This week I have been given a wonderful opportunity. The Methodist Circuit was planning a trip to Iona and needed one of the ministers to go along as chaplain. Having never been, I jumped at the chance to go. After many months of planning, I left Godalming at 5am this morning for the 500 mile trip to northwestern Scotland.

It involved a taxi, an airplane, another (four hour) taxi, and two ferries. We travelled through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen. I tried taking pictures, but honestly, they just didn’t do the scenery justice. None of them could match the stark beauty I could see with my eyes. I’ve never been to the Highlands before, and I think I barely skirted them this trip, but I couldn’t help but feel the majesty of the land.

Upon arriving at Iona, the first word that came to mind was “rugged”. Around 1500 years ago, an Irish monk named Columba founded an abbey here that he used as a base for his mission to take Christianity into the wilds of Scotland. The monks faced hardship from the climate, the sea, from Viking raiders, and even rival groups of monks.

The island has only about 150 inhabitants today, but is once again a worshipping community of Christians. I’ll try to fill in a bit more about the history of the island in blog posts over the next few days. For now, I’ve been on the run for about 17 hours, and I’m ready for bed.