You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:7, NKJV)

I was 13 when as a nation we celebrated VE Day. I was living in Croydon at the time, and my father took my brother and myself up to London to join the celebrations. For me, it was a tremendous experience to just be there in the crowd. I had lived in London through the war – although I was evacuated several times – my parent’s house overlooked Croydon Airport; as a boy I would watch the ‘dog fights’ over the airport.

I remember one very frightening experience: one Sunday afternoon, after my father had finished preaching (he was a pastor), we were back home enjoying the garden, and without any warning, this German bomber flew overhead firing at a barrage balloon. As I was out in the garden, I heard the bomber – something I was used to – but I suddenly noticed the machine gun bullets hitting our garden fence, so I had to run for cover!

I remember one particular day so well: an unexploded shell had fallen in the garden of the house next to us; my father, who was an Air Raid Warden, stood at the door – and God must have stopped him – and I can still see him in memory standing with his hand on the door and he didn’t open it. At that moment, a second shell landed on the road right outside our house. If my father had not held back, he would’ve been killed. After the war he went on to become a long serving General Superintendent of the Elim Churches in Britain.

I thank God, although our house was very badly damaged, God preserved us as a family. – That is the thought I want to leave with you: God does preserve, and He will protect! God has sustained me through so many trials – and God will preserve us through this Coronavirus. He is the Lord our Deliverer. Yes, we will walk through many dark valleys, but He is the Good Shepherd, a present help in times of need.