My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible
‘I was an executive in a company. A colleague had retired and died very suddenly. He was a lovely man, and I went to his memorial service. We sang, “Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine”.
‘I was very moved by it. Hymns often move me to tears. I’m an emotional character and music is a big part of my life. I couldn’t find this hymn anywhere, but I remembered it. I thought about it a lot over the years, but hadn’t realised that it was a Bible text (Isaiah 43.1).
‘When I started going to church more regularly, I was telling the vicar about this, and he said that the words were from the book of Isaiah. So, I googled it. It’s all there on YouTube if you know where to look!
‘The interesting thing was that it kept coming up. The most extraordinary time was when I was visiting Ypres and saw it on the altar at a German mass grave. It made me think how universal this appeal is. He is calling everybody, and calling us by name.
‘More recently, I have thought about how important the word “redeemed” is and what redemption really costs. It cost God Jesus’ life.
‘It’s personal, and I feel that God has invested in me and the least I can do is try to follow Jesus’ teachings and do whatever I can, however inadequate and however late in life, to respond to that amazing grace and that work of redemption.’
My wife and I were told we’d likely never have children
I was furious. I had just come back from being interviewed by a college
I became very ill when I was 20 years old and was hospitalised
I’m sometimes guilty of thinking I know better than everyone else
I keep coming back to John 6.67–68
Hebrews 11.1–6 has kind of shaped my life
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