This is part of a series of posts over the summer where members of the Presbytery Staff Team write posts for the website in place of Stella. This week: Ruth Mackenzie (Deputy Clerk)
It started with a message on my answerphone 3 summers ago. The consequence of responding to that message was that I became Depute Clerk of the Presbytery of the North East and Northern Isles.
This means that I deputise (act on Stella’s behalf) when she is on holiday, when she has to ‘declare an interest’ at a Presbytery meeting or when we have a lot of services of induction or union.
Not much happens in the Presbytery Office during holiday times such as now but there is always something to challenge my brain cells – a family history story which needs some help, a venting of frustration, a lost form, IT challenges… and so the list goes on. Then there is the feeling of satisfaction when a problem is solved.
The first week of the school holidays is always our Scripture Union Holiday Club in Peterhead New Parish Church where we have 45 primary school aged children each morning to hear more about Jesus.
This year we used the Scripture Union ‘Megamakers’ material with the young people allocated to a ‘Tool Shed’ for the week. This was where they met their Group Leader and where they came for their Bible teaching, a quiet time of learning – and they did.
With us this year, we had a number of junior leaders – young people of secondary school age who had been through Holiday Club for a few years and knew the ropes. It was so lovely to see the exuberance of young faith growing in OUR young people.
I am reminded of the many people now in responsible positions in government, in churches, in industry, indeed in all walks of life who look back on the time spent reading their Bible, maybe even in a tent, at SU Camp. This was when they came to faith and is why they are where they are today.
In a particularly busy time, balancing all aspects of life, I am reminded of the ‘Footprints Poem’.
“Footprints in the Sand" tells the story of someone who dreams of walking along a beach with the Lord. As scenes from their life flash across the sky, they notice two sets of footprints in the sand — one belonging to them and the other to God. During the hardest times in life, however, the person notices there is only one set of footprints. When they question God about this, He explains that those are the times He picked them up and carried them through their struggles.
Yes, God carries us through the easy times and the difficult times, but it is often only as we look back and reflect that we see that God was and is there.
