Our Scripture Readers go where they are needed, sometimes moving to live far from their families and roots. ASR Paul Curd is based in Edinburgh, working with the service personnel in Edinburgh Garrison. He and his wife Karen moved from Chepstow to Edinburgh in 2023 and now share with us how they have found a 'home away from home' in Scotland.
When SASRA moved us from Chepstow to Edinburgh, going north to follow God’s plan for us, we had two concerns— the weather and the distance we would be from home—but we never doubted the blessing it would be to live in Scotland.
Alongside the cold, wet, dark winters, we expected stunning scenery, new accents and Scottish pride, but we were also pleasantly surprised by the long, warm and sunny summer days, offset by an almost constant cool breeze; a blessing during a heatwave!
It didn’t take us long to learn that Scotland is not merely another part of Britain with a strong possibility of weather forecasts which include all four seasons within a day, but that it has a soul all its own. We discovered unsurprisingly that tradition and culture here is strong. The sound of bagpipes swirl in the air over from the Pipes & Drum school or the city and the wearing of kilts normative rather than just for tourists; tradition, culture and tartan is ubiquitous, and everything seems connected to the land. Its history is celebrated in all these traditions and in Burns Nights, ceilidhs, Highland Games, family names and antecedent regiments, all composite of Scottish identity.
Food is a vital component to tradition here. For breakfast, porridge (with salt) or a full Scottish with haggis, tattie scones and white pudding. For lunch, perhaps a scotch pie and for an afternoon treat, tablet, shortbread, empire biscuits or Tunnock’s with your tea. For dinner, on a chilly day stovies with oatcakes (a favourite at the Kelpies visitor centre), or Cullen Skink and crusty bread, or haggis, neeps and tatties, or nip to the chippy for a fish supper. Most of these are strange to English ears at first, but you are won over one plate at a time.
Another surprise was the water here. So good, it ruins you for everywhere else! It’s one of the first things you notice. It tastes fresh, cold and clean as though it has come directly from the hills — maybe it has. And the Scots really do drink Irn-Bru; we laugh and imagine the ginger colour of the Water of Leith, as the source!
Being here in Scotland means an eight-hour drive to home, so we do sometimes feel lonely. Missionary life often means separation and sacrifice. Our local church community has helped a lot, as has the proximity of Edinburgh Airport!
However, Scotland’s lochs, burns, rivers, hills, mountains, the purity and the wildness, fill you with a sense of awe as you wonder at God’s Creation. Scotland’s beauty deserves every photograph—but the true beauty is its people and their spirit. For an English couple serving the Lord here, despite being aware of the old jokes and rivalries, we have had the warmest of welcomes and witnessed a real sense of community. Scotland has become far more than a posting. It has become a home away from home.
‘Oh, we’re no awa’ tae bide awa’
We’re no’ awa’ tae le’e ye,
We’re no’ awa’ tae bide awa’,
We’ll aye come back an’ see ye.’
Pray with us
- Give thanks that Scripture Readers are willing to go where the Lord would have them and that through the local church they can find fellowship and be made to feel at home through God's people.
- Pray that our Scripture Readers would know the Lord's presence and comfort wherever they may be posted in what can often be lonely and hard work. May they be encouraged to know the Lord is at work through them.
