A TINY BOOK TO CELEBRATE A VERY SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY

Today, 22nd September, is the 40th anniversary of the day I became a Christian. I was an Anglican church-goer, and was invited by some friends to attend a large non-denominational rally in a neighbouring city. For several months I had been struggling with my spirituality, being challenged to go deeper and make a real commitment, and at the same time being scared to do so. It was a time of considerable turmoil. I cannot go into my whole testimony here but there had been many “signposts” in my life which led me to this point.

There was a time of worship at the beginning of the meeting, and I considered this to be a “softening up process” for what was to come. I was feeling pretty cynical about the whole thing and had gone along fairly reluctantly. I’d heard about Billy Graham rallies where he said, “I want you to get up out of your seats…” and I told my friends I was having none of that! They smiled indulgently at me, and we went in.

When the speaker came onto the platform, I was quite unprepared for what he had to say. There were hundreds of people in the hall, and it was as if he was speaking to me alone. I had always believed in God in a theoretical sort of way, and apart from a few years in my early 20s when I gave up going to church, I had been a regular attendee at the Church of England. As a family we always attended church on Sundays, and as children, went to Sunday school. We attended Church of England-based schools and had regular house prayers, church attendance and daily school assembly services. As a result of all this, much of the Bible was familiar to me, but it was head knowledge only. I went for confirmation when I was 12, and in the preparation, we were told that “Jesus died for our sins,” and what the Holy Communion was for and so on, but it wasn’t personal, and none of it sank in. Nobody really explained what salvation actually was, and how it impacted the life of the individual. When it actually happened for me, I was annoyed that in all my church-going years, nobody had ever explained any of it. It was all empty ritual and words that had little impact, and church-going was just an activity that we “did” as a cultural thing.

What that speaker did was to confront his audience with the nature of sin – rebellion against God’s holy laws, independence of God, and “doing our own thing.” I was brought face to face with the mess I was making of my life – I had tried all my life to do it my own way and all I had was failure, disappointment, false happiness which didn’t last, emotional problems and the rest – and it wasn’t a pretty sight. I had been brought to the end of myself.

This is where we all need to come. We cannot be saved if we do not know what we need saving from, and if we don’t recognise our need of a Saviour. The ultimate result of this independence and rebellion against the God who created us and loves us, and who wants only the best for us, which is a personal relationship with Him, is an eternity in torment in hell. Because we all inherit the sin nature from Adam, this is the default destination for us all, because as the Bible says, we have all sinned, and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and we cannot enter heaven and live in the presence of God if we are still in this sinful, unsaved state. If we did, heaven would become just as bad as the earth, with all its problems and suffering which are the direct result of our sin. The problem seems hopeless, but God made a way for us – The Way – Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18).

This is the heart of the Gospel, which means the “Good News.” God has made the way for us to be reconciled to Himself, by sending us His Son to take our sin punishment on Himelf. He lived a perfectly sinless life and offered Himself as the sacrifice, the death penalty which was the just reward for our sin and rebellion. Because He was without sin, death (the penalty for sin) could not hold Him, and on the third day He rose again, conquering death. This is God’s gift, and we can do absolutely nothing to earn it. All that is required is that we believe it, and receive it, and we are saved and given eternal life from that moment.

This is what was offered to me that evening forty years ago. I was confronted with my own sinfulness and its ultimate conclusion, and shown the way out. Yes, we were asked to “get up out of our seats,” but not come to the front as the logistics of the hall did not make that possible – what I had scoffed at, actually happened, and I did stand up that night, and I did confess my sin and need for a Saviour, and I repented (the Biblical word literally means “to change one’s mind”) and turned to Jesus Christ as my Saviour.

I came away from that meeting a changed person. Everything I had learnt throughout my life from school and church suddenly sprang into 3-D, technicolour life and it all made sense at last. It became REAL.

Over the past forty years there have been many ups and downs, many crises, many doubts and fears, but as He promised in His Word, the Bible, Jesus has never let me down, and I can look back on those years and see how He has nurtured me, guided me, provided for me, challenged me, comforted me, taught me… from the get-go I developed a hunger for the Bible and began studying it in earnest, and have been privileged over the years to have the opportunity to teach small groups. I have attended conferences and seminars, and attended Biblical Hebrew evening classes for five years. I have also been given the opportunity to use my musical ability to lead worship for groups and to be a conduit of God’s blessing to many people through this. All I have learnt and passed on to others has been His doing – gifts say more about the giver than the recipient, and although these days my life is mostly spent quietly at home, I hope that I have used the gifts and talents God has given me wisely over the years.

The number 40 in the Bible speaks of preparation and trial. The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness. Jesus was tempted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. At the end of the many incidences of periods of forty in the Bible, the trials and preparations led to something great, and a time of change. What is in store for me from now on? Only God knows, but I hope I will keep my ears and eyes open to receive His guidance if there is something new He has planned for me.

This is my personal story. For the full Gospel message complete with references from the Bible, please see my page (tabbed above) entitled “New Life in Christ.” To know God’s love, and what salvation means, a good place to start reading in the Bible is the Gospel of John. It has been described as a love letter from God. I am in the process of re-reading this beautiful book right now, and what a blessing it is.

A tiny book

To celebrate this special day, I have made myself a little treasure. A few months ago I came across Lady Miniac on YouTube, and her instructions on how to make miniature Mediaeval books. She has a series of printables available for download, and last week I downloaded and printed them. I printed them larger than her original size which is really very small and I thought I would find it too fiddly. My first book is the equivalent of a little Bible, full of pages of Mediaeval manuscript and illuminations.

The selection of book covers, and pages, come as sheets to print out and cut up. She did hers as a production line on the videos, but I have concentrated on a single book to begin with, so that I could learn the process and practise the method. My little book isn’t perfect, but it is a little treasure to celebrate my special “born again birthday” forty years on from the initial event!

This picture shows the cover, cut out and folded into shape, and alongside it is the block of pages, clipped together while the glue along one edge can dry.

Lady Miniac recommended a half-cylinder piece of plastic to pad out the curved spine, but I didn’t have anything like that. I used hot glue instead, and that seemed to work fine, although I did put in a little bit too much!

Once the glue on the book block has dried, it is glued inside the cover, and the endpapers are added, making everything secure. Lady Miniac made two subsequent videos on the decoration and embellishment of her little books but I have not gone to all the trouble of adding metal elements and clasps etc. Some specialist materials seem to be involved in this, which I don’t have. However, I took her advice and added some gilding wax, and also some gold heat embossing and a few tiny gems, to make my little “Bible” look rich and authentic.

Here are the pictures of the finished book.

As you can see, it’s about 2 1/2 inches tall.

The gold heat embossing gives a lovely rich, vintage look with its texture.

The back of the book has exactly the same design as the front, but I have left it unembellished.

The endpapers.

Here are some examples of the illustrated pages inside.

You will see from these pictures that I have gilded the page edges, using gilding wax.

Here is a close-up of the front cover embellishment. I drew the shapes with an embossing pen and then sprinkled on the gold embossing powder and heat-set it. I love the mottled appearance that has resulted! The tiny gems were stuck down with gemtac glue. If they fall off, I’ll stick them back on again with superglue.

Here’s a final look at the front cover again.

I have written an inscription inside the front cover, with the date. A special little memorial for myself, of a very special day in my life – then, 22nd September 1984, and today, forty years on. What a journey it has been, and what an exciting future lies ahead:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).