Silence isn't Golden!

The photo's are of a basket that Holly and Hannah made for their sister. We had fun making it and Amy loves it!

These past couple of weeks have been tough! We got Amy down to Edinburgh and had to say goodbye, knowing that this goodbye was all together different. Fenella helped Amy get her room fixed up and put the "car LOAD" of things away. Meanwhile I was sent out to get pots and pans, cups, plates and cutlery! We assumed that the halls would have provided all the essentials, but that was not the case. So, here I am wondering the streets of Edinburgh at 8.00pm trying to find a shop that sell this kind of stuff. A while later I returned triumphant from the quest! We then went for something to eat and after having made sure everything was well with Amy, we set out for home. I am writing this over a week since we left Amy and it is now that we are truly feeling the effects and size of what has just happened. No longer do we have to close the dining room door to dampen the volume of Amy's voice when she would sit at the piano and practice. The house is a lot quieter and the sound of music is not as evident. Anyway, we can't stop time and the truth is that Amy was ready for this stage of her life. She is doing a fine job of getting settled and finding new friends and new opportunities to use her gift of song. Hyvots Bank have become her new church family and we are thankful!

This morning is the first chance I have had to sit and really think about what's going on. Last week was a blur and I remember constantly praying the same prayer before having to teach or work with a group. I would pray that God find something useful from the chaos in my heart. This past week has been one of the fullest I can remember. I had the joy of teaching 6 school assemblies and having 4 after school activities as well as the classes at church and spending some time one one one with some of our young Christians. The amazing thing is that the strength was always there to keep going. I am not saying this for you to be impressed with my work rate, but to recognise the truth that we must rely on God's strength and in His mighty power. For me, this week I got a glimpse of what can be done when we allow God the room to provide from His mighty power. Let me quickly add that this is not the "norm" in my life, but I want it to be!

I want to finish up wit a couple of quick comments about Friday and Sunday night. Friday night we had an amazing class with the teens. Alex and I were blessed with 16 teens who were there to listen and participate. We talked about Romans 1:25 about "Exchanging the truth of God for a lie." We asked the question, "What are some of the lies this world has put in the place of God?" All three discussion groups had excellent points and the sharing at the end was inspirational. We were honest and talked about the danger of replacing God with the pleasure and addiction that comes from sex, drink, drugs, and money. There were also concerns about the role of scientific thinking, especially in light of our TV's being full of the corruption and foolishness coming from the likes of Stephen Hawkins and Richard Dawkins. In all 10.00pm came too quickly. The class was good! On Sunday night Alex and I shared our 3rd Sunday. We wanted to tie in the "Hands" that we have been putting all round the Fellowship hall. We decided to use an old acronym I had from a class with Dan Stockstill, Hugs Affirmation Need Develop. Alex did a great job with the first two and I took the last two. At the beginning we got many of the older Christians to get their hands covered in paint and add to the number of hands on the wall. The atmosphere was really good and the message we were able to share was powerful, again stressing the previous point of God's power.

I am away to meet up with Alex and Shaun Main for coffee to talk about what we will do with tonight's class.

"Finally, brothers, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power."