Good news for the countryside column: A day that changed everything

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​Every fortnight people from a farming background, or who have a heart for the countryside in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, offer a personal reflection on faith and rural life. They hope that you will be encouraged by it.

​I owe all I know about farming to my father, Neill. He left school at 15 after the sudden and tragic deaths of his parents, and as the oldest of seven children he realised he needed to work. So, he worked on a local farm until he took a job with the Department of Agriculture, staying there his entire working life. He would have liked to study to be a vet, and was smart, but circumstances did not allow that dream to be pursued.

His other dream was to own a farm. This became a reality when we were young, and my father purchased a very small farm of 25 acres at the edge of Ballycastle. North-facing and in poor condition, it was, however, a labour of love as he restored and managed it, building up his small, but prized herd, of Limousins.

The three of us, my dad, my brother, and I, were there each Saturday helping and learning bits and pieces about farming. Mum and my sister stayed at home and I still remember us returning for dinner, leaving our wellingtons at the backdoor, eating and simply getting up to leave when we had finished, to go back.

Rev Dr Sam Mawhinney, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in IrelandRev Dr Sam Mawhinney, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Rev Dr Sam Mawhinney, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

Sadly, I cannot be described as a farmer, but I’m extremely grateful for the skills it taught me, like driving, reversing a trailer, and the rhythms of the seasons from winter feeding to making hay and silage in the summer.

The great bane of my life was ‘lifting stones’ after re-seeding, having cold hands in the winter, and suffering badly from hay fever in the summer! I was definitely not cut out to be a farmer and my father was astute enough to realise that, leaving the farm to my brother James, which makes me smile without any regret.

I tell you this because sadly my dad died in October 1990, when out checking his herd in a very bad storm that many may still remember. He had put on his ‘long wader’ wellingtons and must have slipped into the Tow River at the bottom of the farm where he drowned. Receiving that phone call, when working as a GP trainee in Templepatrick, was the most shocking experience of my life. A day where everything changed.

In Mark’s gospel there is the record of a day, a normal day, when experienced local fisherman taking a journey they made very often across a lake, unexpectantly experienced a severe threat to their lives. They were in danger of death, and were rightly fearful of death, as they were helpless to change its coming or consequence. They rightly called out to Jesus, and He demonstrated His love for them - and ability to save - by calming the storm (Mark 4:35-41).

None of us know when, and in what circumstances, death will come to us. But one day it will, and it is vital that we are ‘in the boat with the one who can save us’, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the one who has brought life and immortality to light through faith in Him. It is absolutely vital that each of us are wise and reckon with the reality of death and are prepared for it, along with the coming judgement. My dad knew that the only safe place, the only way of salvation, is through faith in Jesus Christ. Thankyou dad for teaching me so many great lessons in life.

Today’s guest contributor is Rt Rev Dr Sam Mawhinney, who has served as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) for the past year. He is the minister of Adelaide Road Presbyterian Church in Dublin and previously served in two rural congregations in Counties Tipperary and Cork. His year in office concludes at PCI’s General Assembly next week.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.

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