I was born the third child of a large Catholic family just outside Glasgow. On my father's side, my great-grandfather brought his family from Ireland to Scotland just over 100 years ago, whilst all my mother's side of the family were Scottish. At the age of 15, with my father, mother, brothers and sisters, I moved to Gainford, County Durham, and finished my education in Darlington, before going down to London to live and work at the age of 17.

In 1977, at the age of 21, whilst back in County Durham for Christmas, I met my future wife, Lynn, and we married two years later. In 1980, I joined the Prison Service and we lived and worked in the counties of Essex (where our daughter Heather was born), Yorkshire (where our son Jamie was born), Northumberland and finally, since July 2003, back in County Durham.

I had always believed in God, for as long as I could remember and regarded myself as a Christian, as a lot of other people in Britain do. As a practicing Catholic, I could recite from the Catechism and Mass books, read, pray and sing hymns in Latin, say the Lord's Prayer in about 6 seconds flat, but I was never really told about, nor got to know, the God of the Bible. When I was in the Boy Scouts, I had to get permission from the Parish Priest to attend the street parades, as they always started or ended with a service in a Protestant church. I had religiously attended Confession and Mass and taken part in all the other Catholic traditions and rituals, without really asking the question, why? I have no quarrel with the Catholic Church as I now know that there are real Christians within the Church.

I had never really considered myself as a bad person, although, at school in Scotland, I had a reputation for fighting. That didn't change when I moved to England. In fact, the fighting got worse and even more violent. I had started drinking and smoking as a young teenager, and swearing was normal, and as time went by, those habits were getting harder and harder to break; not that I had any particular wish to stop doing any of them. I was, as far as I was concerned, a fairly average young man. A large part of my life revolved around the pub scene. My father and mother, and all my extended family on both sides, had been heavy drinkers and I had been brought up in that environment. I was happy with my life and there was no reason to change anything about it. Even after Lynn and I got married and we had children, I continued to drink more and more and because of that came close to ruining our relationship.

Lynn came from a Pentecostal Christian background and we had some rare conversations, sometimes late into the night, about our respective beliefs. One thing caught my attention about what Lynn was saying; that I (and anyone else for that matter) could have a personal relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. No one had ever told me that before and it intrigued me. That was the catalyst for me to start unconsciously seeking for the true meaning of Christianity, who God was, and how relevant He was to my life.

I started going to church with Lynn and was quite taken aback the first time I heard people speaking in tongues, giving out messages and hearing the interpretation of them. What was all that about? Well, it was in the Bible, said Lynn, and she showed me where. I continued to go to church with her from time to time, mainly out of curiosity. To be fair to Lynn, she never tried to manipulate me into going; it was always my choice.

I had many other questions about Christianity and particularly the Christians themselves, like these four examples:

• Why are so many of them always laughing and smiling all the time?
• Why are they always after your money?
• Why are there so many do's and don'ts, rules and regulations?
• Why do so many of them use so much jargon when they speak to each other?

I went to Christian Life Centre, Newton Aycliffe, a number of times over the years; to the opening of the church; to the opening of the extension; to the opening of the second extension; somewhere in between, to see Lynn being baptised, when she rededicated her life to God.

Gradually, over quite a long period of time, I heard more and more about a God who loves me, and His Son, Jesus; how Jesus came to earth as a man, lived a blameless life and then went through the most horrific death on account of my sins; how He rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven; how He speaks to God on my behalf every day; how because of this, I can have a real relationship with Him and claim the right to eternal life in Heaven. However, I also found out that there was something that I had to do first. I had to believe in my heart that all this was true, speak it out with my own lips and ask Jesus to come into my life. I had to ask for forgiveness for my sins and resolve to sin no more. It was that simple. Actually, it was so simple, that for a long time, I found it very hard to accept.

You see, as a Catholic, I had been brought up with a very different idea of what being a Christian was. It was about being yourself (whatever that was) and doing what you want - and when you did anything that you considered to be wrong, ask the priest for forgiveness and everything was all right until the next time. How wrong I was!

In November 1991, I asked Jesus to come into my life and became what people describe as a born-again Christian (that's also in the Bible, by the way). Since then, I have discovered that the decision to become a Christian was the best decision I ever made in my life. I had stopped smoking some years before, but since becoming a Christian, I never swear and I no longer drink alcohol. These and other changes in my life have all been my decisions; not because anyone told me I had to make them, but because I realised what was really important and then made the relevant choices. Let me not kid you into thinking that every problem in your life disappears as soon as you make the decision to become a Christian, because they don't, but they become a lot easier to cope with - to quote the words of a children's song, "with Jesus in the boat, you can smile at the storm."

Finally, did I ever get the answer to the four questions? Well,

• Why are so many Christians always laughing and smiling all the time? - Because they realise that because of what Jesus has done for them, they have a lot to laugh and smile about
• Why are they always after my money? - They don't personally want or even need my money, but in order for the news about Jesus to reach the rest of the world (and for practical things to be done for those who have nothing), money is required
• Why are there so many do's and don'ts, rules and regulations? - There actually isn't - it is all a question of choice - when you realise what is really good for you and what is not, you choose what you do and don't do accordingly
• Why do so many of them use so much jargon when they speak to each other? - Well, I've never quite fathomed out that one, I'm afraid - but I'm working on it!