Brian’s story | Finding joy and life in Jesus

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“I always thought that Christians were narrowminded killjoys. My dad was a non-practising Catholic, and my mum was an Anglican. They disagreed on what church we would be baptised into (and Mum won out with Anglican) but neither of my parents were churchgoers so, therefore didn’t take us to church. I was baptised at 14 but it meant nothing to me.

I remember, though, having a Scripture teacher who had a terminal diagnosis. I couldn’t believe how calm she was. She was not frightened of dying at all. It stuck in me.

After school, I went to Ag College for two years and then I went to the Hunter Valley and then to Moree for work as a station hand. We were doing cattle mustering, calf marking and weed control. I was drinking and enjoying myself.

Then one day in 1974, I went to a wedding. I was the best man. I hadn’t met the bridesmaid before that day, but we were standing there in church, and she walked in. She was the most beautiful lady in the whole world. She still is! I was besotted with her. Afterwards, we started seeing each other. I knew she was a Christian, but it didn’t matter. We were married 18 months later, and Marg came to live with me on the farm, in Moree.

It was a big change for her, after growing up in Newcastle. We were in the middle of nowhere, no phone or anything like that. Five years later, we moved to Walcha. I was a Farm Manager by then, and several years later I became a Livestock Buyer. In those years, Marg used to go to church when she could. But I still thought church people were killjoys. They didn’t understand the world.

But when we moved to Walcha, Marg became more regular in going to church. By then, our third son was born, and we wanted to get him baptised, so we both went to the church, and we had to do one of those courses (Christianity Explained). The minister was a prim and proper English fellow. He was the last person who you’d think I would connect with.

I remember, though, during the course, he challenged me. He said, “You can’t sit on the fence. You have to decide who Jesus is. Do you believe in him?”

I thought about it for a while… and then I accepted Jesus as my Saviour. I knew it was true. I was 28 years old. I remember The Holy Spirit coming on me. It was so real. I’m a changed

person, now. I was quick-tempered before that, but God is changing me. It’s been pretty slow but I’m a far better person now, less angry.

After that, we all started going to church as a family and it was a crucial time for us. All our sons became Christians over the years, and they married girls in the church. There are 18 of us in the Walcha church now!

Being a Livestock Buyer has been hard, though, as a Christian. It’s a really tough job, especially in dry times. You have to decide the price the farmers get for their produce. You have to be fair. People are often doing it really tough on the land… and I feel more like a counsellor, than a Livestock Buyer. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, a really tough industry and it’s hard to find the fair line. But one day, some years ago, I met a guy a truck driver who knew me and he found out I was a Christian. He said to me, “I knew there was something different about you!”

That was really good. It was encouraging. People had noticed I was different. It was because of my faith. My favourite verse is John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I love everything about that verse. God loves us. He saves us. We can trust him!”

Brian’s story is part of the Faith Stories series, compiled by Naomi Reed.

Visit Koorong to purchase Naomi’s Faith Stories book, Every Moment, Everywhere: https://koorong.com/everymoment