Tonight I was pondering again and for some reason this article I wrote in 2002 came back to my mind. I thought about posting it in the morning, but as that was two hours ago and I still am awake and thinking about it... I decided this may need immediate attention... Now I sleep and you read :)
INTRODUCTION
Today was a very special day in the history of the city where I live. Newport in South Wales, United Kingdom has recently been granted city status from our previous status as a town. Today is the day that Her majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England came to visit us as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations, and to announce by Royal decree the honour she has bestowed on our town.
Throughout these Golden Jubilee celebrations the Lord has been giving me fresh insight to His kingdom; whenever I read, or watch anything related to the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, I am always expectant that the Lord may want to show me something more. So when the Queen visited us today, I was not surprised when some of the issues the church are going to have to adjust to in this late hour were being exposed before my eyes.
THE WAIT
It was 12.30pm and we decided to make our way to the city centre to wait for the arrival of the Queen. She was due to walk through the main street between 2.30 and 3.00pm. As we arrived, there were already people standing behind the crowd protection barriers, they had been waiting for sometime (some as early as 8am) to get the best view of the queen. These people appeared to be very loyal supporters of the queen. This was evident from their commitment to stand for hours waiting for their precious reward ‘a glimpse of royalty’.
As time went on and the crowds filled in behind us, we all got quite ‘snug’ as we waited. Entertainers were called to perform for the children; the wait for whom must have seemed like eternity!
THE LITTLE CHILDREN
It was at about 1.30pm when I realised a little girl about 8 years old was standing next to me crying. Apparently, she had made her way to the barrier (two rows in front of us) and slipped between two women to hopefully get a glimpse of the queen; unfortunately she had been pushed back as the women would not yield.
A friend of mine had seen the incident and was quite close to the women, so she promptly pushed her way to the front to speak them.
“Do you realise you have made this little girl cry by pushing her to the back” she said.
Their defence was that they had the right to stay in position because they had been waiting there the longest. They were quite determined to stand ‘their’ ground and they did! At this point the little girl had withdrawn from the commotion and was stood next to me. As her tear’s quietly streamed down her cheeks and were dripping off her chin, I raised her face to look at me. The expression of disappointment was too obvious to hide; I couldn’t help myself and found myself saying, “Its OK you’ll see the Queen, you can sneak through that gap when she starts to arrive!”
At this her eyes began to smile and the tears stopped flowing. This simple word of encouragement gave her instant hope; this positive comment affected her whole posture, and her outlook regarding the event that was to follow. She now had a raised level of expectation and as time moved on I couldn’t help but notice she had decided she was going to stick to me like glue until she had seen the Queen!
