A few months ago, 88-year-old Roy Bailey was a man with no hope. He was desperately trying to get his hands on enough money to purchase a lethal dose of poison to end his life.

But on the day he was hoping to make his purchase, he met a man at a mall who stopped to talk to him about giving his life to God, and invited him to church.

That was the turning point for this senior citizen who could not contain his joy on Good Friday as he, along with 28 other persons, were baptised at Fellowship Tabernacle in Kingston.

So elated was Bailey with his new outlook on life that he rose to share his testimony with the packed congregation shortly before he took the walk down the steps into the pool, where, after being baptised, he came up with hands outstretched towards the heavens.

“I am a very happy man, not because of material things but because ah just happy,” he said with eyes raised heavenward, as he spoke with the Sunday Observer after the baptism ceremony.

Bailey told the congregation that his life began to deteriorate after he was admitted to the Chest Hospital suffering from tuberculosis.

When he was released from the hospital four months later, Bailey said his wife would not accept him back at home. “She say she no want live with no tuberculosis somebody,” he said.

Shattered and dejected, Bailey said he went to live with a sister, but things only continued to go downhill for him as he was not financially able to take care of himself.

“The little pension that me used to get could barely buy medication and so me never have no money,” he later told the Sunday Observer.

Desperate for an income, Bailey said he turned to peddling razor blades, walking in the hot sun all across Kingston in order to make a few dollars each day.

Burdened by his situation and with no hope in sight, Bailey said he was determined to end his miserable life. His method of suicide was to take a lethal dose of poison.

“When ah go to the place fi buy the poison the man ask me if is poison fi rat ah want and me say yes, poison fi rat,” he recalled.

However, when he heard the price, Bailey said he was unable to afford it.

As such, he left the store with the intention of returning as soon as he made enough money from selling razor blades.

“But just like spite the next day I never sell a thing and the next day after that me still never sell nutten,” he said.

Although utterly frustrated at not being able to accomplish even that mission, Bailey continued to press for that one sale which would make it possible.

And as he paced the plaza along Constant Spring Road, in the hope of finding that one customer, he met Patrick Harley.

Harley was not interested in buying a razor blade but he still felt led to help Bailey and so he gave him some money and walked away.

“After him walk away him turn back and him start to talk to me about Jesus and him invite me to church,” Bailey told the cheering congregation, many of whose eyes were filled with tears as he recounted his story.

Since that day, Bailey said he is no longer the same hopeless man, as not only has God given him new hope but he has found members of the congregation who have been very good to him.

He told the Sunday Observer that although he woke up with severe pains on Friday he decided that he would not miss the baptism service. “I could barely walk up the road because I was in so much pain, but after I come in church and sit down and start to pray I just feel like dancing,” he said.

“My God, you are wonderful and great,” he said with a big smile on his face.

Pastor of Fellowship Tabernacle Reverend Al Miller choked back the tears as he spoke to the congregation about how important it is to pause a moment to share with someone about Jesus, noting that this could change their life forever.

“Patrick decided to stop and talk to him about Jesus without knowing how it would have changed his life,” he said, as he urged others to do the same.

A smiling Harley later told the Sunday Observer he still does not know what led him to turn back and talk to Bailey that day. He, however, knew he had to be obedient to the leading of God to do so.

In fact, he continues to be obedient, recalling a recent incident when stopped to give an old lady a ride.

The woman had gone to visit a relative and had no money for transportation to get back home.

“She told me that she was so tired and distressed that she just stopped on the road and said ‘Jesus, you see me can’t go any further’,” he recalled.

Harley said that woman’s prayer was immediately answered as God made him stop to give her a ride.