Richard & Jayne's Story

Christmas is a good reminder to us where our journey took off, really, because we went to a new church, we loved what we saw and I think that in itself brought us to life again.My name is Jayne.My name is Richard.And this is our story.I come from a very loving home and mum and dad weren't church goers but they sent me and my sister to Sunday school.I loved Sunday school and I knew I wanted to follow Jesus.I've always been in the church 'cause mum and dad were the vergers.Probably didn't really believe in it0Went to Sunday to school because I had to go to Sunday school0I used to play a lot of snooker at the Conservative Club and then this young lady came in there one night and I started chatting her up in the bar and her personality was kind, loving, caring and then I married Jayne0Well, a Christmas project we got involved with because of my daughter, Abby0She was part of the choir"0I was invited to go along to 'Let the Bells ring out' and we went along0It was just something about this chap on the stage, I loved the way he spoke and I said, "I'd just love to go along and hear him talk some time00That next Sunday we went down and we didn't look back0It was just like somebody had flicked on a switch0Something I'd never, ever experienced in my life"0It was amazing0And then somebody said to me, "why don't you do an Alpha Course0 So, yeah, we duly signed up for it and it was just like my whole world had changed0I work at the Port of Felixstowe, as a vessel controller"0The guys at work said to me, "what's different about you0We can see there's a difference about you"0 I even took my Bible into work one day and talked to people about it and, "do you know"0I haven't read my Bible for so long0 I said, "well, if you've got it, get it out and read it00I think you never stop growing and you never stop learning and even in the last five years a lot has happened to us as a family but all through that I can feel that God's been with me0So, Christmas has always been extra special to see all those children, to see all those non0Christian families to try and get the message across to them and you just hope what difference you can make to those children at Christmas