Morning Watch: Transforming Me

I was here in Longview in January, 2007, when Morning Watch was in its first month. I
was staying with dear friends for three weeks while I was home from Scotland. I remem-
ber hearing about Morning Watch to which my friends headed off at 5 am. I accompanied
them a few times, but then made the wise decision to take comfort in a warm bed while
they went off in the cold and rain to pray. I had heard that it was only an experiment for
thirty days and reasoned there was little that I could do to contribute, especially since I
would soon be returning to Scotland.

When I arrived in Longview the end of January last year to apply for a visa to re-enter Scot-
land as a minister, I heard that, after four years, Morning Watch was still happening. I felt no
desire to take part in Morning Watch. I enjoyed sleeping too much. Then my visa applica-
tion was refused for twelve months. In mid-March I attended a Christian leaders' conference
and talked to several ministers about Morning Watch. I did not want to do it, yet I felt a strong
pull on my heart to ask them more about it. The Spirit kept tugging at my heart and I kept try-
ing to squirm out of it. Finally in late March of last year, I decided to try it out. Once I attended
one Morning Watch, I was unable to refrain from going to more. I sensed that if I had not con-
tinued going, I would have been disobedient to the Lord.

Since late March of last year,  I have been attending Morning Watch five or six days a week.
There have been two weeks during that time when I did not attend because I was finishing up
on my thesis work. Morning Watch has become the foundation stone of my time here in Long-
view before I head back to Scotland in April or May. The Lord has engraved on my heart the
desire and ability to go to Morning Watch. It has shaped my time here and has also forged how
I will minister when I return to Scotland. I view it as the serious heart surgery that is required
for me to move into a new era of my life. It is rugged training in the wilderness to prepare me
for the next phase of my ministry. Even when I arrived in Longview last January, I did not
foresee how much the Lord would use Morning Watch to prepare me for the road ahead. Even
now I do not grasp how critical it was to my growing more and more into Christlikeness. I may
never fully understand what God did to me through Morning Watch. It has transformed me. All
I can do is thank the Lord for what He has done through Morning Watch.

Blessings to you and yours,