Adam White

When I used to live in Bath and commute to Swindon I would travel along the A4 and pass through Corsham every day. Today was the first time I turned off of the A4 and took a look at what Corsham was all about.

First on the agenda was a wander around the shops of Corsham. I wouldn’t say it had a lot to offer but there was a lovely little greengrocers (a rarity these days) and a nice deli.

Next came the main event: a trip into Corsham Court. The inside of the huge property was lined with numerous works of art. It was excellent to have a wander round and view all the beautiful pieces that had on display. Sadly no pictures were allowed so I couldn’t show you any of the huge paintings they had hanging on the walls.

After this a wander around the grounds was called for. This was more beautiful than the insides! The grounds were filled with peacocks and little nooks and crannies filled with all manor of beautiful trees and plants. I recommend you have a look at the pictures of the day in my gallery.

I do like my Saturday trips out to see some of the amazing things England has to offer.

Posted by Adam under Personal & Walks | No Comments »

Today was beautiful. After all the snow and cold we have had recently it was a pleasure to wake up to proper sunshine. So, what do you do on a rare Saturday like this? Go for a ramble of course!

After a short drive to Newbury it was time for a 3 mile Hike around some lovely, early-spring countryside.

The highlight of the walk had to be Donningtion Castle…

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The next part of Andy Stanley’s sermon series focuses on relationships with other Christians that have helped shape and grow your own faith. Andy asked two questions which I am going to answer here:

1) Name someone who had an impact on your faith before you were a Christian
For this one I am going to name two people. Firstly there is my friend Catherine. I met her when I moved to Swindon when I was still at university to work for a year at Tyco Electronics. I was very much an athiest and she was a life-long Christian. That year did not change my faith views but it did open my eyes to what Christians were really like (as in normal people). God planted some seeds that year which bore fruit when I went back to university.

The second person is my friend Heather. Shortly after I got back to my life of academia Heather (who I had only known since my second year of uni) revealed to me that she was a Christian too and invited me on an Alpha course. I decided to go for it and see what would happen. Ten weeks later, I prayed a prayer of salvation to God and became a Christian.

2) As a Christian name someone who had an impact in growing your faith
However, that wasn’t the end of my story. After I became a Christian I was still very much walking in the dark. I didn’t attend church and was seriously lacking in the support and guidance that a church can bring. After about two years I began attending Swindon Family Church and after about six months of being there God spoke to two people in the church and put me on their hearts. These two people were my friends Franck and Lindsay. Thankfully they listened to God and invited me over for dinner. We talked and got to know each other a little better and I went back to their house week after week after week. Through this relationship I got to ask all the questions I had and talk about all the frustrations I had. I learned a lot and grew as a Christian but it wasn’t until December last year that the real breakthrough came. They had to have my negativity and endless questions week after week for months and months before something in me cracked and I broke down. Something was released that day and I have been on the rise with God ever since.

The last question is my question: How can I be an influential relationship in someone else’s life? That is in God’s hands and I have to be responsive when he puts someone on my heart. I just hope I can tackle it with the love and patience that others have shown me.

Posted by Adam under Faith | 1 Comment »

It is best to start my testimony with some history: I was not born a Christian. I did not attend church growing up and by the time I was a teenager I had come to the conclusion that religion was a dying fad and that science had virtually killed it. I was confident in evolution, the big bang and all the answers that modern science had provided. To me the stories in the bible were just that; stories. Jesus was just a man who was made up and written about in a book.

So how did all this change? You can read the history of where I came from on my About Me page but in summary, when I moved to Swindon as a student to work I met some Christians who were not at all what I expected. In my mind Christians sit in pews in a cold church and sing hymns like on Songs of Praise. Suddenly I was confronted with normal people who were funny, enjoyed life and weren’t at all odd. They just loved God and attended church every Sunday.

I still resisted though. The fact that I met some people that were normal didn’t change my mind about religion. But I went through some tough times at the end of my working year that got me asking questions. So, when I went back to university and found out that one of my best friends there was actually a Christian too I was very surprised! She invited me on something called an Alpha course that her church was going to be running and I thought “Why not?” I went on it and by the end I thought all my questions had been answered, I asked God for forgiveness and I considered myself a Christian. I got myself a bible and started to pray. The peace that came with this decision was quite remarkable but I still didn’t go to church or really change my ways very much.

Fast forward about a year and I was living in Swindon again and I still wasn’t attending church but my housemate Phil was. He started to run a football game on a Saturday and he would invite various people from his church along and through that I got to know a variety of new Christians.

When it was time for Phil to get baptised I thought I would attend and check it out. I made the decision there and then that no matter how weird it was I would continue to go back week after week. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. The church was in a renevated warehouse, there were comfy chairs, not pews and the music was modern and kinda cool and not hymny at all!

I still struggled though. I came from a history of science and fact and this “blind faith” that I was working with didn’t suit me at all. It got to the point where I stopped attending church as I was finding it too confusing. Thankfully God was looking out for me and He put an idea in the minds of two people who are now very good friends of mine to invite me over for dinner to get to know me better. I ended up going round to see them every week for months. I would ask them lots of questions about God and religion and sometimes I would get frustrated and other times I must have frustrated them so much. I tried to trip them up and I think I had it in my mind that if I could convince them that they were wrong then I would have my answer. Thankfully I was never successful!

All these discussions were great and really helped but there were just some questions that couldn’t be answered or I wasn’t content with the answers I was given. I needed to know some facts. I am a scientist and I need to know solid facts about this story I was meant to be believing. There were far more than I was expecting to find: Jesus wasn’t just some character in a tale. He actually existed! Also the bible is considered a more reliable document than the writings of Plato and Homer!

So with these new facts at my disposal I was able to come to God and church with a fresh mind and renewed confidence. And the more I trusted in God the more He has blessed me and helped me along. I got baptised in 2007 and despite the occasional hiccup I’m moving on leaps and bounds with God all the time.

It wasn’t easy for me to be a Christian. My head was trying to stop me at every opportunity but in the end it was the facts that convinced me to trust in God with everything. I’m still a work in progress and I think I always will be but I now know I can trust God with everything. I just have to remember to walk in that and continue to grow under His direction.

Posted by Adam under Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Saturday was the big 30th fancy dress party where everyone was meant to come as something from their youth. We had everything from Postman Pat to James Bond. But what did I go as I hear you ask? Well I, along with birthday boy Phil and my best mate Franck, went as… Ghostbusters!

On Sunday 13th July we were all sat in my lounge joking about what fancy dress costume to go as. From somewhere (and I can’t remember where) the suggestion of all three of us going as Ghostbusters came about. At first I had it in my head that we’d just be strapping vacuum cleaners to our backs and nothing more but after a couple of meetings a much more adventurous plan started to come together.

In the end we had huge plastic tubs strapped to our backs with everything from a microwave plate to a a garden solar light finding it’s place. All those old PCs I had stored up came to use when I carved them apart for old hard drive magnets, heatsinks and lots of wiring.

I think pictures speak louder than words so head along to my Ghostbusters costume gallery to see all the photos from the six weeks it took us to create our masterpieces.

Oh, and a HUGE thank you to Lindsay who helped us out loads!

Posted by Adam under Personal | 2 Comments »