MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR:

In my short, recorded message I was able to draw attention to the success of Adel, the son of Ismael and Ghofran, our wonderful family from Syria. With so many others, yesterday he received his exam results and Mr David Hayes, the Head Teacher of SFX, was kind enough to email me with a photograph of Adel, holding the good news in one hand and punching the air with the other! Hopefully, he will now be able to take up a place at university and pursue his dreams. It is to the great credit of everyone that this whole venture has been so successful. I want to renew my thanks to the members of the team who pooled their resources to ensure that the family was made welcome to this country, and just as importantly, have continued to support them throughout the best part of the past five years. My hope is that all our young people receiving their results around this time are similarly happy with the outcome. However, should any be disappointed, may I offer a word of encouragement: I did not do well at A level, but other avenues and opportunities do open up for us in life. If we can put our faith in the providence of God, we will know that the Lord can turn everything to good: see St Paul’s letter to the Romans, 8:28.                 

It was when I looked back on my life some years ago and, after a particularly challenging period, that I felt the need to write my book, Take Heart. It was an attempt to piece together the story and share it with others. It was explained like this on the back cover: “By sharing his own story and meditation on the scriptures, he shows that it is by living through times of disappointment and difficulty that we can often find that the love of God is revealed.”