Monday, June 7th, From Jason's Diary

We woke early, said goodbye to Matt and Rachel and their kids. They have been such wonderful hosts!

We caught the train from Linlithgow to Inverness. So we left the low country (South) of Scotland for the rugged, sparce, heather covered Highlands: "My heart is in the highlands..."

The train was packed so Jacob, Julian and I stood and, alternatively, sat on the floor. But it didn't matter. The view was spectacular. Green, rolling hills spotted with sheep gave way to a higher, more rugged hills clothed in the muted browns, greys, and, almost, silvers of the heather. We changed trains in Inverness heading for Tain.

John van Eyk picked us up at the Station in Tain and drove us to his house where we met his wife, Lucy, and their six children: Joshua (14 years old), Christiana, Micaiah, Stephen, ?, and the baby, Mark. John and Lucy are from Canada. For the last 2 years they have been serving Christ as the pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Tain. John graduated from Westminster Seminary. I had a hard time pulling myself out of his library/study and being social...

Jacob, Jenny and I went on a "wee driving tour" with John. I forget all the places we saw some of the highlights were: driving up into the highland hills, seeing shepherds (on ATVS) herding their sheep down the road, the drive alone the water and smelling the salt water. We drove by a famous golf course (Royal Droughan?) and I took some photos for my dad who loves to golf.

John shared some of the history of the Church in Scotland. We stopped at the birthplace of John Murray, and, up the road, the home that he retired to after his significant teaching career was over at Westminster seminary.

We returned home. Lucy had cooked a delicious dinner...After dinner John led us in a hearty family worship around the dinner table.

After dinner we drove to "Geinies" (They name every house, it seems, here); the country estate/manor owned by Rachel's (Round) uncle and aunt. Christian Focus publications is housed here. Christian Focus is well known for their excellent books for children as well as for producing a steady stream of new and re-printed books articulating the reformed perspective.

John took me on a tour of the wharehouse and gave me (and Julian) a couple of books:

To Julian: Monks and Mystics.

To me: Unity and Diversity by Sandy Finlayson (this book is about the founders of the Free Church of Scotland. It has a chapter on Thomas Chalmers), Charles Simeon, by Handley Moule, and Vital Christianity (the life and spirituality of William Wilberforce) by Murray Andrew Pura.

We lugged our gear from "Geinies" to the "Bathy", the name for a stone beach house far below (Jacob, Julian, Judah, Joshua van Eyk and me stayed overnight at the beachouse). We wound our way down the path and into this very secluded, ruggedly beautifuly beach.

The kids built a fire and played on the beach. The adults built a fire in the beach house. John, Lucy, Jenny and I had tea and talked about life and ministry. I tried to smoke one of John's pipes but was very rusty.

Around 10pm, they said goodbye to us and climbed up the hill leaving us for our adventure...

Hear more about those adventures in the next post.



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