Martin Wickens

Fourteen years ago. Before the children. Before serving the Lord in Northern Ireland, Sunderland, and Brimpton. Before I taught classes in Emmanuel Baptist Bible School, Bethesda Bible School, the Theological College of North Staffordshire and the Brimpton Baptist Bible Institute. Before being on deputation and furlough 3 times. Before all that, Carrie and I went on our honeymoon to Robbinsville, North Carolina.

We had enjoyed a beautiful wedding and then set off for North Carolina. The wedding was everything we had hoped it would be and everything Carrie had planned. 

The lodge we had leased for the week was situated next to the Santeetlah Lake, which is outstandingly beautiful. 

After a long distance relationship we enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time alone and visit the local sites. 

But something was missing. Something was lacking. And while I could have lived without it, I noticed its absence. 

So, one day when we were getting some groceries at a local store I decided to look. This was a small, rural, out of the way grocery store, so I did not have high expectations. 

Then, high on a shelf, sat alone, there it was. I reached up and took it down, amazed at its presence and wondering about the price. It was covered in dust and looked like it had been there a while. 

When I got the check out they scanned it but it was not on the system. It was not any file. And no one knew where it came from.

But there it was – Marmite!

Now, it wasn’t a miracle. I’ve worked in retail and I’ve a pretty good human explanation. However, it was one of a thousand different ways that God has used a small thing to bless me. 

Small? Petty? Insignificant? Inconsequential in the grand scheme of things? Yeah, probably. A coincidence? Some would say so. Some say that God only works in the big things, with kings and kingdoms. But I choose to see God at work in smaller ways. Surely the God who knows the hairs of my head knows He gave me taste buds that like the the refined flavours of Marmite.

We’re commanded to give thanks in everything. Usually we preachers emphasise giving thanks in the hard times. But I believe we should also give thanks for the little things.

Yesterday, after fourteen years, we passed through Robbinsville again and I snapped a quick picture of the miraculous Ingles where Marmite spontaneously appears for travelling Englishman. 

P.S. Even without the Marmite the honeymoon would have of course been perfect. 🙂