FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF A SPIRITUAL KIND
In Thorpe Salvin my dad was a stockman for a reasonably
sized mixed farm with about 100 or so pigs.
Alright he was a pigman. (Shortly
after dad left this job and I had joined the Royal Navy, the
farm went over to factory style pig farming and got rid of all the other stock).
As is the usual custom we were sent on a Sunday morning to the local
village church whilst dad sat with his feet up reading the paper and mum making
the dinner. On this particular Sunday
morning we were sent as usual to the church.
It was a sunny Spring day which I took no particular notice of and as
kids do just wiled away the time during the service. During the sermon I suddenly looked up and
started to take notice as it seemed the vicar was talking directly to me and
listing out all the crimes I get up to as a 12 year old child. Who told him about all the things I was up to I wanted to know. He ended by talking
about Jesus and how he died for us and would forgive us if we asked him. A lump seemed to stick in my throat and
found myself asking Jesus to forgive me as the vicar suggested. Suddenly everything seemed lighter and
brighter and I left not really knowing what I had done but really glad I
had. One thing I did though notice as I went out
of church and set off home, the sun
seemed a lot brighter, I could clearly
hear the birds singing and I was feeling light on my feet as I skipped along.
6 months later, my mother came across the Salvation Army and
at the same time I came across a Salvation Army open air meeting in the local
park by the library in Worksop. I
followed the band back to the hall and stayed for their afternoon meeting. I only have a vague memory of the weeks that
followed but my mother and I started to go to their meetings. In those days 5 miles were a camel ride
away. Maybe there were no camels but a
rickety old bus or chara-bang which took half hour or so to get anywhere. On a farm labourer’s wages the fares were
expensive and we could not afford to go every week. In those days there were 3 meetings on a
Sunday, 5 if you counted the 2 Sunday
schools. We therefore took a packed
lunch and either had a pic-nick in the park or the Salvation Army hall if the
weather was bad. One thing though
that did stick in my mind was, we couldn’t
always afford the bus fares and often couldn’t go to the meetings If we hadn’t been for a couple weeks or
so, someone from the Army normally the bandmaster
or Army office would come out to visit us.
A few days later an envelope with a small amount of money would mysteriously
drop through the letter box. In those
days no one had a telephone let alone mobile phone, facebook or any other social media. Also only one or two people owned a car, so to come out to see us entailed the same
rickety old chara-bang. This really
impressed dad and eventually overcame
his resistance to church especially the Salvation Army who didn’t allow
drinking or smoking. One cold
November night he happen to be passing
the Salvation Army hall and out of curiosity pop in to see what was happen. In the hall was the YPSM (Sunday school
leader) the officer and a couple of other people preparing books to be given
out at the Sunday school prize giving.
He was so impressed with the love they had showed to him and the
children in the Sunday school he started to come on a Sunday with us. Shortly afterwards he too had an encounter
with God, became a Christian and gave up
smoking and drinking.
In the meantime I was starting to learn more about this
God I first encountered at the Anglican church. Learnt what it was to repent and received
the forgiveness of sins and accepted Jesus as my personal saviour. Became born again. My mother and three sisters followed
shortly afterwards and at Christmas that year so did my dad. 1960 started with all our family now “born
again” Christians and in February 1961 I became a Salvation Army soldier and as
they say, the rest is history
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