I'd like to thank Mr. McMillan for the invitation to come here to give my testimony. It's a wonderful thing to be saved. And I can't say that there's anything to compare with knowing that your sins are forgiven and that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an unspeakable privilege And I would not swap places with anyone that isn't saved. The Bible says, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world? and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? The most valuable thing that we have is our immortal soul, and it's a great privilege to be saved. One writer said, why was I made to hear his voice and enter while there's room, while others make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? Why was I saved? Why did the Lord set his love upon me? That's something that I will never know at this side of eternity. I want to read some verses from Psalm 34. Psalm 34, and beginning at the first verse of the psalm. Psalm 34, verse 1. "'I will bless the Lord at all times. "'His praise shall continually be in my mouth. "'My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. "'The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. "'Oh, magnify the Lord with me, "'and let us exalt his name together. "'I sought the Lord, and he heard me, "'and delivered me from all my fears. "'They looked on to him and were lightened, "'and their faces were not ashamed. "'This poor man cried. and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. We'll end our reading at verse 8, and we'll bow in a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we pray that thou wilt apply thy truth to all our hearts. We thank you that David could say, this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. He could say, I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. And he could add, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Lord, help me now. Fill me with thy spirit. Pour out thy spirit upon us as we think of all that thou hast wrought. We ask these mercies in Jesus' name. Amen. In verse 6 of this psalm, the psalmist says, this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. And I can truly say, this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. and saved him out of all his troubles. I just want to give you a little bit of a background to my life. I was born actually in Portadown, although I'm not an Armagh man, I might say. My father was assistant manager in a creamery at Killiman, And the first three children in the family were born in Portadown. And my father was assistant manager in a creamery. There were two creameries in Killiman at the time. One was a cooperative creamery, and the other was a board creamery owned by the milk marketing board. And there was a thought that the man who was manager of both creameries would give up one of them, and my father might get the post. But he got weary. of waiting for the man to give up at one of his positions. Very odd situation where a man could be manager in two separate creameries, but that's the way it was. My father got tired of waiting and he decided to apply to become a manager in a creamery in County Fermanagh. And that had tremendous implications later on for my life and for the life of many in my family. The Lord had his hand in that because we moved to County Fermanagh and I grew up in County Fermanagh and as a result, I'm sorry to tell you, I, well maybe you'd be glad that you're not associated with me in County Armagh, but I'm happy to count myself a Fermanagh man, because that's where I grew up, and that's where the bulk of our family actually was born. Now, in early life, I had a fear of God. We were Church of Ireland, but we went to the Methodist Church, so we were a good ecumenical family. The reason being, the creamery ran seven days a week. My father didn't go to church. And the result was, we just had to walk down the hill to the Methodist church. My mother could drive, but not very successfully. She was very timorous about going out in the car. So we all went down the hill to the Methodist church. And that's where we were. When I was young and attending that Methodist church, I didn't understand the way of being saved. I didn't understand how I could get to heaven. But the notion that I had in my mind was that you balanced out your evil deeds with your good deeds. And if you had more good deeds than evil deeds, you would get to heaven. But if it were the other way around, you would be lost and go to hell. And I certainly had a fear of going to hell. The creamery that my father managed had a very godly chairman, a man called George Gowan. Mr. Gowan was the superintendent of the Sunday School in the Methodist Church, and his sons were to have a tremendous influence on my life and then indirectly on the lives of my brothers and sisters. When I was almost 18, I joined the Ulster Bank and became an employee there and moved to Belfast. And one of the Gowan sons, Kenneth, the youngest of the three sons, he was my close friend. And he brought me along to hear his testimony in Finney Methodist Church. And I can remember Kenneth, or Kenny as I called him, witnessing to me and telling me how important it was to be saved from sin. And I didn't grasp what I've got to say. I said, I suppose it's like getting married. And he said, it's far more important than that. And in my mind, it wasn't nearly as important as getting married. That's how little conception I had of my need of getting right with God. Well, Kenneth then asked me to go along to two meetings on one Sunday night in the month of February 1966. One was in Great Victoria Street Baptist Church. And the preacher that night was Pastor Willie Mullen. It's the one and only time that I heard Willie Mullen preach. And I remember arguing with Kenneth afterwards, because Willie Mullen spoke about the blood of Christ cleansing from sin. And in my mind, I could not see how the blood of one person could lead to the salvation of a multitude of people. You see, I hadn't really grasped the greatness of Christ. I hadn't grasped the deity of Christ. We might have recited the Creed, and I believe in God the Father and in his Son, Jesus Christ. I could have said those words. But I hadn't grasped the enormity of the importance of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hadn't grasped the preciousness of his blood or the power of his blood to cleanse. And so I argued with Kenny about the blood of Christ, saving a soul from sin. Now, he wasn't finished with me that night, because that same night, he asked me to come with him to the Ulster Hall, where Dr. Paisley was preaching. And I went along, and Dr. Paisley at that time was not only preaching, but quite often he would make political statements in the midst of the service. And he would be saying, O'Neill must go. Captain Terence O'Neill being the Prime Minister at that time, and Dr. Paisley felt that he was betraying the country. So I enjoyed the political statements, but when he came to preaching the gospel, I didn't enjoy that nearly so much. And then there was a gospel mission. in Dr. Paisley's own church, the Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church in that month. And Kenneth asked me if I would go with him on the Wednesday night. And that was all arranged. That particular Sunday, I remember being in his brother's home. He was a policeman in Belfast and Moray and then later Lisburn. Well, Kenny was boasting that Sunday that he hadn't had the flu for five years. And lo and behold, on the Wednesday night, he had the flu. So you never can speak too quickly. But his brother came with me, and his brother and his wife took me to that church. It was packed. I reckon there must have been about 500 people in that service. What I didn't know was that behind the scenes, There was much prayer going up for me from John Gowan. So the three sons were all engaged in service for my soul. Willie and his wife took me to the meeting in Belfast. Kenny had been the means of organizing this and of testifying to me. And John told me later, Now that day, he spent the day in prayer that the Lord would save me. And he said at times it was very, very hard when he was praying, but he battled on and he battled through. And I can remember being in that meeting. I can remember actually where I was sitting in the meeting, not exactly the row, but around about where I was sitting. And one thing that was peculiar about the Gowan men, and it was peculiar about me too, they didn't sing. And I didn't sing. In our church, the choir sang, but we didn't sing. The choir did the singing, we just stood there. And that mission wasn't conducted by Dr. Paisley, it was conducted by two Americans. One of them led the meeting that night, and the other preached. And the one who was leading the meeting, he noticed us. Willie was about, and still is, about six foot three, and he stood out. And I was standing beside him, and everybody was singing, it seems, except us. And he pointed us out from the pulpit. And he said, hey, can you two guys not sing? Well, that's the way to have someone wanting to crawl into a hole when you're pointed out in a meeting for not singing. I'm sure Mr. McMillan doesn't do things like that to you. Well, that's what happened. I can remember the preacher preaching. I can't even remember his text, but I can remember him preaching. At that time, there were what were called teddy boys doing the rounds. Long sideburns and hair spiffed up and pointy-toed shoes. I wasn't one of them, by the way. But he actually said, in the course of preaching, it takes no courage to stand on the street corner as a teddy boy. but it takes courage to stand for the Lord. And as he preached, I was concerned about my soul. And then, at the end of his preaching, he made a gospel appeal. And he asked us to pray this prayer. I am not sure that my sins are forgiven. I am not sure that I'm going to heaven, but I want to be. And I prayed that prayer. I cried to the Lord with all my heart. And that's why I bring you to that verse in Psalm 34. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. I knew I was a sinner. I knew I was lost. And I knew that only the Lord could save me from my sins. And so I cried, not publicly, but silently. And then the preacher said, if you have prayed that prayer, I want you to do something. I want you to put up your hand. Well, I put up my hand. And then he said, if you have prayed that prayer, and you put up your hand, I want you to come up to the front of the church. And I made my way to the front of the church only to discover that I was the only person that had taken that step that night. Many of the people were saved, I know, the vast majority, but it was a very lonely position to be in. And after the meeting was over, that one of the evangelists counseled me and spoke about receiving Christ as Savior. As many as received him, to them give ye power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And your emotions are really, I would say, at a time like that, all mixed up. But I knew what I wanted. And I sought the Lord with all my heart. And the Lord heard me, and the Lord saved me. And so I have no doubt that that was the night when the Lord met with me, when he delivered me from my sins. I've got to say, to my shame, I didn't go consistently forward. I went forward little bits, but never as well forward as I should have done. When I came home to my family, nobody was saved in the family. There were seven children in the family. I was the second oldest, and my father and mother weren't saved. When I told them what had happened and how I'd asked the Lord to save me, they laughed. They laughed at me and that discouraged me. And the result was, and I can't blame other people, but I kept it back when I was working in the bank. I didn't tell people I was saved. And little by little, I drifted, not into serious backsliding, but I drifted. One thing I can say is this. There was an unhappiness in my heart. And I realized that I wasn't happy. And I knew that I could not continue in that state. And that's February 1966. I can take you forward now three years, early 1969. And I was working in the bank in Belfast. I stayed in a flat on the Antrim Road, and I remember the number of it. And I used to walk down the Antrim Road to Waring Street, where the Ulster Bank head office was. And I used to walk every day past Jerry Fitt's house on 85 Antrim Road. It was painted green. Those of you who are older will remember Jerry Fitt. We thought he was someone to oppose. Later on, we came to appreciate, perhaps, that he was a man to be respected. And I say that, I hope I'm not getting slung out of the church for saying it, but I believe he was a man to be respected and became a close friend of Dr. Paisley. He was three days younger than Dr. Paisley. But I wasn't happy. And I was staying with other bank officials and one or two others in a flat belonging to a dentist. And there was a party organized in the flat. And one of my flatmates said to me, are you going to come to the party? And I had the option of coming to the party or going home to County Fermanagh. And then it was, as it were, now or never. I remember we were sharing a room, another man, he was Gordon as well. And I said to him, I can't go because I'm saved. I told him, and that was the turning point in my life. Subsequently, that man also got saved and has walked with the Lord. since that time. So the Lord was merciful. I didn't know that other people were witnessing to him. He was a cashier in the Ulster Bank. He joined the Ulster Bank the same day as I did, so I knew him very well. And there was a man, I think he was a brethren man, who was witnessing to him, telling him of his need to be saved. Now, after I came back to the Lord, There was a bookshop, a Christian bookshop, right beside our flat. And it was owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Pinkerton. And I had, I suppose, avoided them. I'd shown no interest in them up until that point in time. And from then on, I began to befriend them. I've got to say this, when I got saved, I had a terrible dread, and the dread was that my father would never be saved. I didn't think he would get saved. And I dreaded the day when my father would die. I could picture it, my father being lowered into the ground, his coffin there, and my father not saved. I couldn't see him. getting saved. And I had a terrible dread. And I wasn't really at that time praying for my family to be saved. But it was Mr. Pinkerton said to me, how many are there in your family? And he said, we're going to have to pray for them. And what an encouragement that was to me. to start praying for my family, to pray that the Lord would save them, that he would save my father and mother and my brothers and sisters. And I'm indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Pinkerton, who are long since in the glory. And they took me along to prayer meetings. They were brethren prayer meetings. They also took me to the martyrs. As soon as it opened, they started to attend prayer meetings in the martyrs' building, and I went with them to the martyrs' church. Then, late in 1969, I was transferred in my work from the head office to a new area office that was set up in Oma. And I was traveling up and down, and I think it was the month of November, the Reverend Ivan Foster came to the Orange Hall beside us to conduct a gospel mission. I didn't know Mr. Foster, but I started to attend along with some members of my family plus my mother. And I thought I had never heard preaching like it. And I dare say I never had. It was so outstanding, I started to attend Lisbon Law, along with my friend Kenneth Gowan. We started to attend the services in Lisbon Law, a free Presbyterian church. And that's where I met My wife, she was saved on the 27th of April, 1969. She used to write it in her Bible. She came from a Church of Ireland background, came to work in Innisfil. Some friends invited her to Lisboa. And after the Sunday evening service in 1969 in April, she got down at the side of her bed, and she asked the Lord to save her. And I can say this. She never looked back. Never looked back. And if I may just tell you a little story, jumping ahead here. When I was in Kilkeel, I visited a lady in the church. And she said to me, you have a wonderful wife. I hope you appreciate her. And I said to her, I certainly do. Do you not think she has a wonderful husband? I said mischievously. And she said to me, that would be for her to say. So she wasn't as enamored with me as she was with my wife. But I never looked back and got to know her there, asked her out, and then we decided that we would get married. Now, let me tell you something wonderful that happened. After we had arranged to get married, I was reading through Psalm 128. Now, at that time, I didn't know what the contents of the psalm were. I was just reading it through for my own benefit. And when I read the first two verses, I stopped. Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. And I stopped. not knowing what was coming afterwards. I stopped, and I said to the Lord, I want that blessing. I want that blessing. It says, everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways, thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. What I didn't know was the next verse says, thy wife. thy wife shall be a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table. And it ends up, thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon Israel. That was a tremendous encouragement to me. About to take a wife, and the Lord speaks. Without my planning it, the Lord speaks about my future wife, and he tells me that not only am I going to have children, but I'm also going to have grandchildren. And so that was a tremendous promise to me, and we got married. on the 6th of March, 1971. Now, I was showing some of my nephews our wedding photograph, and they said to me, you look very happy. And I can say quite truthfully, that was the happiest day of my life. It wasn't the best day. It was the happiest. The best day was the day I was saved, because that delivered me from sin. It delivered me from the judgment of God. It delivered me from going to hell. But you don't necessarily experience a happiness that comes later. when you're saved. Your emotions, and I've tried to explain that, can be very mixed up. You've been troubled, and being a very shy person as I am, it was difficult for me to go out to the front of that church with so many people in it and be the only person. So my emotions were certainly mixed up that day. But my emotions were very clear the day that I got married to my wife. It was the happiest day of my life. And the Lord favored us with five children, one born in February the next year, one in March the following year, one April the next year, and then we had a break of nine and a half years. And then another break of four years. And the Lord has favored us with 10 grandchildren, ranging from 16 to, well, I think it's about almost three, the youngest of our grandchildren. You might say, how did you end up in the ministry? I've got to say I was very happy in the Ulster Bank, and they always treated me very well. But as I sat under the ministry of the Reverend Ivan Foster, the Lord began to challenge me about coming into the ministry. I got opportunities to speak. My first opportunity came through a little bit of disorganization. Mr. Foster was taking a gospel mission in Londonderry, and he just left it to the men to decide who would speak at the prayer meeting. And I was traveling up and down to Oma, where I was working. This was before I was married. As I was traveling up and down to Oma, I suddenly thought I had a message. And I was thinking, someday they're going to ask me to speak at the prayer meeting. And I had this message, as I thought, I didn't write down any notes. Not a single note. Isn't that foolish? When you've not preached before. And when I got up, I saw the people. There were probably about 40, 50 people at the prayer meeting at that time in Lisbon. I lost my nerve. I spoke all that I knew, but it was very brief. I couldn't say, Dr. Paisley talks about his first message five or six minutes. Mine probably wasn't much longer if it was even as long. And then I had to carry through with the prayer time and go down to the back of the church and shake hands with the people. And I remember a lady, she still attends the church in Inniskillen. She came from the same part of Fermanagh, Mrs. Miller, and she said to me, that was good. Well, I didn't think it was. I was really embarrassed, and I felt humiliated. And I didn't think that I'd ever be asked again to speak. But lo and behold, the very next week, What happened was the new site at Enniskillen, where the church was being built, some cattle broke in to the site. And all the men were summoned away from the church. And there were only two there. I wasn't there at the time when the summons came. Maybe they didn't think I could run after cattle. But I ended up there along with another man who wasn't going to speak. And during the week, I had been thinking of another message. Didn't think I'd get the opportunity to preach it, but that's how it came about. Second chance, and by the mercy of God, I got on so much better the second time round. And the Lord helped me, and the Lord was speaking to me about ministering and coming into this service. And I thought of coming in in 1973, and I prayed about it. And I got a verse relating to time as I prayed. The circumstances were somewhat different from mine, but it says, David abode in the country of the Philistines one year and four months. And that was the month of Juden. 1973. Our Theological Hall year always began in October, at least it did at that time, and I calculated a year and four months. That'll take me to October 1974. And as October 1974 drew near, I kept praying, asked the Lord to give me a token for good, which he did. One time I was speaking, a young woman professed salvation, And I applied. I applied to do three years and ended up doing four. Mr. Macmillan knows nothing about this, I'm sure, although he's probably heard plenty of complaining from men that suddenly had an extra year added onto their course. But the Lord's good. The Lord brought us through. And I was interested in London. The Lord gave me a word for London. I have much people. in this city. And I went over there. I studied for three years, spent a year as national organizer of the British Council of Protestant Christian Churches. When the first papal visit took place, we organized protests against that. In fact, we had rallies in advance that Dr. Paisley was the speaker at. And then when the Pope came, we had our first protest at Victoria Station. I well remember that because 30 of our people, we had about 60 there, 30 of our people were seized by the police and they detained 14 out of the 30 and kept them in custody. And I wasn't allowed then, because I was in London, Dr. Paisley wouldn't allow me to go to the other protests. Because he said, you have to act as chaplain to those men. So I had to try and visit the men. And after about six or seven days when the Pope was out of the country, those men were released, brought back later, and they were just bound over. That was all that happened to them. They should never, ever have been arrested because we were making a very legitimate protest. We went there, all of us, I think, in fear and trembling. There were thousands upon thousands of people on the streets. And when we put up our posters, and when we booed, as we did, while daggers were drawn, one man wasn't feeling well, and he had to go into a shop along with a colleague. And the shop assistants, they were looking forward to seeing the Pope. And as soon as the Pope arrived, up went our posters, and they couldn't see a thing. And the man said, they didn't even let on they were with us, because they might have been slung out of the shop. They had been shown kindness by the shop assistants. Well, after four years in London, nothing opened up at that time. And I had been praying about it. And I spoke to Dr. Paisley. He said, come home for five to 10 years. Well, I received a call to Kilkeel and spent 15 very happy years in Kilkeel. I didn't think that I would ever be back in London. I certainly would have loved to, but I didn't think I would. And then the work opened. And then it became vacant. And I was asked to cover for a month. And I started to pray about it, to pray very much about London. I remember my wife coming to me and saying, are you praying about your future? And I said, I am. And she said, I hope you're not praying about London. And I said, well, actually, I am. And I've got to say this. She became totally enthusiastic. totally enthused. She supported me. In fact, she supported me everywhere I went, 100%. Her testimony has shone brightly. over all the time that she was saved. It's almost 50 years, as you may have calculated, since she was saved. And she never looked back. She was always faithful, always supportive, and she was always my best critic. Dr. Cook, that has been mentioned here, used to say that your wife is your best critic. And she certainly was, because she was never malicious. And if I had a hard meeting, I would usually, if I was in the car, I would say nothing, hoping she would say that was a good meeting. And if she said nothing, I didn't raise the subject, because I didn't want to hear what I already knew, the unpalatable truth that it was a dreadful meeting. But she was very kind in her comments and very helpful to me in every way. When we went to London, the Lord opened that door for us at that time. And we spent 15 years in London. And the work grew out of the black community. We started off with all white people. And we ended up almost with all black people. We started with about 10 or 11 people, and we ended up with about 65 and more people in the congregation. From being all male virtually and all white, we ended up with probably a majority of females and 75%, 80% of black people. The Lord prospered us. We were able to purchase a building. We were able to get a manse as well. And the work has gone forward and certainly the Reverend Baker, who's there now, is doing a very valuable work in the city of London. We want to see the Lord at work in that city. When we opened that building with Dr. Paisley preaching, he had a little plaque that he unveiled and there was a plaque that I unveiled. And it says from Acts 18, 9 and 10, be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And I believe that. The Lord has much people. Do pray for London. We saw some saved. We saw some Others professing, perhaps who didn't go on. And the Lord is merciful. And the Lord hasn't finished with that witness. I can remember when we had a Sunday school. We now have a junior church rather than a Sunday school. When we had a Sunday school, we owned a Nissan Serena. And it's seated for eight people. And I can remember having 16 in that vehicle. My wife doesn't or didn't ever want me to talk like that because it embarrassed her if I said we had 16 in a vehicle that was only equipped with eight seats. We had them sitting on the floor and everywhere. I remember another time I was bringing children to the Good News Club on a Wednesday. I went to pick up three children and six turned up. And being the sort of person that can never turn anybody away, I took them all, and I was almost at the church, and I spotted a policeman coming up to the lights. And I thought, I hope I get through these lights first time, but I didn't. And I didn't get through the lights second time, and the policeman spotted me. And of course, he stopped me, and he said, are any of these children yours? All of them were black. But he said, I can't let you go on. And I had to phone my wife. She had the other vehicle, and she was taking children to the meeting in the other vehicle. So I had to phone her and say, you'll have to take some of these children from me. I just had to go around the corner. He didn't prosecute me, but he wouldn't let me go any further. We had very happy times in London. We thoroughly enjoyed the work. I wouldn't have gone from it if there hadn't been someone there to take over. But Patrick had been with us three years. He was ordained and I felt it was time to take my leave of London and I do trust and pray that the Lord will continue to bless that work, that he will move and that he pour out his Spirit. It was a privilege for me to minister in two churches that I love, in Kilkeel and also in London. I also was student minister in Portland Owen during my time in college, and when I came back from London I was placed in charge of Portlanone. So I spent a year there before the Reverend David Stewart took over. I never expected to be a college principal. It was almost a case of the poacher turned gamekeeper. But the Lord gave me that privilege. For five years, I stepped down when my wife was ill. And I may say something about my wife's illness. She was diagnosed in September 2017. She underwent some treatment, chemotherapy, and it looked as if she was doing well. At the same time, my sister's husband was undergoing chemotherapy. And on three different occasions, they had chemo in the same room. And on one occasion, they were sitting side by side. This week, on Wednesday, it'll be one year since my brother-in-law passed away. He died very suddenly. He was up in the Bridgewater suite on the Monday and on the Tuesday morning. He suddenly took ill and he passed away. Now, my wife was doing well. She was putting on weight. She looked tremendously well. And I, in fact, took a photograph of her in June, six weeks before she died. We were down in County Fermanagh at Loch Navar, and I took a photograph of her. And she was looking so well, I said, you look beautiful. And little did I know that six weeks later, she would pass away. And she did die quite unexpectedly. She was beginning to feel. And the cancer was gaining some strength. But we think she took a clot on the Saturday night that she died. Our daughter, who's a nurse in the heart ward in the Royal, she was with us. And I was actually upstairs on my way downstairs when Stephanie called somewhat frantically because Anne had arrested and she really didn't respond after that time. We lifted her down onto the floor off the settee and Stephanie worked with her for 20 minutes until the ambulance came. I said, the happiest day of my life was the day I married her. The saddest day, the worst day, was the day that she slipped from our grasp and that she passed into eternity. It wasn't the worst day for her, but it was the worst day for us. The Lord took her home, and I'm glad for one thing. I'm glad she didn't linger because she was going to have a bleak future. I've spoken to someone whose sister-in-law died with the same cancer, and she had a very difficult number of weeks. She lay in the city hospital, this lady, for 11 weeks. And her sister-in-law told me that she looked like two people, emaciated, down to the waist, and then the legs greatly swollen. And that is what my wife was facing. And I believe the Lord was very merciful to her. She was so faithful. She went out and she worked in London as a nursery nurse and then a classroom assistant. And she drove the school minibus round London. And you think of it. She was born and bred and counted for manna on a farm. And there she was. driving unerringly round the great city of London. The Reverend Elliot, who died so recently, he was somewhat astonished. And Anne used to be amused that he was astonished that she, a country girl, could manage driving a minibus round London. But she took to it like a fish to water. She started the Junior Church in London. The people I can say, wherever she has been, whatever church she has been in, the people really loved her, really loved her. Not her funeral. We sang that hymn. I know Mr. Macmillan, he told me he didn't know. We sang that hymn, Immortal Honours, Rest on Jesus' Head. And such a sense of the Lord's presence there was in the service as we sang that hymn. Mr. Foster, in tribute to her, said, I asked my wife, what can I say about Anne? And her answer was, anything you say will not be enough. Now you might think because I'm biased because she was my wife that I'm saying that. Well, I am biased, I have to say. I'm biased because she loved me and I loved her for, well, I was married to her for over 47 years. I can say 47 years, five months, five days. I know she's happy. I know she's with the Lord. But I do miss her. I thank God every single day. When I pray, I start by thanking God every day for the wife that he gave to me. And I think every man should be careful about speaking about wives. You know the way that we joke? Well, lose your wife and you'll not feel like joking. You'll realize what a tremendous loss it is. And I know it's the same the other way around. But the Lord does Give grace. He's given me a good family, and they're very, very kind to me. They look after me. I went out to Singapore in December to fill in for our son and to preach. He gave me a very busy schedule. He asked me to preach 28 times in 26 days. I took ill after the first one and missed three services on the first Sunday I was there. Then I missed one other. And I tell you, I very nearly fainted at the end of the first service on Sunday morning. I had lain awake the whole of Saturday night, jet lagged, and trying to sleep. And at the end of the service, I sat down. And here's a funny thing. Someone from your church, our sister Joy, she was watching, and she phoned Gillian. And my brother's an elder in the church. that Gillian works in. So the word got very quickly down to Fermanagh, and I think they thought I had passed out. I don't think I did. But I was sitting having a cup of tea and something to eat to revive, and the next thing was an ambulance arrived for me. And I didn't even realize it was an ambulance. They didn't realize it was for me. I said to them, am I in your way? They had come to me. They gave me an ECG, blood pressure, blood sugar test, and said, do you want to go to hospital? I said, no. And I went back to Paul's house. Then I had a bit of a crisis on Thursday night, for I couldn't sleep then. But with help from my family on what to take and much prayer, I overcame that hurdle. You see, it's that difficulty being so far away from home and your loved one no longer with you. It was a dark moment in my life, but the Lord brought me through and I was able to continue and to finish out my time with Thanksgiving in Singapore. And the folk there are lovely. The vast majority are Filipinos, and they all want your photograph. I think I was photographed over 100 times. The Reverend Elliot said to me that they wanted me beside them because it made them look good. And I'm not going to dispute that, but I did enjoy my time there. I may say one other thing. I must come to an end here. Oh, here, the time is away with us altogether. I was asked to look after our Dara. I was asked just before my wife was diagnosed, otherwise I wouldn't have taken it on. But I did take it on, and I've got to say this, it has been a lifeline. The Lord has been very gracious in allowing me to look after our Dara, and that has helped me. My family are good, they're all saved. Most of my brothers and sisters are saved. I did mention this, my father and mother got saved through the Reverend Gordon Cook. My brother Brian, who preached here from time to time, was the next one saved after myself, saved under the Reverend Ivan Foster, as were my two youngest sisters, and my second sister, I have one sister, that's not saved, a few other relatives who are not saved. But I can say what a difference the Lord has made. I am so thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my Savior, that he took my place on Calvary's cross. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. and saved him out of all his troubles. And the psalmist says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. If you're not saved, I say trust in him. He's a great friend. He's a great savior. And if you trust him, one day, One day you'll be with them. That's where my beloved wife is, with Christ, which is far better. Thank you.