Jet Lag

My theme verse for the last two years of ministry at St Fergus Parish Church

I have now been back in St Fergus for more than one week. I still feel like my mind has been fried. It is hard to find stability in a world spinning around me. My thinking is muddled and my brain feels like mush. I continue to savour my recent visit back to see friends and a few family members in SW Washington, USA, and Vancouver, Canada, but I am seriously challenged by all the demands that call for my immediate attention. I had hoped that all the demands would take care of themselves and be dealt with and solved by the time I returned to town. Fat chance of that ever happening! They are still very much present. Now they even more forcefully demand my immediate attention. My foggy mind makes it difficult to bring a sense of order to my schedule and life. More than a week after my return to Scotland, I still feel like a wreck. That's jet lag for you.  

It was so good to be back home in Longview/Kelso, Washington, USA. Somehow or other, I was able to cross out names on a long list of friends I wanted to see. Unfortunately, there's now a short list of names of those whom I was not able to contact and visit. Time just flew by. I bit off a little more than I could handle and I was worn out by the middle of the second week. It was great seeing friends I had not seen for nearly two and a half years. After nearly two weeks in Longview/Kelso, I spent a quick 24-hours in Vancouver, BC, Canada, visiting friends from my Regent College days. Again, I didn't see everybody I had wanted to see. 

It was great being back in my USA hometown. But it also felt good coming back to my second home here in North-East Scotland. I have found that getting to feel at home in a new place requires leaving it for a period of time and then returning. I have had two plus years of experiences and memories here in St Fergus to add to a lifetime of experiences in Longview/Kelso in the American Northwest. When I returned to my house in St Fergus after being away for over two weeks, I really did feel like I was coming back home. It left a nice, warm feeling in my heart. Emotionally, it is a good place to be. This is home because the Lord has called me to be here in order to serve God and others in Jesus' Name.

It is now more than one full week since I returned from one home to my current home in Scotland. I still am looking for a pattern of sleep that I need to be refreshed for a new day. Most mornings I have awakened early and set about reading for two hours or more. Then I go back to bed and sleep soundly for two hours or more. As a result I have been getting up later than I am used to. Most days I have had to take deep draughts of long afternoon naps that leave me more dull of mind than refreshed. There were nights when I dreamt that I was still in transit from the USA to St Fergus. This caused me to feel stressed and anxious as I slept. My mind repeatedly failed to recognise that I was in my own bed back home in St Fergus.  I have not had restful sleeps as a result. Please pray that my mind may settle down and rest so that I in turn may have a peaceful and restful sleep.  

   

Proverbs 3:5-6 comes to mind as I reflect on my life and ministry here in St Fergus and my recent trip back to my hometown. Wherever I am, I realise that I never know what I am doing. There is always so much to do and never enough time to do it. I have come to realise that my life is not in my hands, but in God's hand. Jesus is the Lord of my life and the Lord of my time. Therefore I trust in the Lord with all of my heart and do not lean on my own understanding. In all my ways I submit to Him knowing he will make straight my paths. I can never handle my life and my time. Therefore I entrust them to the Lord, not trusting in my own abilities and efforts. May this be our constant prayer.  

Every blessing to you and yours,