Gary

Roberts

I'm Garry Roberts and attend All Saints Wick where I am now a Church Warden. In 2004 I took my daughter for baptism thinking I was just going to get her 'done' and then never have to step foot in a Church again.

I wouldn't really say I came from a Christian family, My Mum was brought up a Catholic but never went to Church and my Dad was a self proclaimed atheist. I did go to church with the Sea Scouts on Remembrance Day and St George's day, but that was only because if we didn't attend at least one of these you couldn't do the fun stuff like camping in the New Forest! But in 2003 my then Girlfriend (now wife) Nicky became pregnant and we moved from our flat to a house in preparation for the arrival. As I'm sure all first time fathers feel, I began questioning whether I was going to be any good as a Father and I found myself doing some rather strange things like speaking to God (who at that moment in time I didn't even believe existed!) and whilst surfing the internet found myself compelled to visit amazon.com and buy a bible!! The praying continued and I felt another strange feeling, the need to go to Church, but the huge wooden doors, the fear of not knowing what went on inside kept me out. Also as I spent most of my RE lessons at school stood outside the room for being naughty I really didn't know much about the 'Rules' of going to church but was sure I had heard that the big rule was 'No Sex before marriage' so felt with that there was no chance of being allowed to join the church! I'd also recently lost both my Nan who died of cancer and my best friend had died a few years previously so thought 'if there really was a God he would never have let 2 of my closest friends die, and even if he did he would never be interested in me and my less than angelic history of drinking and taking drugs' so tried to get the 'stupid' idea out of my head.

On Easter Sunday 2003 my Daughter Caitlin was born and as she approached her 1st birthday I thought it was time we got her 'done' as that's the thing to do isn't it! So I emailed St James in Littlehampton ( as I had been in that Church with the scouts so knew what it looked like inside so that would be one less thing to worry about) and thought 'I don't need to tell them I'm not married, just get her done and then I will never have to see them again. They advised that because I didn't live in the parish I needed to call my local Vicar, I did as I was told and made an appointment with Revd. Stephen Hudson to come and see us. He came and saw us and to my horror asked if me and Nicky were married.... as I said no he just filled in his form and carried on our chat (phew I had got away with it!) When we told Stephen she was born on Easter Sunday he told us that in the olden times baptism was traditionally done at Easter so we booked her in for Easter Sunday 2004.

So the day arrived and the plan was all we had to do was get the service out of the way, collect her candle for her keepsake box and we could get on with the party... God however had a hugely different plan! As I stood to confess my faith in Jesus all I remember is I thought 'I cant do this' then... BANG!... it felt as if somebody had hit the big pause button and the whole world stopped. I felt an immense sense of being loved like never before and heard God tell me that he knows everything about me and no matter what I have done I can never stop him loving me he loves me regardless. Then as quick as it seemed to stop, the world started again and I felt amazing and to be honest the next bit was all a blur as I tried to figure out what had happened. When the time came to hand Caitlin to Stephen she began to cry and I felt I should wait for her to calm down first, then again the World seemed to stop and I heard God say 'Hand her over, she knows you still love her and are there for her even though you are letting her go. Just as I have been with you and loving you since you were a baby' and I saw myself in key moments in my life and Jesus was there in all of them. The world started up again and I was overwhelmed with feelings I still struggle to put into words now, I remember singing the songs and really believing the words but apart from that the service was a blur.

I carried on going to church from that day on. I joined a home group and was confirmed 6 months later. God has been doing amazing things in my life since that day, as has even shown me where he was in my past when I wasn't aware and I get the feeling he has many more good things up his sleeve for me.. My wife began coming to church with me and was confirmed last year (Keep your eye peeled for her story on here soon) and we, Caitlin and our other children Joshua and Meghan attend All Saints.