I grew up in a stable and loving home, and through the stories I heard at school I had a vague sense that there must be a God. I briefly attended a Sunday School where I heard stories about Jesus, but after a few weeks I left, preferring to play football with friends.

As I came into my teen years I became cynical about religion, and with a preference for the sciences at school I felt justified. After all, why believe in a god when science had all the answers? Together with two school friends I refused to attend a weekly school assembly, arguing that we were not hypocrites.

I left school and headed off to study Chemistry at University, confirmed in my unbelief. I made new friends, and one day, while waiting to meet up one of them, I wandered into the cathedral church. I cast a cynical eye over the building until I came to a sculpture of Christ made from the metal of a crashed car. I began to wonder at the sculptor’s reasoning behind the work, and as I thought, I remembered the things I’d heard of Jesus years before. Before I left the building, I was persuaded that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin, and that I owed Him everything. I had never known such joy and peace as I did that day.

I began to read Luke’s gospel, and as I read I was thrilled at the wonderful words and life of the Lord Jesus. I found a church in my home town, and 6 months later I was baptised at the church I had started to attend while at University. It was that night that I met for the first time the woman who would become my wife.

I’m still amazed that God should set His love upon a vile sinner such as me. Many times I have failed Him, but He remains faithful, and I echo the words of an old Christian missionary who said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”