Scotland has breath taking beauty and weather that will literally take your breath away. We enjoyed doing some hill walking after tea this evening and almost got blown away. It really was a bit difficult to breathe and quite exhilarating. In case you don't believe me I have photographic evidence which I will post below.

God gave us a great start to our work week. The kids schooling went well. They are enjoying having their cousin with them. I got some studying done and put out some flyers. The Lord gave me a really good divine appointment with a teenager. He was waiting for a friend. But, when his friend arrived he continued the conversation and said that he would definitely read the flyer. (Below is the proof!)

I trust that God will give you a great first day of the week. We had a good start to our week this morning as we got together with the Word of God and with the God of the Word. Our children sang this morning and did a wonderful job singing, "Thank you Lord." You can hear them at the beginning of our sermon audio this morning. I preached this morning on, "They Could Not Cause Them to Cease" from Ezra 5. It was good encouragement for our church as we seek to build for God in Loanhead. Thank you for your prayers for our day. God encouraged us this morning.

By the way, "Brrr...is our way of describing the weather today." I took a picture of a hailstorm we had last night. There was still ice on the ground this morning.

Kay Lee was my door to door partner this morning. It was very cold and even snowed for part of the time that we were out. However, we didn't get too cold because most of our time was spent with a young couple in their home. We had the joy of sharing Jesus Christ with this man and woman and the joy of hearing them both pray to accept Jesus as their Saviour. Please pray for them and their two young children. Satan always resists what God blesses and we want to do our part to pray for God's protection for them.

On another exciting note, our church voted on Thursday night to seek to purchase the building that has come available if two conditions are met. Both conditions would be miracles but we serve a miracle working God. The conditions are that God would supply a mortgage and that God would supply a deposit. Little is much when God is in it! We're going to pray to that end until the Lord closes the door which we believe He has opened.

I have been reminded lately how much we need to pray. One of the greatest blessing of our special events; evangelistic meetings, Holiday Bible Clubs, the family conference this past week, etc, is that we spend 20-30 minutes together in prayer each day. It's not much! But, it at least shows our sincere desire for God to do what we can not do. And God has blessed those church prayer meetings and the ministries following.

I've recently written an article for revival focus forum along those lines. Please click this link if you would like to read it.

Our area is growing incredibly. Within a mile of Loanhead and within Loanhead they are building hundreds of new houses. We live in a good shopping area as well and that area is also experiencing incredible growth. This is exciting as our ministry is to people and God is giving us more people nearby! Please pray for God to bring some Christian families to our church through moving into our area. I put flyers out in one of those new communities this morning.

I put flyers out through a new housing scheme near us. I didn't have any divine appointments there but I enjoyed listening to a message by Evangelist Morris Gleiser. He challenged the people coming to the meetings that week to "C - change their calendar to be able to attend, P - pray often for God's blessing on the meetings and R - respond as God spoke to their hearts during the meeting." He wasn't seeking a public response but he was encouraging them to be ready to do business with God. I liked his "CPR" challenge. We should have that in front of us every Sunday and midweek service.

Later yesterday morning I had my vehicle tuned up to run on LPG and praise the Lord it seems ready to go. I'm sorry that our vehicle has been a prayer request this past year. But, it has been and we have appreciated your prayers. It's too long a story to tell except to say, "Praise the Lord for getting the right software installed." The mechanic took me for a ride in my  mini van and squeaked the tires (peeled out) as we took off. We haven't had power like that on autogas (lpg) ever! :) So, I am very thankful to God for His goodness.

While the vehicle was being worked on, I put out flyers in Edinburgh. People took them really well yesterday morning. I had two conversations of note. Was was with a man who is a Sikh. The other was with a man who is Greek Orthodox. Both are trusting in their goodness to get them to Heaven. Please pray that God will awaken their hearts.

One interesting occurrence yesterday was a cute old lady. I thought she would kindly accept a leaflet but instead surprised me by saying in front of others, "Nobody wants your stuff!" :) I have to smile. It was an unexpected response from what looked like a very nice elderly lady. He dresses himself as an angel of light sometimes but when he speaks you can tell it is him. Please pray for God to overcome the adversary on our field. I'm thankful that as I walked away I handed the leaflet to a few people who would walk back past that old lady with my flyer.

The Lord gave us a good morning with good attendance and a good spirit. This is our busiest Sunday as we have an afternoon service at The Trust (assisting living facility.). So, we are hurrying to get ready for that just now. I'm going to be preaching an April Fools message from "The Fool hath said in his heart that there is no God." Please pray that God will use this message in the hearts of those who hear it.

I preached this morning on, "Why Go to God?" from the book of Job. Eliphaz the Teminite was not a good counselor but his words in Job 5:8-11 are good council. 

Thank you for your prayers for our day today. This evening we are going to take the service to thank the Lord for what He did in our hearts this past week. We are going to have testimonies, singing and prayer. Please pray for God's special blessing upon this time. 

It's good to have my brother-in-law, Jason and daughter, Ellie, with us. They arrived early this morning. Jason is heading on to France for business but Ellie will be with us the next few weeks until their return to the US. So, Kay Lee is excited to have a sister for a few weeks.

Jason went with me to do door to door today. God gave us one really great divine appointment with an elderly lady. Please pray that God will awaken this dear ladies' heart. She said, "It would be a comforting thing to know where one is going when one dies."

This evening Jason and I went into Edinburgh and handed out flyers and witnessed. We had several great opportunities for extended conversation. We witnessed to a couple who were perched on top of monuments at the cemetery. I joked with them at one point when the man suggested we find other's to speak with, "No this is better, because you guys can't get away." They really did have a good sense of humor and we were able to share much truth with them.

Then we spoke with a young couple from Italy who listened intently to the Gospel. I don't think they had ever before understood why Jesus died.

The last conversation was a lengthy one with an Australian outside a pub. He kept inviting us in for a drink which we declined. :) Please pray that God will awaken John's heart. His mate joined us a bit later and listened in as well.

Thank you for praying for divine appointments. The Lord gave us several today.

PS. We also had a couple good opportunities to invite young people in our community to the football (soccer) tournament on 21 May. Please pray for this next big event on our calendar.

God gave us a wonderful time together this evening. That has been one of the great blessings of the week is that we have enjoyed times of sweet fellowship before and after the services. God's Spirit has really opened our hearts during the services and it has been evident in the sweet fellowship following each service. We heard some good news this evening as a father said, "I asked God to save me during the service." That also is a precious indication of the work the Lord was doing as the message preached was "Raising a Family in the 21st Century." I'm sorry that I can't make the audio available as my phone has apparently eaten the audio. The Lord knows and I trust the other recordings have been a blessing to you.

We praise the Lord for the ministry of Pastor and Mrs. O'Gorman. We had wonderful fellowship with them and benefited greatly from their ministry. Please pray for them as they fly out early tomorrow to return to Ireland. Valerie will be speaking at a Ladies' Luncheon in Cork (Southern Ireland) on Saturday.

Meanwhile we'd appreciate your prayers for my niece and brother in law as they fly in on Saturday. Our family gets to enjoy having Ellie (13) stay with us for 3 weeks as her father, Jason, has work to do in France. We'll get to briefly enjoy having Jason with us as he passes through and stays a day with us.

I told our church tonight, "As pastor I feel that this week is the most precious in our 6 years of ministry here." God is doing a very definite work in our church. We appreciate your continued prayers and give God all the glory for the work He has done, is doing and will do. Thank you for your vital part in our ministry.

The Lord gave us another great night in our family conference. Pastor O'Gorman preached this evening on the perfect man and wife relationship found in Genesis 1-2. He then showed the failure of that and the curse which impacted that relationship. He concluded by taking us to Ephesians 5 and showing us the solution. Katie was unable to make it tonight as Mac was sick today. Another lady was also unable to attend due to illness. But, despite their inability to be there God gave us great attendance. 

If you want to join with us online this evening, here is a link to the message.