Tag: Humor

This morning we left the place that had been our home near Edinburgh for the past two days.

As with St. Andrews, we all vowed to return, convinced we had only scratched the surface of all of God and golf this area of Scotland had to offer.

We also learned the proper pronunciation of Edinburgh is not Edin-berg or Edin-burrough but Edin-bra, as in “Hey bra, what up? The surf was epic today.” Easy to remember.

Knowing this was to be a John Knox day in Edinburgh, Mrs. H asked where Knox was born.

I was embarrassed I did not know. A quick check of Wikipedia answered the question. We were shocked at the answer: Giffordgate, a street in Haddington! We had driven through Haddington twice yesterday and then again just 20 minutes ago, but we had limited time; no time to turn back. Continue reading “UK Kingdom Travel Journal—Day 15”

Melrose Abbey, only thirty miles away, was an hour drive from our hotel in Gullane.

The winding roads from Gullane to Melrose are an appropriate metaphor for Scottish history in general and the Scottish Reformation in particular.

Melrose Abbey is the place where Robert the Bruce’s heart is buried.

Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco, but Robert the Bruce left his in Melrose Abbey.

Melrose is also the place where Cuthbert grew up and later served as prior at the original abbey beginning about 662 A.D..

You may recall we visited Durham on Day 7, the place where Cuthbert is buried.

Cuthbert was known for the miracles the Lord worked through him. Bede notes that Cuthbert was very evangelistic. I believe the two are related. God doesn’t provide the spiritual gift of miracles (see I Corinthians 12:8-10) so Christians can be Spirit-filled Penn & Tellers but to confirm His Gospel and draw people to Himself. Continue reading “UK Kingdom Travel Journal—Day 14”

Today was a travel day.

We drove from Dornoch, via Loch Ness and Stirling, arriving in Gullane, east of Edinburgh around 10:00 p.m.

This was a day when we planned to enjoy the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and its lochs.

This we did, but we also found time to stop at Urquhart Castle, located on Loch Ness between Inverness and Fort Augustus.

It was here that St. Columba, the missionary to what is today Scotland, led a Pictish nobleman, Emchath, to the Lord in the late sixth century.

As Adomnan, Columba’s biographer tells it, after Columba crossed the Druim Alban mountain range (a mountain range that divides western Scotland from east) and arrived on the Loch Ness (east) side, “he was inspired by the Holy Spirit.”

It is humbling to realize the same Holy Spirit that inspired Columba works in me and in all Kingdom citizens. Continue reading “UK Kingdom Travel Journal—Day 13”

Today we played golf at Royal Dornoch, one of the top golf courses in the world.

Yesterday at dinner we talked to an American who had become a member at Royal Dornoch and who had traveled to Dornoch for a three week stay to play the course.

He has played Pine Valley, Augusta National, Cypress Point—three of the greatest—and Royal Dornoch, he said, was the best of them all.

Dornoch is off the beaten path, a town of 1200 souls, so far north it is on the same latitude as Juneau, Alaska, which would explain why it doesn’t get dark this time of year until well after 11:00 p.m.

You don’t find Dornoch by accident; you have to be intentional about it. It is a course at the pinnacle of the golf world that few will ever experience, in a town few will ever visit.

It is like sanctification. Golf is like sanctification. Continue reading “UK Kingdom Travel Journal—Day 12”

We said goodbye to St. Andrews today.

But before we did we had to make one more stop—St. Salvator Chapel.

Waiting inside St. Salvator Chapel, just to the right of the altar, was the pulpit from which John Knox preached his sermon on June 11, 1559, that marked the beginning of the Scottish Reformation.

We had seen Wycliff’e pulpit, now Knox’s pulpit.

Who knows, maybe years from now people will be traveling thousands of miles to see Andy Stanley’s iPad or Rick Warren’s teleprompter.

Before we leave St. Andrews I have to tell you a story. I wasn’t going to tell it, but the rest of the GSB team has insisted. They think it’s funny. I’m not sure it is.

On Day 9, after walking through the streets of St. Andrews, I had noted references to “Kate and Wills” here and there and most prominently above the sign at a restaurant indicating it was the place they met. Continue reading “UK Kingdom Travel Journal—Day 11”