Where all my jorneys end...

I've longed for you
And I have desired
To see your face your smile
To be with you wherever you are

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
Please say you'll be waiting

Together again
It would feel so good to be
In your arms
Where all my journeys end
If you can make a promise
If it's one that you can keep
I vow to come for you
If you wait for me

And say you'll hold
A place for me
in your heart.

A place for me in your heart.
A place for me in your heart.
A place for me in your heart.
(from The Promise by Tracy Chapman)

We seem to be depending on other people's words to express how we are feeling right now. Sometimes someone else just says it better. Less than a month and we'll be back together. The Atlantic ocean gets smaller every day.

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How 3, 971 miles feels.

"the atlantic was born today and i'll tell you how:

the clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated spherewhen the water filled every hole.

and thousands upon thousands made an ocean,making islands where no island should go.

oh no.

those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats.

I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.

the rhythm of my footsteps crossing flood lands to your door have been silenced forever more.

the distance is quite simply much too far for me to row

it seems farther than ever before

oh no.

I need you so much closer"

(-- Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie)

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The Nine Commandments.

I realise that this is outwith the scope of this blog, but today I bought Terry Johnson's The Family Worship Book (husbands/potential husbands this is a really good why and how of Family Worship - very much worth reading.) and read in it this and found it very challenging (emphasis mine):

'We are the first generation of American Protestants to have forgotten the benefits of the Sabbath command. Prior to the middle of this century, all American Protestant denominations, whether Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, or Episcopalian were Sabbatarian. This was true for over 350 years, dating from the establishment of the Jamestown colony in 1607 until the mid-1960's. For generations it was understood that the Sabbath was made for man, for man's benefit (Mk 2: 27,28). But once again we have become too clever for our own good. We have crammed our schedules full of activity seven days a week. We have lost our Sabbath rest in the process. What have we given up? Hughes Old has recently written, "Any attempt at recovering a Reformed spirituality would do well carefully to study the best of the Puritan literature on the observance of the Lord's Day."'

Oh that we in Britain and America would realise that the Lord's Day is a precious gift from God, and not one to be brushed aside lightly. The Sabbath is no burden, but it is indeed a delight!

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Spring in Carnoustie.

Love is in the air!

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Pictures from the A9

These are some pictures I took last Sunday, on the drive up to Rosskeen.

(www.roskeen.com - my sermon outlines are up, in case anyone might be interested.)

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Rosskeen.

Yesterday I was up in the north of Scotland, preaching in Rosskeen Free Church. It was a good day, and a real blessing to meet with them. The church building is impressive, but more than that they have a very committed and active congregation with an exciting view of the future, and developments in their ministry.

The church building is one of those that sits on its own at a mid-point between two towns - originally with the idea that no-one would have to walk too far from anywhere in the Parish. Seeing such a healthy congregation here really goes to show that when the Spirit is at work, the location of your building matters not.

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