Faster and faster

'There must surely be more to life than getting round the next bend faster and faster!' This was the topic of conversation as we sat drinking in the pub one night.

I was a biker - and there was nothing I liked more than riding my motorbike at speed (the faster the better!) around winding country lanes or in the slip-stream of some lorry on the motorway, and then opening up the throttle to roar by to achieve the 'ton'.

So here I was, a 20-year-old girl - the only girl among a group of lads who also loved to ride (and race!) motorbikes. Usually the thrill of the speed satisfied us, but this night, we found ourselves discussing 'what is life really all about?'. One of the lads happened to mention that his mother went to a church in Chessington, and so we agreed to pay the church a visit and see if we could discover if there really was a purpose for life.

The service didn't answer any of my questions - in fact I was bored stiff. I just wanted to get out as quickly as possible! As I was leaving, a man asked me if I was a visitor. I told him that I was moving to Bournemouth in a few weeks in connection with my job. Imagine my surprise when he suddenly produced a magazine from a church in Bournemouth. It happened to be Lansdowne Baptist Church. He told me that their previous minister, had just moved to become minister at that church. I thought it was quite an amazing coincidence, but when I got home I threw the magazine in the bin and forgot about it.

I need to go to church

I had been accepted on to a course for training as a Mobility Officer for the Blind, but before I could start the course I had to find a local authority to sponsor me. I had written to all the coastal counties in England and Wales (I just wanted to live by the sea!) asking if they needed a Mobility Officer, and Dorset County Council received my letter the very morning they had been discussing whether they should employ a Mobility Officer. Another amazing coincidence! And so I found myself living in Bournemouth at the end of my course.

It was a few months after my arrival in Bournemouth that a non-Christian friend was staying with me and she woke up on the Sunday morning and said: 'I feel like I need to go to church'. She was experiencing quite a few problems and was depressed. I told her that I didn't know of any, but then suddenly I remembered that church magazine and the name 'Lansdowne Baptist Church'.

We went to a phone box, looked up the name of the church in Yellow Pages, and phoned to ask the times of the services. So off we went to the morning service. My friend was so moved by what she heard that she wanted to go back in the evening.

Things of eternity

After the evening service she asked to speak to the pastor, because she was so troubled. I obviously went with her, and I was very aggressive, sitting there in my leather jacket saying, 'Are you trying to tell me I have to be a Baptist or I'm going to hell?' I remember that we talked to him for literally several hours after the evening service. I knew it was getting very late and the pastor's wife came in and said: 'Do you realise what time it is?' He replied in a very serious tone: 'We are discussing the things of eternity here'. I was so struck by his seriousness. He really believed this was true! Before we left he prayed that neither of us might get any rest until we put our trust in the Lord.

No rest

For the next few days I really couldn't get any rest, so I went back to the church on the following Thursday evening (as the pastor had told me there was a mid-week meeting). That evening he spoke from the book of Genesis.

It got right to my heart. God clearly spoke to me. I just knew with an absolute certainty that it was all true. Although I had been brought up to go to Sunday School it was only now that I understood the difference between knowing about God and knowing God. I know that God put his hand on my life in a wonderful way. I feel he picked me up and carried me to himself!

He was the one who had arranged the coincidences that brought me to a saving knowledge of him.

Engaged to an unbeliever

At this time I was engaged, and it wasn't long before someone got alongside me and explained that the Bible teaches that it is wrong to be married to an unbeliever. This was a very hard time - but I knew that my new relationship with God meant everything to me, and so I really prayed for his leading in this matter. I then read in a book: 'The Lord never weeds a patch to make it barren, but to make room for something more fruitful to grow'. I knew this was God's answer for me, and so I ended the relationship, fully expecting to remain single for the rest of my life.

I had so much I wanted to learn about God, and avidly read my Bible but found many things I didn't understand. A young man at church whom I recognised as having a very deep, real faith, and knew his Bible so well, was a great help to me at that time, answering many of my questions. After a while our respect and friendship grew to love and we were married (despite some spoken reservations from people who saw us as being from opposite ends of the spectrum - I had been a biking tearaway, and Dennis was a godly young man with so much potential!).

No coincidences

After over 20 years of marriage we have known both great joys and encouragements as well as sadness and times of discouragement. Through it all we have learned that there are no 'coincidences' with God - they are times of his wonderful leading and answers to prayer. There is nothing too great for his power, and nothing too small for his love. We marvel at his goodness to us in so many ways. Both of my parents wonderfully came to know the Lord at the end of their lives. God has given us two beautiful daughters who love and serve him. We are so thankful to God for them. But there my story does not end. The Lord continues to lead and direct.

And through another set of amazing circumstances he has now opened doors for my husband and I to serve him among those suffering with HIV/AIDS on the African continent. The wife of the missionary couple we will be working with is in her 30s but is going blind, and so needs mobility training where she is in Africa to enable her to get about safely in that environment. When she learned that I used to be a Mobility Officer for the Blind, she had tears in her eyes and said: 'I think it is just so wonderful that God has brought me into contact with a Mobility Officer.'

'With God things don't just happen,
Everything by him is planned.
So as I face tomorrow with its problems large and small,
I'll trust the God of miracles,
Give to him my all.'

From biker to believer

I need to go to church

Things of eternity

No rest

Engaged to an unbeliever

No coincidences

Sheila Eaton

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