Last Night at 10.30 pm We Celebrated My 49th Birthday

Those of you who know me are probably thinking Ian thinks he has found the fountain of youth or something. Either that or he has lost his mind. If I remember correctly he is over 70. He is certainly not 49 years old. But I am. Last night I celebrated my Spiritual Birthday – the day I was Born Again by the Spirit of God. I have been following Jesus now for 49 years. Last night I turned 49 years old as a follower of Jesus. Next year will be my 50th Jubilee Year. I find that amazing.

Before Tania and I first met, Tania used to pray that God would show her that He was real and that He would show her who to marry. For some reason she often put those two prayers together and prayed them for a number of years as a teenager. After our first date she told her sister when she got home that “He is the guy I am going to marry”. And she also had the sense that God was real. The uncanny thing about all that was that I was an atheist. There had been no talk that night of spiritual things or God. In fact if there had been I would have run a mile. But still Tania had a conviction on both of the things she had been praying about. We went out for two and half years before getting engaged. Soon after buying the ring I noticed that Tania was not wearing it. When I asked her about it she told me “I read a Bible verse the other night that tells me I can’t marry you unless you are a Christian.” The verse of course was 2 Cor 6:14. I know it well. It messed up my life. Well in truth it turned my life the right way up. My response to Tania’s ultimatum? “Ok, then give me the ring. I am leaving. There is no way I am becoming a Christian.”

Tania knew I was a hard-headed atheist and there was no way I was going to fall on my knees and accept the Lord in order to marry her. Besides she didn’t want that anyway. She didn’t want me deciding to become a Christian in order to marry her. That’s not a good basis for marriage. What was she going to do? In March 1973 she told me she couldn’t marry me unless I was a Christian and showed me the verse she had read. What did I do? I was true to her predictions. I didn’t fall on my knees and ask “what must I do to be saved?” I said, “OK if that’s the case, it’s over. Give me the ring back.  I am not becoming a Christian in order to marry you.” I took the ring and walked. I lasted three weeks. Then I had a genius moment and realised what I had to do. I knew she was the one I wanted to marry and so I would show her that this God stuff was nonsense. That became my mission. I didn’t realise then that it was mission impossible. I was fighting God not just Tania.  God brought Tania a new boss and he would build her up when I would try to knock down her faith. That went on for 6 months until 19th August 1973 at 10.30 pm I became a Christian. God honoured the commitment Tania made to 2 Cor 6:14.

Tania had asked me to a George Curle meeting. At first I refused; there is no way I wanted God or religion. But she said to me, “You are one-eyed. You don’t want to hear the other side, just what you think. Come and listen to what he has to say.” That comment made me think I would go along for a laugh. So on Sunday night, 19th of August, 1973 I went to listen to George Curle talk about Evolution and Creation. I had had opportunities to “accept God” a couple of times before August 19th 1973, but I passed them by. But I had questions in my mind related to the theory of evolution which nobody had really addressed. That Sunday George answered many of those questions through what he talked on. What he had to say shook my foundations. Rather than get involved in emotional religion there was no way I was going up for the call to “come and give your life to Jesus”. But I still had questions, so I waited and watched George until all the people around him had gone. Then I went up to talk to him.

I had more questions which I fired at him. What surprised me was not so much the answers he gave, but the times he said, “Ian I can’t give you an answer as deep as I sense you want on that question. But I encourage you to keep seeking. Ask God to show you the answer you are looking for.” That impressed me. Lecturers at university wouldn’t confess to not knowing. Yet this guy could confess he didn’t know everything. He told me to seek God and He would show me. I said to George Curle that Sunday night, “No George, I am not a faith person. I operate on the facts, not faith.” He said, “Ian, everyone is a faith person. God will never give you all the answers. He will always leave you a faith-gap short.”

I went away to ponder what he had told me. That night on my bed I concluded George had poked holes in the theory of evolution enough to get my attention and make me realise what I thought I knew; this church guy had shown to be wrong in just one night. Who was I to say what he was saying about Jesus Christ was wrong? I knew NOTHING about Christ. So Sunday night 19th of August 1973 at 10.30 pm I knelt down beside my bed and told Jesus I was sorry for the way I had been living as though He didn’t exist. I asked Him to forgive me and show to me He was indeed all that George Curle had told me. I lay back down on my bed and had the sense that something had happened. There had been a transaction taken place between me and God. From that moment on I had a voracious appetite to know all that I could about God. At that moment my life was changed and I had been Born Again, just like Jesus told Nicodemus.

Tania and I last night, Friday night, 19th of August 2022, some time after 10.30 pm spent time thanking God for all He has done in our lives since then. I have never doubted the reality of Christ in my life since that day 49 years ago. I have had moments when I doubted whether I was hearing from Him or whether they were just my thoughts. I have had moments too where I doubted whether God was going to answer my prayers. But I have become more and more convinced of the reality of Christ in my life as we have lived this life together for the glory of God.

How could I do otherwise when God has done all He has in our lives over these 49 years. Last night Tania and I sang the song from memory:

• He has brought us this far by His grace.
• He has led us by fire and by cloud
• To bring us to Zion His praises to sing
• Oh blessed oh blessed be God

• Blessed be God, Blessed be God
• Oh blessed oh blessed be God

• He has sheltered us under his wing
• And He’s planned every path that we’ve trod
• To bring us to Zion to look on His face
• Oh blessed Oh blessed be God.

• Blessed be God, Blessed be God
• Oh blessed oh blessed be God

It really has been like that for 49 years. God has led us in ways that are astounding. Here are a few of the things He has done in our lives over these forty nine years:-

God has given us statements of what He would do and then remarkably confirmed what it was that He had told us. Like God’s prophetic word through Weston Finlay. (Gem 431)

God has healed me on a number of occasions. (Gem 1644)

Many times God has spoken to us together in specific ways. (Gem 1656)

God led us to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1981 (see the latest Wycliffe magazine which features the story of Letting God Put it Together) https://wycliffenz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Living-Words-ISSUE-14-Winter2022-lowres1.pdf

God has enabled us to work with Wycliffe since 1981 on the basis of faithful supporters like many of you. Workers in banks and tax departments in NZ and Indonesia find that astounding.

God has spared my life on numbers of occasions, being taken out to sea in Bali, through two heart attacks and two TIA.

God has spoken to me in many ways and given me revelations and insights into His Word. (Gem 1383, Hearing God’s Voice 15).

God has also rebuked me on numbers of occasions. (Hearing God’s Voice 17).

God has even given us light like the Israelites in Goshen. (Gem 1589).

God designed my Bible College course just for me. (Hearing God’s Voice 12)

God’s answers in response to our prayers have been amazing like when God returned to us a huge sum of lost money in Indonesia. (app25)

Reflecting on my 49 (seven weeks of years) I have been blown away by all the things that God has done for us over these forty nine years. It is been an adventure to say the least and all of the above experiences and many more have convinced me that God is exactly who He said He is. I have learned to trust Him with my life and my heart over 49 years. Bring on the rest of what’s ahead LORD. I want to continue to offer You my life as a living sacrifice with every atom of my being.

I want to live life to the full and suck all the marrow out of life so that when I come sliding into home base I can shout, “Thank You God for such a wonderful ride.”

Ian