The Baptism with the Holy Spirit – Part 2

I want to start with my parents.

Dad and Mum – John Phillips Vine and Edith Irene (Amos) Vine – were a massive influence on my life. They were both brought up in the Open (Plymouth) Brethren movement.

Dad was an only child and his father was one of the founder members of Edgmond Hall, the church where my family worshipped. His wife, Ruby, my best grandma, was great fun and always supported my sister and I in giving us games, and exciting things to play with every birthday and Christmas.

Mum had one brother, Alan, who became my dad’s best friend at school. He married Hazel and they had three children, Myrtle, Jenny and Philip with whom we were quite close. It was no surprise that Dad and Mum married with Dad and Alan being such great friends, sharing games like football, hockey, cricket etc. During the war they were evacuated and Mum asked if she could go to the same family as her brother, so the three of them were a proper unit.

Mum’s dad was a Christian Colporteur. His job was to travel around selling Bibles and Christian literature. He later had a Christian bookshop in our town, Eastbourne, on the south coast. I can remember going up to the first floor of his shop and seeing walls of second hand books. I would have loved to have developed my relationship with grandad but it was not to be. I am sure though that I got my love of books from him. Grandad died when I was in my early teens and I have often thought how great it would have been to have spent more time with him.