Prior to lockdown, Christopher Beckingham spent over a year travelling through different countries being awestruck by the beauty of the natural world and bursting with praise for the Creator. The 30-year-old north Londoner had emerged from a dark period, having re-discovered his faith in Jesus.

Putting faith in ‘science’

He had originally made a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus as a young teenager. But it was as he began to study the biological sciences that he found himself “flattened by the evolution steamroller”, as he put it.

He realised that mainstream scientists generally believed in the theory of evolution “which I considered to be incompatible with the Genesis account of creation”.

Surely only one of them could be right, he reasoned, and so he put his faith in the ‘science’ which he judged to be based on verifiable evidence.

“It was in this way that the rug of faith was pulled from under my feet, and it was eight long years before I recovered my trust in the Lord.”

Hardening of the heart

After initially engaging in the creation vs evolution debate, particularly with his dad, a growing apathy towards the subject gradually brought him to the place of hardly caring at all.

“Professing myself to be wise, I became a fool,” he said, quoting St Paul’s letter to the Romans. “I hardened my heart and rejected God, indulging in unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness and covetousness. I became increasingly cold and aggressive as I mercilessly pursued my own selfish ambition.” (See Romans 1:21-31)

“I felt invincible and confident that my intelligence would allow me to accomplish anything to which I set my mind. I pursued the knowledge and wisdom of the world and even started looking into the occult.”

Broken, in need of repair

But he was then brought very low – and only later realised its connection with something Jesus said while debating with the chief priests, implying that he was “the stone the builders rejected” that had become the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22f), adding: “Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matt 21:44)

Christopher explained: “In September 2016, I fell on that stone. I was brought to my knees. I had to be humbled and shown that I was not invincible. As part of my struggle, I developed a severe migraine and became extremely ill – vomiting, bed-bound and unable to think straight for the pain. This progressed to black spots in my vision and I ended up in hospital.

“Around this time dad booked tickets for a conference organised by Creation Ministries International, which I attended out of curiosity, and also respect for my dad. Though still battling to concentrate, I was very impressed, particularly by Stuart Burgess whose book Hallmarks of Design was to profoundly impact me.

I believe this signalled the collapse of evolution’s stronghold on my life.

“Finally, I got on my knees at the end of my bed and cried out to God, asking that if he was real, he would reveal himself to me. In short, I surrendered. And with hindsight, I believe this signalled the collapse of evolution’s stronghold on my life.

Surrendering to God

“I was now ready to learn about who God is, which required recognition of him as Creator and acceptance of the Genesis account, along with personal recognition of my helplessness, frailty and utter dependence on him.

“Full credit to my parents and family who could see what was happening through my troubled years and did not force me in any particular direction, but simply trusted the Lord and prayed. I duly found a church and began to read my Bible in earnest, being struck by Romans 9-11 and God’s purposes for Israel and the Jewish people. I was baptised on November 29th 2017, which I later realised was 70 years to the day since the United Nations passed Resolution 181 recognising the Jewish state.

Amazed by God’s creation

“I soon left my workplace for a travelling ‘sabbatical’ and spent three months conducting conservation work in the jungle of eastern Costa Rica, inspired by my keen interest in birds. I encountered some of the world’s most amazing creatures and learned many valuable lessons living in the natural world in very basic conditions.O Lord how manifold are thy works (image by Chris Beckingham)

“I was also greatly affected by a book called The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee, which I had taken with me. There in the jungle cabins I totally absorbed every page, reading it through twice and making detailed notes.

“My travels also included the USA, Europe and Africa as God’s abundant grace allowed me to sample the delights of his creation while acknowledging him as Creator of it all. Everything I saw was just bursting with praise to the Creator: the stars, seas, mountains, birds… I was truly in awe of the beauty of creation for the first time. What a shame it would have been to have done all that travelling during those earlier years!

A life-changing trip to the Holy Land

“My last stop was Israel, where I completed a two-month discipleship course led by Messianic Jewish believers. It was an absolute blessing under mature leadership, and afterwards I successfully applied for a visa to return as a volunteer in order to help with the process of Aliyah (Jews returning to their ancestral land), which God had placed on my heart.

“But God had additional plans! Within a fortnight of arriving back in Israel, I was to meet Magdalena, who is now my wife and who was also there to help with Aliyah following a powerful dream three years earlier of the very kibbutz at which we met. And just over four months later we were back in Israel with our families for the wedding ceremony on a quaint bridge over the River Jordan.

Everything I saw was just bursting with praise to the Creator: the stars, seas, mountains, birds… I was truly in awe of the beauty of creation for the first time.

“That was late November 2019, shortly before the entire world changed in the wake of Covid-19. But with the early days of our marriage spent in lockdown, it turned out to be a remarkable blessing for us. We keep reminding each other of the miracle God worked to bring us together, having first performed greater miracles in our hearts and minds in order that we would be ready to meet. To God be the glory!”