Slowly, but Surely

The last week has been fantastic! Last Thursday was top of the list. The group that we had together on Thursday night was great. We had 21 there which is a healthy sign that things are back on track again. Many of the boys have football training which was moved from Tuesday to Thursday nights. In spite of this we still have a group of 16 boys there and at 8,00 we had 6 of the girls come down as well. The atmosphere is back to being what it was and the joy has returned. Teaching the class was refreshing and I pray that the seed will continue to bring about it's purpose in their lives. At 9.30, after I had finished dropping everyone home, I felt an air of calm in my heart. I know form the evidence of the class that things are OK.

At the weekend we were sent into a little bit of a spin. I was reminded on Saturday morning that I was preaching at Buckie on Sunday. When Bill Pirrie phoned to confirm, my first reaction was panic. Up to that point the week had been pretty hectic with surgery and various other family stuff and my first reaction was, How am I going to get two sermons ready for tomorrow. Then I calmed down and thought, the truth is, Buckie is exactly what Fenella and I need. Every time we go up to Buckie we are deeply refreshed. And it turned out to be no different this time. We are always so well received and leave feeling encouraged and content. The Buckie church is so appreciative of us being there and they are not slow to let you know that. I am confident that the lessons I brought blessed the church and in the same way that we were encouraged I know that the church was too. As I write this I can't help thinking that this is what it 's all about, Christians encouraging one another as they share the Lord.

On Monday night with our primary school class at church, again the signs are encouraging! We had a great class with 18 kids there. One of the encouraging happenings from Monday night was the example of Claire Geddes. Claire left primary school and went up to high school this year. Claire made her own way up to the building and wants to be a helper at the class. She was without doubt a good help on Monday night and the encouraging thing is to see her desire to be involved in a more leading way at the church classes. I was making a big deal of inviting the kids to come on Wednesday night. It looks like both Thursday and Monday nights are back on track, but a little work is still needed to get health back into Wednesday's.

I have to tell you all about yesterday lunch time at Central school. Yesterday marked the first lunchtime club since I got back from America. I was looking forward to working with the P1-3's (ages 5-6). Normally there is a limit of 20 kids. Yesterday when the bell rang to mark the start of the ball-games I was blown away to see a seemingly never ending line of children march into the hall. Once everyone was in there and settled down I counted how many there were - 42! There was no way I could work with so many in the little time we had, so I had to send the P2's back to class and kept the 24 P3's. We had the best time, but I felt horrible having to send almost half of the children away. I talked to the headmaster afterward and suggested we try to work out something for the P2's later in the week. The encouraging message from yesterday was how excited the kids were to be a part of the lunchtime clubs and I look forward to working with Central after the October break.

Well, I know there are many of you have responded to my plea for prayers! There is no other explanation for the response these past days. It seems that everything I have been involved in has been blessed and in some way has grown. Thank you!!! My energy levels have increased and my heart is encouraged for the days ahead. I am reminded of the verse that says, "Be careful if you think you are standing, lest you fall." Please continue to keep our efforts in your prayers so that the church here in Peterhead blossoms. I must say that I am aware that the tone of this blog is so much more positive than my last couple of entries. So, like I am, take courage in the strength of our God.

God bless!