No Brakes!

This week has been manic! Fenella and I have seen very little of each other and it's just not good enough. I know there are times when there are the kinda weeks you are glad to see past. As always though there have been some gems. Last night we had our Teen class. What a joy! We needed to change to Thursday night because of conflicting use of the hall, but that did not effect the group who came to share in the class. We had around 20 there and apart from a couple of minor "drama" moments all was well. I am convinced that until teens are at least 16 they SHOULD NOT DATE! All the stress within the group comes from the younger teens and their inability to handle relationships. Anyway, enough about the negative. I finished up from last weeks lesson and showed the group the video of S.M. Lockridge - "He's My King." As a result of being at two funerals this week my mind had been influenced by the question, "If I had one thing to tell you before I die what would that be?" I talked about my hearts desire for them all to be safe! I talked plainly about the reality of being ready for either God's return or their time being up on this earth. The response was deep and the eye contact from the majority was fixed and focused. We finished up asking the question, "Is He YOUR King, if not Why not? Rather than play football I took time to visit with the group and spend some one on one time. I love where we are with this group! I pray that we are ready for growth! We talked about last Sunday night and everyone shared great memories from the night, both the young and the old! We are on the right track there and we just need to persevere in moving in the direction of fellowship as well as meetings. John Campbell continues to be a great role model for the group and whenever he is there I know the kids are blessed.

I spent some time this week with Thomas. He asked if we could meet up and talk, so we did. It was good to talk. We were able to be honest with each other and I pray I was able to council with Spirit filled advice to help him in his way to discovering God's purpose and will for his life. All things considered Thomas is growing and finding room to grow in his faith.

The ministries with the schools are going great! I had one of the best days on Wednesday at Anna Ritchie. It is not as regular as other schools that I get to share an assembly there, but when I do it is such a blessing! Anna Ritchie is our special needs school and when the whole school comes together for assembly it is beautiful. I was inspired to teach a lesson from something we did on Sunday night with the "Play Your Cards Right." I took the huge deck of playing cards and did the "Higher or Lower" game with the kids. They loved it and got really excited. I then talked about not always knowing what you are going to face when you come to school. We talked about what kind of "Cards" we should play when there are trying times or happy times. They were brilliant and I am glad to have got the balance right between fun and faith - God is good!

Well, this weekend Fenella and Amy are doing a performance with their Haddo Choral Group. Amy thinks it will be a piece of cake, but Fenella is not quite as confident. Fenella found out that she will be standing right in the front row of the choir! I am confident they will sound amazing and I am quietly looking forward to watching two of my girls shine.

We have managed (with a little help) to book a house up in Avemore for one of the weeks in October so we can get away as a family and enjoy a break. We are ALL looking forward to the time out. Amy and Beth have been going full tilt these past weeks and they are looking forward to some down time too. Holly and Hannah are going to be in charge of our "Schedule" and organise what we will do and see each day - FUN!

Please continue to pray for us. We are still a bit unsure as to how our money issues will be worked out, but are confident they just will be. Pray for our leadership and the direction we need to be going. These are challenging times!

God bless!

Look!

On Sunday night we had one of the best nights in ages! We had around 50 come to the meeting which in itself bucked the trend of struggling to have 30 there on a regular night. The most exciting element was the spread of ages represented - we had a good MIX! We challenged the teens on Friday night to come and many did. We had a family come too! It was refreshing and gives hope!

Alex and I have been planning and working behind the scenes for the past two weeks. We are committed to the idea that we need more fellowship and time to talk as the body and not simply come together for "Meetings." Rather than going straight into the meeting we started with a cup of tea and doughnuts. We wanted everyone to feel closer to one another before coming together to worship. When we began the service many commented about how good the singing was. Alex and I shared a 10 minute lesson each. We based the whole night around the theme of two games shows, "The price is right" and "Play your cards right." Alex took the "Price is right" and talked about God paying the ultimate price in order that our relationship with God might be restored and enjoyed. I took "Play your cards right" and talked about how we need to live life depending on God's unchanging promises and not live as if we have no control of what comes next. When the meeting was over we then stayed behind for some time enjoying good company and some fun. We had re-created some of the games from the shows. Cliffhanger, Hole in One, Ready-Aim-Fire and Higher or Lower. Everyone had a great time and it was especially encouraging to have such a spread of ages sharing the same time and space together!

As you can see from the photo's there were plenty of smiles all round! Alex did a fantastic job keeping things going and I got a surprise to discover how natural he was in the "Games show host" mode - he was brilliant! Everyone was game for a laugh which meant there was never a dull moment. I have no doubt MUCH good was done to bridge the gap from young to old.

I must make a closing comment about our Friday nights. The past two have been something special and I am confident the Spirit is active in bringing about what is best. The group have been a joy to teach and on the 1st Friday we shared the things we struggle with most. The group, anonymously, wrote their struggles on a piece of paper and I collected them in and as a group we discussed some at random. We talked for ages and the group were honest and real as they openly shared the reality of their worlds. In the end I pulled everything together with commenting on the fact that without Christ living in us we will always be dragged down by our failings and it's only when we have Christ that our focus can be set on something pure and powerful. This past Friday I put a slide up with all the sins the group had confessed the week before and in the following slide I put up the many things that Christ does and accomplishes for us and in us. The impact was good and I know the seeds are going deep - Praise God!

We have much to be thankful about and I ask for your continued prayers! It is because of prayer we are seeing these precious times.

God bless!

That sinking feeling again!

I know the title of this blog is a bit dramatic, but there is an element of truth in it all the same. We are beginning the process of having to raise funds to support my family in ministry again. Every now and again we have to stop and devote time to this "Hard" part of ministry. We have lost some support and need to try and replace $1,250 a month. This is a huge part of our support and we are well aware of the implications this causes my family. This is our 10th year in ministry since leaving the physical fishing nets for the spiritual ones. We have been in this position before and God has always provided! This gives me hope and assurance that He will again come to our aid - if He is willing. I know that my God is "able to do immeasurably more" and I put my trust in His people to see the usefulness of our ministry here in Peterhead, Scotland. Anyone who has stood where I am standing knows the path ahead. In my experience it has never been an easy path, but it has always been a blessed one. I am continually amazed by the direction this journey takes and the people and families I have come to know and love as a result of previous journeys. Setting out with the purpose of finding churches or individuals to invest in the work of the kingdom is not always as simple as you might imagine. For me is is one of the hardest things I have to overcome. I find it tough to sell myself, which although misses the point of my ministry altogether, I have to do in order to be able to stand before churches and missions teams to share what God is doing through me and many here in Peterhead. I know this is a stab in the dark, but I also know that behind these words is an awesome God, so I might be underestimating His plans even as I write this. If you are in a position to help get my appeal to the right people or in fact are moved to help yourself, please help me in this journey. Either leave a comment or e-mail me at bfstrachan@aol.com if you can help. If you have minute or two please lift a petition to our Father on our behalf - God bless!

This is not my usual style, but the times call for action and I will use whatever means I have to make sure I can continue to serve in this place of lost souls. I have a responsibility to Fenella and my girls first and I need to know as a father that they are provided for. I pray that God finds us useful and that this weight is lifted soon.

God bless!

Over the past couple of weeks we have been non stop and I hate to think the miles we have covered getting to and from events and venues. I need to start off with the Aberdeen Youth Weekend! Alex, Angie and I took a group of 17 teens, all of whom have varying depths of faith and commitment to God, through to Aberdeen for the weekend. Before leaving with the group I had asked many to be praying for us and I myself had spent much time wrestling in prayer to determine whether it was wise and safe to be taking this group away and to be responsible for them. Most of the group I had zero concern, but there were a couple I had some worries about and thus the reason for wrestling in prayer. I need to say at this point how blessed we were and how well everyone responded to the tone of the weekend. It was great to be able to spend so much time and give so much more attention to relationship than we are accustomed to. I know everyone received their fill and some to overflowing with the living water. There was only the one occasion that I had reason to be concerned and in the end it was simply a cry for attention. There was one in the group that was obviously not ready to be in my care away from home and who gave reason for me not to trust him, but even he showed promise and evidence that the seed is taking root.

We had our traditional marathon football match and this year did not disappoint! Having such a big group through with us meant that from the beginning there was a great game going and as others arrived things just kept getting better till there was so many you didn't know who was on your team. I love Aberdeen Youth Weekend! There is something about this event and the anticipation of great things is so obvious! All the teens are together in one place the whole time and having the use of the YMCA building is brilliant! There are so many options and ways to create little fellowships, whether it's around the snooker tables or in the hall playing football or in the chill out rooms - there is just so much potential for good. Ian Cameron from East Kilbride took the lessons on the theme of "Heroes of the Faith" and did a fantastic job. My personal favorite was his exploration into Samson's life. I had the joy of leading one of the discussion groups. I had most of our older boys and Robert Philips too. Our group was amazing! It was so easy to get the guys to open up and share where they are in their "Faith" and the struggles they face as a result.

I know Angie and Alex were encouraged as a result of the weekend. It goes without saying that we were all exhausted from lack of sleep and abnormally high activity levels! In all the weekend gave us another pointer as to where some of the teens are in their journey to find God and to accept Christ. I have to say that I am hopeful and although the road is often times tough, there is evidence that, yes of course, God is active, but that the group are responding to His call.

This past week I have taken 5 school assemblies. What a JOY! We stumbled across a great lesson during our Monday night class with the younger kids. We were supposed to be talking about some of the things Jesus is, but for some reason the kids diverted the path and we had an amazing lesson talking about some evidences of God's design from the Giraffe and Bombardier Beetle. I had studied this stuff a few years ago in prep for teaching at camp Tayside and for some reason this was so relevant for this Monday night's class. When I saw how engrossed the group were on Monday I thought hmmm... So these past assemblies I have been sharing how amazing God's design is in His creation. I have loved presenting this stuff and the kids are responding sooo well, it's a great blessing all round!

School clubs are going really well too! Anna Ritchie on Friday Afternoon continues to inspire me. I have started teaching Volleyball at Central school and this too is going great. I have made the decision to have most of my school clubs at lunch times rather than after school. Crimond school on a Monday is the only "After School Club" I have. So it's Tuesday, Thursday and Friday lunch times and Monday and Friday Afternoons I get to play with the school kids! There is no doubt that God continues to bless me so that I in turn can bless many.

This past weekend we were up in Buckie to encourage the church there. The truth continues to be, however, that we are the ones being encouraged! We left the house in a frantic blur trying to leave in time to make the trip up in time for the worship. After being reminded that driving aggressively can be dangerous I resolved in my heart to drive safely and if God would make sure the roads were quiet - the deal was struck. Amazingly, no providentially, we arrived in Buckie at the appointed time. The roads were quiet and there was no need to push the limits! Anyway, I had the morning and evening meetings and preached two encouraging lessons. If I were a boxer Bill Pirrie would have to be in my corner with me! He is such an encourager! Both he and Elenor would have to be in my personal Hebrews 11. We spent the day with Hunter and Elaine, Louise and her twin girls Courtney and Teegan, Samantha, and Alan and Grace Johnstone. We had a great day - plenty fellowship and encouragement all round. We love going up to Buckie!

More soon - God bless!