What a weekend in the Scottish Borders with the Newcastle University Christian Union! The train on Friday to Carlisle and coach from Carlisle to Newcastleton in Scotland were fairly straightforward. The unknown was how I would get from Newcastleton town centre to the remote venue for the weekend away. There were only 3 people on the coach, and when we arrived at the Scottish border town they all got off because it was the final destination. “I’ll take you as close as I can on my way back to the yard,” the driver said. So there were now only 2 of us on the coach, the driver and me. As we drove out of Newcastleton into the Liddesdale countryside, there were no streetlights and almost no moon. “This is it,” he said, coming to a halt in what was apparently the middle of nowhere, “it’s a mile and half walk from here!”
When he drove off I realized how used I am to electric streetlights. It was so dark, I could not see anything at all. No exaggeration. Suddenly I almost jumped out of my skin as a loud noise came from right beside me. When I came back to earth I realized it must have been a sheep bleating, about 3 yards from me, but of course I couldn’t see anything.
Would I fall into a ditch in the darkness? Surely not! What if a car came along the road, or a farmer in his jeep, would they see me? There was nowhere to go to get out of the way. So I switched on my phone as a light in the darkness. I thought to myself, ‘if I just keep walking, eventually I will get there.’ I had 2 bags to drag, and sure enough after about a mile and a half I found the office of Whithaugh Park Rock UK. It was amazing to see it all in the daylight the following day, because I had no idea where I was.
As always with these things, it was great fun. The theme was Identity in Christ, and I did a 3 part series across Friday and Saturday. I taught the first session entitled “Adopted” from Galatians 4:1-7 on the Friday night. I didn’t start speaking until 10.30pm so it was probably the latest I’ve preached for years! The second talk I did was called: “More than a Conqueror” from Romans 8:28-39. The third was “Seated with Christ in Heavenly Places” and was from Revelation 21:4-6, 15-23, and Revelation 22:3-5. I certainly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit as I was praying at the end of the talk on heaven. On the Saturday night I did a vision casting talk for both the Carol Service at Jesmond Parish Church on Friday 6th December and also for the Events Week in Newcastle from 3rd to 7th March 2014. On Sunday it was a privilege to lead the students in an Act of Remembrance and then to move onto application in with a talk on “Communicating the Gospel in Your World” from John 4:1-37.