IS GOD STILL RELEVANT?

Hello some of you may know me from my local plumbing business, my name is Graham Francis.

For fifty five years I had no real interest in God he may or may not have existed I didn’t really care.  I was tolerant of other people’s views ‘each to his own’ some people are into politics and others into religion, ‘whatever is your fancy’.

I suppose I have always believed in a God of some sort who could be called upon when times are desperate, like most people do.  There were occasions in my life when I really needed help, quite a few in fact, but the ultimate was when we lost our wonderful son Julian aged 28.  We were blessed with three wonderful children, Jason, Julian and Elizabeth.  On Monday 13^th September 1999 Julian, our middle child took his own life!  Life has never been the same for my wife Annette and me we didn’t have one child to spare…  We just went through the motions of everyday life.

          There was a course called Christianity Explored running in Ron, my Brother-in-law’s house and my wife Ron’s sister nagged me to go just to make up the numbers, “funny how God works”.  I wasn’t interested, how could God help me? We had lost our wonderful son and we could not have him back.  I decided nevertheless to give it a go, I went for two weeks under duress and it was O.K. in fact I found it quite interesting it was something to do and it wasn’t too heavy.  After three weeks I thought if someone believes with this much passion there must be something in it.  I was standing on the back door having a cigarette as I used to, I gave it up ten years ago when I became a Christian, I looked up at the moon and I realised that “I want this God in my life too”!  So I simply said” Jesus come in to my life…and I meant it.  And he did! because now my thoughts are filled with God.  It may sound crazy but there is a God, there is a Heaven and there is a Hell too! he died to forgive me and to save me from it.

          I never thought I would wake up most mornings and think of God but to my surprise I do.  We are bringing up Julian’s son who is such a blessing to us.  God has helped us all the way and we thank him daily.

          I have retired now from my plumbing business and my son Jason has followed in my footsteps and taken the business over but while I was working I found I couldn’t wait to talk to my customers about God and my son would cringe “here he goes again” but I loved it.

          If you sure not a Christian or you are not sure I recommend that you join Ann & Ron in the ‘Christianity Explored’ course and find out more.  You will never be the same person again.

 Thank God

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     A Work In Progress

Hi, my name is Jayne Harden I am a Physiotherapist and a mother of three fabulous children.  In May 1996 I began taking Ashleigh, my eldest daughter to Bethel Sunday School and the first couple of times I dropped her off and picked her up later.  During the following weeks I decided to stay and sat in on a bible study led by Clive Jones a former school Headmaster.  They were discussing a chapter form the bible, it was I recall Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 to 15 about Salt and Light.  I listened and it bothered me but I fought against it for the following few weeks.  It eventually became clear to me that this is what it was all about…….God’s Son, Jesus, had died for me (instead of me) so that on the final day of judgement my sin would be covered by his precious blood shed on the cross at Calvary.

Jesus had done that for me!  I prayed and asked God for forgiveness and asked him if his Son would become my Saviour.  A sinner saved by God’s grace.   I had been given a chance to ‘start again’, to turn my life around and have a foundation I never had before. 

The next few weeks of my life were ‘mind blowing’ Life took on a totally new perspective it was as if the lights had all been turned on.  I had been watching life played on a dark stage with no program and sound.  Now somebody had given me a full colour brochure, turned on the stage lights and stage microphones.  This is something that hit me as it had other people before me that’s why my favourite hymn is “Loved with everlasting love, led by God that love to know”

Every day became important,  not just Friday and the weekend!

The following years were hard and I made many mistakes, very public very stupid mistakes!  But guess what, God did not give up on me and I hung on in there.  I drifted around various churches but one day in about 2000 I met Jeff Williams who asked me to come and check out Bethel again.  I did and I have been there ever since.

Life obviously has some major hurdles to overcome however I now have an anchor to hold on to, my faith in Jesus Christ and his love for me.

This past year has brought me through life saving major surgery.  Without my faith I don’t know where the strength for each day would have come from.  I know my life will see many more challenges but I am assured that I will not face them alone.

As I write this I can say I am a ‘work in progress’ Those nearest and dearest to me know my ongoing struggles.  I am sorry that there have been times when I have let both my family and God down.   I have still not got everything together as I would wish nor have I conquered all my demons but with God’s help and the support of my family and church I will.  I was recently baptised and I said then     “I am not being baptised because I have reached a level of holiness or victory.  I am being baptised because I recognise that I am a sinner that God accepts and justifies sinners.  I look to my Lord, Church and family to help me in the coming days to live more like Jesus and to share this faith with others.”

No one in life is exempt from problems, don’t I know it but it’s so much harder to face them on your own.  I have found this promise in the Bible to be true “I will never leave you or forsake you” Hebrews chapter 13v5

Don’t face life on your own.  Why not come as I did and find out more!

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 Kept by Love

My name is Lorraine Tuck and I work as a Library Assistant at Tredegar Library, I’m mid fifties, I love to party, love to dance, I love to laugh and I love God. I’m probably not your stereotypical old chapel lady or churchgoer.

I always went to Sunday school and was taught the Christian message. John 3:16 For God so loved the world…. When I was thirteen I prayed that Jesus would become my saviour. I believed deep down in my heart that he was crucified for my sins or wrong doings. Nothing magical happened, but I knew from that moment my life would never be quite the same. I felt safe – ‘kept’.

At 18 I fell in love. He was an officer and a gentleman in the merchant navy, stunning in his uniform – and he was mine.  It was a whirlwind romance and we married when I was 19. Twenty five years later  and two fabulous sons – ‘The Princes’ I call them, Rich and Nick, Adrian became a Christian it was 2002.

Straight after we married we travelled abroad with Ade’s job. We went to Japan, Borneo, Singapore, Algeria and Spain. I have been in a jumbo jet with serious engine problems that had to make an emergency landing. I’ve been on a gas tanker in the middle of the South China sea in a typhoon, sailed through a tsunami and I have been in Tokyo in an earthquake.

I have been kept.

I haven’t always kept my eye on the ball and off and on have drifted away from God but God has always kept his eye on me.

About 10 years ago I had a nervous breakdown this was a very dark time. I found being a parent through the teenage years very stressful and difficult I didn’t always get it right. I found it hard to let go and not be in control. My faith was a bit shaky and sometimes when I prayed, I wondered – is God listening.

Life as a Christian is not a bed of roses, it doesn’t mean you’ll never have problems or worries.

But one of Gods promises is ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ so in the darkest of moments I felt kept.

In the summer of 2010, it looked like we had it all ..

My boys were both working, we had a lovely new house, we had now been married 33 years.

I had tests and a scan – I thought it was the menopause. I sat in the doctor’s office and heard those frightening words “you have cancer”. Ovarian, womb and Lynch Syndrome – a form of bowel cancer. This was very serious.

I didn’t want to die.

The words were like knives churning in my tummy, hysterectomy chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.

I had spent time with people I loved with this illness; I helped to nurse my cousin Stella who had terminal Ovarian Cancer, she sadly lost her battle and is now in heaven.  Years Later I was privileged to help take care of my very close friend who also developed Ovarian Cancer; she is a brave survivor! This meant I knew exactly what I was going to have to go through and believe me I was very afraid, afraid that I wasn’t brave enough.

The following year was difficult but all my friends, my family and loved ones, Churches and Chapels around the town prayed for me. It was hard, this illness had made me ugly, inside and out, I lost my hair (which I love!).

I lost my glow and the light had gone out of my eyes.

I found I had friends I’d never known. Adrian cared for me everyday like a princess, my Mam and Dad were heart-broken and prayed, my boys prayed, Ade prayed.

I struggled to pray but I trusted in God.

 I had to go through the horrible treatment the same as anyone else but all the prayers and the love of God brought me through.

It’s now two years on, I’ve got my lovely blonde hair again and I thank God that I got well.

I know some people say you don’t have to go to church or chapel to be a Christian or to pray. But for me; I need the comfort from the church and the fellowship from the people, and the guidance from the minister,

Even now I don’t always do things right – but I believe that God forgives me and I also believe that he will never leave me nor forsake me.

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How does someone from the north-east of England find himself a Pastor of a Baptist church in the town of Tredegar? It all began with a coffin! I started my working life as a joiner in a small family firm. There was an occasion, in those early months, that I accompanied my boss to help him place  the body of a deceased man  in the coffin my boss had made.

During this fairly unnerving task, for a 15 and half yr old teenager, the lights went out in the room! The house owner apologised and placed more money in the electric meter. Once the task was completed and I was travelling on the bus home one question came to my mind, given that death is inevitable,  what happens when I die? This prompted a further question What is the meaning to life? I was heavily committed to a local water polo team and success in that area meant that life was sweet. But death could rob life even of such success at any moment.

 Shortly afterwards an old school friend called by my home. I discovered he had become ‘religious’. Nevertheless there was something attractive in his friendship and subsequently I began to attend the local Baptist church. Within the congregation there were a dozen young people my age and I was made welcome

 At the end of that time, having listened and questioned the minister I concluded that the Bible was a reliable document. That being so, it followed that its message should be taken seriously. On hindsight I had reached a stage where I was happy to ‘sit on the fence’ enjoying the social and friendship side of church life.

 But one Sunday evening  I was shaken out of my complacency during a sermon on the words of Jesus ‘there is a broad road that leads to destruction and many are on it and a narrow road that leads to life and few are on it.’ To this was added the statement ‘there is no in-between.’ Had the preacher been told about me? No…. But God knew and spoke directly to my situation. I realised the danger of being  on the ‘broad road’ and by contrast the chance of choosing a way of life that led to eternal life.  I realised I was unfit to meet God and asked him to forgive me and accept me as His child. I realised that I could do nothing to bring me near to God, but that Jesus Christ, by His death, had put me right with God. Since then I have found my eyes opened to the truth, my life cleansed from all its dirt, my heart filled with God’s love and a future filled with hope.

 That future also included meeting a girl from south Wales and after living happily as my wife for 34 years in England I equally and happily returned with her to serve, as best we can, this community in Tredegar.

 Steve Carter

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   A HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF

Hello, my name is Paul Steed, I’m sixty seven years old, married, with a grown up son and beautiful little grandson who fills my days with joy.  I started work as a Laboratory Apprentice and eventually became a Technical Engineer in a local firm for many years I also worked for a while as a taxi driver, many of you may remember me from those days. I then took a total change of direction and I am currently employed as a care worker which involves looking after the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in our society, it’s a very demanding but very rewarding job.

 I was born two miles south of the town clock in the village of Troedrhiwgwair and as a 5yr old child I attended the Village school and chapel. Sadly, my time in the village was short lived as in 1951 when I was 6yrs of age; my mother lost her life as the result of  a road traffic accident and I was taken by my aunt Frances to live with her family in York Terrace. This was a good Christian home and my chapel life continued at Siloh Baptist in Tredegar. It was while at Siloh at 10yrs of age that I was given a small booklet for good attendance the booklet was of The Gospel of Luke. I remember arriving home that day and writing my name and address inside the front and back covers of the booklet and I put it away somewhere without even reading it. Unbeknown to me it would be 50 yrs before I was to see the booklet again.

 After the passing of my aunt Frances and her son Ralph, all items of sentimental value were taken to her daughter’s home in Usk. At the beginning of 2005 I was given some of those items which were of sentimental value to me, and amongst the photographs and children’s novels was the booklet of The Gospel of Luke.  I felt drawn to read it and was amazed at it’s content. I knew that Jesus had died on the cross, but I did not realize that he had done so for me personally! So that I could be forgiven of my sins, things I had done wrong in my life.  He died so that I could receive eternal life. I realized that I was living in God’s world without any reference to him at all as if he did not exist.

In the weeks that followed and during my employment as a taxi driver I mentioned in conversation to two regular lady passengers that I was thinking of going to Chapel. The one lady said, “Good for you Paul, I’m sure you will enjoy it.” The following week when I picked  up the ladies again the one  handed me this pamphlet on how to become a Christian, it also contained  The Gospel of Mark which I read through on two different occasions over a short period of time. One passage in the pamphlet said “If you are ready, “thoughtfully” to open the door of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ then find a place where you can be quiet and alone, to think of all that he has done for you and ask Him to come into your life”. These thoughts came in and went from my mind.  Friday  morning the 4^th  March 2005 I reported for work and the owner of the taxi company said to me.

“After your first drop off, pop the taxi in for a car wash”.

 I drove into the car wash, nothing special on my mind except make sure the windows are closed and keep the wheels between the “Tram lines”. Then those inner thoughts within my mind as if one is speaking inwardly to oneself; those silent words, “you are alone Paul, ask the Lord Jesus to come into your life, No one can hear you only Him”.

 I clasped my hands together and said aloud: “Dear Lord Jesus, Please come into my life, make me a better person and forgive me of all my sins”.  In that moment I breathed out a huge sigh of relief and was engulfed in a wave of emotion and broke into a crescendo of “Thank you God , Thank you God for coming into my life”. I was told sometime later that the huge sigh was the sin leaving my body.  I went in to the carwash feeling dirty just like the car and came out the other side feeling clean and forgiven!

 On the Sunday evening of that weekend I went to Bethel chapel Georgetown and at the end of the service people came up to me, and talked to me, some I knew, and others I didn’t. One of those whom I did not know was the then Pastor, Chris Bochniak. I told him what had happened to me in the car wash, Pastor Chris said a prayer for me that evening and in obedience to God’s word (the bible) I was baptized in the name of Jesus on July 10^th 2005.

 Sometimes my Christian walk has been to the top of the mountain so to speak where I have felt closeness to God and I find a solace in Jesus who has lived this life before me and who understands what it is like to be human. But all too soon I return to the valley below and get caught up in the ambiguity of life, having fears and doubts, but I know that if I trust and hope in the Lord Jesus I will not be disappointed.  He is with me in this life and I will see Him in Heaven.

 I don’t know who will read this story but I do know that Jesus died for you too.  Take a good look at this world the beauty and design!  There is a designer and he wants to have a relationship with you, to be part of your life.  God wants to forgive you too and be with you in life’s difficulties.  Sometimes it’s hard to understand why things turn out like they do we fail to see any purpose in it and often want to blame God.  The reality is everyone has to go through the ups and downs even Jesus did!  “Despised, rejected by men acquainted with grief” The world is like a battlefield of spiritual warfare and we are caught up in it in fact mankind is the cause of most of it and there are many casualties.  He has not promised to explain all of the ‘why’ questions but he has promised that if we trust him he will “Never leave us or forsake us” and will ultimately see us through to be with him when we die. That will be Heaven!

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The Gap Between Us And God

My name is Pat Jones, I’m married to Clive and we are members of Bethel Church. We have two grown up children and one fabulous granddaughter. I was born in Tredegar and have lived here all my life. When I left school I first worked as a dental nurse/receptionist for a few years, then I moved on to work for many years in the surgery at Dunlop Semtex at Brynmawr. The last seventeen years of my working life was as a school clerk at Georgetown Primary school.  Clive too was born in Tredegar and has lived most of his life here, apart from his college years at Swansea and a little time teaching in Leicester. He then started teaching at Georgetown Primary school, later as Deputy Head and then 8 years before his retirement in 2002 as Headteacher.

We are both in our sixties now and like most of our peers went to Sunday school, but it was when we were in our teens that we became Christians. Clive was 18, just about to start teacher training college in Swansea when he went to a youth meeting in Blackwood to hear a gospel band. It was there he heard that however good we think we are, we have still sinned and are separated from God.  The gap between us and God can only be filled by Jesus, who, although perfect, took our sin and died for us and it is through Him we can find peace and have a relationship with God. Clive realized the truth in what he had heard, and that night asked God to forgive him and come into his life … he became a Christian and started on a journey that will eventually take him to be with God forever.

For me it wasn’t so straight forward, I can’t point to a day or place like Clive, but God worked in my heart over a period of time. I can say there was a period in my life when I never thought about God, He wasn’t important to me.  I thought I was pretty good, didn’t murder or steal and certainly didn’t consider myself to be a sinner, but slowly it all changed. I knew deep in my heart I wasn’t right with God. I would ask myself if I died would I go to heaven, I really didn’t know. Then the truth that Jesus died that we might be forgiven and really know God in our lives became real to me – I became a Christian. I now have that assurance that when I die I will be with God for all eternity and I have a daily relationship with the God who saved me.

Clive and I started ‘courting’ in 1971 and we were married in 1973, this April we celebrated our ruby wedding anniversary. Because we are both Christians does that mean that those 40 years been trouble free bliss? – certainly not, there have been heartache, problems and difficulties,  but there have also been times of real joy and happiness. We can say that in all our circumstances God has never failed us, He has been with us in times of joy and has led us through the tough times, assuring us that He will never leave us. This is the God who loves us and this is the God we would commend to each one of you.

I