[guide.chat] In Reply To: My story, Part three.
- From: "M BOWKER" <bowker288@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Guide Chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 16:33:26 +0100
Hi Jim, how we have all had to learn to cope with life in different ways. With
all these storys its begining to show up. I hope your future life continues to
be full for you.
Malcolm
I left my story with me having to leave Uni - my ambition shattered at
twenty years old. You can imagine how I felt about that. Of course, like others
on the chat room, finding work was an impossibility - for a start, because of
my pituitary problem, my sense of touch was, and still is, erratic. That put
braille out of the question. Even Jumbo braille was hard for me to feel. A very
good friend of mine, then a senior Social Worker, taught me Moon, but there was
so little available there that it was a waste of time. To cap it all, because I
wasn't in full time employment or study, I had to hand back my CCTV, so I
couldn't access print.
There was no way I could afford one of my own.
I had to give my books - all of them - away. That was like saying goodbye to
old friends.
Talking of friends, where was God when I needed GHim? So much for trusting
Him! .......but.........someone from the Luis Palau Crusade committee for
Ayrshire contacted me, asking if I wanted to be involved in working with an
outreach. I accepted, and, for the duration of the campaign, acted as a
counsellor, helping new converts deal with their decisions.
Two weeks after that, our minister at the time, who was becoming profoundly
deaf, asked me to take over the Christian Education side of the Boys' Brigade -
and run the local Youth Fellowship.
From being bored stiff, I found I was finding it hard to find time to relax!
Opportunities sort of arrived, by coincidence - though I don't believe in that
kind of coincidence - to spend three months on Iona, with the Iona Community,
then a further two months working in their drug rehab unit in Glasgow. Speaking
engagements from local church groups followed....it's OK talking to a bunch of
kids, or people your own age, but when you have to stand up in front of women
who knew you you when you were in nappies, and talk to them....well, all I can
say is being blind was great! I couldn't see them falling asleep.
Through all the ups and downs, my mum was there, supporting me. As an
only child, we relied on each other. By the time I was thirty - in 1990 - mum
had developed rheumatoid arthritis, and I was becoming more her helper than
vice versa. She was such a blessing, such a friend to me, that no words could
adequately express how much I owe to her.When she, like me, became a Christian,
it was probably the greatest moment in my life.
When I was thirty-five, I got a CCTV of my own, and was able to start
reading again. OK, my reading is slow, and it takes so long to get through even
a slim volume, but at east I can read a bit.
By this time, I was active in the local blind scene, having been a member of
the Kilmarnock club since 18, and founding the Cumnock Club in 1988. We also
set up a Torch Fellowwship Group for Ayrshire, a group where V.I. Christians
could meet and share our experience.
Spring Harvest - A Christian worship event - was an annual 'must'; also
Greenbelt, where all kinds of Christian art and music met...if you've ever
heard of Christian heavy metal music, you'll know what I'm on about.
So, as I approached my fortieth birthday -24 September 2000, looking back, the
shock of leaving Uni and a health breakdown weren't as bad as they could have
been.
End of part three.
Jim
PTL!
Skype jim.liddell6
.
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