5th update from Don

An ambition fulfilled. To stand where a true prophet of my generation stood to deliver his prophecy to a crowd of 200,000 people so moved me. It was the one thing I needed to do in a visit to the States. A man who truly spoke the voice of God. I know he is a true prophet because one of the marks of a true prophet is that what is said becomes a reality. The “I have a dream” prophecy of Revd. Dr. Martin Luther King moved me at the time – and in its completion with the election of President Obama confirms the clarity with which he heard the voice of the Lord.

I managed to find a printed copy of Martin Luther Kings speech which I bought and stood on the steps alongside where he stood. I hadn’t the boldness to actually read it aloud, but I read it to myself and every now and then looked up and saw the crowd lining the Mall as far as I could see. As I was reading I was praying that God would give me such passion and clarity in hearing His voice.

The main difference between the day in 1963 when he spoke and I did was the weather! On the day at the end of the Long March the sun was shining. When we were there it was very wet and decidedly cold. We walked the National Mall from the Senate House down to the Lincoln Memorial then to the White House unfortunately Barack wasn’t in: I’m sure he would have seen us if he had. We then walked back to the hotel by which time we were totally saturated. As soon as we hit our room we stripped off and each of us dived into the shower just to get warm. It was such a contrast to the weather in California.

We couldn’t help being struck by the cleanliness of the city and its order, but even more by its aura of power. All around the Senate building and its accompanying ministry buildings it is impossible not to be struck by the sense of power and the awareness of the significance of the decisions that impact the whole world that are made there.

The next day we decided to have our breakfast in a Christian coffee shop near the main station, but it was about 11.00 before we found it and not an “eggs over easy” in sight. It was Saturday morning and there were a large number of young people in. Most of them were sitting using there Apple Mac computers and to be honest this seems to be the kind of young adults the emerging churches seem to be attracting – not typical of young people in Normanton at the moment. We spent time in the museums that we had missed the day before which even for me were outstanding. We especially enjoyed the American Indian Museum where the restaurant had stalls of food from each part of the States and their particular Indian culture. We decided upon the mixed platter, a bit of each, don’t ask me what we had but it was good!

We visited the Arlington Memorial in the pouring rain and visited the graves of J.F. Kennedy, Bobby, and Edward Kennedy and the memorial to the unknown soldier. It was clear that the Americans do hold their servicemen in high regard by the respect they showed all around this enormous burial site. In many ways it was as moving as visiting the war graves in France – so many men and women who sacrifice their lives for the good of others reminding us of He who gave up everything for us.

So to our final day in America. We had the day to ourselves before catching our flight. It was Sunday so we walked through a park into the city centre to explore thinking it would be buzzing, but it was deserted! We came back to the hotel by bus which went through some of the less glamorous parts of the city which shows that every city has its darker side. From the Hotel to the airport we took the SuperShuttle where the driver was playing a Christian CD, so good knowing that God was and had been with us every step and every mile of the way.

We stopped off to share Ruth’s birthday in Horsham on our way back to Normanton and are now back home for couple of weeks to reflect upon our time in the US ,to do rather a lot of washing and ironing (well Dawn has anyway) and prepare for our next great adventure to Indonesia.