We are living through troublesome times, where it seems that everything is being shaken. Whether it be the economy, job security, our health, political stability, the health of planet earth; there is a sense that life has become increasingly uncertain. Fear is everywhere, and hope is in short supply for many. Fear is contagious, it can be paralysing and destructive.
Over recent days I have been sensing that I should give my testimony of when and how I became a Christian.
Through my twenties and early thirties I was working as a young engineer. Through those years life seemed good to me; challenging, satisfying, fulfilling. Through those early years I had no fixed abode to call ‘home’; I lived in lodgings when at the primary place of my work, and a lot of time I was travelling for my work. Most of my work was within the UK, but I also worked in Scandinavia. I spent a lot of time living in hotels, motels, and guest houses.
A life without a fixed home meant that I spent a lot of time in pubs and bars, seeking companionship.
Although life was busy and challenging, there would be occasional times when I was compelled to consider where I was heading. I remember standing on the quay at Christchurch in Dorset one summers evening. It was night, the sky was clear and cloudless, the stars were awe inspiring. The shear glory of the heavens could not be ignored. I remember thinking, This cannot possibly be an accident, is there a God who made all this? The moment passed, and I got on with life.
Sometime later, I was walking though Hayes Town, when an old lady standing on the corner of Coldharbour Lane and Mount Road held out her hand to give me a piece of paper, not realising the paper was a Christian tract. I placed the tract into my jacket pocket and forgot about it. Some days later I found the tract in my jacket. The Scripture verses inside that tract left me thinking, wondering, but not sufficiently bothered to do anything about it. At the time, I didn’t know why, but I kept that track for some considerable time.
Among other places, my work took me to H.M Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, where I spent a lot of time over several years. About one week in four I was working at Chatham. Being a regular visitor means that local acquaintances, even friendships develop. One of those friendships was a Christian man; he invited me to dinner at his home where his wife prepared the meal. During our conversations I was given another tract. This time it took the form of a cartoon strip story; it was a Chic Tract, see here
https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1014&ue=dI kept that tract, but did no more than read it occasionally when alone. Every time I read the tract it caused me to fear that I was separate from the God of the Bible, but I did nothing about it. After about four months my Christian friend at Chatham invited me to a musical evening at the local Chatham Community Centre. The evening was Wednesday the 10th May 1972. I arrived at the centre at the appointed time, where my friend had brought his wife and other friends along. The evening was a presentation of Christian music. Towards the end of the presentation there was a Bible reading with a short explanation of the Bible reading. During the reading I increasingly felt uncomfortable, fearful, challenged: at the end of his speech the speaker asked if there was anybody who wanted to know more of Jesus Christ and His Salvation. My hand shot up, one lonely hand in a crowded hall. That Wednesday evening I came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. My new friends and I left the centre with great joy – I returned to my hotel and spent a lot of the night in prayer to my newly found God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The next morning, Thursday, was a beautiful day, clear sky, the sun was very bright – a reflection of my new internal spiritual condition. Later that Thursday I was due to return to my base. I left Chatham mid afternoon to drive back to London. The road out of Chatham climes up hill towards the M20, the road back to London. Driving out of Chatham up hill I had a deep sense of peace within. I was clean within, my sins were forgiven.
Normally when on the motorway I would join the fast traffic, in those days the motorways were not nearly as busy as today. I was travelling at about 70 MPH towards London, passing lorries and slower traffic. When without warning a deep sense of overwhelming peace enveloped me, The Lord Jesus Christ by His Spirit was in that car with me. His presence was so real that I had to slow down, the Peace, the Joy was literally out of this world. Normally the drive across London was demanding, but on this occasion it was super-natural because of the Peace within.
When I arriving at my lodgings I was asked, “What’s happened to you?” Strangely, there was no enthusiasm for my testimony. Back at my work place the report of my salvation was met with dismay, amusement, and shock by most. But there was one man who wanted to know more, he too became a Christian a few days later.
Prior to my salvation I was not a church goer. From the day of my salvation I had a great hunger for the Word of God, the Bible. I bought a Bible. I could not stop reading it, every spare moment I was in the Bible. The bible was a living word, it used to be a dead word to me, but now it made sense. I sensed deeply that I needed a church, I wanted the companionship of people who knew what I now knew. On the second Sunday after returning from Chatham I was led to a particular church. I was invited to give my testimony, was soon baptised and accepted into membership.
The life of pubs and bars became alien to me, instead I craved Christian fellowship, I was hungry for truth and reality. Before my salvation I was a smoker, a smoker who had tried many times to stop smoking, but without success. About three weeks after my conversion I lit up a smoke – immediately I felt physically sick – I persisted with the smoke for a couple of minutes, but the sense of sickness was too great – I stubbed it out and have not smoked since. The desire and need for tobacco was instantly removed from me.
I settled down into my new Christian life as a thirty something Christian, met a fine Christian woman who later became my wife. The Bible, The Word of God is the only source of truth and power, it has the power to change our lives into something that non-believers can’t even imagine. Yes, there are trials and tests in this world, especially for a Christian, but the world has no substitute for the peace, love, and joy that knowing Jesus Christ (God) as my Saviour.
I believe this world is being severely shaken at this time, but I have peace within, the hope of glory in eternity with my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:12
“ … for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
Death abolished for the believer
2Tim 1:8 - 10
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,