Day Fifteen: County Tyrone
Friday 15 May
The annual VOX magazine Finding Faith Tour looks very different this year. Instead of a 7-day road trip around the island, this year VOX editor Ruth Garvey-Williams brings you highlights from all 32 counties (one per day plus one for each of the 31 days in May). Contact Ruth if you have a story to share.
Day Fifteen: Door-to-Door Marathon
The Church of Ireland Minister in Castlederg, County Tyrone ran a marathon today - all 26.2 miles of it around his parish.
Rev. Peter Ferguson is a keen runner with three Belfast marathons under his belt. “I’ve tried to [keep running] even since becoming Rector here in Derg and Termonamongan Parish in the Derg Valley. This area is perfect for running, whether you turn left or right out of the front door of the Rectory; the scenery is so beautiful.
“I combine running with praying and I find a lot of inspiration while I’m out. Quite often God will put someone on my heart to pray for. Sometimes I get ideas or I get a wee bit of clarity on something I’ve been thinking about.”
“Running with Jesus is dangerous.”
While he would normally run three times a week, marathon running requires a different level of commitment and dedication. “During lockdown, I’ve had the time to do marathon preparation so the idea came to do a marathon around the parish, starting and finishing at the Rectory door. I miss being out in the parish with my people and in the community. I thought this would be a way of connecting and bringing encouragement and hope, a way to get out and pray for people in their homes, businesses, farms and schools.
“From when this [crisis] began, my prayer was that we would see just how strong our bonds are in Jesus. I believe our faith and our Christian friendships will be stronger and deeper. I’ve had parishioners contacting me that are making a stronger and fuller Christian commitment during this time.”
Peter set out at 10.30am this morning and completed the course by early afternoon (a little slower than his best time of 3 hours 24 mins in the Belfast marathon but still a tremendous achievement.
Friends persuaded Peter to use this as a fundraising opportunity for the parish, even though that wasn’t the primary purpose of the run. So he set up a JustGiving page and £3,000 had already been raised by the time he completed the course - exhausted but grateful.
