Jesus has been good to me.

Since I had an accident in 2006 I have struggled with why bad things happen to good people (although there is the arrogance here that I count as one of the good guys). I discovered that Jesus’ promise to be with us to the end of the age does not mean everything will be fine, but that the bad stuff still happens, but Jesus will alongside us in our struggles if we look for him.

There were no bright lights, no audible voice, no being struck down blind. That was fine for Saint Paul, but God knows me better than that. What there was was a table a few books, and the guys behind it.

Newcastle Polytechnic (Now Northumbria University) 1973 to ’74 term there was a table set up around lunchtime near the enterance to the Student Union where the Christian Union set up a bookstall and did not sell any books. This is something that I as a student reading Physics and Electronics walked passed many times between September and March that term.

Then I started to look, and to chat, and become interested. I attended Christian Union  (CU)meetings, which were a bit naff, but I went back.  I even started attending a church. I went on the CU weekend in early June:

It was there on the coast of Holy Island that I heard God speak for the first time. Looking out over the North Sea from the coast of Holy Island I felt a deep calmness and God said, “This I made for you.”

It was not audible. There were no dramatic lights or falling to the ground. But it was real, very real.

That is the story of my glorious conversion.

As a Christian I have not been the best example of how to live a Godly life: Far from it. I have fallen away at times, sometimes spectacularly, but I have found through these experiences that Jesus is always there to turn to — even when we fail, and he is just as ready to forgive now as he was all those years ago in Northumbria.

Jesus is all about forgiveness. It does not matter how bad you have been, or how badly you have failed, Jesus always accepts people who turn to him.