People tell me I have a good memory and for once I think I can agree with them. It’s nothing to be proud of, it’s simply something I was born with and for which I am truly grateful.

It’s far from perfect though as I discovered when chatting to two good friends the other day. I vividly recall their conversions and their baptism, but when they asked me if I knew anything about ‘Stefan’ who used to work at Texaco. I just stood there, completely puzzled. Who is or who was Stefan and why should I know anything about him? And then they reminded me: I had baptised him on the same day as them. I must admit I felt very embarrassed; I had simply forgotten him.

Now I don’t think it’s a symptom of my growing frailty, just a reminder of just how easily we forget things that seem really important at the time but then slip, all-too-easily, into mental oblivion. And so, before I go any further I think I need to apologise to Stefan - wherever he is now. Hopefully we’ll catch up again I’ll be able to apologise in person over a nice cup of coffee.

Now I am not militaristic, and I am certainly no war monger. I do, after all, acknowledge a King who rightly deserves the title the Prince of Peace. But I have to admit that I am grateful for this week’s annual reminder of the devastating effect war can have on both nations and on the ordinary lives affected by them.

But war can do more than destroy bodies and ruin families it can also have a deadly effect on our faith in God too. Wilfred Owen vividly demonstrated this when he wrote his deeply moving poem ‘Futility’. For as he looked at the battle ravaged body of a dead young soldier, he wrote: ‘O what made fatuous sunbeams toil to break earth’s sleep at all?’

Having said that, war can have the opposite effect as well. Take Psalm 46 for example. For in stark contrast to Wilfred Owen’s bleak conclusion, the Psalmist’s war-time experiences persuaded him that God can help even when our world seems to be falling apart.

Winston Churchill clearly believed this too, which is why he was able to stand in front of 3,000 mine owners and miner’s representatives in 1942 and declare: “I sometimes have a feeling of interference. I want to stress that. I have a feeling sometimes that some Guiding Hand has interfered, I have a feeling that we have a Guardian because we have a great cause.” But he cautioned them: “We shall have that Guardian as long as we serve that cause faithfully.”

Sadly, in our increasingly secular: “I don’t do God” culture, we seem to have forgotten this wonderful truth: God is no figment of our imagination and no relic of the past. He is the living God who can and does steer the course of history, and He is capable of intervening in ways we little imagine possible.

But we dare not take Him for granted. Indeed His people have often discovered to their cost that His Guiding Hand can work against us as well as for us. And that’s a very sobering thought because He can prove a formidable foe, as well as a wonderful friend.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]