Went to Heathrow to pick up the rental car that we will be driving for a month throughout England and Scotland. When we arrived at Hertz, it was quite a scene. There were no cars! At both ends of the counter there were irate business travelers who had probably arrived on the red-eye from some far-away origin and were now fearing that they were going to miss the business meeting they had flown in for. We approached the desk and the nice lady took our information and found our reservation, then announced there were no cars. It was the change-over from last year’s model and the trucks had already taken the old ones away and the trucks with the new ones were stuck in traffic in the London morning crunch. She was startled when we said, “Oh, that’s OK. We’re in no hurry.” She answered with a relieved smile and showed us where to wait. In a few minutes she called us up to the counter and asked if I could drive a standard. Usually, we would be fine with that but this was for a month and I just didn’t want to work that hard for that long a period. It is enough to be processing the proper side of the road to be on. The shifting would be one thing I wouldn’t have to deal with. She said OK and invited us to continue waiting. We had specifically prayed that God would put us in the right vehicle for safely and comfort for that long drive and we just left it in His hands.
It wasn’t very long at all till she called us back up to the counter and handed me a set of keys and the folder with the contract and the space where the car was located. We walked out to the almost empty lot. Empty, that is, except for the “premier” row and in the space designated was a Mercedes.
Aside from the initial shock and a little anxiety about driving such a car through the narrow lanes, needless to say, we were very blessed with a comfortable ride for the roughly 1200 miles driven. I’ve come to understand a little better the goodness and humor of our Father.

We were reunited with the Batesons. Timmy, a character actor who began his career with Sir Laurence Olivier’s company and has been seen in many top films because, as he puts it, “When they need an old actor, I’m about the only one left,” married Nancy and I in our back garden in 1975. He was the head elder in our home church in London during our first 9 months of marriage. Timmy, his wife Sheila, also a well-respected actress, and their daughter who drove up from Bogner Regis spent an afternoon and evening in sweet fellowship with food, laughter and loving hugs and, again, hopeful good byes, knowing our LORD could come anytime and we would be together never again to say good bye. Back to top.

Another fellowship in the south of London, tended by long-time friends Rob and Joanie Dingman. We’ve ministered with them in the USA as well as Japan, Germany and now England. They are sent to the UK to be the Holy Spirit’s hospital for people who have been bruised by the winds of doctrine, which have blown through the country over the last 20 years and strewn broken, suspicious sheep in its wake. We did a concert at a new venue for them, a bit of a trial run to discover if the Methodist hall would be useful for extra Bible study nights and special events. It worked pretty well once the yoga class was done. :O) The LORD blessed our time of worship and the celebration of Rob & Joanie’s wedding anniversary. There were some of those bruised sheep there and the LORD was faithful to comfort them and draw them closer to Him. Back to top.

Leadership Day, Oxford Calvary Chapel
Pastors and leaders from Calvaries from a wide area came to meet together for a day of fellowship and encouragement. The parent of this is John Vickery, pastor in Cardiff, Wales, and father of the two pastors in Oxford. The two brothers have adjoining houses. Phil and his wife Hannah live in one and Jonathan lives in the other and is a professor in Coventry, where his fiancé, another Hannah, lives. So, Jonathan gave us his house to stay in while he is away during the week days which are spent in Coventry.

It was very good to see and fellowship with many pastors, some of whom we are with on this tour. It was also very good to be reunited with John Vickery, who we have known since the old Liberation Suite days. There was talk of us coming back and pivoting the next tour on a Leadership Day, which happens twice a year. We silently choose the spring one. Back to top.

We say good-byes to our gracious hosts, the Hughes, & drive the short distance to York. We are staying at David & Nancy Sylvester’s house, but while Nancy is away, David is doing some painting and redos around the house. He’s quite happy for us to spend the day walking around in the old walled city of York. The Church of England Minster is one of Europe’s greatest cathedrals.

Driving up to the Lakes District today (about 120 miles). A gorgeous day for it!
We got to Ambleside after dark. So, negotiating the narrow lanes with no street signs was a challenge but we finally pulled up to Stepping Stones B&B. The Sylvesters and Bil Galatin were staying in the same place. The hostess showed us to our upstairs room, a beautiful large room with a canopy bed and on suite bathroom. The front window overlooked the stream with a row of stones that went across just below the house. This is where we are staying for the next 3 nights!
And yes, we did have breakfast with our bed…Back to top.

Drive to Edinbugh, Scotland. Another incredibly beautiful day!

We are staying with our long-time friends, Derek and Anne Nash, while working from Edinburgh. Derek has graciously set up a few ministry opportunities not only at his home church, Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh, but also in Livingston, Dedridge Baptist, and at the Baptist church in Crieff.

Robert Bell at Dedridge Baptist and Andi Tooth at Crieff are both fellow trustees with Derek for the Herald’s Trust, an evangelistic organization in the UK.

Ian Leitch is the primary evangelist and the organization has grown out of an evangelistic music group that all these men were members of which started in the late 1950s. Back to top.

AM - Men’s breakfast at Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh. 30-40 men gathered for a great breakfast, we sang a little and I spoke to them about being real men like Jesus.

PM – Elim Family Church in Coatbridge. Just up the road from Edinburgh. We’ve been with David Bell and his church family before. David’s kids have usually provided the music for congregational singing but this time they are all growing up and scattered, having babies, etc. So, Nancy and I are it. They’ve promoted the night as a special concert of worship so the place was full and we had blessed time! Back to top.

AM – Dedridge Baptist Church in Livingston. We provided the music and the new pastor, Bill Clark, spoke. Not sure about the relation to the Clarks from Texas. We then went to lunch with several families at the house of members of the church.

PM – Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh. We took part in the regular evening service in this historic church in the heart of “lower” Edinburgh. The history will span 2 centuries as of 2008. The current building was finished in 1912 at a cost of £7,250. Among its list of pastors is Sidlow Baxter, Alan Redpath and since 1992, the current pastor is Peter Grainger. We first met Peter back in the 80s when he was the pastor in Swindon after he had finished 20 years with Wycliffe Bible Translators in India, Pakistan and Nigeria. Back to top.

The Gate Church, Dundee, Scotland.
A rainy day for travel, more the norm for this time of year in Scotland. We arrived at the old restored church and was met by Iain Craig, our contact and a very gracious host. Dundee is a university city and many students came, a whole section who were from Nigeria and had known our music from that country. A notable was Andra (Andrew), who drove about 4 hours to get to the concert. He is a fisherman up the east coast and has followed all the First Love artists since we began. He was so excited to be there and is looking to get us up in his town next time we’re over. Back to top.

Calvary Christian Fellowship Motherwell, Scotland
We change residence for the last time and move in with Elain Frazer, the church secretary and a long-time friend. Her husband, Colin, had been very involved in our tours, driving us and road managing, died very unexpectedly of cancer since our last tour there. It was a good time to be with Elain and the kids and catch up.
David & Cathie Simpson pastor this very active and influential church.

David has been involved in our tours in Scotland since the 80s and always has worked to connect with every denomination to befriend and encourage the pastors. As a result, our tours were not just Calvary Chapels. In fact, there weren’t any other Calvaries for those first few tours. Elim, Baptist, Methodist, Charismatic, Church of Scotland, David had made friends in all of them. They are host to many short missions groups that come the US during the summer and reach into every strata of society in Scotland. Watch the short video “Give Me Scotland” at http://www.calvarymotherwell.org/pastor.shtml

We had a full house for the concert with Father’s Song and everyone loved the new song BEHOLD! I felt like we were singing the new Scottish National Anthem. Back to top.

We drive to the area where Greenview Evangelical Church is, leave our car in a car park close by and take the train into Glasgow. I think everyone else in Scotland had the same idea. Greenview Evangelical, Glasgow concert with Father’s Song. The church was full and the people sang so loud that we couldn’t hear ourselves! What a choir! Back to top.

AM – Crieff Baptist Church. Andi Tooth was our contact here. Andi was also one the men in Father’s Song, so we had been singing together all week. The pastor, Richard Tuckley, had been top executive with IBM before answering the call to the ministry. He impressed me as the perfect example of the gentle but powerful presence of Jesus. His message was about putting the Learner plates on. In the UK, the cars driven by a learning driver must show a big sign with a big bold L. Pastor was exhorting us to make sure we continue to learn of God and seek to know Him more intimately.

We had lunch at the Tooth’s house with his lovely wife, Hillary and two daughters. Joining us was Robert & Louise Bell and the Nashes. A beautiful time of fellowship. We were deeply impacted by these lovely people completely dedicated to serving their Master and His people.

PM – On to Falkirk! For our last concert on the tour at Peoples Church. This is a charismatic church. When were there last, the pastor was a young man from Ulster (Northern Ireland) but now George had gone to serve in the “mother church” in Belfast and left the pastor’s office to his assistant, David & Elaine Morrison.
I had been struggling just about the whole tour fighting off the cold and flu bugs we found everywhere and hadn’t had the freedom of full voice since the first concert we did in London. This morning in Crieff, Andi Tooth discovered this and had several guys gather round and they prayed for me. As we approached the evening concert in the relentless rain, I just turned and said, “Father, I would love to finish this tour well. Please, heal my voice so that I sing your glory tonight.” The whole concert, I had full voice and freedom to let it rip! Thank You! We drove back to Motherwell with the tour completed and an overwhelming sense of God’s faithfulness and blessing. Back to top.

12 hours on one flight is a long time. We had bulkhead seats though, which affords some extra leg room and the space to move in and out of the row.

It was good to get home! It will take weeks to process all the events and occasions to see the loving care and answered prayer by our precious Jesus.

My precious Jesus is always the same
Still King of kings, He reigns
BEHOLD! The LORD is my salvation
Right here, right now, TODAY!
BEHOLD! The LORD is my salvation
I’ll trust and not be afraid!
I’ll trust and not be afraid!
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Thank You, Jesus
For the grace that You have given us
We could n’er repay
But from my heart I’d like to say
That I thank You

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