Gordon Murray Story

Written by: Gordon Murray

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My name is Gordon Murray and I am married to the lovely Maureen. I became a Christian  some 17 years ago.  As I was then 68 years of age it goes to show that, while it is never too young for someone to become a Christian, at the other end of the scale you can never be too old.

After becoming a Christian I decided to get baptised as soon as possible.  This involved giving a Testimony.  I was sitting at home wondering what to say when I started to think back on my past life.  It seemed that it could be likened to a game – a game of Snakes and Ladders.  I would work hard to climb the ladder of success, reach the top, only to have it taken away from me and I would slide down a slippery snake and have to start all over again.

When I was young I was very ambitious, worked hard, and eventually rose to be Assistant Managing Director of what was, at that time, the foremost Company in Europe involved in developing the peaceful uses of Radioactivity.  I was married and had two young sons – I felt I had made it!  How wrong I was.  Just after the birth of my second son my wife was taken ill, never recovered and eventually died in hospital.

At the same time the Company was taken over, the Managing Director and I received “the golden handshake” and I was back to square one. However I was still young and now had two young children to provide for, so off I started again.  Within a few years I was back at the top of another ladder.  I was General Manager of a small group of Companies and had finally met someone whom I would later marry.  Unfortunately my Managing Director and I had very contrasting views on business principles and ethics.

One day we had a really terrible row, he decided he no longer wanted to work with me and fired me on the spot.  Back to square one again! Like the proverbial rubber ball I started off again, as ambitious as ever. Within a few years I had built myself up to an executive position within the Tarmac Group.  I then started working overseas for them, initially in Peru, then Liberia and finally Oman.  I was earning lots of tax-free money.  I had re-married and now had four children; my oldest two sons had just married.

Everything was great- but not for long.  My wife was with me in Oman enjoying a good social life.  Suddenly she met someone else, the chemistry worked and nineteen years of marriage went out of the window. I completed my Contract and returned to England to arrange for the divorce. By now I had lost all my ambition. I had finally been working for an Omani Company so I had no job to come back to.  At the age of 58 I was virtually unemployable.  Thankfully one of my sons worked for Abbey Life so I joined him.  I just worked hard enough to earn sufficient money to pay the bills.  I wasn’t interested in a social life.  I still had highs and lows.  During one particular bad period my son, who by now had become my Boss, told me to get my act together and he bribed, bullied and cajoled me into taking my first holiday in ten years.

This was to be the start of an amazing number of – “coincidences”. Because of the love I had had for Peru and the Peruvian people I decided to go to Spain.  I intended to go to northern Spain where they spoke the Castillian Spanish I had learned in Peru.  I could not find anywhere I could afford so I ended up going to a quiet resort called Nerja, which had been recommended by one of my Clients. As I was on my own I arranged to go on two excursions. The trip to Seville was cancelled at the last minute due to lack of bookings so the Rep advised me to go to a place I had never heard of, Ronda, a little village in the mountains.

The day arrived and we set off.  It was the worst weather of the holiday and the coach had to climb slowly along narrow mountain roads.  There was so much mist that, thankfully, you couldn’t see over the edge of the road.  Eventually we reached Ronda and at last the rain stopped and the sun came out.  I started to feel quite cheerful and even started haggling with the local shopkeepers in my long-forgotten Spanish.  After lunch there was a guided tour which ended up at a former Moorish Mosque, now a Roman Catholic Cathedral. Sta Maria de Maior.  When I was in Peru I had seen many beautiful Churches but when I entered this one it was truly awesome.  The whole of the end of the Cathedral seemed to be one mass of burnished gold.  I just fell to my knees and started to pray.

Now I hadn’t prayed for more than thirty years, not since my first wife had been in hospital waiting for an operation.  As I prayed I felt every bit of stress and depression go out of my body and I literally felt as if I was walking on air.  This feeling lasted for the rest of my holiday and continued when I returned home.

I was sitting at home wondering what I could or should do about this when the telephone rang.  A friend invited me to go to see the Bobby Ball Show at Stourbridge Town Hall.  Now Cannon and Ball had not been my favourite comedians but it seemed churlish to turn down the invite – so off I went.  When I went into the Hall I wondered what I had come into.  The music so was loud you could not hear yourself think.  People were singing at the tops of their voices and seemed to be continually raising their arms.  What struck me most was how joyful everyone appeared to be.  I heard some wonderful testimonies and finally one from Bobby Ball, which was brilliant.

When he finished he asked for anyone who wanted to know more about the Lord to raise their arms.  Almost without my realising it my arm shot up.  I had two more discussions about the implications of asking the Lord to come into my life and then I made my commitment.  It was to change my whole life. I did find that becoming a Christian did not mean that you never had any problems.  However, knowing the Lord helped you to cope and, once you could cope, you were well on the way to solving them.

I started to read my bible daily and that really showed me how to live my life. Eventually I started reading Ecclesiastes and some Bible notes on 4:4-6 sprang out at me and I now read them every day; Stewardship, Life-style Living modestly is better that “chasing after the wind” of wealth. Labour should be done to meet God’s goals for our lives, not to meet the standard set by our neighbour. Christ said that life does not consist of things, no matter how abundant.  Real living is in giving and serving, not in getting and indulging.  Inner peace and tranquillity, not personal wealth and prestige, mark true success.

There I had been striving all my life to achieve success in the secular world, only to have it taken away from me, when the answer was so simple.  All it took was one simple 3- letter word: “yes”.  I said “yes” to the Lord and he came into my heart and I achieved the inner peace and tranquillity that mark true success. But the Lord still had not quite finished with me.  I had been on my own for more that ten years with just a faithful Red Setter for company.

I started reading the follow-on note in Ecclesiastes: 4:9-12 Relationships We are usually better off when we have a vital relationship with someone else.  This supplies the pooling of strength, resources, and wisdom.  Being alone can be non-productive, dangerous and uncomfortable. Once again these wonderful coincidences started to happen.  Although Maureen and I lived in different Towns, 25 miles apart, even in different Counties, our paths crossed.

We started taking our dogs for a walk on Cannock Chase every Saturday (this being a halfway point). Eventually we fell in love and married.  Just a few weeks later, in the middle of an Alpha Course Maureen gave her life to the Lord. Now, wherever we live, we live in a house that is full of love; not just the love we have for each other but also the love we have for the Lord, and life is truly wonderful; and so I thank the Lord every day for what He has done in my life..

Gordon Murray

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