Church was cold and boring, and didn't make sense to me as a youngster. All that fancy language!

Sometime later, a Church Army Captain came to work in the church with the youth. He had a profound effect on me. He was different to the other Christians I'd met. I could really see Jesus in him. He had a relationship with God, and I realised I was missing something in my life.

No Room in the B&B but...

The Church Army Captain invited me to Keswick. Billy Graham was speaking. I went 'on spec' but couldn't find a place to stay. There was a very large crowd in Keswick that day. There were lots of people milling around as it was the first day that Billy Graham was going to speak. All the B&B's were full so I decided to go back home to Liverpool.

Just when I had given up hope of finding somewhere to stay, a hand came on my shoulder, and a man said, "Haven't you got anywhere to stay?" I said I hadn't, but he told me someone had dropped out of his party and there was room in their B&B.

I went to the tent meetings all week, sang some great songs and listened to some inspiring words.

On the last night of the meetings I decided not to go to the Billy Graham tent meeting, and went instead to another tent meeting just around the corner. What the speaker said really had an inpact on me. I decided that what he was saying was true. There was something in this man that I had recognised in the Church Army Captain. They both knew Jesus. I wanted to know him too, so I chose to follow him at that meeting and my life has never been the same since!

When I look back to that day in Keswick, I don't think it was a coincidence that I couldn't get into a B&B anywhere. I don't believe it was chance that I was in a huge crowd feeling alone. It wasn't fate that led a man to me, to put his hand on my shoulder, and ask me that question. It wasn't an accident that someone dropped out of his party and couldn't take their place at the B&B. And - I didn't have an appointment with Billy Graham on the last night of his tent meetings.

God arranged the circumstances because he had an appointment with me at the other meeting.

John