Thursday morning and we’re getting ready to head south and home. We’ve really enjoyed our short experience of luxury at the Drumossie Hotel, with breakfast served leisurely in our room each morning. Tuesday morning we spent browsing in the Borders Bookshop where I had some Christmas vouchers to spend and then in Leakeys, a huge, fantastic second-hand bookshop in town, sited in an old, converted Gaelic Church. We spent the afternoon quietly in our room, reading, before ejoying a really nice meal in a riverside restaurant.

Yesterday we went for a good walk on the Black Isle and then spent a wee while exploring the delightful town of Cromarty. (see picture) After a couple of hours with our books, back in the hotel, we had an Indian meal out.We’re heading south in the next hour or so and then this evening I head even further south as I’m preaching at a meeting in Gateshead. It’s a busy and important weekend as it’s our Pastor’s last Sunday. The blow has been softened somewhat in that Craig, Margaret and the family won’t actually be leaving the Church. Craig is taking up a new post as Training Director for Christianity Explored and Harper will still be their church base, for which we are all very thankful. There’s a farewell social on Saturday and then Craig’s last services on Sunday. Then, on Monday, it’s our Paul’s birthday.

It’s Easter Monday evening and we’ve just settled into the luxurious New Drumossie Hotel on the edge of Inverness. This would normally be well out of our league but thanks to Air Miles we’re booked in for a three night stay here and are really looking forward to a much needed break. We drove north up the A9 through snowy conditions but arrived safely without any real difficulty.

College term finished at the end of last week and students are away for a full month. John is taking 10 days off and then has three days of Faith Mission Staff Meetings before getting back to some serious study and preparation ahead of the new term.

Another piece of recent news to bring you up to date with relates to Caroline’s health. The ‘experts’ have now decided that all her various aches and pains and physical problems are all attributable to fibromyalgia. She was beginning to think that she was falling apart given all the various symptoms she was having and it’s something of a relief to know it’s not quite as bad as that; although there is no cure for fibromyalgia and she is working on a number of strategies for pain management and control. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated

Its nearly six weeks since I last updated this site, for which many apologies. We know that many friends and supporters keep an eye on the site for news and prayer information and we don’t take that commitment for granted. Over the next few days I hope to post a few updates, bringing you up to speed with a number of areas of family and College life.

I was away all of last week, ministering at a Bible week in Cookstown, N Ireland. It was both exhilarating and exhausting and such a privilege. I preached through the first few stanzas of Psalm 119 and am now working my way through that fantastic Psalm with a view to a possible devotional commentary being published at the end of it all. I got home on Saturday, three hours late thanks to ferry delays caused by weather problems, and had just 10 minutes at home before heading out to Cumnock in Ayrshire where I was speaking at a Church anniversary over the weekend.

Probably the biggest item of news for us relates to the housing situation. After several months of weighing up various options the Faith Mission has now decided to buy our house off us, allowing us to stay where we are, and we are delighted that we will not have to move. It is anticipated that the deal will be settled by the end of May and then Paul and Iain can begin to plan their futures as we will be in a position to loan them some capital to get on to the property ladder while keeping our finances invested in property for our future needs. A win-win situation all round. We never thought we would be in a position to help them like this but, in the Lord’s marvelous goodness, it has happened. We are grateful for the support and care of the Mission and glad to have this element of uncertainty resolved.

I received the following very troubling news from Sudan today:

“In an article published by the Human Rights Watch, “the reported appointment of notorious “Janjaweed” leader Musa Hilal as special advisor to President Omar El Bashir of Sudan is a stunning affront to victims of Janjaweed atrocities in Darfur….”.

“Hilal and his men played an integral role in the two-year campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese army and Janjaweed militia. Scores of victims, witnesses to attacks, and even members of the Sudanese armed forces have named Hilal as the top commander of government- backed Janjaweed militias responsible for numerous atrocities in Darfur in 2003 and 2004. Hilal was actively involved with training camps for Janjaweed.”
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/01/20/sudan17835.htm

We are asked to  pray

• That the attacks of the Janjaweed will stop - That the angels of Ps. 91 will intervene.
• That the right procedures will be followed so that the UN Security Council will realize that GOD is in control. Is.54:17
• Pray that the Lord who is the Righteous Judge will intervene. That His will be done, that His Kingdom will come despite the appointment of Sheik Musa Hilal.

Cry out before Father God for His mercy and grace upon the people of Darfur who has to live with these atrocities but also for the government and Janjaweed.( Let us to stand in the gap. )

Today is a very important day for Iain. As of today he is officially a Trainee Driving Instructor, with his own car and this evening has his first pupil.

We trust that you and yours have enjoyed a peaceful and joyous Christmas time. We were a Church for a carol service on Christmas Eve and then had a quiet family day on the 25th itself, with just the four of us at home for the first time ever. Instead of bringing Mum over for the day Caroline and I went and spent a couple of hours with her in the afternoon. She is increasingy confused and easily disorientated and we decided this was the best course of action for this year. She was in slightly better form than when I had seen her just a few days previously and actually aware, at least for some of the time, that it was Christmas Day. It’s difficult for her now as, to make matters worse, her sight is almost gone, but most of the time she is generally content, peaceful and well looked after in her wee flat. Here’s a photo we took on Tuesday.

To my shame I realise it’s some six weeks since I posted news on this site. It’s only an excuse but it’s an indication of how fast the time has gone and how full life has been. We have recently sent out our latest prayer letter which you can also access here.

Caroline: is continuing to struggle with very real discomfort in her lower back and hip, as reported last month, and none of the various treatments she has been trying have made much of an impact on it. In recent weeks it has badly affected her sleep as well but we are grateful to the Lord for a few better nights just recently.
Paul: there’s not much really to report about Paul, at least that we know of! He tends to keep himself to himself but we do know that when he is not working in the fitness centre he is often to be found in the 1st or 2nd Hockey Teams that he plays for.

Iain: took a career break a few weeks ago, awaiting an opening in a Driving School for a Trainee Instructor. This has now materialised and yesterday he signed franchisee contracts and will start on January 21st. He is now busy with the paperwork of applying for his trainee licence. For the last week or so he has been doing a temporary Christmas job with the Post Office and has been so well thought of there that they offered him a permanent job!

John: has now completed his first term at the Faith Mission Bible College during the last week of which he set, invigilated and marked his first set of exam papers. Term finished a week ago but he has been in College each day since then trying to get ahead with study and lecture preparation for next term which starts on January 8th. His subjects then will be a continuing course on Biblical Interpretation, An Introduction to Homiletics, The Theology of Romans and Ecclesiology. He continues to preach every six weeks or so at our own church as part of the preaching team at Harper but deliberately has not done a great deal of preaching elsewhere during this first term. However, the diary for next year is filling up as we write. He is also busy organising an Expositors’ Summer School in Edinburgh next August and continues to promote the work in Sudan through ‘Friends of Sudan‘

We are looking forward to a fairly quiet family Christmas and this year, for the first time, rather than bring John’s Mum here for the day we will visit her on Christmas afternoon. She is increasingly confused and all too easily disorientated so we decided this was the best option for this year.

I will try and do better at keeping this site more up to date but we are so thankful for the many friends and supporters who visit the site and who pray for us so regularly.

We wish you and yours a very peaceful and joyous Christmas and a truly blessed New Year

It’s hard to believe but this is the mid-term weekend break, so we’re already six weeks into the College year! It’s been a very full six weeks as I have settled into the rythm of college life with preparation and lecturing but it is undoubtedly the right place to be. During this term I am teaching Genesis on a Tuesday morning and a double lecture on Christology on Wednesdays. Also on Tuesdays I have a second year seminar when we discuss issues that have been mainly raised by the students. So far we have spent some time looking at Calvinism and Arminianism and the importance of developing good reading habits.

Each Monday night we have the Monday Night School of the Bible which is part of the College curriculum but is also open to the public. Numbers attending from outside have been encouragingly up this session with between 60 and 70 folk joining the students each week for two lectures, one of which I have been doing on ‘Profiting from the Word’ - how the Bible came to us, issues related to its authority and interpretation.

I am finding that preparation for each lecture plus preaching at a College service every couple of weeks is more than enough work each week but it is such privilege to be back in full-time studying and teaching. The opportunity for intensive study is a real joy but I am also loving the lecturing side of things, teaching students who are so keen to learn - and not just for the sake of learning, but so that they can grow in grace and be equipped for effective service. After the mid-term break I need to start thinking about setting exams for the end of term.
The College has asked me to fulfill an ambassadorial role, raising the profile with a view to raising student numbers. We are beginning to work on this issue and planning some publicity initiatives for 2008. We now have a new College website at www.fmbc.ac

I’m long overdue posting a news update, so apologies for that but many thanks to our many friends who continue to pray for us so faithfully. I’ll post a separate update on College news later this morning.

Caroline is still having a considerable amount of discomfort from her back, caused,we now understand, because of her coccyx being out of position. She has been having some intensive manipulative therapy, acupuncture and is also attending a weekly pilates class, but as yet there is no significant improvement.

On the driving front, Caroline and Iain have been making some enquiries regarding finding trainee positions with driving schools so that they can complete the next stage of their training. However, it seems that there will be no positions available until the New Year, so Iain has taken a prolonged ‘career break’, having left HMRC.

You may remember that when we left AIM and joined the Faith Mission, part of the ‘deal’ is that FM provide housing for us, so we have been planning to sell ours and have some capital we can loan to Paul and Iain on a long term basis to help them get property of their own. We hope to have some real and exciting progress to report very soon so watch this space!

John has deliberately been taking less meetings outside of College life but this side of life will probably increase again next year. He has had some opportunities to promote the ongoing work in Sudan and has been developing ‘Friends of Sudan’ which is now a registered Scottish charity. We keep our schedule up to date on the Diary page.

At College I am currently teaching a course I call ‘Profiting from the Word’. This is mainly to do with the principles of interpretation etc but I have just done a couple of sessions on ‘How the Bible came to us‘ as a series of Bible FAQs and thought it might be of interest to others so have posted it here as a pdf file. (click on the image for the link)