ARRIVED!

“Howdy!” from Aberdeen.

Finally, I’m here! After a thankfully uneventful trip, my bags and I made it upon Scottish soil together.

The bracing chill in the air immediately got my attention! “This sure ain’t Texas,” I said to myself. With temps at night in the 30’s and 60’s during the day, it felt as if I were back in Boston in the Fall. Nice (till it snows, of course!).

I was picked up by a fellow grad student (they call this species of scholars ‘postgraduates’ here), a DTS alumnus, who got me fixed up in my apartment and then proceeded to give me a tour of Aberdeen.

It’s gray! Everything is. It is not for naught that Aberdeen is called “the granite city.” Even the sky is gray much of the day. The ancient buildings, however, are charming and I got to explore a few churches that date back to medieval times. King’s College, where the School of Divinity of the University of Aberdeen is housed, is one of those august structures with an incredible amount of gravitas!

The people I’ve met are very amicable and eager to make me comfortable in new settings. The other Ph.D. students in the School of Divinity, especially, have been very helpful and generous, as also, incidentally, was the American community in town, helping me with everything from cutlery to comforters.

Yesterday, I was privileged to be taken on a trip to the countryside and the coast north of Aberdeen, where we hit a few castles and the odd Renaissance ruin (the picture above was taken at the imposing gates of Fyvie Castle--an hour from Aberdeen), got a résumé of Scottish history (from a Ph.D. student specializing in that rather esoteric subject), and consumed the national staple—fish and chips. Not bad, for my first week, huh? (And, no, I haven’t summoned up the guts to sample haggis yet!)

Slowly, I’m settling in to the rhythm of life in the U.K., securing a phone, opening a bank account, ordering broadband, prepaying utilities, making friends, attempting to comprehend the brogue (I use “Pardon me” a lot! And I confess, the Scots use the phrase equally liberally with me, too), ….

I plan to get together with my dissertation supervisor, Prof. Francis Watson, this week. Once more, may I request your prayers for efficiency and fruitfulness and that God’s wisdom may be granted me in abundance as I undertake this formidable (but exhilarating) task of completing a Ph.D. in hermeneutics.

A major move like this, in one’s mid-forties, I don’t recommend. But God is gracious; as He prevails upon me to depend on Him in circumstances strange and foreign, I learn, once again, that “‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.”

“My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected in weakness.”
Most gladly, therefore,
I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NASB)