Column from the college

DEVINE APPOINTMENT TO THE FAIR CITY Cadet Paul Devine shares what is was like to find out where he’ll be going after commissioning in July

ON 14 March 2010 I was released from Her Majesty’s Prison Perth carrying everything I owned in two small plastic carrier bags. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this day marked the beginning of a journey that would lead me, ultimately, into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and a life of blessings beyond even my wildest hopes and dreams.

In Romans 12:2 the apostle Paul admonishes us not to conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we can test and approve God’s ‘good, pleasing and perfect will’ for our lives. I have found this piece of Scripture to be particularly true in my life. Having my mind transformed from the dark thoughts inherent in addiction and criminality into the light of God’s grace and mercy has resulted in a willingness to follow his plan for my life, whatever that may be.

The past nine years have seen an amazing transformation for me. It has included supporting people in several Salvation Army Lifehouses, meeting and marrying my wonderful wife, Alexandra, and being blessed with the birth of our beautiful daughter, Mahalah, last year. But, perhaps more significant than all, my willingness to test and approve

God’s perfect and pleasing will for my life has resulted in a desire to respond obediently to his call to join my wife in ministry as a Salvation Army officer. So I now find myself as a second-year cadet at William Booth College in London.

I sometimes think of my life as a cadet as being a bit like a caterpillar in a cocoon – with all the academic learning and spiritual formation within the protective shell of the college environment designed to fill me and transform me until I am finally ready to burst forth from the relative restrictions of training as a newly formed and sufficiently nourished lieutenant. A significant event in that transformative training process is Appointments Day – the day when second-year cadets find out where they will be appointed after commissioning in July. I think for most cadets this is a time charged with a mixture of tension and excitement as the significance of future ministry becomes substantially clearer. This was certainly the case for Alex and me as we sat down at 7.30 am on Thursday 21 February and opened the email which informed us of our next appointment. When we read that we had been appointed to Perth Corps there was an immediate squeal of delight. As we hugged each other at the

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wonderful news we would be going to Scotland – an outcome for which we had been praying – I couldn’t help reflecting on the perfectly circuitous route that God’s plan for my life had taken thus far: from leaving Perth nine years ago with nothing – in so many ways – to returning to the same city a decade later with everything I could have dreamt of and more. What an amazing God we serve! And, I think the most amazing thing of all is the realisation that it is only just the beginning of the story.

Alex and I are excited to be going to Perth in the summer and joining in God’s mission there. We realise what an immense privilege it is to be called to be leaders of a corps, and we aim to serve our corps family and the larger community with the integrity and love that have been placed on our hearts as covenanted ministers and followers of Jesus.

Within that we also realise the solemn responsibility that our calling brings. And it’s only human to wonder about our capabilities at times. We wonder if we are really fully equipped to meet all the pastoral and practical aspects of officership, and of course the truth is, in our own strength, we’re not. But in God’s strength we absolutely are. My experience of living in obedient faith to Christ has taught me that he will sustain us and equip us for all that is to come, and we can look forward with confidence to the beginning of this new chapter.

We thank God for the opportunity to be participants in, and witnesses of, all that he will do during our time in what’s known as The Fair City, and we pray for a ministry that brings ‘immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3:20) for the furtherance of his Kingdom and the glory of his name.