The God of Mercy and Jesus the Substitute

Since last September, I have had the privilege and pleasure of speaking and preaching at other
churches and ministries in North East Scotland. Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives me
considerable joy. I take every opportunity I can get to do so. Things used to be different: except
for a year of being assistant minister at Cupar Old Parish Church in 2010, I did not have many
opportunities to speak between 2003 and when I returned to Scotland in June, 2012. My preach-
ing skills and abilities took quite a hit.

But that has changed since I arrived at St Fergus Parish Church. I enjoy preaching every Sunday
to the congregation. I purpose to speak words that point to Jesus Christ. My view of preaching is
that my preached words flow from the Word of God about the Incarnate Word of God who brings
life to God's people. This is what I do at St Fergus Parish Church on Sundays. But it is fun to be
asked to speak elsewhere. Since mid-June of last year when I arrived, I have spoken for over 100
occasions. I am honing my preaching skills and gaining in confidence. I have already been invited
back to most of the places!

Last Wednesday I spoke at the 'Bible Study' at Fraserburgh Baptist Church. Their pastor just got
up and left  a little over a year ago. The leadership of the church has been using a small group of
speakers to cover three services a week. Fortunately, they invited me to speak in early Decem-
ber. I was invited back last Wednesday. I enjoy speaking to the people at the church because
they exhibit a passion for Jesus and a hunger for God's Word. They sing hymns with gusto and
raise up heartfelt prayers to God. I was not disappointed last Wednesday.

I spoke on Genesis 15, one of my favourite biblical passages. The LORD God makes a cove-
nant with Abram, who later was named Abraham by God. I do admit that the story sounds
strange and bewildering. It takes on the form of the making of an ancient covenant between
a victorious king and a vanquished king. There would come a time when the latter would cut
animals in half and walk between them, thus cutting a treaty with the former. The conquered
king was making a statement that he be cut in half and his body left exposed for the birds of
prey if he disobeyed and rebelled against the conquering king.

Abram knew what he had to do after he cut up the animals to make his vow. He expected that
he would walk through the animal carcasses, but he fell into a deep sleep. When he came to, he
witnessed God's glorious presence passing through the carcasses. The LORD God pledged that
God would be faithful to God's promises. But God also knew Abram's tendency to disobey God
and to go his own way. By passing through the rows of animal carcasses, God was revealing
God's heart of substituting Godself for Abram's disobedience. God would take the place of
Abram at judgment.

I take what the LORD God did in Genesis 15 as a foretaste of what Jesus, God the Son, did on
the Cross of Calvary. Jesus took on our sin in our place on the tree of divine judgment. This way
of redeeming people from sin and death is referred to as substitutionary atonement in some Chris-
tian circles. I view it as a beautiful picture of how God brings salvation to humankind through the Person of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus on the Cross is seen way back in Genesis 15 in the Old Testament. I was delighted to share that with the Bible Study Group at Fraserburgh Baptist
Church. Our hearts were thus further prepared to look to the Cross of Christ on Good Friday,
when Jesus substituted himself for us and took on himself divine judgment we deserved. May
you have a blessed Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.

Blessings to you and yours,

An Eye Update: Preach the Gospel and Heal the Sick

It is bitterly cold outside. A stiff Arctic wind blowing over from Canada has over run much
of Scotland. The strong winds suck warmth and life out of anybody who goes outside. At-
tendance in church was down today: twenty adults and children. Most of our elderly mem-
bers stayed home in their warm quarters. Others are more fortunate: away on holiday in
warmer climes this time of year.

Today at St Fergus Parish Church, we celebrated Palm Sunday. We remember the gospel ac-
counts of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  Today is the beginning of the week of his
passion, death, and Resurrection. Today began what many call Holy Week, when we who
call upon the Name of Jesus Christ remember the heart of the Gospel: Jesus' death, burial,
and Resurrection. My passion as a pastor is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I will
write more on that in an upcoming posting.

I have spoken at the Fishermen's Mission in Peterhead. On the wall behind the pulpit is a life-
saving buoy with the purpose of the Mission: Preach the Gospel and Heal the Sick. That sums
up what I see as the mission of my pastoral ministry in St Fergus and Northeast Scotland. Eve-
ry Sunday I purpose to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The season of Lent and Holy
Week, culminating in Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, is full of rich opportunities to
preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But it is the second part of the purpose of the Fishermen's Mission that interests me in particu-
lar: heal the sick. Over the years I have been part of healing prayer teams. A major component
of my pastoral visits is to pray for healing of the person I am visiting.  Healing flows out of
Jesus' salvific work on the Cross and his rising from death to life. It is fraught with difficulties
and abuses; yet it is the Gospel mandate. Praying for the healing of others is a significant part
of my pastoral ministry. It is an area of growth for me.

The mission to heal the sick has taken on personal significance since I started having eye prob-
lems in early February. I have been asking the Lord to heal my right eye. I have asked others
to pray on my behalf for the healing of the eye. I was in to see the eye doctor on Friday. What
little sight I had before, was gone. It had been gone for a week. When I had lost sight before, it
had always came back after a regimen of drops and steroids. Even now, vision has not been re-
covered. The eye has been shutting down. The doctor said we were running out of options. I
face tough choices when I meet with her again on April 8.

I pray for wisdom to make the decisions that have to be made; I continue to pray for the heal-
ing of my right eye. Whatever happens, I am at peace. The Lord is in control. Jesus has brought
me this far and He won't let me down. Christ never has before. Whether my eye is healed and
restored or not, blessed be the name of the Lord. I will continue to call upon the Lord for heal-
ing and to ask other Christians to lift me up in prayer. As always, I covet your prayers on my
behalf.

Blessings to you and yours,

An Eye Update

My right eye is doing poorly. Last Friday morning I was awakened from a sound sleep by pain
and teariness in the eye. The good progress of sight I had been experiencing the previous ten
days was wiped out. I had again lost my sight in that eye. Fortunately I met with the eye doc-
tor that day at the Eye Clinic in Aberdeen. She noticed that the setback had come about when
there had been a decrease in the amount of steroids I took each day. So she increased the dos-
age back to where it had been and asked me to come in on Monday. She would inject gas into
the eye if the eye pressure continued to be low.

I went Monday and saw the doctor. My eye was much better; I had limited sight again; and the
pressure in my eye had risen. No gas was injected into my eye. Over the past several days my
eye has felt much better, but my sight has not come back. The vision of the eye has always re-
turned after an adjustment of treatment, but it has not done so with the latest plan. I travel down
to the Eye Clinic tomorrow for another appointment with the doctor. I feel well cared for and I
trust the doctor who has taken my case. I don't have any idea how this will turn out.

I have had my moments of discouragement over the last seven or so weeks. Much of my atten-
tion and energy has been given to my eye. I never realised how much my eye was connected
to my physical, mental, and spiritual state of being. I never expected this; it came out of the
blue. I feel like I have been knocked off balance and took a stumble. I have been here in St
Fergus and NE Scotland since June of last year. I had been making great progress in the min-
istry. Things were starting to happen with people I was involved with. There was change in
the air. I was eager to get on into this year with the people of St Fergus Parish Church and
other people in Peterhead and the area. I affirm the Lord's calling me to serve here. There is
no other place I would rather be.

In 1991 and 1992 the lens of both eyes were removed and belts were placed around the reti-
nas to keep them from detaching. Since that time I have greatly benefitted from restored vi-
sion in both eyes and I have never experienced a retina detachment. I am thankful for the
use of my eyes that I have enjoyed for over twenty years. I guess I took my vision for
granted, even though I had poor and deteriorating vision before the two surgeries on my
eyes in the early 90s. Now the condition of my right eye has deteriorated in the last two
months while the vision in my left eye has remained very good. Both underwent the exact
same procedure. Part of me expects things like this to happen the longer I live and grow old-
er. Another part of me wonders if this is spiritual attack by dark forces bent on hindering the
advancement of God's kingdom. Perhaps it is a little bit of both. Regardless, I take this con-
dition of mine to the Lord in prayer. As always, I covet your prayers.

Blessings to you and yours,

Mothering Sunday 2013, Scotland

Before I get onto Mothering Sunday, I want to give you a quick update on my right eye and the
continued lack of heating at home. First, my right eye continues to remain stable. I do experience
an occasional dull eye ache, but it doesn't last too long. I am into the fifth week of a strong regi-
men of eye drops and steroids. I see the eye specialist on Friday down in Aberdeen. Second, my
heating situation has not changed since the Sunday before last. I still do not have central heating.
An engineer was here today to install a new water tank that burst, but the situation still is not re-
solved. He's coming back tomorrow with a necessary part. Hopefully tomorrow I will have cen-
tral heating. I am getting by on three space heaters to keep me warm. I am getting by ok.

This past Sunday was Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom. It is a special day that has
long been observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern
Ireland. Mothering Sunday has not only been an established Sunday in the Church, but is now
a special day in the wider society. Businesses especially take advantage of doing Mothering
Sunday promotions, although it is not as strongly developed as it is in the USA. There are var-
iations of observance of the day among churches and in society as a whole. However it is done,
Mothering Sunday is a special day in Scotland and mothers are honoured.

Last Sunday, Mothering Sunday, I asked the children about what God is like. They shrugged
their shoulders. Then I asked them about their moms and the response was very favourable. I
told them that God is like their mother. Their mothers gave birth to them, guide them, protect
them, comfort them, love them even when they do something bad..... I encouraged them to
always honour their moms, even when it is not Mothering Sunday. Then the children were
given carnations to hand out to all the women in the congregation. Later on, two elders and
myself made sure mothers of our congregation who were not there on Sunday got a flower
during the next few days. The feedback I got was that many women were touched by this.

My text for the day did not really deal with mothers directly: Genesis 1:26-31. My main idea
was that Motherhood is God's idea. God created men and women in God's image. Who God
is and what God is like is reflected through women and men. Mothers reflect to their children
in very simple, yet powerful ways who God is. The relationship between mother and child is
a primary relationship that we all experience. There certainly are bad relationships of mother
and her children; but generally it is a very beautiful and basic relationship that shapes our lives.
I pray to God my Father, yet I would never pray to God my Mother. It isn't like that at all. Yet
the love, tenderness and care expressed through mothers to their children is a powerful picture
of God's love, tenderness and care to us, God's children.

I ended the sermon noting how much I had been hearing about people making great efforts to
honour their mothers. In numerous conversations over the last few weeks I had been hearing in
many and different ways about adult children honouring their parents. It is right and proper that
children honour their mothers and fathers. Yet we all have the tendency to neglect our primary
love relationship with the Lord, our heavenly Father. Over the years I have witnessed the sad-
ness of several mothers who yearned for contact with their children. There was occasional con-
tact, but they did not have a warm relationship with their sons and daughters. A mother's love is
rich and lovely, but God's love is so unfathomably richer and lovelier; yet we avoid and neglect
our relationship with God. I encouraged the congregation to honour and love God to the same
extent that they honoured and loved their mothers. It seems that no mother is content with an oc-
casional contact with her children over the course of the year. our Lord Jesus calls us to daily
and intimate contact with him. I took the message to heart; I hope others in the congregations
did as well.

Blessings to you and yours,









 

My Eye, Home Heating, and the Power of Prayer

 Things continue to go well with me. My right eye is in stable condition and I have an appoint-
ment to see the eye specialist the Friday after next. I do not know what will be the next course
of action in regard to my eye. But what I do know is God's gracious care for me during the last
several weeks. I feel closer to God now than I did even before this whole situation came up. I
have especially grown in my attitude and dependence on the power of prayer.

It is now Wednesday afternoon. I haven't had heat since Sunday. Sometime Sunday evening my
heater turned off. It took me a while on Monday to realise that the furnace was out and call for
a service visit. I was told an engineer would be out on Tuesday. So I waited at home the whole
day, but no one showed up. When I called later in the day, I was told my order had been lost. I
made another appointment for today. Finally an hour ago the Scottish Gas engineer came to ser-
vice the furnace. Now I have been informed that the water tank in the furnace has burst and to get
a new tank could take as long as a week. Scottish Gas will call me as soon as it is available.

In this challenging time of issues with my right eye and home heating, I have been re-learning
my lessons about the power of prayer. I have always failed to retain my lessons that I have
learned through experience about the necessary place of prayer in my life. I am shocked by how
quickly I forget those lessons the Lord has led me through. Over the course of the last four weeks
I have been reminded about the power of prayer, especially in these trying situations I'm in. I've
been being reminded of lessons learned in years past.

I firmly believe that Jesus heals and that His people are called to pray for healing. I have been
asking Christian believers in the area and in the USA to pray that my eye would be healed. I
have experienced Jesus' healing touch on my eye. I do not minimise the critical healing power
of modern medical technology, but neither do I reject the healing power of prayer to Jesus. I
give thanks and praise to the Lord for His healing mercies. I also pray that through these try-
ing circumstances I am led closer to God. Therefore, what is of utmost importance to me is that
I find my deepest joy in communion with the Triune God, whether I am healed or not. Finally,
I pray for spiritual protection from the wiles of the Devil who seeks to work woe upon God's
people. Wherever the Lord advances, the enemy is sure to strike back against God's people. So,
I've been praying for spiritual protection.

In early March, gas was injected into my right eye two times in order to build up the internal
pressure of the eye. For twenty-four hours after each injection I had to bow down with my
face to the floor. This was done to keep the gas bubble towards the back of my eye where it
could do the most good. I realised that through no intention of my own, I took on an attitude
and posture of prayer. So, I prayed: I prayed that my eye would be healed; I prayed that I
would grow closer to Jesus through this challenge; and I prayed for spiritual protection against
the schemes of Satan. I lifted up people I pray for in the USA and a growing number of peo-
ple here in NE Scotland. I heard from people in the USA and here in Scotland who were lifting
me up in prayer. It has been a time to remember the lessons I have learned about the power of
prayer.

As always, I ask for your continued prayers for me: that my eye would be healed; that I would
be drawn closer to Jesus; and that I would be protected from attacks by the enemy.

Blessings to you and yours,

Sunday, 03 March: My Eye Condition

It has been nearly two weeks since I last posted. Things have been happening, and I am glad to
report that I am doing well, including my right eye. But last weekend, I was beginning to wonder.
I have re-read my last posting and realised that I had not really called it right. What I had seen as progress in the healing of my eye was not actually taking place. I was confronted by the reality of
that when I visited the eye specialist the Friday before last, 22 February.

That Friday the specialist examined my eye. The pressure in the eye was dangerously low. The bleeding had stopped, but there was nothing to prevent it from starting up again. I was given the opportunity to have gas injected into my eye that very afternoon in order to increase the internal pressure in the eye. I had the sense that later would be too late to save my eyesight. I had not
had any idea that this would happen, but I agreed to do that and was immediately sent to the Eye
Ward at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

So early Friday afternoon gas was injected into my eye. It was a three minute procedure done
under local anesthetic in an operating room. It was nowhere as bad as I had been imagining it
to be. I was told to bow over with my face to the floor for the rest of the day and to sleep on
my right cheek at night. This was done to keep the bubble of gas in the back of my eye where
it would do the most good. The procedure was judged a success when the eye was examined
Saturday afternoon. The pressure within the eye was rising. I was allowed to return home and
report back Sunday afternoon.

I did not preach or lead the service at church on Sunday. Even though I had expected to be able
to do so, I had one of my elders who is a lay preacher be ready just in case. He filled in for me
that Sunday and I rested. Later in the afternoon another one of the elders drove me back to the
hospital. The next morning more gas was injected into my eye. Again, I had to keep my face
down all that day and into the next morning. The specialist examined my eye Tuesday morning
and was pleased with the results: the eye pressure was good and I was released from the hospi-
tal. I will see her again in two weeks when the next course of action will be considered.

Since Wednesday I have been back to pastoral duties. I led the service and preached today. It
was so good to be back after not being in church for three Sundays. My eye and sight are con-
tinuing to be stable. I still have so much work to catch up with. Over the last two weeks I only
did what was necessary to do. I am grateful to the prayers of many people; the skills, talents,
and training of the eye specialists; and to God's gracious healing power. As always, I covet
your prayers.

Many blessings to you and yours,