7

I'm a bit like the Queen. We're both British, we both live in Berkshire (the Royal County, no less) and we both have two birthdays. Today is exactly seven years since I was born again! Praise the Lord for his grace. During a baptism service of five of my friends at Carey on November 28, 1999, each of them gave their testimony. I remember realising then that despite my best efforts (and at that time my efforts weren't great anyway) I hadn't become a Christian by coming to church each week and having lots of knowledge about the Bible in my head. God convicted me that I needed to stop trying to save myself, and trust wholly and only in Him. I did, and received assurance then that my sins were paid for wholly and completely by Jesus' death on the cross.

I didn't receive any gifts to mark this occasion, except the opportunity to come back to Reading for a few days to research my dissertation. Today I walked around all of the city centre, marking which premises are shops, and which shops are independent rather than part of chains. Tomorrow I'll head in to some and survey their owners on how Reading has changed since the Oracle shopping centre opened... 7 years ago.