Steve Lee

Steve Lee I carry a message of hope indoors, outdoors and online via the work of Miracle Street.

I also visit history's battlefields to tell the story of freedom through sacrifice to people who may never walk into a church.

20/08/2026

On August 20th 1912 a ragged old preacher lie dying in London. Within days, a 150,000 people would walk past his coffin.

William Booth had walked away from a comfortable pulpit to preach in the gin-soaked slums of East London to the drunks, the destitute, and the forgotten. They mocked his mission as a fake army, but the name stuck, The Salvation Army.

Booth believed that no one was beyond the reach of God’s love, not the thief, not the outcast, and not you and me. He poured out his life so that others could find Jesus. That same offer of hope still stands wide open today.

Not long ago, I visited the statue of William Booth on Mile End Road in East London, close to where he began the Christi...
20/08/2026

Not long ago, I visited the statue of William Booth on Mile End Road in East London, close to where he began the Christian Mission in 1865. Standing there, looking up at the man whose work would become the Salvation Army, made his story feel far more immediate.

In the East End’s crowded streets, Booth saw people many had learned to ignore: families in poverty, those trapped by addiction and lives pushed to the margins. He believed the Christian message had to be more than words spoken from a distance; it had to be carried into the places where hope felt hardest to find.

19/08/2026

On August the 19th 1942, 6,000 men climbed into assault boats bound for a French port. Very few would return.

Operation Jubilee would end in tragedy. Miles out at sea, German gunboats opened up from the shoreline. As the ramps dropped on the assault boats, the casualties began piling up on the shingle, and the sea ran red at the waterline. Four thousand men, mostly Canadians, were killed, wounded, or captured.

Lord Mountbatten famously said, “For every man lost at Dieppe, ten were saved on the beaches of Normandy two years later.”

No comfort for the grieving families, yet from that dark day, others would one day live.

14/08/2026

On August 14th, 1941, a Catholic priest named Maximilian Kolbe died in Auschwitz, having given his life for another. When 10 men were chosen for the starvation bunker, one cried out for his wife and children. Kolbe quietly took his place. Inside, he prayed, led hymns, and gave comfort in a place built to erase hope. After 2 weeks without food or water, his life was ended by lethal injection. In 1982, Pope John Paul II likened his sacrifice to Christ on the cross. Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this Even in horror, grace still speaks and love still acts.

Last year, I was deeply moved to visit Auschwitz and remember St Maximilian Kolbe. The shocking conditions endured by th...
14/08/2026

Last year, I was deeply moved to visit Auschwitz and remember St Maximilian Kolbe. The shocking conditions endured by those imprisoned there are hard to comprehend; yet amid such darkness, Kolbe’s extraordinary mercy and steadfast faith endure to this day. This is his story:

"He didn’t just give his life for me, he gave his life for every one of us" (Franciszek Gajowniczek)

In the summer of 1941, Maximilian Kolbe died in Auschwitz, giving his life so another man could live. He wasn’t a soldier or a politician, he was a Catholic priest. When ten men were chosen to die in a starvation bunker, Kolbe stepped forward. One of the selected cried out for his wife and children, and Kolbe quietly offered to take his place. The guards agreed. It was an act of radical love, one that stunned even the brutal men who ran the camp.

Inside the bunker, Kolbe prayed, led hymns, and gave comfort in a place designed to erase hope. While others slipped away in pain, he remained peaceful, faithful, unshaken. After two weeks without food or water, they ended his life with a lethal injection. But by then, his light had already pierced the darkness.

In 1982, Pope John Paul II recognised that light for what it was comparing Maximilian Kolbe’s sacrifice to that of Christ on the cross. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than the one who lays down his life for his friends” Father Maximillian Kolbe was a man who lived that truth to the very end. It’s reminds us that even in the midst of horror grace still speaks, love still acts and the Gospel still triumphs.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting many of the places connected with Operation PLUTO, one of the most re...
12/08/2026

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting many of the places connected with Operation PLUTO, one of the most remarkable engineering projects of the Second World War. That journey has taken me from the former Pirelli works in Eastleigh, where the flexible pipeline was manufactured, to Lepe Beach and the shores of the Isle of Wight, and eventually to the Normandy coast at Port-en-Bessin.
Following its story across these places has given me a deeper appreciation of the extraordinary effort required to keep the Allied advance moving and help liberate Europe. It also led me to the site of the Oxford Martyrs, where I explored the incredible story behind the name of PLUTO’s cable-laying ship HMS Latimer. This is the remarkable story:

“The genius of Operation PLUTO was its invisibility. While battles raged, fuel flowed unseen beneath the sea” (Historian James Holland)

On August 12th 1944, The first pipeline of Operation PLUTO was laid beneath the English Channel fuelling the Allied liberation of Europe. D-Day had come and gone, but without fuel, the liberation would stall. 70,000 vehicles depended on a steady supply of petrol. Operation PLUTO or Pipe Line Under The Ocean, was the secret plan to deliver it.

Pirelli built the pipe and on the Isle of Wight, a disguised ice cream parlour housed the massive pumps. On that August night, the first channel pipeline was laid in ten hours of silent, dangerous work. The ship chosen was HMS Latimer, once the humble cable-layer SS Empire Ridley. Bishops Latimer and Ridley burned at the stake in Oxford in 1555 for preaching the Gospel of Christ.

Latimer’s dying words were “Be of good cheer Brother Ridley for tonight, by God’s grace, we light a candle that will never be extinguished” His words were etched onto the hull of the ship that bore their names. The planners of PLUTO believed this was more than just a mission, it was a statement of freedom. We remember not just an engineering marvel, but a legacy of sacrifice. Freedom may travel by pipe or prayer, but it always comes at a price.

12/08/2026

On August 12th, 1944, HMS Latimer laid PLUTO - Pipeline Under The Ocean - beneath the English Channel in 10 hours, fuelling 70,000 vehicles as Europe’s liberation got underway.

The ship was once the cable layer SS Empire Ridley, 2 names that resonate throughout history. Bishops Latimer and Ridley burned at the stake in Oxford in 1555 for preaching Jesus Christ as the only way to God. Latimer’s dying words, We light a candle that will never be extinguished were etched onto the ship’s hull.

Planners called it more than engineering, but a statement of freedom. Freedom may travel by pipeline or by prayer, but it always comes at a price!

Last year I had the pleasure of visiting Malta to film the story of one of the most extraordinary convoys of the Second ...
09/08/2026

Last year I had the pleasure of visiting Malta to film the story of one of the most extraordinary convoys of the Second World War.

By August 1942, Malta was close to breaking point after years of bombing and near starvation. Operation Pedestal sent fourteen merchant ships, including the tanker SS Ohio, through U-boats, aircraft and torpedoes to keep the island alive.

Nine merchant ships and four warships were lost, but enough survived to bring desperately needed fuel and supplies. Most famously, the badly damaged Ohio was towed into Grand Harbour between two other ships with her vital cargo still aboard.

Standing there last year, it was moving to imagine those battered ships arriving on 15 August 1942 and the hope they brought to Malta.

“When this war is a misty memory, men will still talk of the convoy for Malta.”

09/08/2026

On August 15th, 1942, a battered convoy limped into Malta’s Grand Harbour delivering salvation to a biblical island on the brink.

After 2 years of starvation and daily bombings, Winston Churchill had declared in Parliament Malta must be relieved whatever the cost, sending a merchant convoy, including the mighty SS Ohio, under the protection of the Royal Navy.

9 ships and 4 warships were lost, yet the broken Ohio was dragged between 2 cruisers, her fuel intact. Chaplains had prayed, sailors had sung hymns, and now islanders wept at the quayside. Malta had been miraculously saved, echoing the epic rescues of the Bible.

Out for a beer with my son Jordan. What a legend! #
07/08/2026

Out for a beer with my son Jordan. What a legend! #

Address

Middle Brook Centre, Middle Brook Street
Winchester
SO238DQ

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Steve Lee posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category