....we arrived in Scotland. God has given us a beautiful day today similar to the day we arrived 8 years ago. It's hard to believe that it has been that long and in other ways it's hard to believe it has ONLY been that long. We claimed when we arrived the verse that says, "I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul." God has certainly done that good work for us. We are very much established as a church ministry and as a family within our local community. Isn't God good?

We knocked on doors this morning. God gave a great opportunity to speak with a man in his upper 20's for about 20 minutes. Please pray for God to guard the seed that was sown in his heart. God's hand was evident in our conversation. Thank you for your faithful prayers these past 8 years. Please pray for God to give us an incredible 9th year of ministry in Scotland.

Kay Lee, Benson and I did a whirwind trip up North on Monday and Tuesday to attend a pastor's fellowship near Elgin in Fochabers. Missionary Don Clough hosted it and his new co-worker, Josh Hamilton, preached. We also enjoyed staying with Danny and Su Olmstead who have a mininstry in Hatton. God blessed us with beautiful traveling weather and safety. Today I am heading to Missionary Don Dillman's to do some outreach.

Well - it's back. We got a few inches of snow overnight and it has been very snowy today. Thankfully our church folks were faithful despite the roads being bad in places. (I'll put a picture below.)

God gave us a good morning. I preached this morning on a wonderful phrase found in God's Word, "But God...." Those two words make all the difference in eternity to mankind. My message was titled, "If It Wasn't For God...."  Here is also a link to last weeks message which I couldn't upload - The Crown Jewels of Womanhood.

Lord willing, this snow too shall pass. We are all ready for spring to sprung and the grass to get growing again. Thanks for your prayers for our ministry today!

Wow - ten days without an update. I think that is a record. I would have updated last Sunday but the internet was down and we were leaving on holiday. We had a good Sunday morning as it was British Mother's Day. Afterwards we helped Rebekah get ready to show a Christian film at the Trust. We then stopped by the house to load up, update webpage (which didn't happen) and head for a self catering cottage just South of Dumfries. 

Our holiday was very fun. Every night the boys were out on the deck with a torch *flashlight, to watch the many badgers that cruised through the Chalets. We saw badgers every night including when we were walking in the dark. :)

Special thanks to the Dillmans for filling in for us last Sunday PM and Thursday PM. Their help on Sunday gave us an extra day away. God's good. We are refreshed and ready to get back at it. Thanks for your prayers for our ministry and family.

Today was our first good weather day in about a week. Monday we got 2-3 inches of wet snow. Tuesday it rained. Today was warmer and had sunshine at times. Don and I were able to get out to the village of Gorebridge to put out flyers. God gave one opportunity to speak with an older believer who is in a church with a woman minister. I had a good conversation with her about our need as believers to adhere to the absolute truth of God's Word. Please pray for her to have wisdom and boldness to let God's Word have it's way in her life. I'll put a pic below that shows the severity of the weather this past week. This is what remains of a pretty impressive snow drift a couple miles from our home.

...despite the snow. The Lord gave us a good morning. The 20 year old young lady was back for SS and the morning service. This was a particular blessing as the majority of our church folks were unable to make it due to the snow. Two Sunday school children were also present and then two more adults joined us for the morning service. Katie was home with two of our children who are ill. (We would appreciate your prayers for their health expecially  Mac who has been ill since Tuesday.)

I preached this morning from Hebrews 7:24-26 on "Behold, the Man!" Praise God for "the man who is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him!" 

I'll put some pics below of the wintry scene arount the church location. Thanks for your prayers for our church services today! (The snow drift is from near our home.)

Wow - this has been a Scottish blizzard. In a place where we get excited to see the ground covered it is that much more spectacular when you get a heavy snowfall. We may be canceling church this evening as 40 mph plus winds arrive this afternoon and evening. We are also expecting further snow showers for the next several days! Yes - I'm excited! God did give me a wonderful divine appointment yesterday as I shoveled my walks. Please pray for the two young men to whom I spake. 

The UK is in a deep freeze right now. Our weather pattern is normally from the West. However, an unusual phenomena has occurred which is sending us weather from accross Siberia (East). They are calling this the, "Beast from the East." As the cold air flows over the North Sea it is going to collect moisture to deposit along the East Coast where we live. Oh, the anticipation.... :) The snow is big news today and will be I imagine for about a week as it will continue for that long. 

It isn't snowing yet. But, it is painfully cold with a cutting easterly wind. I didn't get out for too long this morning but was able to put flyers through a wee village (Howgate) about 7 miles from our church location. I spoke briefly with a man who said he will take his chance on eterinity without God. I'm praying God will awaken his heart. I encouraged him not to wait but to do something about erernity while he can. 

We appreciate your prayers! (Photo below - On saturday we enjoyed walking down a single track road not far from our house. The view was stunning.)

Have you ever had a very interesting day where you scratch your head and wonder what is in the water? It was one of those days and not a bad day. It began with finding out that a single gal was ill, the driver (husband) for a family was ill, and another young lady was ill. We then had 4 adults that were unexpected attend church. On of those is coming somewhat frequently. Another we had not seen in a few months. Another is the mother of one of our teens and has never come to a Sunday School or morning service. The next was a first time visitor. So -praise the Lord!

The other point of interest was a band practicing in the hall next to our hall. :) Oh, didn't I mention the pregnant woman who had to leave at the beginning of the service (with a significant interuption to our service) because she was having contractions. I forgot to say that my wife had a child other than our own next to her at the piano pushing keys.... :) You probably have somewhat of an idea of our morning service caous! It was a great day despite and because of some of those things. Thank you for praying. God's hand has been very evident lately and WE GIVE HIM GLORY FOR WHAT HE IS DOING. 

I preached this morning on, "Engaging the Enemy" from Acts 5. Other belivers have fought for the Lord - have we? God gave us a good service.

Thank you for praying for the youth activity. We enjoyed having the teens over to our home to play games. We've got a very small pool table, shuffleboard table, bagatelle table (which I made) and a small foosball table. We had 7 teens present and had a great time. One teen was a first time visitor. She actually attended our HBC about 7 years ago with her brother.

Thank you as well for praying for the newspaper article. It came out this week. I'll attach a photo below as well as insert the text into the body of this update. It's an incredible privilige to be able to write anything God puts on my heart and get it into the paper. They changed my title (I don't mind) from "Popular Christianity?" to what you'll see below. The more I think about it - the more I'm glad that they changed it. Their title (which is actually a bit of a mis-quote) ought to grab people's attention in a way the other one would not have.

Don and I were able to get out with flyers on Wednesday and got a good bit done. We didn't have any divine appointments but as always we enjoyed the fellowship as we worked for the Lord. Thanks for praying for our outreach.

Our generation seems to have the idea that Christianity should be politically correct and acceptable within our society. It seems the common thought is that "popular Christianity" should be unoffensive, tolerant, and supportive of the thinking of mankind (humanism).

However, is that Biblical Christianity? Was Jesus accepted by His society? If not, should a Bible believer today expect anything better than what Jesus received? Or, should the world try to impose on the Christian church a standard of seeking to please men instead of seeking to please God?

The Word of God says about Jesus, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3) "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." (John 1:11)

Jesus said to his own half brothers, "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." (John 7:7)

Jesus said to His disciples, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 10:25)

By the Lord's own words the "popular Christianity" proposed by the world is easily seen to be a false Christianity. Is it any wonder that this "popular Christianity" has had so little impact on our society which is becoming increasingly more godless?

Jesus didn't come to earth to tell mankind that they were fine continuing in their sin while ignoring the reality of their punishment in an eternal Hell. He came to die for their sin and to give them an opportunity to repent (turn) from their sin by faith in Him. To quote Him, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:5) One does not have to wonder what Jesus cared about. He cared about men's souls and about pleasing God the Father. He was NOT concerned about men's approval. 

Could the same be said about your Christianity? If you want to experience Biblical Christianity, be ready to let your heart be "offended" by the truth of God's Word. Find out what the Bible says, believe it, and expect the world to treat you as they treated Jesus. For further reading please read 1 Peter 4 in your Bible.