In January 1937, I was born into a family of twelve – four girls and eight boys. I  grew up in the village of Annalong County Down, Northern Ireland.

We were a poor, hard-working family. My father was a stonemason and worked in the mountains around Annalong, taking out granite slabs. While we were not too religious, there was some reverence for God and a respect for the Sabbath, as it was called.

Early Impressions Made

When I was about six or seven, I remember the Church of Ireland preacher coming to our community. We lived about a mile north of the village, and when making his rounds, he told the folks that he was coming to the little church hall for one week of nightly meetings.

The meetings in the church hall commenced, and each evening, the little hall was packed to capacity. Most of our large family attended. There were farmers, fishermen, and hard-working men from other occupations. As the man preached very fervently each evening, impressions were made on my young mind.

The preacher spoke faithfully and seemed to have a balanced message. When he spoke of the love of God, he would quote the words of that grand hymn:

I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me –
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

How marvellous, how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be;
How marvellous, how wonderful
Is my Saviour’s love to me.

This hymn was sung each night. Then, the preacher would give the other side of the story as he told the dear people that an awful day of wrath was coming. Most solemnly, he would quote Revelation 6:14-17 and quote: “…for the great day of His wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?” The meetings ended, and most of what I heard was forgotten, but the impressions remained.

Venturing into a Larger World

The years passed by. When I was 18, I left home to work as a crane operator in Northwest Scotland during the construction of the hydro dam in Glascarnoch.

While there, I became friends with Hugh Kelly, another young man from Northern Ireland. Eventually, we decided to look for work in Canada and emigrate there. In 1957, we arrived in Montreal on a BOAC flight (British Overseas Airways), and then we travelled to Toronto. After spending some time there, we took the train out to Vancouver on the west coast of Canada.

The Bus Stop Bench

We walked the streets of Vancouver for days in search of work. One hot afternoon, tired and weary, walking eastward on Broadway St., we decided to take a bus. We found a bench at the bus stop, sat down, and waited. On the back of most of these benches, there were advertisements, but on this particular one was a verse from the Bible and the address of Mount Pleasant Gospel Hall. The verse was from John Chapter 3.

Jesus said: “You must be born again.” John 3:7

This didn’t mean much to me, but Hugh wrote down the address and time of the Gospel services.

The following Sunday, for the first time in my life, I ventured over the threshold of a Gospel Hall. That evening, I sat in my first gospel meeting. As I listened to what the man was preaching, I must say it was all foreign to me.

Preacher’s Story Made an Impression

Although I remembered very little of what the man preached, one story he told made a lasting impression on me. He shared an incident that happened when he was in South America. He was preaching the Gospel message each night, and a Christian widow was deeply concerned about the spiritual needs of her teenage son. She asked the preacher to invite him to attend a Gospel service. The opportunity arose on Tuesday of that week for the missionary to do just that. He asked the young man to come along to the meetings. The widow’s son replied: “I won’t be there this week as I have a date with my girlfriend on Friday, and we are going to a dance, but I promise I will attend your meeting on Sunday.” The young man worked in the shipyard, and his work took him high up on the ship. On Thursday, he lost his balance or misplaced his foot while at work and fell to his death on the ship’s steel deck. Without any notice or warning, he left the shores of time and entered the confines of eternity — never to come back. He didn’t get to the dance, and neither did he get to hear the Gospel. This incident made a lasting impression on my mind.

Searching Question Asked During Car Ride

The next Sunday, we were invited for the day to a Christian home. After the evening meal, the host asked us if we would like to go to a meeting that night. He said we would meet many people from Belfast, Northern Ireland. We agreed to attend, and once again, we listened to the Gospel being preached.

Another Christian couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Rolston, invited us to their home the following Sunday. That afternoon they kindly gave us a tour of the beautiful city of Vancouver. During the drive, Hugh asked them for their phone number. Mrs. Rolston very kindly said: “Our name and number are in the phone book, and my name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life — how about yours?” Hugh answered in the affirmative. She then asked me, “How about yours, Noel?” I said: “I’m sorry to say my name is not in the Book of Life.” I wished I could have replied positively. These people had a real interest in our souls and showed us no small kindness.

Before I heard the clear truth from the Bible regarding our status before God, I thought we were all God’s children and that, eventually, we would all land in Heaven. But after hearing the  Word of God preached several times in Vancouver, my spiritual need became very evident.

Thy word is a lamp onto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

Genuine Desire Awakened Within My Soul

By this time, I had been privileged to attend six or seven Gospel meetings and had several conversations with Christians about my soul. My need to be saved was weighing heavily on my mind. Within my heart, there was a genuine desire to know Christ as my Saviour and be sure of being in Heaven at the end of life. My yearnings were like Job’s in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Oh, that I knew where I might find Him.” Job 23:3

On this website, read the popular and helpful pamphlet God’s Way of Salvation

Singing on the Job

In the middle of the second week of September 1957, I was working with Alaska Pine Sawmill, one of the large mills on the Fraser River near Vancouver. That night, between 10:30 and 11:00, the words of Anna B Warner’s classic children’s hymn were going through my mind:

On heaven4sure read the story behind “Jesus Loves Me” and the author of the song
that has been sung around the world for 100+ years by clicking here.

Jesus loves me; this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak, but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me –
The Bible tells me so.

And then another stanza came to my mind:

Jesus loves me – He who died
Heaven’s Gates to open wide.
He will wash away my sin
Let His ransomed ones come in.

The Lamb of God

I hadn’t heard many Gospel messages, and I had very little exposure to or knowledge of the Bible – the Word of God. But that night, singing Jesus Loves Me, on the old wooden platform, for the first time in my life, I understood and appreciated the marvellous truth about the Lord Jesus Christ — the Lamb of God died in my stead and bore my sins in His own body.

In childlike simplicity, I took that noble truth to myself and, at that very moment, passed from death to life. I became the possessor of eternal life, saved from Hell and fitted for Heaven on the sole ground of the finished work of Christ, my Redeemer. I thank God for the truth of those words in Galatians Chapter 2 of the Bible:

The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

A New Life

After God saved me, I had a new desire to read God’s precious Word. While others played cards on their lunch breaks and bus commutes to work, I was now using the time to read my Bible and grow in Christ. After some time, I was baptized and received into the fellowship of the Woodland Drive local Christian assembly in Vancouver.

After training as a barber in Edmonton, AB, I returned to Annalong, NI and worked there for several years as a barber. I had the privilege of reconnecting with my family and sharing with them and many others the peace and joy I had found in knowing Christ as my personal Saviour.

The Lord worked in my life and placed a desire in my heart to devote all my time to preaching the Gospel. In May 1968, I moved to the east coast of Canada and took up residence on PEI, where my wife Sharon and I have lived and raised our four children. Over the past five decades and a little bit more, I have had the wonderful privilege of sharing Christ publicly from platforms and privately with individuals throughout North America and beyond.

Since God saved me in September 1957, through all the hills and valleys of life, I can say that God has done nothing but good to me and has always been there for me.  This Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, will do the same for you. He is worthy of your acceptance.