Bald Eagle

I went to Glagow University. I chose Glasgow as opposed to Edinburgh, because it was far enough from home to warrent living in Halls of residence and I wanted to get away from home.

I was in Wolfson Hall in Maryhill.  One day I was in my room when the block warden knocked on my door to introduce himself.  His name was David Newell.  He told me that he was the warden for the block I was in and he welcomed me.  He then left.  Later on one of the other men in the CU told me that David was a christian.  They also told David that I was a christian because he returned to my room and I said, "I have been told about you", to which he said, "I have been told about you".  We then told each other about our backgrounds. David was brethern and one of their speakers.  I was Church of Scotland

David was a man of great wisdom. I thought he had pastoral skill which at times, I needed and he was a marvelous teacher. 

There were times when a discoteque would take place in the hall and David would have an alternative to it.  This was in the days before ipods and recordings were on cassette tapes.  He would invite students to his flat for the evening and we would listen to these tapes.  Some of them were by the Irish preacher Wullie Mullan.  One day I asked him where he got the cassettes from.  He gave me the contact details.  They came from a tape lending library called, "Things That Matter". I decided to become a member of the library so that I could borrow cassettes for myself.  I did not know that by doing that I was making my first contact with Operation Mobilisation, because "Things that Matter" were a ministry of that organisation, and here I am today in that very same organisation.  God used David to encourage me to take that first step. All I wanted to do was borrow teaching cassettes so that I could grow in the word of God, but it did more for me than that. As I borrowed tapes by a variety of preachers, one of them was George Verwer.  I could never have imagined then that one day I would not be listening to recording of such meetings but that I would actually be there.

Another couple of pieces of wisdom David gave to me were the local church.  Gods work is carried out by the church and it is vital to be in good bible believing church. It is there one finds fellowship and teaching and they will be people of prayer and it is neccessary for the christian to be in fellowship as part of a local church

I also learned from David that in choosing a church, he said, " The closest bible believing church to your home, that is the one".  It is that lesson that led me to my present local church.  It is bout two minutes walk down the road from where I live. For you dear reader it may be further, but I urge you not to treat choosing a church as being like a trip to the supermarket.  I think it is true that we live in culture in the UK where christians see themselves as consumers and they take a long time finding a church as they go around the churches in their area and the choose one that makes them feel good even if on the way they pass by some perfectly good churches that would gladly welcome them.  Such churches could benfit more from new people joining them than the one they choose because it has the big name and makes them feel good.

I value David for teaching me those lessons. They have had a profound effect on my life for many years now.

David was a bald man ( as I now am) and one of my fellow students laughed and called him Bald Eagle.  This was a term of endearment.  We all loved David Dearly and the fact that I still practice the things I learned from him is testament to the influence he has had on me.