My Story

I was born at a very very young age. Some say too young, but hey, I’m still here to tell the tale, or the story if you prefer. I grew up at the usual rate for a baby in the sixties. By the time the sevenies arrived, I could walk and talk, told to stand still and be quiet. I could never understand it, I was encouraged to speak and to crawl and then walk and run, and as soon as I could I was told not to! Such as life! Also by this time I was going to school and sunday school at the local church (Anglican).

I should title this as how God met with me.

I have always been a spiritual person. I have always thought that there must be more to life than what we see. I had been taught at school in Religious Instruction about Christianity by a very graceful vicar, Rev Jones (and yes he was Welsh) but it was taught a bit like another subject to be learned and examined on. So I left school knowing the basics of Christianity as I knew the basics of Geography, Physics and English amongst others.

As I knew that there must be more to life than this, I went searching. I looked at Buddha, Islam, Zen Buddha, Tao, and a few just plain weird. I had dabbled with the Ouija board and Tarot cards. By the mid ’90’s I had my own ideas of what was going on, mainly “new age” rubbish, with ideas like the sea of consciousness.

During my search for the truth, I had also become a heavy drinker, smoked tobacco with and with “herbs”, used cocaine and LSD and other substances. (I am now free from all of these.) I had be in relationships.

In the late 1990’s I was living in Kent, in a village outside of Ashford. I was working as a carpenter. Work hard and drink hard was the general attitude. It seemed like fun. I used to go to the pub to drink and to listen to live music. Rock and blues bands used to play in pubs all over the area. One evening I was listening to a blues band, Black Cat Bone (which I subsequently went on to join and play with) when a young woman came over to me and shouted over the music “Jesus loves you” and walked away. I wasn’t too worried what she had said, just that she had bothered to say anything to me at all. I thought “I’d like to get to know her better!”. She was rather attractive in looks and personality. I had one thing on my mind, but God had other ideas! I did get to know Nicky and her friends and brothers and sisters and parents. She introduced me to the Alpha course, which explains Christianity in a safe, non-threatening, friendly way, run by her local church, 17 miles away. I went. I went for several reasons. Nicky would be there. Also, Christianity was the only one I hadn’t looked at in depth since school, and that wasn’t deep at all, so I thought I’d give it a go as I had nothing to loose and everything to gain if it was true.

The Alpha course didn’t do what I thought it would. It didn’t answer all my questions, just created more. In 1999 I went on the Alpha course again. This time as a helper. This surprised me because I wasn’t a Christian. Still, during this Alpha some things did happened. I read the Bible more and felt like I had got to know God a little through it.

I realised that the Bible was and is true, not just a bunch for stories written by some grey haired old men with beards handed down from generation to generation, but the true history of how God created the world and populated it with his creations, and how he lead his chosen people through the good times and the hard times. How God wants to have a relationship again, like he did with Adam and Eve, so he sent his son, Jesus.

There is so much I could write here, but I will say, that after I’d given my life to Jesus, as he his my Lord and Saviour, the life I lead has been so good. I now don’t drink or smoke, and have no craving to do so again, although I am careful not to put myself in a position where I might be tempted. The quitting of both of these wasn’t easy, but if it wasn’t for God, and I know it was Him because I had no withdrawal symptoms. I am now happily married. I have a good job, a lovely home and a few other things to boot, and all because of Gods blessings. I feel like I don’t deserve any of this, but here by the grace of God I am and here I’ll stay.