Well, here it is. You have found the most important
page in my whole website! I am glad that you have arrived at this
page, and would be honoured if you would spend some time reading
about how God has changed my life in so many different and wonderful
ways!
If you are a Christian friend, you may recognise yourself in
some of the photographs used in this section.
If I can help others by telling this testimony, then please
contact me. I perform an abbreviated version of my testimony
which I tell whilst performing with a variety of juggling equipment
(please visit my Christian
Gospel Juggling page on my juggling website for more details).
This routine is ideal for Children's addresses and juggling
workshops in an outreach setting.
| I grew up in a semi-Christian household. My
mum is a Christian. I grew up going to Sunday School at
Viewfield Church in Stirling and met lots of Christian people
who taught me all about God. |
 |
| When I was 10, my mum told me that I could choose
whether or not I wanted to go to Sunday School. I decided
that I would prefer to sleep in and watch cartoons instead!
When I was 12, a mission team came to my Church, and I had
lots of fun playing all the games and learning all about
Jesus, but I still decided that I preferred sleeping in
to actually getting up early on a Sunday morning! |
 |
Although I didn't know it at the time, God was still at work
in my life; he wasn't ignoring me, even though I was ignoring
him. It was at this point that God gave me some skills to bring
me closer to serving and worshipping him.
| When I was 15, my parents gave me a set of juggling
balls for Christmas, and I developed an overwhelming desire
to learn the art of juggling. Within a matter of weeks,
I had mastered the easy 3 ball tricks, and began learning
more advanced patterns. I still didn't realise that God
had given me a gift, but within a few months, I was performing
at Church, and for Charity events. I kept on learning, and
moved on to more and more difficult tricks and bought new
equipment such as the diabolo, stunt sticks, spinning plates
etc. |
 |
Although, I never lost the willingness to learn new tricks,
perform routines and master new juggling equipment, I was still
not going along to Church or praying.
When I was 17, I left my job and had a summer free before I
started at College. I was asked to put on a show for a group
of people in Perth who were on a training day for a children/youth
mission to Dunbar. The Dunbar team (which my brother Stewart
co-led) was made up of about 20 Christians of all ages and talents,
and after my performance, some of them asked if I would consider
joining the mission team. I said yes, and a few weeks later,
I was on my way to Dunbar to meet up with the team, and I spent
a week doing Children and youth events as well as enjoying worship
with the team and locals.
When I got home to Stirling after this amazing week of feeling
God's presence and seeing God at work, I wanted to know more
about him, so I started going along to Church (not Sunday School).
My Dad bought me a bible, and I read it occasionally. After
just one mission, I had suddenly developed a taste for telling
others about this wonderful amazing God who transforms lives
(just as he had transformed mine!)
| When I was 18, I was asked if I wanted to join
the Perth Easter Mission team. At the end of this mission,
I was asked on to another 3 or 4 teams for the summertime,
and I ended up going on all of them! God was working in
my life, and I was using the talents he had gave me to entertain
people all over Scotland. God knew I was a shy person, and
through time, he began to take my shyness away by giving
me a great group of friends on these mission teams. |
 |
|
My Grandad then gave me a keyboard for my birthday. I
went through the same process of learning the keyboard
until I became good enough to take it with me on mission
and perform in Churches and for worship events.
I joined Viewfield Church in 1996 (When I was 18), which
is when I stood up in front of the whole church and declared
my faith in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
|
 |
| When I went to University, I became involved
with my Christian Union and became the e-mail co-ordinator.
This allowed me to encourage everyone in the CU through
the use of e-mails, attachments, bible verses etc and it
was a joy to watch the number of e-mails around the CU grow
every day! I also started to go to Central Baptist Church
and really enjoyed the teaching there. The Christian friends
I made in the two years at University are a real blessing
to me, and encouraged me throughout my Honours Degree (and
still encourage me). |
 |
| During the summer between my third and fourth
year at University (1998), I joined the Church of Scotland
CORE Scheme, which is a scheme that enables young people
with mission experience to do mission work for 8 weeks.
My faith grew considerably in this time. |
 |
| In January 1999, I got an e-mail from the Church
of Scotland Mission Co-ordinator to ask if I could build
a web-site all about mission for the Church of Scotland.
He knew that my Honours Project was all about web design
- "Applying Human-Computer Interaction Principles to
Web-site Design". When I had finished the site, I knew
that designing websites was the type of work I wanted to
do full-time, so God had helped me once again to realise
where my life was heading, and guided me to my chosen careers
(web design and juggling). |
 |
God has looked after me every step of the way since I graduated
from University on 3 July 1999. On the weekend that I moved
out of University and back home, I was a Youth Counsellor at
Festival '99. It was very moving seeing hundreds of people all
come forward to be saved every night. I had the privilege of
counselling three such people. I travelled all over Scotland
doing mission work for the summer, and was able to become involved
with my Charity (Jump Juggle Jest) fully again, when I had a
starring role in their production - "It's the end of the
world as we know it".
Various jobs followed, which helped me to gain more skills
as a web designer. God continually pushed me forward and gave
me the web design skills I needed at the right times. After
leaving SEPA in July 2000, I had plenty of time to learn more
web design skills from home, and build various sites for Church
organisations. Various church and charity groups approached
me and asked me to design sites for them, which is when I decided
that it would be worthwhile setting up my own web design and
juggling business.
I have also got involved with my Church (Stirling Baptist Church).
They have been great and offered me the chance to do youthwork
on Thursday nights and lead football on Monday nights.
| On 6th May 2001, I was baptised along with 4
friends at Stirling Baptist Church. This was the most important
day of my life. I am still glowing! God means so much to
me, and the feeling when I came up out of the water was
awesome! Please visit my Baptism
page to see the photographs and find out more! |
|
On 16 July 2001, I launched my trilogy of websites (Stevensworld,
Webdesignworld
and Jugglingworld)
and also my new Web Design and Professional Juggling businesses.
In recent years, I have given up the web design side of the
business, and focussed on the Professional Juggling side of
the business, and have been able to set up an online Juggling
Equipment and Novelty Items store which you can visit here -
Jugglingworld
Store. I developed my Juggling to involve telling the Gospel
through juggling, and now have a full one-hour one man Gospel
Juggling Show! One more indication of the way that God is steering
my life and helping me to get involved with many outreach activities
all over the UK!
God has given us all gifts. We just have to learn what they
are and practice them. He will then give us many opportunities
to glorify him.
|
BIBLE TEACHING (Romans 12:6-8) Living
Sacrifices:
|
| "We have different gifts, according to the grace
given to us. If a man's gift is to teach, let him use
it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him
serve. If it is encouraging, let him encourage. If it
is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously.
If it is leadership, let him govern diligently. If it
is showing mercy to others, let him do it cheerfully." |
Conclusion
Even in the early days when I didn't think much about God and
ignored him, he was still thinking about me and preparing me
for the day that I could declare my faith in front of a church
and then follow him, and do what he asks of me. He has given
me so much out of life. I have made wonderful friends through
mission work. God has given me the ability to juggle and do
web design for a living - which is two activities which I am
very passionate about. Who knows what the future holds - the
sky's the limit!
God is at work in all of our lives. We may not realise this,
but it is true. God has given us all talents and wants us to
use them to glorify him and bring others closer to him. If you
are good at something, then consider using this talent wherever
possible to tell others about God. He has changed my life, and
I know that he is at work within all of you.
If you are a Christian
I encourage you to realise your gifts and use them to God's
glory. Don't be modest! We all have talents. Everyone is good
at something, and enjoys doing certain activities. Please pray
to God for the opportunities to use your talents and keep developing
them.
If you are not a Christian
I encourage you to consider becoming a Christian. Please contact
me or make an effort to find out more about the life that
God wants you to live. God is real, and involved in all our
lives. Please consider this way of life, AS IT IS THE ONLY WAY.
Consider visiting these sites to find out more about following
God...
