My First Prayer - Dr John Ashton - MTC2428

It is all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. Well I'd like to challenge this idea with my story of my first prayer. Welcome to Miracles in the 21st Century. I'm Dr. John Ashton. I was raised in A nominal Christian Home. I used to tick the Methodist box. I'd been christened in the Methodist Church but we didn't go to church. But I was very fortunate enough to have as my first boss working at the BHP Central Research Laboratories a Christian. And his life and his mannerisms really stood apart from some of the other scientists that I don't think were practising Christians. And he certainly left a good example that made me become more interested in learning about the Bible and Christianity. Now I had studied at the University of Newcastle. I topped chemistry in my final undergraduate year and also in my honours year and won the university prize for chemistry by at that time I didn't apply for to go on and do a doctorate. I thought no, I'll work and earn some money for a change. But as I was working I realised in the research environment if I was going to get ahead I needed to do my doctorate. And at that time the top research scholarship in Australia was advertised the Tykside Research Fellowship. As I recall this was in 1970, early 1970 and I was very keen to get that because dad had died, my mum was a widow, I had a younger brother and I was helping to support my mother and younger brother. And so this research fellowship paid something like 30 or 40% more than the standard Commonwealth postgraduate scholarship. And so I decided that would be really good to go for. Another reason that I had was I was still living at home and my mother had become very dependent on me and I really wanted to break away but I wanted to have a real reason for leaving home because she was dependent, you know, quite heavily on my, on my support there. And this scholarship, the Titan tioxide Research Fellowship was at the University of Tasmania cause I had a world famous chemist there, Harry Bloom and that particular research fellowship was to study there. And so I'd started going to church again. Not again, started going to church actually to learn a bit about the Bible as a result, as I said of the influence of other Christians that I met and wanting to know a little bit more about what Christianity was about. And so I decided one day to pray my first prayer, to pray a prayer and I prayed to God that if I could win that scholarship I would buy a Bible and read it and also I would start going to church and keeping Sabbath and I prayed that prayer. Well, I won that scholarship. And I remember packing up my possessions. It was a very teary goodbye to my mum. Packed my possessions up. I actually drove a 1949 Cadillac convertible at that time, and packed them into the boot of the car and drove down to Tasmania, to Hobart from Newcastle. And when I arrived there the next day, I went into Fuller's bookshop in the main street and bought a Bible in English, a new English Bible, it was called. That was my first Bible. And I started to go to church from then on. And I praised the Lord for that answer to prayer. I read through the Bible. When I came to prophecies, I looked them up historically, and I'm very thankful that I chose to accept Jesus as my saviour and get baptised in December 1971. I'm Dr. John Ashton. May God bless.