Good evening. I feel very blessed and honoured, really, to be invited along to share my testimony with you. You know, many years ago, too many years for me to recall, really, I was asked at the very first little chapel that I attended, just a few months after I was saved, to give my testimony. The old gentleman who's home with the Lord now must have seen the horror in my face. Testimony, I said. Testimony, it sounds like a big word like will-borrowing cabbage, and I was so sure I didn't have one. To which he put his hands on my shoulders and said, Chris, it would do all us old people a great privilege to hear how the Lord has touched your life. Can you not just stand up there and tell us in a few minutes how you came to know the Lord Jesus is your Savior? So tonight I want to share with you what the Lord has done for me in my life, which amounts to everything. And not what I've done for the Lord, which amounts to really nothing. So I have to start really right back in my early days at four or five years old. I was born into a family of nine. Youngest but one, youngest of all the boys. My oldest brother, Rich, was a carpenter. And I knew from a very early age that that's what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a carpenter. I was very blessed that I was very good with my hands. The Lord's been good to me through my years as a carpenter. But being from a big family, you soon get to realize that there's chores to be done, and we all had our chores that we had to do. And the older you got, the more chores was laid upon you. And being the youngest of five, I quite often, five boys, I quite often got more than my fair share because we all know brothers can be a little bit sneaky. But one thing they did teach me was if I wanted to earn some extra pennies, then they'd get me to clean their motorcycle boots. All my brothers had motorbikes. They were crazy. They were from the 60s. They were rockin' rollers. Their motorbikes had spoke wheels. And guess who had the chore of cleaning these spoke wheels? So after a little while, my son twigged, you know, I can earn some money out of this. So I agreed to do their motorbike wheels and their boots for a few pennies. And very soon, I learned, you know, the more I work, the harder I work, the more money I earn. I'm going to fast-track now for the sake of time to the age of about 15. I'm at secondary school now, not far off leaving. My careers master was absolutely struck with me. I could barely read, I could barely write. I was in a right predicament. The only thing I could really do was use my hands. We were due to sit our GCSEs, and I just, I was just dreading it. I just knew for some reason that I'd fail the lot. Back in those days, if you were slow at school, you kind of got left behind a little bit. I was always a bit of the joker, so I got left way behind. I can't go into too many of the things that we got up to at school or how many times I had to cane. One or two. I seem to remember it all seems to be me who got caught and was dragged out the front by the air. But my brother Richard worked for a local building company as a young boy. He was the owners if you like, he was the owner's apprentice when he started the company a few years earlier. The company had grown, my brother left, my mother was a house cleaner for him, who happened to mention that her last son was leaving school and he was looking for a job. Well that night, when I got home from school, I was told, keep your school clothes on me son, you're going for an interview at a local building company. Well, to say I was in shock, was an understatement. Julie arrived there, and the boss was there, and his understudy, and they basically wanted to know what my interest was. Well, very quickly, I could say to him, Carpenter, I've been messing about with wood all my life. I was good at it. I was already earning money at it. Around the house in the estate, if there was a sticky door or something I needed to do, my mum would send me around. I was fortunate to have a brother that was teaching me from a young age. The upstart of it all was that they offered me a job with the promise of an apprenticeship. But first of all, I'd have to do a year. So at the grand old age of 15, I left school on the Friday and started work on the Monday. Monday morning, at 7 o'clock, I was out on the main road waiting to be picked up in a van. My introduction to the grown-up world It was very painful. For the first year of my working life, I worked, I came home, I ate, I bathed, and I slept. I was king of the heap at school, bottom of the heap on the building sites. The works were hard. Back in those days, the lorries rode in and it was the boys that unloaded them. But within a few months, they very quickly realized that I was handy with a saw, handy with a hammer, and I was fast-tracked forward. I was very fortunate. I was fast-tracked forward to work under a carpenter. They bought my first little bit of kit. At the end of that year, I was already doing things about the site, simple things, cutting the rafters and dehorning windows. And again, I realized that the carpenters, who were subcontractors, was quite interested in me coming in evenings, Saturdays and Sundays, loading out the floorboards, putting together the kitchens, dehorning the windows. And again, I was earning extra money. I'm sure if you'd looked at me, I'd have just had pen note signs rolling around my eyes. Because I proved my worth that year, they duly kept their word, and I was offered an apprenticeship as a carpenter. But do you know, because I was really quite illiterate, I could barely read and barely write, I was thinking I would maybe struggle. And I was going to try and back out of it. But due to my mum, bless her, I can hear the words she's saying now. You're going to stay at that university, my son, if it kills you, because if it don't, I will. None of us boys has gone to college, never mind university, and that's where you're going. If you want to stay under my roof, best you be there on that bus Monday morning." She was very loving, our mother. Bless her cotton socks. But she taught us respect, She taught us to work hard, she taught us to be punctual, all things that's helped me in good stead through my working life. I entered college, and within a few months it was quite clear to see that out of the six of us that started, a lot of them did no wonder of a hammer, to the other. I was blessed that I'd already done a year's work on the site. Many years before that with my brother, learning. Within two months, 60 had dropped to 30. Within another few months, it dropped to a group of 20 of us. The idea of this course was it was six months solid tech college. If you got through this course, it shaved off nearly a year of your apprenticeship. They realized that I was good with my hands, I had the building knowledge, but I was struggling with the reading and writing. And again, the Lord had his hand in my life because they agreed to send me my work courses through the post so that I could do extra work in the evenings and weekends. At the end of this course, I passed with credits. Not just in the practical side, but as a tech drawing side, and the writing side also. I was over the moon. And so was my boss, because now my apprenticeship days was over. They'd started, I was in the real man's world, here's the kit, my sonner, out you go. So the next year rolled on by, and I'm out there doing almost the same work as the real carpenters who've been doing it all their life. Maybe a little slower, but I soon learned to do it equally as well, because still in those days, if you didn't get it right, you'd get a belt around the ear rope. That sounds crazy today. Would anybody dare hit a 17-year-old around the ear? And I can hear the words in my ears now. Stumpy, because of my extraordinary height, I was very quickly named Stumpy Stevens. And for that year, the first year of my life, the thumb on my left hand was continuously bleeding, because that was the hand that I held my nails in. Feb with the left, hit with the right. But it takes a little bit of practice. The first few houses that I first or second fixed, the site manager still knew. And if I heard those words, Danby, I'd shrink. In he'd come, did you do plot 73? Yes, boss, that was me. How did I know that, Stumpy? I don't know, boss, I don't know. Come with me, and there'll be little spots of blood all around the skirtings and up the architraves. In the corner of the room, there was a bucket. In the bucket was a sponge. My very next job was to go all the way round. washing office curtains. But you know, it taught me another lesson. It taught me that I had to clean my act up even further. I'm going to fast-track you on a couple of years now, for the sake of time, really. I had lots of scrapes on the building sites, as you can well imagine, back in those days. Health and safety was really non-existent. But the one thing I learned there was, the harder I worked, the more I earned. The more I earned, the more I could save. I was never into motorbikes, not my brothers. I think it's all the cleaning of the wheels that put me off, thinking about it. I was saving for my first car at 17. I had enough money saved for my first car. Life really started to change now. We're heading into the tail ends of the 70s. So by now, I was a fully-fledged carpenter. I was banging out the work, I was earning the money, I was going in weekends and evenings, doing extras for the extra carpenters, and I knew that I'd reached where I wanted to be. If I was stood here in the late 70s, you wouldn't be gazing on a gorgeous, balding, grey-looking man like me. You'd be gazing upon a man with long, black hair down to his shoulders, a big, long, daggling earring, tattoos over that one arm and down the other, a point in one hand and a fag in the other. I'd also learnt that if you worked hard, you had to play hard with these guys. By the time I was 17, I was already in the pubs. By the time I was 17 and a half, I was already driving these guys around. I had my test. By now, the car had changed. It was a Triumph for tests. Two liter, soft top, five spotlights on the front, two Whippy Arrows on the back. Couldn't be any different for somebody as cool as me, could it? Drinking and driving. didn't really have its meaning in those days, apart from the fact when we'd finish drinking and we were just heading out for the weekend, they'd pop a lid off a bottle and I'd be drinking while I was driving. But you know, there were those mates who weren't as fortunate as me. There were those who lost their lives on motorbikes. I lost two dear friends in car accidents because we were crazy. The old guys on the sites used to call us the long-haired, loud-mouthed louts. And you know, looking back, we were. I was living in my own stead. It was me, myself, I. I knew the harder I worked, the more I could earn, the more I could buy, the more I could drink. It was just one big miracle round, and I loved it. About this time, I was about to get married, it was early 79. Bought what was a mobile home, a 20-foot caravan on a little site down in Dracut. Needed a new roof and flooring. And there was four of us there. And this was when the Lord was gonna start to have a real hand in my life. Because just opposite us was another young couple that was just the same ages as we were. But there was something different about these. I could just tell by looking at them. The very first time I met the young lady, I'd had the floor up. I was standing over the metal chassis, renewing the floor. I had the radio on. She'd come walking across. And she nearly froze. She's seen this long-haired lad with a fag in his mouth and a razor warm. Hello, my love. How are you? All right? My name's... I don't know if I'm allowed to say names, but she was a lovely, lovely lady. Very meek and very gentle. Do you know, over the months, we got to know them a little bit. And whenever we was talking to them, they always managed to seem to get the conversation around to their Lord. or to the Bible, and they were very gently telling me that I was a sinner, that I was lost in my sins. Now, first of all, I took humbridge. Me, a sinner, you just hang on a minute. You know, I've been christened, you know. I went to Sunday school. I was even in the choir till they asked me to leave, because I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, but that's by the by. And not only that, I went to a lot of weddings. I had a big family. I'm sure I wasn't a Christian. I wasn't a sinner. And then they said, you know, Chris, we're all sinners. We're born in sin. And they took me to the Bible and showed me where it says this in Romans. Do you know? It kind of shook me to the core, but I still wasn't ready to accept it. And I was still working away, playing away at it, meeting them and having different conversations. But you know, this young couple, they did just talk. walk the walk, or talk the talk, they did both. You could set your watch by the time they'd come out of the caravan and went to a meeting on a Sunday morning. Again, on a Sunday evening, if they hadn't been invited out to dinner. Tuesday evening was prayer night and Bible study. Didn't really need a watch in our house. We just knew that Phil and Pauline, oh, I said their names, I do apologize, was off to church. But do you know, this dear young couple, same age as us, they took the time to tell me about their saviour. They took the time to tell me that I needed the Lord in my life. And I didn't really want to hear that, you know. I was fine. Me, myself, I was doing just fine. Thank you very much. I was doing just fine. But you know, the Lord was just about to change my circumstances completely. I was working away on a floor, in those days it was real wooden floors, and you put the floors down, cramped it up, grabbed your nails, knelt down, tap-tap-bang, tap-tap-bang, tap-tap-bang. The faster you worked, the more you earned. I stood up, turned quickly, I felt my knee pop, my leg pop, I crashed to the floor, And that was the end of my working career for nearly eight months. It blew up like a balloon. To cut a long story short, in hospital they said you tore the cartilage completely off one end of your knee. The swelling was so bad they put me in a temporary bandage and plaster. Had to wait and see which way it was going to go. And I was taken home. Do you know, for the first time in my life, I sat Let out on a settee, totally, absolutely gutted. Wondering what on earth I could do. No worky, no money. Do you know, I really started to wonder how long it would be before I'd be back at work. But it was going to be months unbeknown to me. And this is where that young couple really come into their own. They used to pop in and share a word and have a coffee. You can guess where the conversation always ended up. You know, when they left. I used to think, you know, I wish they wouldn't keep telling me about this man, Jesus. I heard all about him when I was in Sunday school. What's he ever done for me? Look at the state of me now. I can't even go out and earn any money. Money was starting to slide away from the bank and I was starting to get concerned. And every time I was in a quiet situation, there was a little voice in my head saying, Chris, you need the Lord in your life. It was Pauline's voice again, over and over. I couldn't get away from it. Chris, you're a sinner. Chris, you're lost. Chris, you're on that road to hell. Now this really roiled me. Me, going to hell? Surely, I wasn't that bad. This God of yours, who is a loving God, wouldn't send somebody to me, somebody like me, to hell. Surely, I'm not a robber. I'm not a murderer. I don't connect to all these things you read about in the papers. I'm just an ordinary Jack the Lad, striving to earn a living. But you know, it was still all about me, myself, I. And I couldn't do anything now. I was truly, truly lost in my own self-pity. My friends did what they thought was best. They turned up with beer and bottles of whiskey, and we had talkies, and it was great. And the next morning, I'd wake up, and my head was just banging, and I still had a swollen knee. I still couldn't move. I was still in the plaster, and the weeks was rolling on. And still this dear young Christian couple was visiting and witnessing to me. And then they came up with an offer. Chris, we're going to go away in a tent to a campsite for a few days. We're wondering if you'd like to join us. Just for two days, we'll leave Saturday morning and come back Sunday evening. Well, my spirits picked up. That's just what I needed, a nice boozy weekend to pick me up. If only I knew. The day arrived. They had a dear little Vauxhall Viva. The two girls was in the back, piled high with pillows and duvets. I was sat in the front at the skew. Phil come out, shut his caravan. He opened the car door, sat in the driver's seat, and passed me a Bible. It was the biggest Bible I'd ever seen. It was huge. Not really, but the writing was just jumping out at me. I couldn't even hold it. It felt like it was on fire. I put it straight on the floor. And every time I looked down, it was there, just staring at me. We arrived at this little site. My heart sank. It was basically a field, with a little toilet block and a shower block. Where was the bar? Where's the entertainment? How was I going to survive this weekend? Well, you know, we went on to put this tent up. I helped as much as I could, still being on crutches. It was busy getting all the inside ready, and it started to rain. And it rained. It rained steroids. We're talking biblical storm here. I needed a cigarette so bad I could have ate one. It must have been nearly two hours before I had one, but the Lord had other ideas. And it's now where the Lord really touched my life. So Phil and Pauline duly popped the kettle on. And guess what they did next? They sat down. Got out the Bible, had a small prayer, and we sat down and we just talked. We had tea, a few sandwiches, and I was just about to tuck in when Phil said, one minute, and they gave thanks. Something else that was new to me. As the evening wore on and the rain rained down, they continued to tell me about their Savior. It was now when the Lord truly touched my heart. I knew then that I was lost. I knew I was on that broad road to hell, and it frightened me, and I needed to know what I had to do. Those dear Christian friends took me through the Bible and showed me there's only one way to get to heaven, and Jesus is the only way. They explained to me that the Lord Jesus Christ came down to earth. He died on that cross at Calvary for sinners just like me. They explained to me that everybody was born in sin because of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But they then said to me, it didn't end there, Chris. The Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He's alive. He's seated at the right hand. And if you only ask him into your life tonight, Pray a prayer. Bow your head before your Lord and Saviour. Ask Him into your heart. Admit to Him that you are a sinner. You're totally lost. There's nothing you can do. The Lord had to bring me down to my knees. The Lord had to get me into a position where I knew I was totally, utterly lost. I was physically broken. and spiritually lost and mentally down. I thank the Lord that that night, the Lord touched my heart. He removed the scales from my eyes. He softened my heart and I asked the Lord Jesus into my life. Do you know there was no booming lights, no big bangs. Stair rods were still beating down on the canvas in this little canvas tabernacle. But I felt this strange warm glow. It was lovely, almost like a tingling sensation, and I knew, I instantly knew, for the first time in my life, that I wanted the Lord in my life. As the weeks went on, I found that I didn't need to smoke, I didn't need drink, I wasn't craving it. The one thing I was craving now was to know more about my Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. They took me to the same little chapel that they were going to, a little gospel hall in Glastonbury. It was a lovely little congregation, and just a few months later, I was baptized. Total immersion. And I thank the Lord that all of my family, my brothers, their wives, their children, they all came to that little chapel. They all seen the change in my life. At first they said it wouldn't last. At first they said I'd been brainwashed. But they could see the change in my life. Not just the haircut, not just the disappearance of the earring, or the changed language. They could see that I wanted to go to church. I wanted to share with them my Savior. I wanted to happen to them what happened to me in my life. I'm going to end my testimony now. I could carry on and tell you of the very lively days that I went through when I went back onto the building sites. But you know, the Lord had his hand in my life. When I went back to work, the guys knew instantly that Stumpy Stevens was changed. For a while, they thought I'd totally lost my marbles. I didn't eat or drink or smoke with them anymore. I didn't want to go out clubbing or even go to the pubs. I didn't want to go racing around in the cars anymore. I just wanted to learn more of my Saviour. This couldn't have been me. It had to have been the Lord Jesus Christ. The change in my life was absolutely tremendous. My Saviour turned me upside down. inside out, then I thank the Lord for that day in my life when he made himself known to me. Do you know, God has given us four things. He's given us a body, and it will die. He's given us a soul, and it will never die. And he's given us his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for us on that cross. We all have a choice. to make tonight. Somebody here sat tonight, might be at the very place that I was, at that crossroads, wondering how they were going to manage and go forth. If that's you listening in today or tonight or audibly or on the internet, I would urge you to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's never turned anyone away. And once you're safe in His hands, you're safe for all eternity. Yes, you'll get ups and downs in your life, but the Lord was with me every step of the way. I didn't have a very easy ride on the building sites. Some of these Stevens really went through the wars. You know, there were many things that some of these big guys did to me, but do you know what they couldn't do? they couldn't take my saviour away from me. And although I had a few hidings, a few dunkings in the water, but I still loved my saviour. I wouldn't have it any other way. I just knew that I had to cling to my saviour and he'd see me through. Do you know, now is, the time for salvation. Today is the day. Tomorrow might be too late. The Lord tells us that he's coming like a thief in the night. And I don't know of any thieves that send out calling cards to warn you. I thank the Lord. that he kept me safe for all those crazy teenage years, for all the heavy drinking, for all the fast driving in a soft top sports car. It's unbelievable. I stood at friend's graves and still carried on down that broad road. I think I've said just enough now, just enough for you to know that the Lord Jesus Christ can save anyone. If they can save a poor wretch like me, somebody who could barely read and write and spell, can barely do that now thinking about it, but I'm still pretty good with my hands, I must admit. The Lord can save you. It don't matter how bad you think you are, or how good you think you are, you still need the Lord in your life. I'd just like to finish now with a little poem, if I may. It's called, An Old Shoe Speaks. To help my owner on his way, I'm just a simple shoe. Some of my parts, though they can teach, some lessons now for you. You see that now I have grown old. Not many shoes today have eyes and tongues, but do have souls to help folk on their way. To help men and ladies too, for paths are sometimes rough. By way of introduction now, I feel I've said enough. So let us think about our eyes, what fills our sight each day. Just things around brought scenes and flowers in colourful array. Or do we see God's holy word and read of his great plans, turning to him the eye of faith, obeying his commands? Our tongues too, these we need to watch, not with our natural eyes, but careful always with our words, not harshly criticize. For we can cause much misery and really be unkind, but yet the tongue can be of use, this too we ought to find. But most important is our soul. God tells us in his book, if we could gain, yes, the whole world, yet lose our soul, just look. No prophet would be found in that, so let us watchful stay, and not ignore God's word of truth, but read it every day. To save our souls the Saviour died, yielded his life, then rose, and all who turn from their own ways, forgiveness he'll give those. Now I will add my own postscript to sum up how I feel. I'm far too old to be much use. They call me down at hill. You see, I am a poor old shoe with eyes that cannot see. I have a tongue which cannot speak. It is silent as can be. My soul will never get to heaven, it useless has become, with holes and cracks it now is spoilt, no good to anyone. Have our eyes seen God's wondrous truth, told in the Bible clear? Do our tongues speak of his great love, that others too may hear? The souls of all are spoilt by sin, we cannot get to heaven, except by taking God's free gift, then we can be forgiven. Praise the Lord. Amen.