At the beginning of 2003 God gave me a vision; in it I saw myself leaving work for an unknown destination. I saw two people very clearly whom I was working with and I felt that I could ask for my job back at anytime, and get it. The following day God confirmed the vision, in a way that only He can. He said that I would be leaving work sometime in the future to work for Him, the work was unspecified but that I would know it when it happened. He also said that the two people I saw would be still working for the company at this time and that I could ask for, and get, a job. I shared this with a close friend at the time and I'm glad I did, otherwise I might have doubted later just what God had said.

Our company at this time had 15 people working for it. Over the next 9 months we had two sets of redundancies until the company was streamlined and making a profit with excellent future prospects.

Sometime in August/September a friend at church asked me, out of the blue, if I'd like to work for God full time. I was very non-committal and agreed that "it would be nice" and remembered what God had spoken about, but I really didn't believe that it would happen; Really! Just jump up and leave a company that I'd worked for for 14 years? Step out of security into insecurity? I'm one of those rare people nowadays, who have never been out of work, who left school and got a job with a firm and stayed there for 12 years, before moving to my present job in 1989. I am secure, a committed Christian who is active in my local pentecostal church currently serving on the leadership team as a Deacon, attends church every Sunday, goes to cell groups during the week.....

In November I heard on the radio that the African Childrens Choir was in the area and that there were some tickets left at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax the following week. It didn't interest me and wouldn't have gone except that my friend was feeling low, and I knew that God had laid the children of Africa on her heart some years previous, so I quickly applied for and got tickets.

I didn't know that the African Childrens Choir was a Christian organisation. We sat there listening to songs that we sing on a Sunday morning in our church. I opened the programme booklet and there on the first page was an advertisement for people to help with the Choir. They were wanting Chaperones, Bus Drivers, Teachers, Sound Technicians... Sound Technicians... I felt God say to me:
YOU CAN DO THAT!
Just before the start of the show a person came on stage to welcome everyone and give out a plea for a Sound Engineer to go with the Choir to the States the next month. At the end of the show I shared with my friend what God had said to me and added, "But I'm in full time employment and I don't feel that God is saying "Go Now"".

Just to fill you in... I have been involved with sound engineering in an amateur way for some 12 years now. At the Anglican church that I first met Jesus we got a small worship group together and managed to get enough money together from ourselves and donations to purchase a mixer, amplifier, speakers and microphones. I used to play accordian with them but spent most of my time jumping up to adjust the mixer. Eventually I gave up playing to concentrate on the sound, mainly because it needed doing and also because I used to play waltzes, polkas and folk music on the accordian and Christian music was harder. As a group we played in church on a Sunday and we were frequently asked out to other churches. About this time, other churches and groups in the area found out that we had a PA system and I was asked to take it out and do it for them for their events.
Some years later when I moved to the Elim Pentecostal Church, I came at a time when then church had outgrown its building. The building was sold and we spent the next 5 years or so meeting in local community centres and schools, setting up and tearing down each week.
In addition as a Scout Leader I am involved with the local Gang Show at Todmorden in charge of sound there.

Two weeks later we were told at work that the parent company was disposing of all its manufacturing units, our section would be sold off or closed and we would probably be made redundant. Many people were stunned, upset, some cried but I laughed; not at them but at me as I suddenly saw what God had known all along.

During January I made enquiries, filled in application forms, got references and sent them off and then... NOTHING! No replies, silence! I rang them up at the end of January and in the middle of February to see what was happening, but they couldn't tell me anything. I needed to know - did they want me? was this what God wanted? or should I start looking for a full time job? I felt that God wanted me with choir, so I did nothing but wait.

We were told that we would be leaving the company on Friday 5th March and at 12.00 noon on that date we finished. After a meal with collegues,  I arrived home at 2.00pm and had just started to wash the van when the telephone rang, "Hello, this is the African Childrens Choir in Newcastle, Northern Ireland. We've just received your application and references, when could you start working for us?" Isn't God's timing perfect?

At the end our division had five staff working for it. Yes, you guessed it, the two that God had shown me were still with us, the company who bought us out made us all redundant and then offered me a very tempting full time job - this had to be God's timing again! I turned it down and explained what God had planned for me and they offered me temporary short term work until I left.

Numerous telephone calls and emails later, followed by a five day "taster" working with Choir 23 in Oxford and Sunningdale, England, an interview, more calls, lots of paperwork, police checks before final confirmation was given at the beginning of May. It is short notice; these things usually take longer – up to a year, but they are in need of a sound technician for the coming tour with Choir 25, and I am positive that it’s now the time appointed by God.

NO MORE DOUBTS - Coincidence or God Incidence?

Wenesday 2nd June, up early to travel to the airport, no time for prayer or bible reading. Sat on the plane, plenty of time now, opened the Word for Today published by United Christian Broadcasters to read the entry, "happy are those who delight in doing what He commands", Psalm 112:1. The text talks about exercising your options:
Thinking you've no options can leave you feeling trapped, angry and depressed. But with God you always have options, for "...with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). Based on that, you can restart and re-chart your life.
Yes! I have options, to go or not to go. I believe that God has planned for me to go, but it's nice to know that I have the option. If I don't go I'll spend the rest of my life wondering.....what if.....?

The following morning waking up in my hotel room (the last hotel I'll be staying in for a while) I was able to pray and read at leisure as the bus wasn't coming for me until lunchtime.
The Word for Today quoted, "let us run with patience (endurance) the race... set before us." Hebrews 12:1 and quoted the story of John Steven Aquari, the Tanzanian entrant to the marathon in the 1968 Olympic Games held in Mexico City. ".... a solitary figure bearing the colours of Tanzania limped into the stadium.... his leg was bandaged because of an earlier fall. He came in last. As he crossed the finish line a spectator shouted, 'Why didn't you just quit?' With dignity Aquari replied, 'My country didn't send me 7000 miles to start this race, they sent me to finish it!'

My original plan was to go on tour with the choir for 6 months as see how it went and decide then if I wanted to continue. Many of my friends obviously knew something I didn't as they told me I was going for 12 months! Tanzania doesn't feature directly, but its neighbour Uganda does (the kids are all from Uganda), but I've travelled about 7000 miles.

Do I start this race, or finish it. Who knows? - God knows, and I do too, now.

Coincidence or God Incidence?

How did this all start? Why did God give me this job? - I guess I made myself available. I had been praying about my future and the scripture one day was "If you want to know what God wants you to do - ask him and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer", James 1:5-6 (New Living Translation" . I can remember sat in my van one lunchtime at work reading this and praying, "Lord, what do you want me to do? Lord, I expect you to answer me" - whoops! He did!