Tony Hilling, The Voice of Aedistamen and Uplifting Devotionals III

Perhaps his Breton, Celtic fathers are the reason for it -- the story telling, I mean. Because it spans three careers as priest, lawyer, and Christian pastor. Then, there’s the other side, of course: the female line, which is a proliferation of the Gaelic Celtic – more story telling interspersed with fiery feminine war cries.

What’s story telling got to do with lawyering? If you’ve never appeared before a judge, told him a story (a true one) about the case in question, and have little penchant for narrative, don’t ever try it! There are few things more mentally painful than the sarcasm of the judiciary. Similarly, don’t ever expect your congregation to listen to you if can’t put together a modern day parable that is faithful to the New Testament variety. You’ll wind up preaching to yourself and getting frightfully bored.

Add to this a balladeer’s gift of writing soul-seeking songs and performing them on stage, and you begin to apprehend him.

And perhaps it’s because this rather strange Scot did not quite fit in those ‘aforementioned’ careers that he finally decided to get serious about narrative and create some stories of his own, from scratch of course. Or maybe it was simply because, true to his counter-cultural, God-smitten, Celtic ancestors, he wanted to tell stories about a faithful Presence in a godless age.