Time Out!

Just some pictures from our time up in Aviemore near the Cairngorm mountains. The week away was just what was needed for ALL. We were able to enjoy some time together and wake up each morning with just us to think about and enjoy. We did a bunch of stuff. One of my highlights was fun mixed with a little bit of "Oh dear, how did we end up miles from shore?" One of the days Amy made the suggestion that we all go canoeing - sound like fun. Fenella and Beth decided to sit this one out and left me and Amy explore the beauty of Loch Insch. Amy took Hannah in her Canadian Canoe and I took Holly in mine. Anyway to cut a long story short... we ended up way out in the middle of the loch and drifting further and further from the shore. Amy didn't have the strength to get her boat turned because the current was so strong. Hannah was at the front of her canoe paddling like mad, with her paddle barely touching the water, but to no avail. We started to get a little bit panicked as we drifted all the more away from where we needed to be. In the end I had to tie both canoe's together and tow Amy's canoe home. By the time we reached the shore again we were wrecked! We walked in to see Fenella and Beth shaking from exhaustion.

I can't tell you how refreshing the time away with Fenella and the girls was! I would hardly say we were rested because we were on the go the whole time, but refreshed - absolutely! I love my family and thank God for last week.

A couple of things just in closing. My uncle Alex has had his surgery and ended up having a triple heart bypass. The first day and a half after the surgery were a bit shaky, but he is now home and slowly recovering. Last night we had the joy of witnessing a new creation as Shanni committed her life to Christ. We had a great time in fellowship afterward and shared in the joy of her salvation. Earlier last week Auntie Bett passed away. Bett was real character and lived a full and faithful life. Anyone who has visited Peterhead will have been touched by the gentleness and sweet spirited Auntie Bett! The church rejoices in her faith and hope, but will miss her greatly.

More soon - God bless!

UP and away!

Just a quick note about our outing with the younger kids who come to classes. We took a group of 27 through to Aberdeen. It was fantastic! I am exhausted and have a sore head, but I am so proud of the way the kids behaved and enjoyed the excitement of a night out. First we went to eat at burger king. I thought beforehand that if there was going to be stress it would be there, but no, nothing at all! Everyone went through the line, ordered their food and cleaned up afterwards. There was never a raised voice and never any hint of discipline needing to be handed out - what a joy! The movie we went to see was Disney's "UP" and it was great for everyone. The journey home was quiet, everyone was so tired there was peace - what more can I say? I can not say enough good things about the group and the night we had. I have to say a big thanks to John and Alex. We had two mini buses and a car to get everyone through. Angie and Donna were magic and added that much needed motherly touch to the evening. We had C.J. and Megan, J.P, Thomas and Rachel teen helpers who were all a great help - Thanks all! God is great and this was a great way to finish up this term and leave us all anticipating good things when classes start back in a fortnight's time.

I am away to my bed to flake out on my pillow and wake up ready for our week away to Aviemore - yippee!

God Bless!

Never a Dull Moment!

This has been a full week! It's the last week of term - hooray! On Saturday I get to spend a whole week with no distractions and hibernate with my family up in Aviemore. We are all excited and ready for a breather. Fenella has been working extra hours this past month to help out in the run up to December. Christmas, 5 of our 6 birthdays and our anniversary all land in December! Fenella is ready to get back to normal and today she has the day off - Yeah! We are going out for tea later this morning to Simpson's. Can't remember the last time we were able to do this, however I am just glad we can get out today. Fenella and Amy were involved in a concert with "HHCOS." Fenella was horrified that she was right on the front row, but by the second half was able to relax and enjoy the performance. They did really well and although the music choice in the 1st half was a bit over my head the second half was gorgeous and I was proud of my two girls singing their hearts out. The girls have had exciting times and are doing so well. Amy has just got the part as "Iolanthe" in her 1st proper opera! At the auditions she made the panel cry with her chosen piece. We are all delighted for her and can't wait till April next year to see her in action! Beth is doing well at Dyce and has seemingly got another natural talent in the area of conducting! Her class were given the task to conduct the group and Beth caught every ones attention. It just shows that Beth just oozes musicality (jeepers, almost sound as if I know what I am talking about). Holly and Hannah are so excited about their bikes! On Tuesday's after school we have been getting out and they have been cycling round the track not far from our house. Holly if off like a whippet! Hannah needs to be coaxed and encouraged till her confidence is up then she doesn't stop - she goes for distance, Holly goes for speed!

Right, this past week has really hit home the diversity within ministry. It really is a multi tasking role we are called to do. From working in the schools with youngsters and sharing time with teens to preaching with adults in mind. Counselling to help bring purpose and focus to a hospital visits and spending time with a family who had lost their father. When Paul said he had become all things to all men, I can catch a glimpse of what he was meaning. In these past days I have been blessed! Although the toll is high I know my life is richer as a result of sharing in so many others. I know, without a doubt, that I can't fill every role perfectly, but I am thankful to be an instrument for the kingdom.

Things have taken a refreshing turn for the good in all the classes this past 2 weeks. We have been praying for growth on Monday nights with the primary school age children and we have seen a significant increase. I was saying to Angie on the way home from the class on Monday, "Careful what you pray for!" and we had a chuckle to ourselves. The kids who are coming are the ones who most need to be there! It is great to be able to provide a class setting that shows care and encourages godly attitudes and behaviour. The same has been true of our Wednesday night class. We are encouraged by the growth and pray that we continue to have the strength and compassion to keep giving. On Friday night we are going on an outing to Aberdeen to see the movie "UP" with the primary school age kids. No doubt we will have a blast and be able to show God's love at the same time.

Our ministry with the teens is going well too. There is growth in this area as well. Last Friday night we had 4 new teens come and they loved the class. I asked them if the will be back next week and they looked at me as if I was crazy and said, "Off course we will be back!" Working with the teens is never easy! It is very rewarding, but very intense at the same time. Friday night was a perfect example of this. We had a great class and especially the worship time. The responses and involvement was great and after there was a lot of fun and happy people. However, as I started walking home I heard crying and behind a wall. Guess what? Two of the teens who come to class who were DATING had fallen out and now the aftermath. After some counselling and calming down, things were restored to some kind of normality, but that's teen life - one minute you think things are on the up and in the next step you see the down side of working with teens. After all is said and done I am glad to be able to minister to teens, because if we are not - Satan is!

To close I need to request prayers for my uncle Alex (Shoney) Strachan. He is having heart surgery this coming Monday. His spirits are good and the family are supportive. Pray that God takes care of him.
I also need your prayers for our ministry. We are still well short of our financial needs to make up the shortfall that takes effect at the end of this year. Get in touch if there is any way you can help. We have had three responses and we thank God for this! The Levy Church in N.Little Rock, AR, Foothills Church in Searcy, AR and a lovely family in Irving,TX - Thanks again!

God bless!

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!