A very short post as today has been full of food and fellowship!

Thanks to all of you who joined us in praying for the safety and strengthening of our Pastor, Roy on his trip out east. He was back with us this morning ministering from a new series of studies on the Gospel of Luke in the run up to Christmas.

Did you know, Sir William Ramsay, who is regarded as one of the greatest archaeologists ever to have lived, wrote of Luke:

“Luke is a historian of the first rank … this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”

Well, we were really glad to have Roy back with us; and I was really glad to have Annie with me at my side at our worship service this morning. We both slept incredibly well last night with very little reason for disturbance.

Some of the girls at Manor Park were especially pleased to see Annie so that they could give her a birthday gift that they had put together. It really is too difficult to explain what the gift was because it wasn’t one thing…it was numerous things, all sparkly and scented! All I know is that on our drive home, more and more things were coming out of that heavily perfumed bag of goodies each accompanied by “Oohs” and “Ahhs” of various pitch; among them were what I am sure looked like two fruit smoothies wearing bobble hats (go figure!).

One thing that really blessed her (and me) were the little notes and encouraging verses of scripture that were handwritten out by the girls; although not exclusively the girls, I am fairly sure there was a handwritten note by one of the young guys whose name I will keep private but I thought it was really lovely. If you are reading this and you are that guy, then let me assure you, great men of God do things like that!

One of the greatest blessings and privileges in the last 10 years has been serving the Lord among the youth, with my wife at my side. She loves those young people and loves to serve them and one of the hardest things for Annie at this stage is not having as much energy and health as she would like to be able to serve them right now.

In the worship service the morning Annie was really struggling with the lethargy that the radiotherapy causes. You will usually see Annie avidly making notes as the Word of God is preached but I could see today by the amount of blank page on her jotter that she was wrestling. For reasons like this we sit at the back so that she can exit and get water or some fresh air easily. I thought that we might have to make an early exit this morning but Annie really wanted to stay and so we were praying in that direction every moment we could.

The Lord not only gave her strength but also the great joy that comes with being with His people. This little photo, taken with a handful of the girls, gives you a picture of that. I am surprised that the girls either side of Annie are smiling as I am sure Annie was resting her entire body weight on them!

Resting on Him,

R&A