Born in 1967, in Basingtoke, England, as the illegitimate son of a single mum, I was adopted from a children's home as a baby.

My adoptive parents never made any secret of my background, in fact they always made a point of telling me how "special" this made me. I was chosen!

The problem with this was, as a young child growing up, with low self esteem and problems with relating to people, I saw it differently. I had been dumped!

This caused me to grow up with a "chip" on my shoulder - an attitude problem that would bring me into conflict with both my peers, and my elders. I seemed especially to have problems with anyone in authority.

Things went from bad to worse, with my eventual departure from home at a young age, where the "worse" rapidly descended to rock bottom.

At this time, I found myself homeless in the city, exploited by others until eventually - after a number of run-ins with the police and an indepth acquaintance with all kinds of sin - I narrowly escaped prison and was helped back onto my feet by a somewhat unlikely Samaritan.

Part of this process led me into contact with a bunch of young Christians who, at the time (or so it felt), plagued me! I was being pursued by the hounds of heaven!

At a low point, I made a "commitment" to God along the lines of "show me what you can do, and I'll show you what I can do"!

In fairness to myself, I stuck to my side of the bargain. I went to church, read my Bible and did all the things that I thought I was meant to do. It was during the fourth week of the month long "trial period" that I went to a "midweek meeting". A sign, I felt, that I was really getting somewhere!

The sermon that night was Matthew 24 verse 37 - "as it was in the days of Noah.."

At the end of the sermon, when the evangelist made his call, he then declared - with a certainty that could only come from God (as only God and I knew about our bargain) - that God had kept His side of the bargain for the month and was now asking whether the other person was prepared to keep their side.

What's a man to do?!

At that point, and very dramatically, I was taken from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light and I have been able ever since to live as a Christian knowing exactly what that means, in relation to how I lived before that point.

It has not been easy for me - the lure of my previous life has called many times - however with the Grace of God I have always been able to continue following the Lord.

The testimony continues, however my experiences to date enable me to powerfully declare the grace, the goodness, and the majesty of Jesus, not only in my life but the lives of all believers and those yet to believe.