Hello everyone, my name is Malcolm Murchison, and I’ve just recently completely the Gap Year with Scripture Union. In mid-March, when lockdown was a very serious threat and was about to happen, I was staying at Lendrick Muir. I was on the second half of my placement. I was getting into the swing of things, when I got a phone call from Kirsten Thompson, the gap year coordinator. She told me it would be best if I packed my bags and got home as soon as possible. This would ensure that I got to be with my family during lockdown. I was pretty gutted. What followed was a hasty packing of five bags (my mother wasn’t best impressed with my packing) and me nearly missing two trains. However, I got home safely, and I was glad to be back home. The following Monday, lockdown was put in place.
For the first two weeks (at least), I was bored. I didn’t use my time effectively and mulled over how I would have much preferred if the gap year had gone the way it was originally supposed to. I baked cakes and made dinner sometimes, fooling myself that this was the best way to spend my time.
However, this began to change. Kirsten Thomson had organised a meet up between herself, Louise (the other gap year student), and me, through zoom. It was great that I was able to see how the others were doing and it was great knowing that I could talk through things in my life and ask for prayer. We went through an 8-week prayer course, which improved my prayer life with God. I was asked to lead a few of the sessions, which was good fun, and really allowed me to question what I thought of prayer and what steps should be put in place to improve my prayer life.
I was also given an opportunity to be a leader for Equip Online, where I would go through questions on a chosen subject. This filled up quite a bit of time, as I had to prepare my own answers to the questions just in case no one in the group had an answer.
I was also involved in Discipleship at home, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and it really was helpful on giving you tips for evangelising to your friends and really giving them a sense of Godly Hospitality whenever you got the chance.
Finally, if it hadn’t been for lockdown, I would not have been able to be involved in a family/church project where my brother and I would go through the bible and look for the treasure (Jesus). We had a lot of fun with that and I enjoyed learning the script and having a laugh during filming.
Therefore, the main point of this is, I went into lockdown unenthusiastically, not expecting much fruit to come from it, but God had other plans. He was in control, and He really blessed me during a difficult time for us all. It wasn’t without boredom or laziness creeping in, but God ensured it was far better than I could ever have imagined.
