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My life before I became
a follower of Jesus,
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it was a period in which I was consumed
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by the love of money.
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My name is Manoj and this is my story.
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I was a businessman,
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and my whole world revolved
around trying to buy
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as many blocks as I
could throughout the UK
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to essentially make the
most amount of money
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that I could physically
make in my lifetime.
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In terms of my business,
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2008 was gonna be the big year for us
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but then we all know
what happened in 2008.
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The mortgage market collapsed.
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For me the credit crunch
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was like literally being in an earthquake.
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Everything just started
to crumble overnight.
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It was during that same time that my son
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He was rushed to hospital
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and he was rushed into resuscitation
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where essentially he stopped breathing
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and there were all kinds of complications
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when you're ushered
into the room next door?
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I turned to God in the
hope that he would somehow
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My son was transferred
to St. Thomas' in London
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and then the consultant comes and sees us
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on the fourth day and
says I'm really sorry
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but you know, your son is
not gonna open his eyes
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They were still trying to
work out what was going on,
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and yet, what was resonating
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throughout the four days
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was the fact that this American couple
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that had come over from the States,
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we'd recently befriended them
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and they were praying.
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It really impacted me
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because they called us so many times
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and talked about the church
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lifting up my son in prayer
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and it really gave me a lift
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and what really, really impacted me
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was the fact that this lady in particular
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collapsed on the floor
and wept for my son.
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There was something there
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that I felt that she
had that was different.
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So, on that fourth day the
consultant had said to us
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your son is not gonna open
his eyes for some time yet
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and as she did the ward round,
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my son suddenly just bolted,
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literally just bolted upright in bed
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and as you can imagine,
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there's so much elation
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and there's so much joy
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and I remember turning to my wife
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and said to her that, you know,
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when we get out of this hospital,
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let's just go to that couple's church
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that prayed for our son.
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It was a big sort of experience that I had
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in that church in the sense
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that I literally walked
out a different person.
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My wife really didn't recognise me.
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My mother thought I'd
joined some kind of cult
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because suddenly I wanted
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to try and do everything differently,
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particularly in the area of business.
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Before that I was very, very arrogant,
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very ruthless, and very money driven
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and as someone who had essentially lived
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such a sinful life,
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and in the midst of all of that sin
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there's a God that says I forgive you
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and I'm gonna wipe the slate clean.
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Now how do you get your head round that?