Jigsaw, The Missing Piece – an 80-year autobiography 

After navigating two long pastorates, nomadic travels and 61 years of marriage, Baptist minister Terry Jones has a lifetime of recollections to share

Over twenty-five years, the chat has ended: ‘You should write a book.’

I had a catalogue of responses. ‘I’m not a diarist or journal keeper.’

‘I have, genuinely, one box in my ‘recollection’ brain, and it's empty!’

'Perhaps, I would be tempted to exaggerate, lie, or get the facts wrong.’

I duly procrastinated – until 2023. Three people, over eight days in 2023, ended our conversation, ‘you should write a book’ – I began.

The number one question I am asked is almost impossible to answer. ‘What is it about?’ It might be easier to ask, ‘what’s it not about!’

My prologue gives a hint of my writing style, the complex and varied themes that thread their way through the story, and my determination to reach the goal:    


JIGSAW
‘A complex arrangement of unique pieces designed to challenge, frustrate and motivate individuals towards a goal – completion.’

Life is not dissimilar. It is challenging, often frustrating, uniquely personal, and forever in need of motivation towards completion. A host of complex, challenging and varied social shapes, cultural patterns and interactive possibilities woven and worked together over time.

Why now? A short glance at the library biography shelf reveals a tendency to write about ‘My Life’ or ‘My Journey’ when you are forty or under. For many a superstar athlete it is under thirty, with the occasional music celebrity or footballer under twenty!

I shun such works with a passion, not because there may be many a wise quote, insight or reflection contained in the text - it just seems too soon, perhaps fuelled by ego, arrogance, or money. I believe life biographies require a reasonable degree of life experience not a few years of fading glory.
 

'Life is precious. So precious that a 'missing piece' of its multicoloured jigsaw is heart-breaking'

Throughout the book there are dominant and secondary themes. The ‘red’ threads that are woven throughout the book become self-evident but embrace:  A  life of prayer, trust, faith, provision, finance, guidance, timing, patience, perseverance, love, romance, married life, and extremely nomadic travels.

The secondary ‘blue’ threads come and go. Loss of children, twelve years in the RAF, photography, dysfunctional family, isolation, weakness, recovery, redemption, trial, mistakes, angels around cars, education, pastorates, renewal, suffering, surprises, urban challenges and triumphs, and just about everything else that you would expect from 80 years of varied, nomadic and interesting life.

What I missed there was ‘humour’ … so here are a few of our family’s folk-lore moments. Any wise author would not include the punch-line or outcome!

Not telling my fiancé I was hitch-hiking from Norfolk to her grandparent’s home in Berkshire just so I could be with her for the weekend. I arrived in Wokingham around midnight and began my search for a place I had visited once – in daylight! If I found the bungalow, I would need to guess which window to knock on … but whose window was it?

I had forgotten to check that the Berlin train stopped at Gutersloh. My emotions leaving Ann were already shaky, now they were wrecked. I swopped an intensity of thirst for a nightmare of uncertainty. If Berlin was the next stop, I was in serious trouble.



Engineers featured in a funny incident when Ann’s moped failed to start … they were building a large power station but …

Whether in haste or tiredness, I missed the right entry point, ended up negotiating several spirals and moved on to the Berlin Auto-Bahn … the wrong way … at night!

How not to get on a French Roll On – Roll off ferry and the typical Gallic response!

One of the more humorous episodes at Baker-Perkins was the testing of the biscuit handling machines …

The challenge was to get Ann through the driving test …’every time I learn to drive, I get pregnant and can’t fit into the seat …’

Hopefully, I have implanted an inquisitive desire to explore more, but with fifty-five chapters to go I better ease off...

On the more serious side, there are chapters of wisdom I have learnt. Primarily through weakness, breakdown, failure, self-righteousness, and trying to be holy in my own strength. Also, chapters of incredible provision, blessing, joy and growth through spiritual renewal and simple obedience.

How to navigate two long pastorates, sixty-one years of marriage, five children and the loss of two. Fifteen years in the tough inner-city of Liverpool, following the 1981 riots, helped to shape endurance, perseverance, character, and determination not to give up. I have faced threats from individuals, drug dealers, protection-racket groups, gangs, and the odd church member. I have discovered how important ‘completion’ is, and how difficult it can be.

Now retired for fifteen years, I have resolved to be as fruitful, useful, and youthful as possible. I am a paid-up member of the activist academy!     

  

Terry Jones is a Baptist minister who pastored Ashford Baptist Church (1978-1989) and Toxteth Tabernacle (1989-2004).

Jigsaw - The Missing Piece is his autobiography. To find out more, visit jigsawthemissingpiece.com

To order a copy, click here

Do you have a view? Share your thoughts via our letters' page.