Messenger April May 2020

night I had a regular squash game arranged with a friend. Off I went to play the
game, but on court I didn't feel good and I excused myself to my friend and went
off to have a drink of water. I felt that I was having heartburn, but as I left the
court and closed the door I fell flat on my back and cracked my head a real blow
on the concrete floor. I didn't realise at the time but I was having a heart attack. I
spent the next week in hospital and then came home to my lovely family. It was
during this recovery period that I was led to think about life in general. I had been
visited by a Baptist Minister who left me a little book called ‘Journey into Life’.
I read this several times - it was all about the Christian life in Jesus and how
you can find Him. Eventually the book was left languishing in the magazine rack
and as I recovered my health I didn’t follow it up, until one day my son said he
would like to go to the Acorn Club. Diane said this was a Church of England
club held at St. Mary’s Church, Camberley on a Sunday. We all went along, Julie
and David to the Acorn Club and us to the church service. The Vicar was a lively
speaker and he seemed to have only words for me in the sermon. This led to me
becoming a Christian a few weeks later, which made me think about confirmation
again. Should I get confirmed once more? The Vicar said I should pray about this
and see what God said. A few weeks later my sister Pauline was visiting us in
Camberley. After a lovely weekend with her we took her up to Kings Cross
station in London to get the train home. We all went, and the children were
fascinated with the old revolving timetables as it rotated to bring the stations and
train times up in front of us. Wakefield appeared with the time of departure, and
as we turned to go and sit down I found myself looking at the retired Archbishop
of Canterbury, Lord Ramsey. He was obviously checking his train time, and
having done so went and sat down. I said to Pauline and Diane that I wanted to
tell him what had happened to me. I went over to Lord Ramsey and explained
that I had asked Jesus to be my Saviour and that he had confirmed me as a
thirteen year old. He was delighted that I had gone over to him and told him
my good news. On thinking about this later, I reflected that although I had taken
my eyes off Jesus, God had not taken His eyes off me. Our God is a gracious
God and He has helped me so many times in my life, He brought me through
27 years as a Licensed Engineer on the Concorde Fleet. This involved signing the
aircraft into service, defect diagnosis and carrying out repair and maintenance on
this remarkable machine. I am now retired and living in Notton, Lacock,
Wiltshire. I still follow Jesus, in going to church every week and praising Him
in all circumstances. If you are reading this and want to know more about God,
He is only a prayer away.
Philip will be speaking about his life and time spent as a Concorde engineer on a
Friday evening 7.30pm at St Barnabas - date to be confirmed.
25 MESSENGER APRIL MAY 2020