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.