I am the eldest of three, brought up in the Brethren until my parents realised the format of the meetings was turning us right off God. We then moved to a local Baptist church, which had an active youth programme.
At some point in my early teens the faith I had as a child grew up with me. At 16 I was baptised, and ever since, my theological leanings have been towards the Baptists.
My love of dogs started when we got Sweeper, usually known as Sweep, in my primary school days. She and I went everywhere together.
I read Biochemistry with Pharmacology at Strathclyde, and was active in the Christian Union there. A group of us went round many of the Glasgow churches of all colours taking services etc, and we also took a Sunday School in the middle of the Gorbals (300 kids aged about 5 to 11). Great fun, and good experience.
After I got my degree I went to London to do research. I found a village Baptist church in the middle of London, just off the Edgeware Road! I spent three happy years there, being elected as a Deacon at the end of the second year.
The next several years were spent in Mill Hill, in north London, this time at the local CoE church. (I believe in going to a local church if there is one!) There I married Steve and we had 2 boys, Ben and Nick.
When the boys were about 5 and 6 we moved down to Dover, and I went back to work as a Chemistry teacher, while Steve looked after the boys. As it was a boarding school it was a 7 day a week job during term time. But we joined the local Baptist church, and I went whenever I could. All of us enjoyed our Dover life.
Then came the bombshell. An x-ray on my hip showed arthritic damage to my hip girdle and my lower back. I was told I had to stop work NOW or be in a wheelchair within 5 years.
By this time Steve was working in the Occupational Therapy Unit at the local ‘core and cluster’ home for folk with multiple and profound learning difficulties. This was at the time Care in the Community was all the rage, and we ended up adult fostering two men, who were friends. Alan sadly had to go back in to hospital care after a fit caused more brain damage, but Nigel came to Orkney with us, and is still in the care of the family. (I lost all my photos in a flood in 2005, so there are none of Dover or of the boys growing up.)
After a holiday in Orkney, we knew we wanted to move here, and that is what we did in 1995. Steve and I separated in 2002, but have remained friends. I moved to the island of Flotta (population about 70), a place I loved from the start. The church on the island is officially Church of Scotland, but as an island kirk, we had Catholics to charismatics, and all stations between! I loved the mix of traditions, and had intended to spend the rest of my life on the island.
But God had other things in store for me! Over the next 15 years or so I moved back to St Margaret’s Hope to live Nick after his breakdown and subsequent diagnosis as bipolar, back to Flotta, then back to Kirkwall to live with Ben who has been diagnosed autistic.
All this time my health has been getting worse, and I am less able to do things every year. Gone are the days when I could stand to take a service, or take part in most activities. As my body has been able to do less and less, I have been forced to rethink my ‘job’ as a Christian, and have realised it is ‘just’ prayer – something you can do sitting or lying down!
Over time I hope to put some of the lessons I have learnt in writing. Most posts here will be short, and irregular. But I hope some of them will cause you to think!
god-and-dog.com 