The Beginning of the journey

I was born in a small community just outside the town of Wigan, Lancashire. It was during a period of change in that area when the main industries of cotton and coal mining were in decline. My father had been a coal miner as were my paternal and maternal grandfathers for many preceding generations.

A family tragedy occured two years before I was born. My elder brother was found hanged on a coat hook when my parents returned from the cinema one evening in March 1953. No-one knows why. A fit of pique or a game that went wrong? This event changed things forever. I can't imagine the pain or guilt they must have felt. On a suggestion from the family doctor to my father they agreed that having another child would help. That child was me.

I am reminded of Amos 7:14, "I was no prophet, nor the son of a prophet". Amos was a shepherd and was the son of a shepherd. He goes on to say.. "The Lord took me..." I was born with no knowledge or clue of what my life would become and in one way was born outside of the natural intention of my parents. My mother was 40 when I was born and would not have wanted another child at that age. I was born out of a tragic accident, a coal miner's son but God had his hand on my life and that made all the difference.

The pain of this tragedy sent my mother looking for comfort and healing. She began to search and for her this led back to the local Anglican Church. So I was brought up attending Sunday School and going to church but it wasn't until a change of vicar and a new emphasis on Jesus being real personally that things changed. My mother and I attended a relay of a Billy Graham Crusade. The event was broadcast to the Empire Theatre, Liverpool in June 1966. My mother and I attended but sat in different seats. For the first time I heard a message of me being a sinner and needing to ask for forgiveness. As the appeal to respond to the message came I knew I needed to go forward. So at the age of 10, alongside my mother who had also gone forward, I accepted Christ and my life changed forever.

The journey began all those years ago. It has been a great journey, not always easy, with many twists that I didn't forsee. It has brought me to a place where I now travel to many places and exercise my role as Prophet.