Andrew - United Kingdom

Nickname: Droo

By the time I was born both my parents had, I believe, made personal commitments to Jesus. As a child, whilst they attended church, I would attend "Sunday school" and learn about the stories in the Bible, from the Old Testament to the Gospels and Acts. But this sometimes seems like a history lesson when you are a youngster, and I had no understanding of God on a personal level. My prayers were routine, rather than something I felt a real need for.

At around thirteen years of age, the Sunday school became "Bible Study" - and here we started to study the Bible in the context of learning about this person Jesus with whom we can have a personal relationship! So I began to understand more and more about Jesus, and through prayer began to know him personally. Reading the Bible seemed to be less about the past and more about the present and the future. I continued my journey slowly until the age of eighteen when, about to leave for university, I was baptised - declaring my beliefs in front of family, friends and strangers and beginning a new life with the Lord.

Soon after I started university I met Anna, with whom I became close friends. When I saw a Good News Bible lying on her desk I realised we shared a faith in Jesus. As our friendship deepend we felt God was calling us together, and we became engaged. Anna then had to leave the university due to a chronic illness and so my time became divided between studying and visiting my fiancee. During the next eighteen months she remained ill - and God showed us both patience and to keep a constant faith in Him. We were married in 1995 at a wedding service that gave us the opportunity to speak about Jesus to our non-Christian friends, and since then Anna has recovered and begun rebuilding her education and career.

Whilst I was still at university my parents, a school headteacher and a physiotherapist, were called by God to leave their jobs and train for the ministry. Also through Christian friends at university I was to meet Owen and later, Giles, with whom we would found Leaf Internet, a company committed to Christian principles. So God has become the focus in my home, my family, and at my place of work.

Regarding photography, I have always been equally interested in science and the arts - in fact I believe science to be the study of God's creation, the ultimate creativity!! Although I chose to follow a mainly science-based education (a degree in Physics), I have also studied photography and as a web designer I occasionally get to use it in the course of my work!