Avizandam In Scots law, this term describes the careful consideration given by the judge before an important decision. Join me each week as we explore various topics from a spiritual perspective and take matters. Avise endum Well, this is the fourth episode of the John and Goodney story. Um Thanks for continuing to Listen and If you're new to it. We've been telling the story of how we met.
I couldn't have left the Faroe Islands. How we got married in the Faroe Islands, how we lived first in the Shetland Islands, where I was in. Uh private law practice. Then we moved to Edinburgh, where I became a criminal prosecutor for some time.
So we sold our home in Shetland, bought a home in Aberdeen. And then through contact from An old friend of mine, I joined a law practice in Aberdeen where. We stayed for five years. I had uh a great career. At that partnership, the partners treated me very, very well.
I became a partner, and life was good. And then God called me, called me into full-time ministry. I told that story last time. And we began the move to Dallas. That was quite a move, as you can imagine.
Early on, I good and I decided that we were going to trust the Lord. We're never going to ask for money, we're not going to put out prayer letters. But we're simply going to trust the Lord, and in the future, we're never going to ask for money. We trusted the Lord. We did sell our home.
This is my share in the legal practice.
Sold all our furniture.
Sold our cars, sold everything we had. and took very little in the move to Dallas. Good news we're moving. And as you were settling into Dallas, what were your impressions as you look back?
Well, obviously I do remember the evening that we arrived in Dallas for the first time. It was around 8 o'clock at night. And it was in those days where you came out of a plane On the outside, downsteps, and you walked over to the airport itself. But what I remember was was that when I came to the door to step out how the hot air just sucked me dry. And I'd never experienced that heat before.
And so it was exciting in many ways. We would friends that we had met in Aberdeen. welcomed us and uh We stayed in an apartment. We rented an apartment. and not too far away from the school.
We loved it. The differences, though, were that living in Scotland, we looked out our windows and everything was beautifully green. flowers everywhere and here we were looking out on A parking lot, and no one had a garage either, so all the cars are outside, and they were so hot if you had to go into it to go anywhere. And but that was, you know, the first impressions. But we very quickly got friends at the seminary.
Most of our life was spent there, so John made friends with those he was in classes with.
So we got involved in a church. You know, we visited quite a few and then settled on one. for a while, and then we which was fairly small. And then we after Christopher was born, we started started attending a bigger church that had a nursery and so on, and various ministries. I will look back on those four years at Dallas.
As a very rich time of learning and of experiencing American life. Yeah, it was a big cultural shock. Obviously, it's good to say that we moved from beautiful. situation into Dallas. With all due respect to Dallas, there's not much natural beauty there and so our life's kind of Became very small.
We knew very little people initially. And so my life I was driving from our apartment to the seminary and back to church. Uh and black. I like cars, as most of you know. We bought a little uh white Ford escort.
very small, but wanted to preserve our finances, obviously. decided not to buy a home in Dallas, but to rent, which I think was a wise decision. I loved the seminary, loved the study. It was very different from me, very humbling to sit behind the desk. If I wanted anything done, I had to do it myself because I didn't have assistants or secretaries or so on.
In my education in Scotland at that time, we didn't learn to type. That was done by typists and secretaries.
So, some of the professors wanted their papers typed, and that was new to me. Goodney, uh you had to learn. typing. Tell me about that. You had to type all of these papers that I were writing.
uh from uh seminary classes. Yeah, that was. I had never had typing either, and so I did go. and to a community college and took a typing class for for several Um weeks. And all months, in fact.
Anyway, so when John had the paper to be typed. admin and I will type them. This was with uh Not a processor that I like to do today, but this was just an old-fashioned typing machine.
So it took its time and I. got used to it and uh even after um During all the four years impact I typed all the papers, somewhere 40, 50, 60 pages.
So, yeah, I I was busy typing.
So I gave Gudny a free theological education, biblical education. I don't know if she remembers. all that I taught her. I love seminary, I love to study, I studied very hard. I majored in New Testament Greek, so I took uh the Greek language and exegesis for four years to Hebrew.
for three years, loved systematic theology. Focused on expository preaching, had great teachers in homiletics, and so I felt. I was getting a great education. In the biblical languages, in theology, in historical theology. I didn't focus so much.
On the practicalities of running a church, as it were. I thought that would come in its time. I wanted a strong foundation. And I got that.
So we have very, very fond memories. of Dallas that education. I still use today as I'm committed to expository preaching. I love. Theology and ministry, because from the beginning of my call, I knew that God was calling me into pastoral ministry.
I enjoy the academics, but my focus is on being prepared to preach the word. and to shepherd the people of God. But as I was studying, Gutney wasn't just typing my papers, she was also getting involved. In ministry. Tell us about that, Goodney, what you were doing.
uh in ministry at uh Dallas.
Well, they had a ministry for wives of the students every week on a Thursday evening. The first hour was teaching. Probably was often taught by some of the professors or their wives, depending on. On the subject. And for the second hour, it was practical.
We could do different things.
Somebody could teach us something that we might not know. I was a hairdresser, so I taught Um Other women, how to cut their husbands' and children's hair.
So that was fun for me and gave me a purpose. Also, I was on the Council for the International Wives, arranging times to meet as just as wives or as couples. We would have a Christmas party or a picnic in the summer. But that was something that I really enjoyed, to be part of the Council for the International Wives. Should have said at the beginning that there were quite a lot of international students, of which John was one.
Yeah, it was, these were great years. We saw the Lord guiding us. Again, never tasked for money, I didn't apply for scholarships. uh at Dallas uh for some time as a teaching assistant. And got paid a pittance for that.
So much an hour, a little different from legal rates. But we accepted it all from. The Lord And uh next time uh perhaps we'll Tell how uh The Lord brought Christopher to us. And a little bit about the internships. I served during my time at Dalas.
So step by step, God was preparing us, preparing Gudne. that we would be a team In serving the Lord. And through all of that time, Goodney was at my side praying for me, encouraging me. And also we're beginning to Minister as husband and wife in providing hospitality and so on.
So keep trusting the Lord. Step ident faith. Step by step, the Lord will guide you, the Lord will bless you. Avizando. You're listening to the weekly Avizandam podcast from The Verdict, featuring Pastor John Monroe.
John is Senior Pastor at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Listen to John's daily program, A Verdict, on broadcast radio or major podcast platforms. For more information about the Verdict Ministry, visit us online at calvarychurch.com/slash the verdict.
