anguish

Clive was in today.

He used to work here, many years ago. A great work, among the young in the local community.

He works now for UCCF, among students here in Edinburgh. And he's recently been off on sabbatical for a good few months.

It was good to see him again and have the chance to catch up. He sometimes works from here, so we've missed him not being around.

Sabbatical is not meant to be a 3 month rest. The guy has been using his time in new and productive ways.

Not least, he's been writing and then been recording a brand new CD album of worship songs. Not really something he's done before. He's a singer and writer, for sure, but it's songs that he sings he's written and sung before.

Click on the picture to check out his 'blog'.

Writing these songs to be sung by the people of God .. well, that's been rather a different sort of thing. Challenging and humbling.

He's struggled with health for a while. And life has not been easy in lots of ways.

But the Lord has been hard at work in his life through it all. And the struggles he's had have very much been in their way the 'womb' from which these brand new songs were birthed.

The pain and the anguish he's known have borne their fruit.

It was good to be able to talk at some length. And humbling to hear how the Lord has been so at work.

I was seeing someone else later on. At quite some length.

We got to talking about this Sunday morning past when the Lord had seemed (to many I think) to be speaking with quite some power. There were people moved to tears. There were people who thought it was not me at all out front.

And people as well, it would seem, who felt just a bit uncomfortable. Who didn't like the 'shouting' sort of thing, as it seemed to them.

I think that was simply the passion with which the message was being preached. The fire of the Spirit of God that burns in my heart.

I think that's how it comes out.

My voice being raised was maybe just the way the Spirit's dynamite explodes in what's being preached.

Or maybe just the cry of pain and anguish in my heart, at how God's name is so dishonoured in these days, being amplified from deep within the heart of God himself.

I came back later on at night to find an e-mail in my inbox and a link to words from David Wilkerson. Along the same theme.

A call to anguish.

It resonated massively with me. This is where I'm at. This is how I feel.