Before the age of 19 I cannot ever remember going to church or giving much thought to God - that was soon to change.

 

During my travels alone around America in the summer of 1973 I telephoned a friend of a friend in Phoenix, Arizona who had offered to accommodate me for a few days.  When I arrived at the family home I was immediately informed that it was mid-week church night and that I was ‘invited’ to accompany them.

 

I had just driven 350 miles from Los Angeles in very hot temperatures and I would have preferred to have declined the invite but out of politeness I decided to acquiesce and go with them (after all it wasn’t too much to put up with as I would be gone in a couple of days anyway).