HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Thirty seven years ago I was in church at this precise time of day. It was 3.00pm in the UK on a dull Saturday afternoon just five days before Christmas. While the rest of the world was taking advantage of the last major shopping day before the big holiday hit (stores closed on Sundays in those antedeluvian times), about 120 of us were sitting in the Assembly of God in Exeter, England listening to carols being played on the church's organ.

Years ago that building had been the city mission and my parents had met there while they were serving "Penny Dinners" to the poor people who lived all around in the West Quarter. I had started attending church there about eight years before, had become a committed Christian and was now slightly more than half way through my Bible College training, preparing for a blissful life of pastoring!

The music stopped, the pastor asked us all to stand and the organ started playing The Bridal March. I turned around and watched as my young bride slowly walked down the aisle and could hardly believe that I was actually going to get to marry her.

Gill and I had met at Bible College, sharing a passion for serving God and reaching out to people with the good news of His love. We talked a lot, laughed a lot, and while we had no idea where the path would lead us as we stood there on December 20th 1969, we committed to face all our tomorrows together.

God has blessed me with thirty seven years with the most wonderful woman you could ever meet. It has been quite some trip from Exeter to New York, but every step has been with the love, encouragement and support of the best friend and wife any man could ever hope to have.