Guy Fawkes and trains

Judy, Nancy and I arrived in England early Friday morning, not too much worse the wear for flying all night. By Friday evening we were happily having dinner in Torquay at my parents when the fireworks started. The fireworks carried on all weekend....it was the 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes almost blowing up the Houses of Parliament....terrorism is not a new thing. Now, for 400 years, the Brits have celebrated the capture of a 17th century terrorist. Guy Fawkes was unhappy with the government trying to kick all the catholics out of the country. .....hmmmn, a religious conflict....any of this sound familiar....some things never change.

Sunday afternoon we three boarded a train for Oxford, getting there sounded fairly simple....catch a train to Reading, transfer to a train for Oxford, take a bus to Clanfield. We hadn't counted on a last minute platform change from 3 to 8 at Reading. After a stimulating conversation with an Oxford graduate and photographer on group dynamics and his experience as an extra in "Shadowlands", we disembarked. The platform change caught us by surprise and the three of us had to charge, with our luggage, up to the overhead passway, across and then to our horror discovered the entrance to platform 8 blocked by a barrier! We could see our train preparing to leave. We yelled for help, a guard appeared, unlocked the barrier (what in the world it was there for we couldn't figure out) and actually ran down a moving escalator hauling or suitcases. We jumped on the train, just about literally and found it so jam packed we stood for most of the way to Oxford. Outside Oxford the train slowed to a stop. We were informed that the station traffic was too congested for our train to arrive. Great! Several twenty something students were jammed in the hall with us and we had a great time swapping stories and getting to know each other. Eventually we starting passing a cell phone around to communicate to those waiting for us. We realized we were going to arrive way past our deadline and got hold of our contact. Thank God for cell phones. Finally the train pulled into the station. We tried to find a bus and couldn't and so in desperation the three of us split the cost of a taxi for the 20 miles to Clanfield. Our contact met us there, and to our surprise, a Nigerian doctor who had been on the train with us arrived via the bus! I guess we needed to try a little harder to find it.

The conference has been fantastic. As everyone gets to give input on case studies, we have an international perspective not always available at conferences. I am getting immersed in French all over again by spending lunch with friends from Switzerland, France and Belgium. International conferences truly make the world seem smaller and enlarge one's perspective. All over the world people face similar struggles.....prejudice, racism, abuse, neglect and a search for God and healing. Stories of healing and hope encourage us. God is with us and guides us as we search for Him in our lives and the lives of others. Healing comes from Him as He guides in our work. The world is waiting, looking for hope....we need to be trained and ready to help.