Seems to me that BE has lost so much of its' sparkle that Fun Trivia is now of more interest to me. I was so pleased to see LIW making the odd appearance and off course some of the old faithfuls are still with us and I love to read their comments. It is now a rare occurence to see a good debate(argument) taking place without it becoming a personal slanging match. Where it scores high is when people are seeking advice on the various forums but even then stupid comments come to the fore. Maybe I needed to sound off and maybe it might do me some good but I wish BE were like it was 4yrs ago.

For those of you who believe and pray please keep me in your prayers over the next couple of months they would be greatly appreciated.

This is the sequel to “This is what happened and now you know”. To save you reading part of that again I have copied the following extract from it.

I worked for an American company in the UK as a design draughtsman in the machine tool industry and was in charge of a small competent design team but coming up to age 64 decided come hell or high water I was out of it at 64. I had been divorced 24 years and did not own any property and so basically just had my self to look after. Then I thought if I offered my services to the parent company for 12 months, passing on my technical experience I could kill two birds with one stone. Firstly if I was out of the UK for twelve months I would not have to pay any tax on US earnings and consequently would not have to pay tax on my US earnings either. I would also be able to travel the USA prior to going back to the UK. To my surprise the company accepted my offer and obtained my L2 visa for 2 years duration. I arrived in 2001.

I arrived on March 30^th with my return ticket to the UK for twelve months later.

I settled down into my job and got involved. Time went by quickly. I had been there about three months when somebody was retiring from the shop floor and there was going to be a presentation so off I traipsed with everyone else for the cookies and soda. As retirement presents go this was a good one being a tractor mower. I shook hands with the lady, wished her well in her retirement and returned to my office.

Four months later I was invited to the Alpha course and started to attend church. I went with my host and hostess. Belonging to the same church and un-beknown to me was the lady who had retired. The customary smile and nod of acknowledgement was made as she sat in the same pew but no conversation ensued. She was also attending the same Alpha course which was being held at the church. I did not know very many people on the course and when coffee was served for a ten minute break she sat beside me and engaged in casual conversation. Nothing wrong with that as the dialect always aroused interest and I had been invited out to dinner on more than one occasion to different homes. No harm in this as there was no attraction of any sort and I was not looking for a wife at my age.

Come Christmas my host who had been a VP of the company invited the Turning Section Foreman and his fiancée to a little soiree to celebrate. As I was the odd one out they were asked to bring a long a friend. Lo and behold it turned out to be the same lady. Still no problem with that as I have previously mentioned. We ate and chatted as you do and I was invited to her house, after Christmas, for a meal. So what I thought to myself, nothing wrong with that either after all there was no physical attraction between us and if there was so what I was going home in three months.

I arrived for dinner and was made welcome. She asked me what I wanted to drink and I replied a gin and tonic if you have one. No sooner the word than the deed. It was a new bottle of gin but had not been touched so I asked her if she drank it. No was the reply she preferred beer. She had asked my very good friends what I drank and her son had purchased it. The meal was turkey something or other and afterwards we sat down to chat she on the sofa and me on in the easy chair. We talked and talked and talked until it was time to go as we had been chewing the fat for something like 4 hours.

When asked by my friends the next morning how the evening had gone I said it was most enjoyable and thought she was a lady with a wide variety of interests which I found unusual. Well there was nothing more to it than that, an enjoyable sociable evening.

At the next Alpha meeting I did not feel at uneasy when I sat beside her having been invited to dinner. It was now close to two months before I returned to the UK and she invited me to dinner again on the pretext that she did not drink gin and she would have to throw it away. Well the first evening was very enjoyable so I accepted.

Same procedure, dinner, followed by more talking. I told her that I had been divorced 24 years and learned that she divorced 23years ago because of her husband’s adultery. She told me how she went to her husbands ”love nest” which was a property left to her but was looking for a buyer to take it off her hands. Meanwhile hubby and his girlfriend used it for their passionate affairs. Knowing they were not going to be there one Saturday she went round for a visit with a set plan. She entered the bedroom found where he kept his condoms and then proceeded to put holes in the end of each one and replaced them. What nerve I thought as I found her to be quite a quite and inoffensive lady and the last person I would have thought would have done something of that nature. I thought it was hilarious but she told me when he found out he was absolutely livid and knew right away who had performed the dirty deed.

Somehow I was looking at this lady in a different light. Slightly older than me but a lady with a lot of character. I always said that the beauty I was looking for was on the inside of a person and here it was. I realised that I was falling in love.  The more I looked at her the more convinced I became. Funny really when I thought about it because I thought I was in love when I married the first time but this feeling I was getting was something entirely different. It was just wonderful. I told her about my health problems and that it could be a short marriage. Two weeks later I proposed. Six weeks later we were both on our way back to the UK to get married in the Registry Office in Hinckley. Two days after our wedding we returned to the USA. I worked another 12months till I was sixty six as this covered me for health insurance until I had been married twelve months. I then retired.

When I proposed I vowed to my wife that I would never ever argue with her as I had had enough arguments in my first marriage to last ten life times.

Five years plus we are as happy as can possibly be, with not a cross word or argument in all that time. Arguing solves absolutely nothing in my book, a lesson hard learnt. We love each other dearly and I often wonder what my life would have been if I had not met her. I found out later that she is a lady with a strong faith and with a giving loving nature. A person fond of wild life, even squirrels, if ever Ray was to read this narrative. I can always remember someone saying to me there is someone out there for you but so what I was not looking. We fell over one another and I found that someone. Faith has been discussed a lot on BE but when I look at my life and what happened in twelve months that I was going to be in the USA I now know that it was all meant to be. The best years are yet to come and we intend to live them fully, together, as long as we are able.

May you all have the peace, joy and contentment that I have each and every day.

What happened? What is going on? These questions were going round and round in my head as I sat on a fallen tree, being very emotional. Feelings of warmth, joy, happiness and complete peace flowed through me plus one of humility as I came to the conclusion of what had happened.

Some of you know that I am a Christian not only by stating it but also by the various discussions I have participated in on BE. What you do not know is how and what brought me back to a faith I was baptized into many years ago. We have choices in life which are a recurring circumstance for all of us and now is the time to exercise that option by not reading any further if you do not want to read what is basically my testimony.

I worked for an American company in the UK as a design draughtsman in the machine tool industry and was in charge of a small competent design team but coming up to age 64 decided come hell or high water I was out of it at 64. I had been divorced 24 years and did not own any property and so basically just had my self to look after. Then I thought if I offered my services to the parent company for 12 months, passing on my technical experience I could kill two birds with one stone. Firstly if I was out of the UK for twelve months I would not have to pay any tax on US earnings and consequently would not have to pay tax on my US earnings either. I would also be able to travel the USA prior to going back to the UK. To my surprise the company accepted my offer and obtained my L2 visa for 2 years duration. I arrived in 2001.

I had made friends and acquaintances from previous visits and being a rather talkative person (so I am told) I soon cemented friendships. I was lodging with very good friends of mine who made me very welcome on my first visit and on subsequent visits this friendship was well and truly built. I was aware that my hostess was a practicing Christian and her husband not necessarily so but he went at Easter and Christmas plus infrequent attendance in between. If I was visiting I would be invited to attend as well but in the main did not bother. My feelings about the Church and Jesus were not strong although I respected them both.

Yes I had respect for the Church and did not decry people who went every Sunday but it was not for me. One thing that English people do not like is to have someone pushing religion at them. This is guaranteed to lead to awkward situations if one proceeded to do that. So I was happy in my own little world to be able to do what I wanted when I wanted and not caring too much what other people thought or did.

Having been here six months my hostess asked if I was doing anything on a Thursday night as there was course being run at the her local church called ALPHA. I asked what this was. I asked what course? She explained that it was a non denominational course about Christianity, Jesus Christ and his life and teachings.

The many friends I knew and had made since arriving were nice people and had a common factor. Most all went to Church. I must emphasize that is not to be interpreted that there are not nice people you will meet who do not go to Church. The only time I went to church was for funerals and weddings.

Having thought about the invitation I decided to attend just to see what it was about and to see if it would give me an insight into what makes the ”bible belt” tick as I had not been impressed by reading about some well known evangelists who preached one thing and practiced another. The South is known as the Bible Belt and I had never seen so many Churches in one place in all my life. What was the attraction?

Let me back up on my testimony. I was born in England in a city which had a very old and beautiful cathedral. This was the City of Salisbury, in the County of Wilts. I was baptized as a child into the Church of England faith (this equates to the Episcopalian Church in the USA) and can remember being told to and going to Sunday school on very few occasions with my elder brother. C of E Religious instruction in education was compulsory when I went to school although you could be excused this lesson if you had a different religion ie: Catholic, Muslim Hindu etc etc. So I was taught the Lord’s Prayer as we all were and I went on with my life.

With my father away in WW11 (he was gone for six years) our mother took my brother and me to the City of Plymouth during a period of the war when it was still being heavily bombed by the Germans.

The course was 12 weeks long and showed a video each night which was relevant to an aspect of Christianity. After the video we were designated into small groups where we discussed that night’s subject. At first no one wanted to say anything but as each week went by we started to join in the spirit of the course and discussed that evening’s video. Even I started to join in although my biblical knowledge was basically nil. As the course progressed I started to think about my life and the fact that a lot had happened to me.

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Survived the bombing of WW11 in Plymouth

At 8 years I fell 12 foot down a cliff, bouncing off of a parapet flat onto concrete, was taken        to a nearby American Military Hospital and found to have only bruising. No broken bones.

 Pushed into a deep river (river Plym) and could not swim, and was saved at 10years.

 Had a hernia operation at 15 years old.

 Had cycle accident at 16 going to work, was unconscious and taken to hospital.

Had an appendicitis operation at 21.

At around 30 yrs old I fell through a large hole in a factory floor and was unconscious. This was in a building that was being demolished. I was told later that I had fallen about 8ft between to metal stakes with sharp points on, three to four foot apart. Once again I was taken to hospital.

At 37 diagnosed with kidney stones and had a parathyroidectomy. I have permanent kidney stones although I have had three lithotripsy treatments.

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On my 47 birthday I had a massive heart attack while in hospital which has left me with two functioning arteries. Unconscious for 4 days and in hospital 18 days in total.

Double hernia operation at 57.

Prostate cancer at 60

When I looked back at these and other events that have happened in my life it just added to my thinking as I sat on that tree on a beautiful Fall day.

There was a special time dedicated to this course which covered the subject of the Holy Spirit. This was known as the Retreat Day. By this time I found myself just a little bit interested in the course and can certainly say that I did not dislike it.  Having watched the videos there came a part of the day called “prayer time”. This was when if you wanted to be prayed for, you would go forward and a team member would pray for you. Well this was certainly not for me. No way. I watched best part of those attending go forward although not all did. By this time I was asking myself whether I should or should not. After a period of time I thought to myself why not. My mind went back to my heart attack when I was 47. I was critically ill for a long period of time with my family being called to the hospital by the police as they were told I was not going to live. Well I came through that but was left with a very strong feeling that people had been praying for me. It was not my family as they did not go to church, so why should I feel this way especially as my association with Jesus Christ was basically nil.

So I stepped forward and was prayed for. That is when it all happened. After the prayer had been said I was overcome. I walked into woods and sat on a fallen tree and with all my logic questioned what was happening to me. Let me remind you again my opening statement.

What happened? What is going on? These questions were going round and round in my head as I sat on a fallen tree, being very emotional. Feelings of warmth, joy, happiness and complete peace flowed through me plus one of humility as I came to the conclusion of what had happened.

As I sat there I looked back at the events of my life and I came to the one and only conclusion that God had made His presence known to me by virtue of receiving the Holy Spirit. My life has been a minefield and I realized He has led me through all the ups and downs and ill health.

My life changed, my Faith which was non existent is very strong and grows stronger as I get to know and see the Lord’s work with my own eyes. I am now convinced and firmly believe that He had a plan for me as He has for each and every one of us. He brought me to Camden, USA. There can be no other explanation. .

Obviously I have regrets in my life and the biggest one was not knowing and accepting that Jesus Christ has always been in my life. I am trying to change that day by day.

It has been five and a half years since my life changed but it was only this year did a lot of it make sense. The second Archbishop of Canterbury was a man called Bishop Ancram. He wrote many books/ theses but one of his notable statements that ‘he believed in order to understand rather than understand in order to believe” completed the picture for me. At my time of life I will never be a biblical scholar but I now realize that that is not important. I have my belief and I have the rest of my time to try and understand the bible. May each of you who read this find the joy, peace and contentment I have. God Bless you all.

Got a load of horse shite last week. The trouble with that is you can,t leave it lying around so I offered to give a friend of mine a load of shit if he wanted some. For the evil minded this can be taken two ways but he ended up getting some shit off of me to which he was grateful. Funny world isn't it? You don't expect thanks for giving someone shit. It is not my forte to spread shit around but that is what I have been doing for a couple of days, off and on. I have even mixed it. Normally one would expect a load of shit from the outcome but I hope to get  a return from spreading it about.

Today I have added to the shit. Fulfilling an appointment with the dentist cost me a load of shit as well. It doesn't stop there. He wants me back because he wants to get to the root of the problem which obviously includes locating my cheque book. After this he wants to clean me out again! As far as I am concerned this is enough shite for today.

Recall starts to fade with age but I hope my raised gardens and teeth show good results for all this shit.

Decided to tread where angels fear to. This is really stepping out into the unkown but I think should a good place to let off steam now and again.I doubt if it will be intentionally funny although life has it's moments as we all know. I'm knocking on a bit having just had my 70th birthday but felt joyful about this as I never thought I would see it, for a number of reasons. However it's a start. I cannot say it will be daily but at least it adds an extra dimension to the BE site.