It's Friday, But Sunday's Comin'!

Holy Week is my favorite time of the year. Nothing during the year, including Advent
and Christmas, compares to the spectacular glories of Good Friday and Resurrec-
tion Sunday. Last night I went to a Maundy Thursday service at a sister Presbyterian
Church in town. Tonight I am doing the voices of Pontius Pilate, Peter, Luke, and
John in a Good Friday cantata in my home church. Then on Easter Sunday we will
meet for an Easter breakfast and morning worship. All this week I have been reading
the Easter narratives from the four gospels. It is such a glorious time for me because
my attention is focused on what God has done for us in the Cross of Jesus Christ
and his Resurrection from the dead. The eyes of my heart look to the work God has
done through Jesus Christ, not on any work that I do to earn God's favour, the for-
giveness of our sins. That is the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the mes-
sage we proclaim to the nations. 

This week has been a very hectic week for me. The Cross and the Empty Tomb
have provided me with stability and security in a very chaotic time. I ordered a Mac
Book that just arrived today. So now I have to make the uncomfortable switch
from Microsoft to Mac, although I have heard that the latter is far easier to learn
and operate than the former. I recently signed a rental agreement for a studio
apartment, and now I face the challenge of finding furniture and furnishings. My num-
ber one priority has been locating an extra long twin bed and bedding for it. I pick
up the bed today or tomorrow. Meanwhile people have been supplying me with
stuff to fill the apartment. My greatest challenge has been finding a used car that is
priced just right and one that I can fit in without my knees up under my chin when I
drive. I think I have found one that fits the bill. I am running here, there, and every-
where.

I do feel stressed. With so many things to do and arrange and so many places to
go, I feel overwhelmed. I am suddenly being uncoupled from my life that was cen-
tered around the University of St. Andrews. Now God is starting the process of
coupling me to the people at St. Fergus Parish Church in Scotland. In a way that
only God could arrange, I find that it means being placed here in the Longview/-
Kelso area until early next year. It's quite a challenge, and I feel like I am growing
by leaps and bounds. It may be a while before I am again online posting blogs. I
don't know what to expect timewise in setting up the Mac. I hope it won't be too
long before I am posting again, but I am not sure. I have quite a few challenges be-
fore me. As always, I ask you for your prayers.

An abundance of Easter blessings to you and yours,

Transitioning

Things are slowly starting to fall into place as I continue to scramble to remain in the
Longview/Kelso (Washington State) area until early next year. Although I was aware
that the British Home Office could refuse to issue me a visa, I hoped that I had pre-
sented sufficient documentation in support of my application. Therefore it was some-
what of a shock when I received the refusal letter. I have been numb for the past
several weeks as I have dealt with the visa refusal. I felt as if my world had been
turned upside down.

Two weeks ago I decided to take action and search for accommodation. I had a
long list of places to call about various sizes of apartments. I identified what I
thought were the three best places to try. The first place I tried seemed to be ex-
pecting my call and showed me a studio apartment. It was just what I was looking
for and the rent was well within my means. I will write more about that in future
postings. I am now looking for furniture (especially a single bed) and furnishings.
Two great friends have offered to buy me a quality used car that I can use to get
around. I have ordered a new MacBook and look forward to entering Mac World.
I have not been able to contact the Presbyterian Church office for this area. I expect
that I will be able to search for interim pastoral positions after the hectic Easter sea-
son is over. It is important that I keep making decisions and taking action. I do not
want to wither away into despondancy and despair.

In my Bible reading this morning I came across Proverbs 11:28 in The Message
Bible. It spoke powerfully to me as I hope it does for you: A life devoted to things
is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. I strongly desire
that the Lord shape my life in a special way during the next ten months that I have
here in my hometown. I also pray that for you, dear reader, our Lord would shape
your lives so that you flourish in all you do.

Blessings to you and yours,

Pacing, Ordering My Life, and Being Disciplined

Pacing back and forth, ordering my life, and practicing discipline-these personal ac-
tivities characterize my life in these most recent days. Daily I experience God's pro-
vision, guidance, and presence; but there are times now when I am on the verge of
freaking out or feeling discouraged. The Lord has blessed me with restful sleep, but
I must admit that anxious thoughts often wake me at the dawn of a new day. Favor-
ite texts from the Psalms I have memorized are a comfort to me as I wake up. Get-
ting up and out of bed is easier when I realize that I face the reality of the Father's
world rather than the dread and fears that were streaming up from my untamed sub-
concious mind while I slept. It helps if I remember the people and provisions that
God has brought my way. That makes all the difference in the world.

I find myself pacing back and forth throughout the day. As I pace I often think about
what I am going to do that day and how I will do it. Lately I have been wondering
what type of accommodation I will find for the next ten months before returning to
Scotland. Ministry opportunities and how I will support myself financially also occu-
py my thoughts as I pace. But sometimes I turn off my mind and pace just for the
sheer pleasure of pacing. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't pace!

It is useful for me to plan each day. At the beginning of the day I record what I did
the previous day and then plan what needs to be done that day. I became quite ser-
ious about it two years ago when I was assistant minister at the Old Parish Church
in Cupar, Scotland. Since then I have developed it further and have found it helpful
in bringing some sense of order out of the turbulent times I am in. This helps me to
prioritize my time and focus on what needs to be done. I rarely do everything that I
had planned for that day, but I would not want to see how wasted the day would
have been if I had not had a plan.

The death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ serve as the firm
foundation of my life. As I put my trust in what God has done through Jesus, I ex-
perience the new life that is found only in him. The old way of life has gone and the
new way of life has come. I seek to order my life so that it is in sync with God's new
order that is established in Christ Jesus. Discipline is essential for living this new
creation life that Jesus gives to us. One sense of discipline refers to God's discipline
of his sons and daughters whom he loves. I have often experienced this discipline
throughout my life as a believer. There is also the the sense of discipline that refers
to the discipline of conducting my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. This means I
seek to live in relationship with the personal and loving Lord God. Just as I find it
difficult to miss even one of three daily meals, I impoverish myself and wither away
if neglect daily Bible reading, prayer, communion with God,and service in Jesus'
name. As a follower of Christ, I seek to order how I live each day and to practice
the disciplines that draw me closer to the Lord. I desire this way of life, even in the
midst of the trying times I am currently encountering.

Blessings to you and yours,

The Background Story to the Visa Refusal

The whole process leading up to the refusal of my application to re-enter Scotland
as a minister of religion is quite a story. The story begins over two years ago when
I spent four months in 2008 volunteering at a Christian retreat center in northeast
England. I will always cherish the opportunity to serve for those four months at the
center in England. But during the early weeks of that period I strongly sensed that
the Lord was calling me to remain in Scotland with the Church of Scotland (C of S).
Several colleagues who are C of S ministers had been encouraging me to transfer
my ordination from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the C of S. I applied, was ex-
amined, analyzed, and tested, and finally invited to enter a 12-month familiarization
process to receive credentials from the C of S. With my student visa soon to expire,
I applied for a minister of religion visa. I was informed that most applications are pro-
cessed within six weeks.

Before six weeks had gone by I went to another ministry opportunity for a month. I
notified the government bureau processing my visa of the change of address and re-
ceived confirmation that the change had been received. But I did not receive my visa
or passport for over five months. After I had not heard anthing after three months I
looked for it, but to no avail. Fortunately I was able to track it from the time it left
the bureau that had processed it. Everywhere I contacted had not received my visa
papers. The short of it is that a friend of mine at my original address played detec-
tive and located my package and forwarded it up to me. It was five and a half
months since I had sent in my application for the visa. When I opened the package
I learned that my application for the visa had been refused because I had not been
in fulltime ministry for twelve continuous months within five years before I applied
for the visa.

I was downcast when I received the news of the visa refusal. The C of S had recog-
nised my ministerial credentials, but the Bureau of Immigration refused me because
I did not fit into its time scheme. I was four months into the twelve month familiariza-
tion program in which the C of S had enrolled me. I consulted an immigration lawyer
who cautioned me from appealing the decision. I made the decision to continue on
with the program to its end so that I would be able to serve in the C of S. My sense
is that it would have taken longer and been more difficult to minister in Scotland if I
had cut the process short and moved back to the USA. I continued with everything
I had been doing. In due course I completed the process, received authorization to
minister in the C of S, and accepted a call to minister at St. Fergus Parish Church. 

I returned to the USA earlier this year and applied for permission to return to Scot-
land as a minister of religion. I submitted all the necessary documents and declared
that I had overstayed my visa. I hoped that those documents would outweigh the
fact of my overstay. But as you and I now know, that was not the case. I learned
that overstaying a visa is now an automatic refusal for 12 months. The Home Of-
fice of the UK had every right to do that and I have no justification for what I did.
I am not able to appeal the decision.

However, I am grateful that I can re-apply in January of next year, which I will
do whole heartedly. The people of St. Fergus Parish Church and the Presbytery
of Buchan await my arrival. I firmly believe that the time between now and then
is in the Lord's hands. I am planning to be installed as minister of that dear con-
gregation. It will only be nine months after we first planned that to take place. I
am eager to see what the Lord has in store for the people of St. Fergus and for
me in the coming months. That is exciting! I covet your prayers for the coming
months.

Blessings to you and yours,  

The Visa Application Refusal

I recently learned that my application for a minister of religion visa to return to Scotland has been refused by the Home Office of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). Everything in my application was in order: I had received a call to be a minister of a church in Scotland, my salary and benefits were up to standards, and I had sufficient points that met the requirements for a minister of religion visa. But I admitted that I had overstayed my expired student visa. Although I thought that I had good grounds for receiving a visa, a letter from the Home Office explained that an overstay of a visa is grounds for an automatic refusal of a visa application. I cannot appeal the decision nor can I apply for a visa until I have been out of the United Kingdom for 12 months. In mid-January of next year I will again apply for the minister of religion visa. Although the refusal of my application is disappointing, it is not disheartening; although it is a setback, it is not a crushing blow. I am planning on returning to Scotland in February, 2012, in order to assume pastoral responsibilities at St. Fergus Parish Church, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. I look forward to it! Meanwhile I am seeking longer term accommodation and some type of employment, preferably in an interim pastoral position. I will keep you updated as time unfolds. I keep moving forward with my head up and my eyes open. This situation has a strong 'God- feel' to it, so I am eager to experience what the Lord has in store for me. I sense that an exciting time of preparation for the next stage in my life and ministry is ahead of me in the next ten months. I feel like I am embarking on a new and different adventure! As I have in the past, I covet your prayers. Blessings to you and yours,