How We Got Here

Here’s how a typical Saturday at St Mark’s is spent…

Cleaning the brickwork

Varnishing the brickwork

Getting rid of the cobwebs!

Fitting the new gate on the other side of the building

Cleaning & mopping the community hall floor to rid it of paint stains!

Clearing yet more rubbish!

Fuelling up to keep going!

Perseverance is definitely the key word at the moment! Every day, we see real progress being made, but there is still so much to be done…

The amount of rubbish found in St Mark’s, not to mention the amount created by us as we have worked, is truly astounding. Pieces of wood, jumble for sale, broken vases, cardboard, overhanging branches, food waste, empty paint cans, used mops, cloths, and brushes… the list goes on and on.

We have been resourceful in re-using many things and often creating new purposes for items, but weekly trips to the ‘dump-it site’ have been incorporated into every session of work. Sometimes we’ve been able to pass on items to others (those with log-burning heating have been grateful for the wood!) and re-use them that way. We’ve tried to combine practicality with resourcefulness and don’t want to waste things unnecessarily. Nonetheless, some of the stuff just has to go. It has no place in this new project.

A friend of mine made a comment to me recently which has really stuck in my mind. “Put doubt in the dustbin where it belongs … not the recycling bin, as we don’t want it to see the light of day again!”

There are often issues in our lives which cause us to stumble (Hebrews 12 talks about ‘the sin that so easily entangles’) and how we deal with those issues will often determine how we progress in the future. Are we putting those issues in the right place? There really are some things that don’t need to be recycled, but need to be removed altogether.

Let’s keep running the race, free of everything which hinders, and let’s deal with the rubbish in our lives.

Work has been going on in the main hall. Now that the painting has been done, the electrics and heating are being sorted.

Fitting the brackets for the radiators…

Soldering work (They’ve clearly not heard about Garry’s previous attempts at soldering…!!)

Keeping things straight…

Previous experience comes in very handy! (God uses all our life experiences for good!)

We’re getting there!

Work on the outside of the building is also still ongoing. Clearing the rubbish seems a never-ending job!

I think the words of this song by Kutless sum up our experience far better than any words I can think of. Faith can do so much more than we can ever imagine.

“I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do.”

It’s one thing to know those thing in theory. It’s another to have personal experience of them.

We have seen dreams that move the mountains. The dream to own St Mark’s is now a reality. We have experienced hope that won’t let go of us, even when we had to return the grant and there seemed no chance of getting the building. We have seen silent prayers (and loud ones!) get answered. We have seen miracles of provision. We have known broken hearts being healed. We have seen so much of God’s goodness that there are almost no words left to express our gratitude. Except if we stay silent, even the rocks will cry out!

Thank You, God.

Work on the main hall is continuing. The trunking for the electrics was put in on Saturday. It wasn’t easy to maintain a straight line when the floor and walls are not straight!

If the Lord came with His plumb line as in Amos 7, how straight would we be?