Sid's Story

When I was 12 years old, I went to live with my grandmother. The house we lived in had a lot of strange spiritual activity and, as a child, I used to see and hear spirits. That was my only experience of anything ‘spiritual’. Years later, I was working in a print factory and one of the bosses, Neil, was a Christian. I think I made his life a misery, as I used to tease him and try to embarrass him. I’d never met a Christian before - I thought it was really amusing. I wondered why he always read his Bible, rather than the newspaper like the rest of us. 

Although I knew there was a spiritual world (because of my childhood experiences), the only thing I now did religiously was go to the pub on a Friday night. One night, a group of us were heading off for some drinks when we were involved in a terrible car accident - one of my friends in the car was killed. I was seriously injured and spent a long time in hospital with broken legs and a broken back. I had a lot of time to think and I blamed God for what He had done to me and to my friends. When I got better, I took off to a new job in the Middle East. I made a real mess of things there, started drinking and ended up breaking my contract in order to get back to the UK. When I returned, Neil, the supervisor from my old factory, was now running his own busy printing firm and he was printing this little booklet called the Word For Today. 

He offered my wife a job and one day when I went to pick her up, the printing press was broken. Neil was distraught and at the point of tears, as he couldn’t find anyone to fix it and the Word For Today needed to be urgently printed. I don’t know how, but I looked at the machine and I was able to fix it…and the printing continued. Even though I wasn’t a believer, I believe that God helped me to fix that machine. 

Somehow, I knew that I needed to be there, working for Neil. It meant a 50 per cent pay cut but I was drawn back there, and I used to read the Word For Today as it came off the presses. One night, Neil gave me a CD with a man singing a song from Psalm 23 and as I sat there, alone in the factory, I raised my hands and I was crying. I knew that God was speaking to me, and I knew that if I asked for forgiveness, God would set me free and He would heal me of all my pain.

That was the day I stopped running from God and since then, I have not looked back. Today, I am working with the Christian Motorcyclists Association.

I can’t say how thankful I am to God for all that He’s done in my life. He’s fixed my hurt and pain, He’s stopped me from running and He’s given me hope.

In my life, God has worked through so many different means: through Neil, through the bikers, through the UCB Word For Today and through everyone who prayed for me.