The following week we had to travel to Perth for an appointment at the Perth Hospital.  Helen was due for the first scan of our baby.  It so happened that 

the appointment was on the morning after the dinner meeting that we had seen advertised on the poster, so we decided to go down in the evening and

have a night out with a cheap meal and then off to the hospital in the morning. Well we went to the hotel and entered into this huge room of people.  300 

odd all waiting to hear this ex-IRA terrorist tell his story.  It wasn’t long before they all started singing praises to Jesus Christ and it suddenly struck me 

what we had come into.  I had read on the poster that this terrorist had been changed from terrorist ways through the effect of Jesus on his life, but it 

wasn’t until we were there that I realized the purpose of the dinner meeting was to glorify Jesus Christ. There was one very electric vibe in the room with 

everyone singing and clapping so I just casually joined in and sat down to listen to this guy’s story. He told an intriguing tale about how his life had been 

changed once he started to believe in Jesus.  Then at the end there was an opportunity given to anyone who wanted to let Jesus change their lives.  They

were asked to put their hand up while all eyes in the room were closed.  It all seemed very bizarre to me yet it was at this time that something very real 

and very wonderful occurred.

As I sat there waiting to see if anyone would get sucked in, this heat started rising up in my body.  It started in my feet and went right up to my head.  My 

heart started pounding fast and I felt this real sense of urgency.  I was excited and scared.  I felt light and fuzzy.  I’ve had many rushes from different 

drugs before, but this was so very different.  Then the thought came into my head that I should put my hand up.  It felt like something that I had to do.  

However I was able to reason with myself before I did anything stupid and told myself to settle down.  But the sense of urgency got stronger and stronger. 

I thought that maybe this whole thing about Helen’s dream and us ending up in the middle of a Christian meeting was not just co-incidence.  But then I 

thought that if I put my hand up Helen would think that I had become some religious nut.  So I fought the conviction a bit longer.  I was getting more tense. 

The longer I resisted this urge that was upon me the stronger it became. Eventually I let go and cleared my mind of the battle that was taking place.  In 

that moment of clarity my hand was raised.  It felt so strong and comfortable to be thrust in the air.  Like it was being stretched skyward.  It remained 

there for quite some time and I didn’t seem to be able to lower it. Then after some time the next call was made for those who had put their hands up to go

up the front.  Well I thought putting my hand up was one thing but getting up in front of 300 people was going much too far.  But before I new it I was on my

feet and walking.  Right up the front.  When I got there I realized that Helen was right behind me.  She had been convicted to put her hand up also.  I was 

astounded and ecstatic and bewildered and scared and I felt like I was floating. Then some guy came over and started talking to me.  He asked me if I 

believed that Jesus was the path to salvation and if I wanted Him to change my life forever.  I was confused but for some reason I was sure that Jesus 

would be the help that I needed.  I honestly believed at that point that Jesus was a supernatural being who was sent by God to the earth.  I thought that may

be in light of what was happening to me, that God had led Helen and I to that place and that it was now time for me to make a real decision to commit 

myself to Him.  So I did. decided to believe that Jesus Christ has the power to affect my life and that He is the way that I can truly know God.  There was 

much I did not understand but simply I did feel quite certain that I needed Him in my life. Its like trying to explain how you know when you love someone.  

You just know. So then I prayed and told Jesus that I believed in Him and that I wanted Him to come into my life. I remember a real sense of surrendering. I 

let go of something big and weighty that night and gave it over to Jesus. I was told then that I was born again.  I had become a born again Christian. Jesus 

had started a new life in me.  A spiritual life that is available to anyone who believes in Him.

 Well after all that I felt great.  I was on a real high. I couldn’t stop smiling and felt on top of the world.  Helen had been talking with some woman near by and

had told her about the dream and how we had come to be there that night.  The woman was excited and was talking about a divine appointment.  Helen 

had made a decision for herself also and had prayed for forgiveness and the Spirit of Christ.  We left the hotel quite bewildered and we weren’t really quite

sure what had gone on.  Neither were we sure about what we would do next. Our spirits had been awakened but our minds were left confused. But God

had it all in hand. 

  The next morning we decided we would walk to the hospital from the bed and breakfast where we had spent the night.  We had no idea how far it was or 

where we were going.  But for some reason we decided to walk.  After about half an hour we soon realized it was a lot further than we had thought and we

 were getting late.  We kept following signs to the hospital and to our amazement we went right past the church which had hosted the dinner meeting we 

had attended the night before.  I couldn’t believe it.  We saw a sign out the front for a bookshop and coffee shop so we decided that we would return there 

after our appointment at the hospital. When we went into the coffee shop some people in there recognized us from the night before.   They were making 

comments about how we had been saved the night before and were born-again.  I always thought born-again was a catch phrase from American gospel 

TV.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all. We were shown around the church and invited to the Sunday worship services but I wasn’t sure about it all so I made no promises.  We looked in the 

bookshop and decided to buy a Bible.  After all we knew that the decision we had made to believe in Jesus as the Son of God was real, so we thought it 

proper that we should find out more about Him.

Over the next few weeks we started reading the Bible and began praying regularly.  Now, I had read bits of the Bible before but it had never really meant 

much to me.  However after my experience at the dinner meeting, things were very different.  Every time I read the Bible it really spoke to me.  It suddenly 

became so very relevant to many aspects of my life and myself.  I started praying to Jesus asking that I get to know him better.  He really started revealing

 Himself to me through the Bible.  Very quickly I started to see my life in a very different light and realized there were many things that needed to be cleaned up. I felt in my heart that there were some things from my past that I needed to set right. 

 One such clean up exercise involved making a very difficult decision to visit a past employer and pay him some money for drinks I had stolen from his bar 

before finishing working for him. Suddenly I was there standing in front of him apologizing and paying giving him money.  It was so strange.  There was no 

need for me to be doing what I was doing.  I had already gotten away with it two or three weeks prior.  But my conscience wouldn’t let me rest and I knew I 

had to settle things honestly.  I also experienced Jesus' help in enabling me to go ahead with something I did really not want to do.  I was beginning to

realise that this was how Jesus was beginning to change me.  My conscience had been stirred up and this was just the beginning. Helen and I soon 

agreed that we should start going to church.  We just felt like it was something that we wanted to do. God began speaking to us through preaching and 

teaching and our hearts were continually being changed. 

About a month after being born again we started to feel the need and desire to get married.  We felt that it was important to make vows to each other 

before God, and to do so before the arrival of our baby son (we had found out his gender at the scan.) Other things were happening also.  I was slowly 

loosing the urge to drink and was turning down offers of hash from our house mates.  I started to feel less comfortable with getting drunk or stoned and

 really felt like such behaviour was disappointing to God. I wanted to please God and that desire was strong enough to change my behaviour. It was very 

strange for me.

Helen and I told our families that we were going to get married. My parents agreed to come over from Australia for the ceremony.  On September 28th

 we were married.  Three weeks before our son Noah was born on Oct 22nd.  My parents were able to stay for five weeks in Scotland and so were able to

 meet their new grandson.  They left when he was one week old.  The timing all worked out perfectly.  The wedding was wonderful and the baby arrived 

two days after his due date.  There were many risks we took with such a tight time schedule, but we felt sure that God had His hand on our lives.  He 

undertook to ensure that the baby was not early or late so that he was born after the wedding but before my parents returned to Australia.  It was a truly 

wonderful time.

All the while God was continuing to speak to both Helen’s and my conscience. About two months prior to getting married, we both felt that it was wrong 

for us to continue a sexual relationship until after we were married.  It became clear to me one day during a time of prayer that sex outside marriage is 

against God’s desire for His people.  I took the issue to Helen and she was quick to agree.  I was so surprised because I thought she would be upset.  But

 she embraced the idea so for two months we made a very difficult sacrifice in order to please God.  As a result God blessed us and our marriage was all

 the more significant because of the extra importance we had placed on it. 

At the time of writing this it is exactly five years since Helen and I were married.  We now have three children Noah, Jude and Eden. God has continued to 

bless us since we first met with Jesus.  He has brought us through a number of difficult challenges in the time that we have been walking with Him. 

There is always a peace in the knowledge that as a family we are apart of God's plan and that He is ensuring that all that we encounter in life is working 

together for our good. Our faith has been tested in a number of areas and we are continually learning how to walk by faith and not by sight. This means 

trusting God for all aspects of our lives. All the while God continues to show us His love and power.  Only last week Helen was healed of severe kidney 

pain.  She had been suffering for nearly two weeks and had made a number of trips to the doctor. However through prayer God instantly removed the pain

 from her kidneys and it has not returned to bother her since. I am very thankful to God through Jesus for the way that He has influenced our lives. I 

believe things would be very different for us if we had been left to our own devices. Please pray for us as we continue to seek God's will for our family.