If you had asked me three years ago if I was a Christian, I would have told you with all sincerity, yes. I was raised in a home where my mother was a Christian, and as a child I attended church with her and my sisters up until I was a teenager, then friends and my social life became more important, but God understood that, right? I even went along occasionally as an adult, and after I got married and had my two daughters I took them to church as well. Okay, maybe I didn’t read my Bible every day and maybe I only prayed when I needed something, but I believed in God and was generally a good person, so I was okay. And I could quite happily have gone through my life believing that, but God had other plans.
Several years ago, my brother-in-law was reading The Da Vinci Code book and was really taken in by it all. We were talking one day, and he asked me if I wanted to visit Rosslyn Chapel with him, which features in that book. I didn’t know a great deal about the place, but I had a look at the website and it looked quite interesting, and I enjoyed visiting castles and historical places, so I agreed to go along with him. So on Wednesday, 17th August 2005, we went to Rosslyn Chapel, taking my mother along as well as it was a beautiful, sunny day. When we were there we had the usual guided tour, and the guide explained the history of the place and how it was still a working church, and afterwards we split up and had a wander around ourselves. After a while I sat alone in one of the pews to look up at the ornately carved stars in the ceiling. And it was at this point God changed my life. Sitting a few rows in front of me was a young man who had got down on his knees and was praying fervently, oblivious to the tourists around about him, and as I sat and watched him praying, a strange feeling of fear came upon me. It wasn’t panic, but it was a deep, worrying concern about my relationship with God. Here was a man with a personal relationship with God, praying publicly, totally unconcerned about anyone around him, and I thought to myself, why am I not like that. Maybe the little understanding I had with God wasn’t enough? So I walked outside to where my Mum was sitting enjoying the sun and had a chat to her. I didn’t go into too much detail, but I explained how I was feeling and that I needed to get back to church. I went home that day and set about looking at a few church websites. After a while I came across the website for Airdrie Reformed Presbyterian Church, and I just knew that was where I had to go. Straight away I emailed the minister, Andrew, for the times of the services as I had an urgency in me, which now looking back at it, it makes sense. God was making sure I was at the service that next Sunday because that day when I walked in with my two daughters for the first time, the minister was beginning a series of sermons on Hell. I know that it is not the most pleasant of subjects, but God’s timing is always perfect, and I left that building under no illusion as to my situation as a sinner, my need of a Saviour, and the terrible fate that awaited me if I did not get myself right with God. That night that sermon was exactly what I needed to hear, no messing about, just the plain truth. I saw clearly how wrong I was before.
God changed my life that day in Rosslyn chapel, it wasn’t an amazing flash of light, Damascus road conversion, but He definitely grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and gave me a shake. The love and fellowship we have received from His people from the moment we set foot into that church building in North Bridge Street and the plain, true, Biblical preaching we receive, is a testament to the amazing work that God is doing there, because in there you will find ordinary people worshipping an extraordinary God.
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