in Loanhead. Yesterday, Don and I went out in his area to put out their church flyer. We didn't have any divine appointments but we enjoyed the fellowship and put out around 250 flyers.

Amanda made it safely back to Peterburgh. Her train was cancelled on Monday and so we enjoyed having her with us for an additional day. 

Today is Logan's 14th B-day! Thanks for the many cards which he received. It's amazing to see our kids growing up very quickly! We appreciate your prayers for our family.