The hot desert wind had been blowing all day but now the night was cool and silent. I had stood alone, for some time, on the edge of the Saharan sand seas watching Venus the evening star appear in the darkening sky. The heavens displayed a riot of colours too beautiful and breathtaking to describe as the sun sank behind the distant horizon.

I continued to gaze heavenward towards the great swath of the Milky Way; myriads of stars that comprise our own galaxy, iridescent against the dark background. A great silence and stillness pervaded the whole scene. The immensity, grandeur and majesty of it all overwhelmed my spirit and declared with the Psalmist of old, ‘the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament his handiwork’.

Almost fifteen years previous to this desert experience while living in Gibraltar, my wife and I had stood observing the sky one night but without the overwhelming sense of the power, presence and majesty of God I later experienced in the desert. Many questions flooded our mind. Where did all things come from? What was the purpose of life? Is there really a God who created all things? Is there a heaven and a hell? What about Jesus we had been taught about in Sunday School? Were the things our friends had been telling us about the Bible, Jesus and salvation really true?

Barbara and I were deeply affected by our friends’ testimony concerning their experience of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They showed us from the Bible that the reason why there is so much evil, suffering and pain in the world is because people have turned their backs on God and gone their own sinful ways. That is what sin is, not only doing wrong things, but turning away from our Creator in unbelief. The consequences of this are seen all around us now, but there are also eternal consequences; separation from him and his love and presence for all eternity. Our friends pointed to those passages of the Bible which teach that though God hates and judges sin he loves all those who sincerely seek him and come to know him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Soon after our friends had spoken to us, Jehovah’s Witnesses appeared at the door with their plausible, and as we realized later, erroneous doctrines. They were so confident in their predictions concerning the future and other issues. We listened to them and got to know them quite well but because they taught different things than our friends we became perplexed and concerned about what was truth and what was error. Eventually we decided that if God was true and real why not ask him to help us in our quest for the truth. Which we did.

A short time later our friends introduced us to an Army Scripture Reader (a missionary to the forces) who came to our home and spoke to us from the Bible. We sincerely thank God for John who patiently answered our many questions and taught us the truths of salvation.

We began to understand that God is a Holy God and he must judge sin, but in his love he has provided a way of salvation in the Lord Jesus when he suffered and died on the cross of Calvary to pay the penalty for sin and make it possible for the sinner to be forgiven. We felt convicted of our need for God’s forgiveness, which we sought, and as we trusted in Jesus we experienced a great sense of peace and joy; knowing we were reconciled to him. This experience occurred some forty years ago and though we have failed God in so many ways we can testify to his love and kindness to us over the years and the blessing of knowing we are his children, and one day we shall have the joy of seeing and being with our Saviour in heaven.

Ron and Barbara Shipton