I HAVE BEEN YOUNG NOW I AM OLD

SEPTEMBER 2021

 

I have been young, and now am old; 

Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken 

Psalm 37:25 (NKJV) 

 

One of the advantages of getting older is that you can look back at how the Lord has led you and how He has woven the tapestry of your life. 

 

Obviously, I totally agree with the Apostle Paul when he said that we must leave the past behind and press on to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14), but that does not mean we cannot remember the past or talk about it. Paul spoke about the past and the way that Jesus had transformed and directed his life every time he gave his testimony and on many other occasions too.  

 

I have just moved to London and in many ways, I have come full circle because I am now living in Streatham, South London, where I used to come every month as a little boy to see my grandparents.  

 

I have even started attending the Baptist church where my mother Jessie, was baptised and where she met and married Eric, my dad in 1947.  I came on the scene 2 years later because Jess and Eric couldn’t have children and they longed to have a family, so they got permission to adopt a baby and I was handed over to them for adoption two or three days after I was born. 

 

By this time Jess and Eric had moved to a different part of London where we lived until I was 9 years old and they had adopted two more children, John and Mary, in the meantime. I think that mum and dad were wanting to move out of London, and one Saturday dad took us all out for a ride in the countryside.  We arrived, quite “by chance” in a little village called Edenbridge in Kent and I remember to this day where dad parked the car. He got out of the car and just across 

the road was an Estate Agent. He looked in the shop window and saw a house for sale.  Before we knew where we were, we being shown around that house which belonged to some Christian people who attended the Baptist Church in the town! 

 

Well mum and dad bought that house.  We belonged to the Baptist Church and I lived there until I moved at the age of 25 to be the pastor/leader of the church in Norfolk where I served for 40 years.

 

That afternoon drive into the countryside when I was 9 years old changed everything

for us as a family and determined the direction of my life until this day. 

 

Thinking about that recently caused me to be reminded of Psalm 37 which speaks so beautifully about the course and direction of the lives of those who are following the Lord and this verse stands out:

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The steps of a man are ordered (established) by the Lord, 

And He delights in his way. 

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; 

For the Lord upholds him with His hand. 

Psalm 37: 23 (NKJV) 

 

That has certainly been my experience so far and may I say, that through my own choices, failures and weaknesses, I have fallen many times over the years, but the Lord has picked me up and upheld me with His hand!  

 

May I also say to the young ministers who are reading this – where you are geographically today is where you are meant to be.  If the Lord wants you somewhere else, He will move you on – don’t try and do it yourself. 

 

Let the Lord order your steps because where we are geographically determines everything else – the people we meet, the events that happen and the lessons we learn along the way. 

 

Delight yourself also in the Lord, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 

 Commit your way to the Lord, 

Trust also in Him, 

And He shall bring it to pass. 

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, 

And your justice as the noonday. 

 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. 

Psalm 37:5-7 (NKJV)

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