IF I am honest, when I was a child I was a wimp.

A late baby boomer, I was three years younger than my brothers and felt it. They were big, strong, handsome and both great footballers, whereas I was chubby, clumsy and couldn’t kick a football.

I was frightened of everything – spiders, creepy-crawlies, water and the dark. But I realise, looking back, that God had put something very positive inside me – determination.

During my teenage years, I worked hard and passed my O-Levels and A-levels, being the first of my family to go to university.

I attended all the football training sessions and turned up at all the matches just to stand on the line. Eventually, my moment came and I ended up a regular in the first team.

I simply decided one day that I was not going to hang on to a single irrational fear any longer.

I see now that the Lord had his hand on my life preparing me to serve him – which I now count as a huge privilege and a great joy. Who else would have chosen that wimpish child?

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise . . . He chose the lowly and despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no-one can boast before him” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29.