As a small boy in Lionel Town, Jamaica, I was in awe of what I heard and read about our creator God and our Lord Jesus  Christ. And so the songs and hymns were the food that nourished my thoughts with my association with the people around me.

 

My mother Clarice  May, My auntie Gwen  (mum’s aunt), Cousin Alice, ( mum’s aunt Julia’s daughter) Miss Hermin Fenton (mum’s friend , later married named  Dick) I was her page boy the day of her wedding, Goddy Bennett my God  mother.  They were some of the people that really influenced me in the early part of my  journey of faith.  Have you ever heard angels singing? I have! They sang parts such as Alto, Soprano, and ah! Yes, and Mr Holmes who sang Baritone.  I remember him well, he was the local Tax collector, when he sang, all the glass shades and stain glass windows shook and rattled in the Watsonton Wesleyan  Methodist church we attended.  Oh! Less I forget to mention I sang tenor with my school mates Oswald, now (Revd. Stewart), Weyman, Earl, Owen and Derrek.

 

Songs which melted my heart and  became meaningful  on my journey,  are ones with words such as :

 

“PASS ME NOT O GENTLE SAVIOUR”  Pass me not o gentle saviour hear my humble cry, whilst on others thou art calling do not pass me  by. Another song  I believe is my conversion hymn is this  with these words titled:

 

“HE LIFTED ME”  

In loving kindness Jesus came

My soul from sin to reclaim

And from the depth of sin and shame

He lifted me.

 

He calls me long before I heard

Before this sinful heart was stirred

And when I took him at his word

He lifted me

 

From sinking sand he lifted me

With tender hands he lifted me

From shades of night to plains of light

O praise his name he lifted me.

 

The words, ‘He calls me long before I heard’ are real to me.  I often think that the Lord spoke to me through those words and yet I was very reluctant in my response to the call. I went to church to worship  with my wife and  children for years  and  I knew  that  I have always felt a sense of peace when I sat in the pews of any church. I can also remember a friend asking me, “ Paddy what do you get going to Church?” Without thinking  I answered; “ I get the peace that passes all understanding”.

 

On another occasion a  relative of my  wife,  in fact a very devout Christian man, a Pentecostal Pastor the Revd. Mc whinney  came to our home on a social visit and before he left he prayed for the family and I and then we prayed together and  it was at that time that I came to know Christ as my personal Saviour.  I began to trust in the Lord and my journey of faith was truly on its way.

 

Now the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ has kept me travelling and some years later I answered the call to preach.  As a Methodist Local Preacher, when I prepare for a service, somehow, an appropriate song will spring to mind and these are the ones that I sing as solos.

 

Over the years I have built up a repertoire of songs, thanks to a friend of mine  now deceased Don Hill who week after week on a Friday evening we would meet and go through many of these songs and hymns.

 

So with God’s  help my journey of  faith continues as a pilgrim expanding the kingdom of  God.

By Paddy Boothe, local preacher.