Travel Biography - Week 100.

For one who loves Travel, something weird dominated the newspapers this past week. This was the case of Magaluf in the Spanish Balearic Islands. Magaluf is a major resort located on the west of the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Its main street is Carrer Punta Ballena, better known as the Strip, a venue for bars, clubs, and all-night partying. Report after report tells of young British holidaymakers abusing alcohol and drugs, of vomit polluting the sidewalks, fights breaking out, and the siren of police cars. Now, the authorities have imposed new laws - bars shutting before 10.00 pm each evening being one of them. Of course, the tourists resent this. How dare they tell them what to do or not do as guests in a foreign land! What a wonderful freedom it was for them to travel overseas without their parents' domestic watchfulness and restrictions. Furthermore, didn't Britain rule over a quarter of the world just a century earlier?

At the Old Town Heritage Park, 1997.

Main Street, San Diego Old Town.

At the Bazaar, San Diego Old Town.

Another view of the Old Town.

What I did find amazing was that this overnight partying wasn't confined to the working class, according to the newspaper. Reports of undergrads were in these alcohol-fuelled parties too, as they paraded noisily through the street in the small hours, totally uncharacteristic of the sober, quiet, self-reserved student from the English county of Surrey, and just out of school uniform.

Echoes of my own past?

Indeed. How could I ever forget 1972, its long arms of memory reaching to this day? In Week 3 of this Biography, I related in detail about a booking made to Tossa-de-Mar on the Spanish Costa Brava. The break-up with my first girlfriend earlier that year sent my emotions into turmoil, and therefore, in Spain, I suffered from alcohol abuse, leading to situations very much the same as in present-day Magaluf.

As already narrated in Week 3, my 1972 conversion to the Christian faith from atheism also changed me from a Sunseeker to backpacking - a wonderful travel transformation in itself. In leisure travel, both sun-seeking and backpacking are triune in themselves, with fun underlying both. According to my own experience as well as in present-day Magaluf, sun-seeking among the late teens and early twenties often involves Fun, Intoxication, and Violence. On the other hand, I could make backpacking a triune of Fun, Adventure, and Education.

Having read the papers this week, I thought how such a wonderful, noble adventure of overseas travel had degraded, along with the price, to intoxication, together with street fights between rival groups, with no interest in local culture and sights. Hence, the above review. And nothing new. As a teenager myself, I was no less guilty.

Forget Tossa-de-Mar! Forget Magaluf! The world of backpacking has always been healthy, edifying, educational, and adventurous. And yes, from my experience, I can write this biography. I have now reached the hundredth week. If I was asked to write about the life of a Sunseeker, I doubt that I would have covered more than a week, perhaps two weeks if lucky. And so, I bring this up to date, in 1997.

View of a marina from SeaWorld.

One of the screaming seals, SeaWorld.

San Diego Attractions re-visited - The Old Town.

Incredibly enough, although 1997, I spent eleven days in San Diego, I never suffered a moment's boredom. And despite having spent my initial five days two years earlier in 1995 after a two-day hike into the Grand Canyon, re-visiting some of these places brought back good memories. Two of these, the Old Town and SeaWorld, along with Mission Beach, revived memories of 1995. One difference was the number of people at these venues, as these 1997 visits peaked in the summer. However, La Jolla, Santa Barbara with Rattlesnake Canyon, St Lois Obispo with Avila Beach, and Malibu were Californian venues unique to 1997.

One afternoon, I boarded a bus for the Old Town. After arriving, I saw no change between 1995 and 1997. The street typifies the Wild West, featured in many Hollywood Western movies. Wooden shacks lined the street. There were also workshop exhibitions, even a wagon. But the central attraction was the bazaar, a garden market along with stalls stocked with souvenir trinkets and other goodies.

I recall two years earlier the stall specifying garden fountains. Perhaps the market demand was already diminishing, as I couldn't see any more of these fountains stocked. That was a pity. I remember the enjoyment I had by just watching one of those fountains on display, demonstrating its function to the potential buyer. (For full details of what is featured in the Old Town, it's in Week 65.) 

Like in 1995, I decided to walk back to the hostel rather than wait for a bus that might not arrive. As I headed towards the city, I approached the souvenir shop I stopped at two years earlier. I walked in and browsed the shelves. To my surprise, everything was as they were in 1995, including the rows of named mugs. Back then, I bought a mug with my name on it. Just as well. This time, I couldn't find my name on any that were in stock. Fortunately, I still have the cup I bought to this day. We don't put it in utility use. Instead, it's on display on one of our lounge shelves.

The walk from the Old Town to the hostel was a tag longer than the four-mile trek completed in 1995, as our present hostel at Market Street was further away than the old Broadway site. Had I known better, I would soon find out, at the Old Town, that the trolley tram line has a terminus station nearby, although the mainline carried on to Los Angeles. Nowadays, the light railway has been extended to La Jolla, although that was already on the planning table in 1997.

Second Visit to SeaWorld.

On the morning of another day, I bussed to the SeaWorld for another visit. However, this time, I made every effort to stay dry, and not allow the two marine mammals, the dolphin and the Orca, to soak me as before. If I wanted to watch their performances, I chose to sit right at the back, out of the splash zone.

And yet, although I thoroughly enjoyed the day at San Diego Zoo, I felt more enhanced by the sight of marine life than with land animals. The reason for that is simple. We are air-breathing land-dwelling beings who share the same environment with all land animals, whether mammals, reptiles, or birds. True enough, there are air-breathing full marine creatures too, known as the Cetaceans, and they too are classified as mammals. These include the whale, the dolphin, and its close relative, the porpoise. Then there are the seals, sea lions, and walruses, known as the Pinnipedia, that are classified as marine, yet they are amphibians, as they can spend as much time on the beach as in the sea. At the SeaWorld, I watched a group of seals literally screaming as if wanting food. Not believing that any form of cruelty exists in the theme park, I assumed that those screams were the natural behaviour of these creatures. However, I couldn't help but feel some pity for them. After all, they didn't exist for a life in captivity.

Yet, it's the fish species that intrigued me the most, whichever form it takes. For example, I could stand outside the moray eel tank and watch these fascinating creatures relax as their heads protrude out of the purposely designed holes in the submerged rock, thus imitating a real sea environment. From where I was standing, gentle instrumental music was constantly playing, the sound from nearby speakers blending nicely with the environment and behaviour of the eels. Another tank was the home of starfish and sea anemones. Other tanks held more active fish, such as groupers, swimming around as if not a care in the world. At this point of writing, I'm wondering whether there was a coral tank, like at Townsville in Queensland. Unfortunately, there seem to be no photos of coral at SeaWorld in my albums. Either there weren't any, which would have been surprising for a scientific-oriented theme park such as this one, or I simply missed it, a common mistake anyone could make.

Like in 1995, I watched both the dolphin and the orca shows. An occasional splash is hard to avoid completely, but on both occasions, I left the theatre in a drier state than I did two years previously. 

Moray Eels at SeaWorld.

Tropical Palms at the Bazaar.

I stayed at SeaWorld until it got dark and the park closed for the night. I made my way to the bus stop, and to my horror, I found out that the last bus of the day had already gone. I thought that was odd, as I'm sure that there would be those without a car in need to get home. Or wasn't it worth the time and effort to send empty buses to SeaWorld to collect the last of the visitors?

I looked around. Hitch-hike? I'm aware that was already illegal, but a short lift into town? It wasn't that I wanted to hitchhike across the USA. Just a lift back into town.

Pulling out of the car park was a car containing a couple leaving the aquatic zoo. On it was a distinct outline symbol of a fish on the windscreen, and I took this as a sign that they were committed Christians. Maybe they can help. So I approached their car to make a polite request. But as I drew near, the wife screamed, and the car pulled away with a screech.

That shocking incident has opened my eyes to the American life. It had all come together. The need for identification when buying an alcoholic drink. Even when on one occasion, walking through a residential estate, there were homes with a sign posted on their front door saying that they had a gun, so strangers beware! Now this. What a difference to the Old Wild West movies put out by Hollywood.

A walked along the deserted road in pitch darkness. I was heading east. The city was to the south, and across fields, I was able to see the lights of the city lighting the sky above the horizon. I kept on walking along the deserted road, hoping to see a sign pointing to the city.

Presently, a cyclist was passing by, going the other way. I called out, asking the way back to the city. Instead of pedalling off in frightened fury, the cyclist actually stopped and indicated a turning just a few metres ahead, and I'm to take it. After arriving at the junction, I turned, and not far off was the trolley tram standing at Old Town terminus station. I quickly bought a ticket and boarded.

Cooking supper in the hostel member's kitchen was such a relieving task.

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Next Week: I journey on to Santa Barbara.

3x2 Witnesses In Darwin's Basilica.

The Basilica San Darwin is one location in the UK I have been familiar with since I was a boy. Equally majestic in its interior structure as St Paul's Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, il Basilica San Pietro, Westminster Cathedral, or even Westminster Abbey, I ask you which of the six basilicas is the odd one out?

Why, it's il Basilica San Pietro, of course! It's at Vatican City in Rome. The other five are all in London.

Indeed, I can classify the Basilica San Darwin, aka the Museum of Natural History, as a religious building, as its imposing Central Gallery, now known as the Hintze Hall, resembling the interior of a cathedral, with stained glass windows at the far end that's characteristic of any large Christian church, and even surrounded by cloisters. On the landing above a flight of stairs stands a white statue of Charles Darwin sitting rather alone and dwarfed to miniaturisation by the immense structure built in his name.

Hintze Hall, Natural History Museum, Stock photo.

The exhibits dominating the Central Hall had changed at least twice since my first visit as a boy (at first with my parents and then with the class of our primary school.) Back then, if my memory hadn't fazed, I recall a circular platform in front of a dominating skeleton of a Diplodocus, on which stood two lifesize elephants on one side, and two rhinos on the other, also lifesize. Then, afterwards, these mammals were moved elsewhere, and the plaster-cast skeleton held dominance, symbolising the entire museum until 2017, when the skeleton was dismantled to begin a tour of the UK, to be replaced by the real bones of Hope, a young Blue Whale.

Talking of primary school children, I actually saw several lines, all young boys and girls under the age of ten in their school uniforms, walking along in pairs with their supervisors. I was quite surprised. I can recall being in a line myself at that same museum, about age ten, and the leading teacher instructed me to read aloud the words on a sign next to one of the exhibits. I responded with, Please Don't Touch. Then the supervisor told the rest of us to heed my instruction. At least, if this is of any comfort to me, I didn't wear a tie at primary, neither did the other children. I also found myself wondering how those kids really feel about having to wear such stiff uniforms whilst all the adults and teenagers around them wore what they liked and felt less rigid and more at ease. However, they all seemed to have been okay with it.

And so, the statue of Charles Robert Darwin sits enthroned in the Hintze Hall, gazing through its entire length to the doors leading out to Cromwell Road. This very man takes the credit for literally revolutionising our minds from accepting the authority of the Bible as a guidebook for daily living to atheistic secularism. Yet, according to a book written by Christian author and Creationist, Jerry Bergman,* Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species, he was accused of plagiarism by his writings being so similar to that of his contemporary, Alfred R. Wallace - not to mention his predecessors Jean Baptiste Lamarck, George Buffon, Robert Chambers, Patrick Matthew - to these authors giving little, if any credit when Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species.

Yet, here am I standing on the third-floor balcony, looking down into the gallery. The bones of Hope, the Blue Whale partly obscuring the comparatively small statue of Charles Darwin, to whom the museum is centred upon. I make my way to the mineral gallery, a collection of specific rocks, meteors, and ores, including a couple of rocks containing jasper.

I was very impressed with the striking beauty of this mineral in its original form. Despite that it was in shadow, the rock still shone in turquoise-blue candescence, as if illuminated from within like a light bulb. I tried to imagine how the stone would have looked had the rays of the sun had shone directly at it.

Jasper. Isn't this mineral mentioned in the Bible? Furthermore, isn't jasper one of the minerals with which the heavenly Jerusalem will be built, the radiance shining with the very glory of God? Jasper, topaz, emerald, gold, sapphire, and other minerals make up its construction. It's while looking down at the exhibits in front of me that I allow my mind to dwell on the afterlife. As the Scripture says, nobody had ever seen the glories that await all who loves God through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, not only are such glories promised, according to Scripture, God's will is for all men everywhere to have faith in the Atonement made by Jesus Christ on the Cross, his Burial and Resurrection, and eventually have eternal access to this city.**

And the fate of the lost. According to the Bible, everyone who refused to believe in Jesus in this life will still be able to have a glance at this glorious, candescent city and see for themselves the rapturous joy in all its inhabitants. Their source of torment could well come from the eternal question spinning around their heads: Why didn't I believe when I had a whole lifetime of opportunity? Like this, they will no longer be able to blame God. Instead, they will have only themselves to blame.

Two rocks containing jasper, Natural History Museum.

It's amazing how just two rocks containing jasper can be so inspirational, and for the Christian, allow his imagination to run wild. Yet, their radiant beauty, even in its raw uncut state, inspires me. They had also added further confirmation why I have taken the decision to board a train to spend the day at the museum in the first place - to examine some marine fossils, especially one highlighted by one popular YouTuber, ex-Jehovah's Witness Harrison Cother, in his attempts to disprove the historicity of the Bible, especially around the Noachian Deluge.

There were quite a number of both real fossils and plaster-casts of the originals. Therefore, in the Dinosaur gallery, where a model of a Tyrannosaur comes to life via computer tech, in a nearby cabinet there were two fossilised dinosaur eggs. There are examples of fossilised eggs found around the world. Unless eggs hatch, they tend to perish very quickly, often by predators making a meal of them. They simply don't naturally petrify. At least not at such a frequent rate as the fossil record seem to testify.

Walking a little further in the same gallery, I come across a plaster cast of a fossil skeleton Coelophysis. But what's so striking about this fossil was that within its ribcage were the skeletal remains of a small crocodile in the region where the lungs use to be, apparently still on its way to the stomach just below the lungs. Perhaps for the creature to die suddenly immediately after its last meal could have been merely coincidental. Perhaps the meal was poisonous, or it could have asphyxiated the reptile, or the crocodile, still alive, might have bitten through the stomach, killing its eater. Unlikely. The meal looked thoroughly crushed as if well chewed before swallowing. Then how and why did the Coelophysis die so suddenly? 

Coincidental such an incident might have been. Until, a little later on and in the Marine Fossil gallery, I came across what I call "the star fossil" - the very specimen highlighted by the YouTuber. It was very thoughtful for the Museum to display this particular fossil on the lowest tier, as there are others higher up on the wall which is more difficult to examine closely.

The fossil here is the skull of an Ichthyosaur. But this one still had a morsel of food between its jaws when it suddenly died. The morsel apparently was that of a smaller Ichthyosaur. Wondering whether cannibalism was common among this species, earlier that weekend, we watched a David Attenborough documentary on the Puma, and how often an adult male would consume a rival sire's cubs. And this is common among a wide variety of species - a lone male arrives and attacks a rival male's young, then mates with their mother to procreate its own offspring. Was this the case with the Ichthyosaur?

Such interesting thoughts and ideas. And as Darwin looks with a level of eternal seriousness into his own Hintze Hall towards the entrance doors, beyond those doors the world beats, the traffic moves through the street outside, regulated by traffic lights - red, amber, green. Pedestrians minding their own business. Some are in a hurry, so they stride at a fast pace to get to where they need to go. Others are far more casual, strolling along, chatting lightly, laughing at a joke, all taking advantage of the balmy Spring weather where there's hardly a cloud in the sky. The outside seating at cafes and coffee houses filled with happy-go-lucky people enjoying the good weather to the full, with not a moment's thought of the elderly gentleman sitting eternally inside the museum.

And yet it was mainly he who had influenced their thinking, accepting evolution as a scientific fact and relegating the Bible as legend and myth. Even a student says to his fellow student companion whilst sitting outside at a coffee table, reminding him that Charles Darwin is the central figure of the Natural history Museum. But his friend is one of the very few students who are fully aware that Darwin is not the real father of evolution, contrary to the thinking of the majority, but has plagiarised the writings of his contemporary, Alfred Wallace, who also believed in macro-evolution even before Darwin wrote his famous book. 

Who would have ever thought that while the statue of Charles Darwin attempts to dominate the interior - even if back then, Dippy the Diplodocus and at present, Hope, the Blue Whale now have the greater dominion. Yet, like in any religious building, visitors bow to honour the statue, believing how wonderfully clever and intelligent the man was when alive, Just as Jesus was, so some of them may think, in his day. 

Skull of Ichthyosaur with food in its jaws.

But this week, I have seen three sets of witnesses, two of each, to disprove the very man the museum is dedicated to. They were, 

1. The two rocks containing the precious mineral Jasper.

2. The two fossilised Dinosaur eggs.

3. The two fossil skeletons of preditors who died suddenly during or immediately after eating.

Maybe these three, especially the two fossils, don't sit well with Darwin's macro-evolutionary theories. Rather, they may indicate a sudden worldwide catastrophe, such as the Noachian Deluge. If so, then the day out was to verify the truthfulness of the Bible, and not to disprove it as Darwin intended. 

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*Jerry Bergman, The Dark Side of Charles Darwin, 2011, 2017, Master Books.

**Revelation, chapters 21-22.

The Most Glorious Gift.

Although the characters and circumstances here are fictitious, the story is based on various true incidences I have seen, heard and even read about in the past.

                                                                      ***

There were two friends, two men about the same age. One was married, the other single. The married one was Ted, the other, Doug. Ted was the married one. The two had known each other for several years. Then one day, Doug's church closed down due to a combined shrinking congregation and in deep financial debt, and the building where the main services were held went into administration.

Doug, who lived on his own, began to miss the Sunday corporate worship, and he began to feel lonely. One day, he phoned his mate Ted and asked whether he can come around to enjoy the company of his mate and his wife, Sandra, as Doug was also aware that both of his friend's daughters had already flown the nest. Their eldest daughter had just started a career up in Nottinghamshire, the other a student at Bristol University.

Doug was keen on both comedy and documentaries. And so, Doug began to call at Ted's home once a week for lunch and TV, whilst also visiting other churches with a hope of finding one that has permanent suitability.

Both liked to greet each other with a hug, and also to part with a hug too. And it was for this reason that, on one occasion, Ted assured his friend that despite such affection, he was not gay - his years of happy marriage to Sandra verifying this. Sometimes, the two mates went out together. Day trips to London were also common, both with and without Sandra. However, if one of the two boys needed to answer a call of nature at a public restroom, the other usually waited outside. Neither thought otherwise, except for those occasional moments when both had to meet their need.

Yet, Ted slowly began to worship Doug. This was out of admiration for his friend's academic qualities, including a doctorate. Ted was just the opposite. He failed at school and left education to enter the real world of manual work without any qualifications, much to the disappointment of his parents, who were ashamed of their comparatively dim son living in a neighbourhood full of bright kids.

In turn, Doug's high level of education made a deep impression on Ted's psyche, and he began to develop a fetish for Doug's bare arms, as he tends to wear a tee-shirt whenever the weather is mild. For weeks on end, the husband and father felt attracted towards his mate's sleeveless limbs and even stroked them whilst sitting at a table in a bar or restaurant. Doug seemed to enjoy the sensation.

Then, one day, Ted was becoming tired of what he thought was living a lie. Even in his wife's arms in bed, his spirit felt agitated, and he was unable to sleep properly. He knew that he had to confess to his friend what was going on in his mind. He felt that he couldn't go on like this. He then phoned and confessed to the fetish he felt for his friend's upper limbs.

The response was not what Ted had hoped for. What he would have wanted was Doug's sympathetic attitude expressed in a talk concluding in an agreement with a promise from Ted that he won't stroke his bicep anymore, and it would help if his mate wore a long-sleeved shirt or a jumper. But instead, his response was:

Thanks for your honesty. I won't be seeing you or Sandra anymore. And that was it. Ted then realised that Doug was sitting in Moses' seat. By heck, Ted then thought to himself: With Christians like Doug, along with others with similar attitudes representing the churches, no wonder atheism is spreading across this so-called "Christian country" as fast as mould spreads across stale bread!

Yet despite the shock, Ted felt deeply for his former friend. How he now regrets making the confession and how much he wishes to turn back the clock! Doug was the closest friend he has ever had, a mate who cared for him and had none of the snobbery or the arrogance that many well-educated men have over those not so well endowed academically. He was a far cry from many an Etonian, for example, whose privileged upbringing gave him that sense of entitlement - that attitude history has shown to be obnoxious. As a doctor, Doug was never like any of those posh people. And so, Ted sits there and looks around. How he wished that he simply kept his hands to himself and his mouth shut! 

But his conscience wouldn't allow it. Rather, he knew that even as a Christian, he was still accountable to God, and one day he will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ, a rostrum where rewards are given out to faithful believers. It will be no place to shed tears of regret. Hence, his initial confession.

In the nights following the loss of his friend, Ted began to have dreams of his relationship with Doug. The first one was of Doug acting with such hostility that Ted thought that he was about to be killed. A few nights later, another dream Ted had, was of Doug and himself becoming reconciled and the friendship resumes. He was disappointed when he woke up to reality.

With his wife's encouragement, it didn't take very long to re-acquaint to life without Doug visiting, even though he still miss his friend's weekly calls. As he sat and meditated, he knew that he wasn't a homosexual. Although he had a fetish for his friend's arms, that was it. He also knew that the very thought of a naked embrace with another man - any man - was repulsive enough never to engage in such activity, let alone share a bed!  

                                                                        ***

Yet, both Ted and Doug were true Christian believers. With Ted, did he commit a serious sin? I guess that would be up to him to decide. And perhaps it's exactly about this issue that I watched a YouTube video presented by a one-time Christian-turned-atheist. According to the unbeliever, religion binds a heavy burden of condemnation on those who may have such fetishes. In truth, they can't help feeling the way they do, but God will still judge them, nevertheless. Although some gays like to "live it up" - the vast majority would never have chosen to be that way. Had it been entirely up to them, most would have preferred to be "straight" - marry and raise a family. Furthermore, the rate of suicides committed by gay men had always been the highest among all other causes of suicide, according to what I once read. Indeed, given the choice, one doesn't choose to be gay.

But, according to the atheist's worldview, he is still condemned by God and by the Church, and therefore, he will spend eternity in Hell, even if he can't help feeling that way. It does make me wonder: of the two kinds of "sexual deviation" having a fetish for another man but hardly making any form of physical contact or a man who sleeps with other women, or even with a prostitute? Is one more acceptable to other Christians than the other, and thus, have a better chance for salvation?

And so it brings me to ask about Ted and Doug. If Ted, say, out on a gardening or landscaping job, finds the lady of the house attractive and she too likes him, and the two end up in bed, how would Doug react? Would he stay away and end the friendship with Ted? Or would he give him a stern telling off, but decide to continue with the friendship? Or even merely encourage him that we all have weaknesses and these things happen - with reassurance that the church will cover for him?

And so, the debate goes on both within and without the church - campaigns against gay marriage, even a Court case over whether to bake a cake for a homosexual couple, is it right to be friends and associate with a gay person? Is it right for anyone to divorce and remarry? Will he who marries a divorced woman suffer God's judgement? 

And so, the debate is continually thrown back and forth across the table, with fundamental Christians sitting on one side and liberals sitting on the opposite side, the nominal onlooker walks away feeling confused, even discontented, and the atheist hardens his heart as he embraces Darwinism with a greater sense of enthusiasm. 

And so, in his letter to the church in Rome, Paul the Apostle lists a whole plethora of sins, including "men burning with lust towards other men and reaping in their bodies (STD, AIDS etc.) the consequence of their actions" - Romans 1:27. Surely, not quite like Ted's mere fetish for Doug's arms! Or is it?

Then, further on in his letter, Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 -

Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.

This single line is, to my opinion, the most powerful verse in the entire Bible. In his letter to Rome, Paul devotes three full chapters to that quote. He mentions it again in his letter to the churches in Galatia, and James also uses the same quote in his general letter to all Jewish Christians everywhere. In Paul's other letters, especially to the church in Ephesus, further implications of those words can be read.

Most theologians call this doctrine, Justification by Faith. I like to call it Imputed Righteousness - an answer to the Roman Catholic soteriology of Infused Righteousness, where salvation is a gradual process of faith combined with the believer's works needed to get to Heaven. Since I was born a Catholic and thus, fully able to make comparisons, I can see that the whole letter to the Romans is the answer to the future Roman Catholic Church which the Holy Spirit foreknew beforehand of its rise.

In the forensic sense, Imputed Righteousness is to be declared righteous by God the Judge without the need of a single work from the believer. It literally means that God the Father sees the believer as equally righteous and in the same light as his own Son, Jesus Christ. As Paul writes:-

However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. Romans 4:5. 

Imputed righteousness is a free gift from God given to the sinner by grace. It cannot be earned, neither is it for sale. Rather, it's a free gift given to everyone who believes that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross to make atonement, was buried, and three days later, he rose physically from the dead, thus proving that this Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Therefore, is Doug doing the right thing by abstaining from Ted's presence? If Ted is a true believer, and I take it that he is, then Doug has no right to keep his distance from him. Rather, Doug should recognise that Ted has his own set of weaknesses, for whom Christ died to atone and to make an effort to reconcile and restore the friendship. And that means not counting any of his shortcomings against him. Likewise, Ted should also recognise Doug being in Christ and pay him due respect by vowing not to stroke his arms anymore.

The Resurrected Christ, the base for our justification.

Imputed Righteousness, Justification by Faith, Forensic Acquittal, Eternal Security, Once Saved Always Saved, Regeneration, a New Birth, Adoption into God's Family - whatever you want to call it, it all means one thing - salvation is given as a free gift through grace. Such a wonderful gift does not encourage the believer to sin more, rather it persuades the believer not to sin, mainly out of love for both God and his brother.

But, being human, I'm convinced that there is a bit of Ted and Doug in all of us, to a greater or lesser level. The temptation to fulfil a curiosity is never far away, sitting on Moses' seat isn't far from us, either. As if you see another sinner who appears black, you would feel as if you're white, even if you're actually grey.

Unfortunately, that was how Doug saw himself when he discovered Ted's true colours.

A Facebook Shocker...

This morning I gasped when I saw a poster appear on my laptop screen whilst scrolling down the Facebook wall. It was an advert posted by someone I knew personally. He is to appear this evening on a Channel 4 chat show to talk about his knowledge of recent Middle East history, focusing on the wars and political unrest which had taken place there in the past seventy years.

And I will honestly admit that I have a pinch of envy for him. Appearing on national television. Wow! He even asked us to ignore the football which will be shown concurrently and instead, tune in to his interview on the commercial channel. Does he mean Match of the Day on the BBC, a popular sports programme, especially for male viewers?

Meanwhile, I sit alone at home typing this blog. Alone. For yet again, my beloved wife is in a ward at Frimley Park Hospital. She was taken there by ambulance late last night after spending hours suffering intense pain in her abdomen. Early this morning, news came in. Apparently, she was diagnosed with possible Pancreatitis, a serious illness caused, so I'm told, by the presence of stones in her gall bladder.

In one sense, having a diagnosis is very helpful. Therefore, she will be given the appropriate treatment. Actually, I do recall seeing the presence of a gall bladder stone on an X-Ray image way back in 2007 at John Radcliffe Hospital, after developing unrelated symptoms following the birth of our third daughter. But although the medical staff was aware of the presence of a stone, they decided to ignore it. This might have been due to their assumption that over time it will dissolve into the bile the bladder produces.

Whether this lies behind her health problems, other than her breast cancer, or not, remains to be seen. But here, I would like to highlight a contrast between this fellow on TV and seems to enjoy life to the full, and our own lives of prolonged health anxieties, frequent hospital visits and an uncertain future.

It looks to me that the key to a fulfilled life all comes down to a high education level. The person referred is actually one of a twin. His brother had graduated to be a medical doctor. Also, I have met and spoken to their parents (but had so far, I never met the other sibling.) I wonder how proud this elderly couple were of their son's academic achievements? Their sense of successful upbringing of their twin sons to reach such an academic goal, and thus providing a useful service to their communities - was quite a contrast to the way my own parents felt about me during my teenage years as a slow learner. The resulting boyhood retardation meant that I was one of those 1960s school-leavers who walked into the world of work with absolutely nothing academic to show. Therefore, I have always looked upon a graduate as an icon for a richly fulfilled life and deserving of a higher level of respect from the rest of us.

Yet, despite the slight sense of envy I may feel about his television appearance - and thus a gateway to fame - I wish him well. As a historian, he is also the author of two published books on the Middle East. And that is after cautioning him that specialising in a single overseas location could restrict the numbers of those interested. Unless told specifically otherwise, I will never know whether my word of caution had ever held true or not.

It's this level of education that had made him one of several lay-preachers in our church - this cultural preference presenting a phenomenon I had seen many times before in different churches. For example, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, attended Eton College, followed by gaining a MA at the University of Cambridge, and a BA at the University of Durham. And I once read that Cambridge, in particular, holds a "gene pool" of undergrads from whom the Church of England draws for its future clergy. Rather different from Jesus' selection of his twelve from a more rabble background!

It's this high level of education elevating the student to a higher status in his social life, attaining respect, even admiration from the church elders as well as from the rest of the congregation, along with the rest of the world. Like, during one Summer Sunday morning several years ago, when it was officially announced that a "seminar of Creation" - delivered by this same academic - was to be held that same evening. And I was there to hear the announcement.

And so I attended, only to end up listening to our hero's denial of the historicity of the first chapter of Genesis and reducing the chapter to the level of myth. By mythologising history - that is presenting Scripture as if the events written therein had never occurred - is making ineffective one of the major foundation stones on which the Gospel of Jesus Christ rests. Yes, the same person denying the historic truthfulness of the Bible - appearing on a chat show on TV - whilst at the same time, another person who is a true believer and an advocate for Scriptural truthfulness, carries his cross so heavy and burdensome, that he emotionally breaks as he watches his beloved being carted away to the hospital for the umpteenth time.

As I wrote on my Facebook page, I would be more than willing to jump into his shoes, but would the very thought of jumping into my shoes be a source of terror for anyone? This sense of unfairness - why is one person so blessed, due to his excelling at school, while another has to drag his feet each morning to a monotonous, dead-end and dirty, low-paid job where he also suffers from being bullied by his colleagues? An accurate description of the early days of my work life soon after leaving school. And indeed, quite a good metaphor. While I was experiencing such humiliating conditions around 1970, someone from the Midlands, who I will get to know many years later, had just graduated from University and will be flying off to Africa on a voluntary project. 

The Rev Justin Welby

Could this sense of unfairness and insecurity be behind many cases of domestic abuse? I wonder how many husbands, boyfriends, or partners feel their egos under threat by their partner's level of education, wealth, or professional career? And then develop a controlling streak within the relationship that could end up in a violent assault, even death? And so the Media keeps reporting violent assaults of females in the hands of very insecure and egotistical males. And such could be exacerbated by the annual reports that girls are doing better than boys at school and therefore have a wider career opportunity. And so, a Christless soul moves on before being caught and brought to justice - only to end up behind bars with very low self-esteem that often leads to prison violence.

A Christless soul? Indeed, if my own experience can prove anything, to know God through faith in Jesus Christ is like a picture more worthy than a thousand words, or like the beauty of a face launching a thousand ships. But I need to be real here. There are many occasions when I doubted God, His love or Sovereign power. Or when the chips are down, wondering where God is or which direction our future will take into the unknown.

As one who has been acquainted with the Bible for several decades, our friend's preach posed no threat to my faith. Rather, I stood up to him after the service to defend the historicity of this early chapter of Genesis after dismissing the factual side of the book for his support for science. For example, according to him, how could the Earth possibly exist four days before the rest of the Universe was created, including the Sun, Moon and Stars? It's this rhetoric that brings the atheist to laugh at us as Creationists living in a land of make-believe, instead of facing hard facts of life, that is, believing in Darwin's Evolutionary theories and Charles Lyell's Uniformitarian Geology. 

Too bad I don't have all the answers! Did light exist before the start of Day 1? For God said, "Let there be light" and there was light. And God saw that the light was very good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day", and the darkness He called "night". And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day - Genesis 1:3-5. Could this be a hint that the Earth was already rotating before the 4th Day of Creation?

But the beauty of the Gospel remains standing on the firm and historic foundation of Genesis. The Fall was indeed an Earth-shaking event, this separation of man from God through sin, and the death of the spirit - that part of him where he communicates freely with God - had done nothing less than erect a barrier consisting of four large stones which had blocked man from God, and unless God acts, man is destined to remain separated from God forever.

Although some Christian leaders might have said that it was God who built the wall, actually, it was the man, Adam, who built it. It was Adam who fell, not God.

The topmost boulder is the character of God - including perfection and holiness.

The next boulder is the debt of sin that cannot be repaid, as God's holiness demands absolute perfection.

The third boulder is slavery to Satan. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he sold himself and all his descendants to the Devil, who became "the father of all mankind", according to John 8:43-44.

The fourth block in the wall is spiritual death - the loss of communication with God.

Thus, a very thick barrier exists between a sinful man and God. So strong is that wall, no man can demolish it. No works done by sinful men to earn salvation can knock the barrier down. Our acceptance of Creation and the Fall as historic are absolute necessities to establish this statement of faith. The events surrounding the Fall speaks so clearly of the historicity of the early chapter of Genesis. 

After the Fall, aprons made of sewn fig leaves symbolises man's futile effort to reconcile himself with God. Those leaves were totally ignored by God when He called them to account. The bushes they hid behind is a good illustration of the fourfold barrier now standing between God and man. But God, in His mercy, slays an animal and clothe them - a picture of redemption through the death of an innocent intercessor whose blood was shed to make atonement.

However, eternal redemption was achieved by the Father sending his beloved Son to die in atonement for sin and to bring reconciliation with God, restoring our communication with Him. It's the work of God in its entirety. As the aprons have shown, no man can assist in God's redemption.

By the death of Jesus Christ the Son of God by crucifixion, the wall is demolished in four stages occurring simultaneously: 

God's character ----> Propitiation. The turning away of God's wrath against sin.

The debt of Sin ----> The Certificate of Debt - paid to Infinite Justice by Christ's death.

Slavery to Satan ----> Redemption. Freedom from slavery to sin to that of righteousness.

Spiritual Death ---->Substitutionary Death. Christ died so we might be made alive.

The intricacies between Creation, the Fall, and Redemption forms a triunity of truth that any denial of historic facts cannot find any place in the faith, which, to me, is so glorious to God and vital to my wellbeing. And the wellbeing of all who were at Ascot Life Church on that warm Sunday evening.

I hope our friend's broadcast goes well. Although very patchy in the Facebook advert, I believe it was made to promote his books, which may be flagging in sales.

All the best to him.

John Bull: Should I Support Him?

Daniel was one Biblical prophet I have learnt to admire. According to what is recorded of him, he was very well educated and had exceptional qualities. He was also trustworthy, he was also very loyal to the king, and there was no corruption in anything he did, nor did he ever show any negligence in his calling. And how devoted he was to God, trusting in Him completely and praying regularly in the privacy of his own room every day. He was also innocent of any blatant sins, such as adultery and murder, two of which King David was guilty of during his lifetime, around four hundred years earlier. Yet, David too was referred to as "a man desiring God's own heart" - according to his biographers.

Daniel's faith in God was so strong that he wasn't afraid to be thrown into a pit containing hungry lions. And that was what his associates desperately wanted - for him to die - but not peacefully in his sleep but with intense pain and bloodshed by the sharp-toothed jaws of these feline predators. Their motive was jealousy. That deep resentment felt among them after their inability to interpret dreams the king had, nor were they were able to read and interpret the supernatural writing on the wall which foretold the Babylonian king wanting - and his resulting demise that very same evening. Yet, the prophet was able to solve these difficult problems with remarkable ease, giving them the impression of superior intelligence, learning, and power.

The fact that the prophet Daniel was a Jew - a "proper" Jew at that - as he was from the tribe of Judah, from which the word Jew originated. His associates, of Chaldean origin and renowned for their knowledge of mathematics and astrology, already harboured a deep resentment in their hearts for having a Jew appointed over them by the king. After all, it was they, the Chaldeans, who sent their armies to Israel, under their former king Nebuchadnezzar, to raze their city to the ground and brought the captive Jews into Babylon to settle in subservience to them.

And so, as Daniel was praying, or even lay asleep in the lion's den in the company of sleeping lions, King Darius the Mede, tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep and in the grip of deep sorrow and anguish, as he imagined the flesh of the prophet being torn apart over a puddle of human blood soaking into the ground. He also felt angry at the astrologers for their idiotic decree. He was also angry at himself. How could he allow such a stupid, stupid decree to be signed by his own hand? That one irreversible law of not allowing anyone to pray to any god or man except to the king only for the next thirty days! Perhaps the most senseless scheme ever thought up by these so-called "intelligent" Chaldeans. And he fell for it, hook, line and sinker. How could he not smell a rat? And afterwards, he was then forced by law to condemn an innocent friend to a horrible death, despite his plea to his advisors for clemency. 

Meanwhile, in stark contrast, the Chaldeans responsible for Daniel's demise lay in their wives' arms in bed, feeling smug and content that, at last, there won't be an exiled Jew telling them what to do! How little did they know that this would be their very last night in their lover's arms? For the king's wrath would spill on them at daybreak, and they will all be food for the hungry lions.

However, the goodness in Darius' heart was manifested when, at the crack of dawn, the king made his way to the pit while he was still wearing his nightclothes, and called out to the prophet, perhaps expecting silence or at least a roar or two from the lions. Instead, to hear the Jew calling back to the king had caused his heart to change from distress to joy - and then to anger - anger at those Chaldeans who wanted his friend dead to get him out of their way.

It's the jealousy lurking in the hearts of these Chaldeans that has given me some food for thought: The 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence by a gang of white racist youths is one example. Could I see a parallel between these youths towards Lawrence and the Chaldean's attitude towards Daniel the Jewish prophet? Just as Daniel displayed divine wisdom at a level beyond the Chaldean's capabilities, so Stephen Lawrence, who was black, was already better educated than his persecutors, and they knew it.   

Then at a football match, there is the racism that often exists at the stands. This is when fans make monkey noises at a black player or even throw a banana at him. There is a story that when the very first black player, Wilf Mannion, scored for England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, the English supporters refused to accept the goal as a valid score. The resentment that was seen among English fans against non-Caucasian players throughout the decades to follow has, to my mind, has given English fans a bad reputation on the international scale, particularly in the eighties.

I too have been a victim of this prejudice, albeit in a much milder form. This began in school, followed by my work colleagues into the late sixties and the seventies, and then into the eighties and the nineties when I was part of a group of five unmarried Christian men from several churches. Their commitment for England to win the World Cup and the European Cup caused my skin to tingle and my hair to stand on end after categorising me as an Italian, despite being born in England, and as such, someone to be regarded somewhat as an inferior, more of an out/group than in/group. And all that is manifested whenever the European Championship or the World Cup football tournaments comes around.

I think that had I done better at school, things might have been different and I would be treated with better respect, although two areas of my life have given me a morale boost. Firstly, knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour, and secondly, my love of travel. However, mingling with Christian friends who were avid England supporters came to a head during the 1998 World Cup. Rather than face my friends if England were to lift the trophy once again since 1966, I bought an air ticket and fled to New York. However, I was still in the UK when England was knocked out of the Cup by Argentina on penalties after a 2-2 draw. But rather than ask for an airline refund, I gladly flew across the Pond to visit the Big Apple, where I stayed at the world's largest HI-affiliated hostel, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

And while I was there, I successfully photographed the twin towers of the World Trade Center from the ferry linking Battery Park to the Statue of Liberty. Back then, I never realised how precious those pics will be after 9/11. 

World Trade Center, taken 1998.

I find it amazing how everything changes for the better after one member of the group finds his ladylove and marry. The young architect, and perhaps the most handsome in our group, was the first to marry. Not long after, the accountant marries. This is followed by the banker. Finally, I marry - after meeting Alex just a few months after flying home from the New York trip (actually, I flew home from Boston Massachusetts after spending a week there.) However, one other member remained single right up to the present, the kitchen porter. He was the most patriotic in the group, the one who believes that the English are the kings of the world and all other nationalities - especially the Italians - are ethnically and culturally inferior. Yet, this same chap, who is proud of his British stiff upper lip, remains unmarried and is now in his sixties.

I was affectionately referred to as that Reckless Itai (pronounced eye-tie) by the banker, and I'm still called that to this day. I don't mind that at all, for it's always done in a friendly spirit, and not in a derogatory one.

With the group long dispersed after we had all gone on our separate ways, my apprehension over whether England will win the cup or not has somewhat wained. Perhaps not entirely. I still feel a little of it now. But just goes to show how much psychological harm can be caused for Mr B, when Mr A thinks he's nationally, culturally, and even biological superior. Then Mr A's team knocks out Mr B's team, from the tournament. Then Mr A appears smug and looks down with a patronising gesture towards the hapless Mr B. I recall this happening once, some 25-30 years ago. When his English rugby team beat the Scots, the mockery from the England supporter was enough for the Scotsman to break into tears, to which the Englishman finally admitted, Oh dear, I'm not behaving Christlike.

This spirit of England has become, in my opinion, something of an anomaly since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps I can personify England as John Bull, a character that is supposed to represent courage, stoicism, and to keep going during a crisis. Mr Bull, I think, is generally introverted, and he's not the one to be a braggadocio people-minded individual but more of a task-minded person who is shy when it comes to winning contests and quite happy to accept defeat. After all, it's the participation in the game that counts, whether win or lose. Such as John Bull, that is, until recently.

Oh, what has happened to John Bull? Have we become a nation of chocolate teapots? Have we become afraid to ditch the facemask? Isn't there any optimism for the near future? Do we have faith in the vaccines? Does the majority believe that there will be another lockdown before the onset of Winter? Are we constantly looking out for a new variant? Would this new variant result in an immediate lockdown? Will it be vaccine-resistant? Are we avoiding each other as if each one of us is carrying the Bubonic Plague? And have we become reluctant to return to the office which involves commuting in a delayed packed train?

I say "we", but I have never seen the inside of an office, let alone work in one. This idea of "flexible working" - the concept of part-time office work mixed with working from home - a new trendy culture that would never be dreamed of during the early days of my own working life! I recall the days when there were two kinds of occupation: The salary-earner and the wage-earner. The man in a business suit and the man in a boiler suit. The one who signs in and the one who clocks in. The one who works flexi-time and the one who is told when to start and finish. The one who takes a company-paid business flight to a foreign country, and the one who pushes a broom across the factory floor. The one who is highly respected and the one who is treated like cattle.

And it all comes down to the level of education, does it not?

Like the scientists who are advising our Government on which course of action for the whole nation to take. Like the king listening to the prophet Daniel, our MPs are listening to these scientists as they bow to their wisdom gotten at Oxford. And the rest of the people bow. At least the Brits are quite unlike the ancient Chaldeans!

Oxford University.

Don't be surprised when I say that there were times that I felt a pang of jealousy. Maybe, I understand how these ancient Chaldeans must have felt. After years in college, they became great and well knowledged for that period. Then this exiled Jew arrives, and with his powers, wins the favour of the king, who then sets him over the whole kingdom. No wonder the Chaldeans felt miffed!

Daniel's character is admirable, and with all honesty, I would very much like to be like him. He had the mind of Christ. And this level of spirituality is attainable by anyone who wants to have it.

There are three choices I can make:

I can be like one of the ancient Chaldeans and wallow in envy towards those who are better off.

I can be a typical Brit, which, at present, seems characterised as a chocolate teapot.

Or, I can inherit the qualities which Daniel the prophet had, which can only be possible by having the Holy Spirit dwelling within, who is available to anyone who asks God.

A Nightmare for Students

One morning this week I was staring at an e-pigeonhole on my laptop screen, which included a frame of me arranged in a neat set of rows containing anywhere between six to twelve others. The silence became obvious as no one actually prayed - that momentary interlude which usually occurs in prayer meetings when each one of us is stuck in not knowing what to say or to ask for.

I guess Zoom is that one opportunity when anyone in the virtual meeting can look into the privacy of another's home to see whether some idiosyncratic feature or possession would give a clue to the owner's personality, such as a skylight in view covered in dead insects. Indeed, this owner loves to keep dead insects trapped between the two panes of his skylight. Another has a large map of the world hanging on the wall behind him, and so, it looks as if this guy is into cartography. Or he may simply like wall maps. Another may have a fully-stocked bookshelf behind him. Ah! So this guy is very clever, having a well-developed intellect. Unfortunately, some of the prayer meeting participants had wised up to this and now ensures that only a blank wall is seen behind them. 

At least with me, I love the idea of other Zoomers to see the display of travel pictures hanging on the wall behind me, although pity about the panoramic scene of the Grand Canyon which dominates the wall (which incidentally, was purchased at Poole, Dorset, some eight years after visiting the Grand Canyon in 1995.) To focus the camera on that would mean that the frame would shoot over the top of my head. Not very helpful in prayer meetings.

Suddenly the silence was broken by one of the participants asking God to help those students who weren't able to take their A-Level exams this year due to Covid-19. Trying to stir some empathy here, I imagined putting myself in their shoes. How bitterly frustrating it must be, studying hard at school for many months, including homework and revision in readiness to sit the most important exam which will determine the direction for the rest of life, only for all sittings to be cancelled due to a wretched virus. Then the excitement of "the fresher's party" or other social activity at their commencement of University in celebration of flying the parent's nest for the first time. That too, so I heard or read about, is now cancelled due to the pandemic.

During my lifetime, years come and years go, so I see annually, graduates on the top of the pile line up for a group photograph and then throw their mortarboards high into the air, perhaps symbolising the end of all education and the beginning of a new chapter of life - the real world of work. Or is it a gap-year first before the business suit? That narrow slice of opportunity to see the world and even work abroad such as teaching English to students overseas. A little later in the same year, another group of new entrants, or freshers, enter the institution, a dream world which I have longed to partake in but such an opportunity hadn't so far knocked on my door. 

The Internet has indeed opened a new world for many graduates. Here I'm referring to YouTubers, nearly all-male grads who either threw off their business suits for a life of professional video-making or had managed to establish a channel on Google soon after graduating. Last week I highlighted three atheistic YouTube channels - Alex O'Connor, Drew McCoy and SciManDan, with more than 133,700,000 views between them. Then other male YouTubers specialise in travel, and both Alex and I watched them. Again I can pick out three: Jason Billam Travel who at 16.00 hours on August 15th, 2020, had 32,786,603 views; Gabriel Morris, who has 88,004,930 views; and finally, Explore with Josh, with 438,183,555 views - a statistic which is greater than all three atheist YouTubers added together, although Josh specialises in derelict houses, prisons, asylums, hospitals, hotels, and schools all around the globe, and, unlike the others who work on their own, Josh also has a team of two or three accompanies to help shoot each video.

All three earn their living by fulfilling their dreams - to travel the world and making videos, with fame thrown in for good measure. These shoots have to be thoroughly professional to meet Google's rigorous standards, and all appear to be graduates. Jason Billam is typical. He delivers his narration in a plum Surrey accent, whilst Gabriel Morris admitted his past graduation in a typical American drawl.

Indeed, with fame-inducing lifestyles like these three, no wonder that they have shed their faceless business suits (or never wore them in the first place) to pursue such a profession! Yet I could pick any of the hundreds of YouTubers and I'll be very hard-pressed to find any of them wearing a tie - an item of honour here in the UK as I perceive it to distinguish the well-educated professional from the boiler-suit-clad worker whose vocation involves dirty hands, and thus, the tie can have a snobby ring to it. Just look at Eton and Oxford-educated Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg who would never appear in public without a suit and tie - regardless of hot weather and being on holiday.

Jacob Rees-Mogg on holiday in New York, Summer 2018.

And so prayer was delivered up to God on Zoom on behalf of these students, the majority unbelievers. With the news that their estimated A-Level results of 40% of students had been downgraded by a computer has infuriated them to the point of seeking legal action. To them, it's a time of desperation, a moment of frustration that a worldwide pandemic had arrived at our shores at the worst possible time of their lives. If only they had been born just three or four years earlier. By now they would have sailed through all higher education and now pursuing the career of their dreams. And that could include world travelling YouTubing.

Perhaps I feel nonplussed by it all. Especially if the Media seem to concentrate on the plight of female students. Like that in today's Daily Mail national newspaper where the grieving snapshots of three young women were featured together with their testimonies along with the absence of male participants. To me, they give the impression that their world is about to end, the prospect of glittering careers under threat, the possibility of facing a gloomy life without any direction, nothing to build any hope upon. If only their grandmothers had told these girls that two of their regular school subjects were housecraft (cooking) and needlework as part of preparing for the home as adults while their future husbands were trained to be the breadwinner, taking up vocational jobs in the industrial world, construction, mechanical engineering, and a variety of skilful crafts and trades.

And so, when I left school in 1968 without any qualifications to show, my first task in my new job was to sweep the factory floor. Small fry. A mere iota in this big, dirty, family-owned furniture-making firm where my hands were covered in oil-based wood stain and need to be washed thoroughly in inflammable spirits before soaping and holding under the running tap. Yet I thought no more of it, it was the day-to-day life of a school-leaver without any qualifications, nothing more, nothing less. Really, it does make me think about how can an average school-leaver with ambitions for University cope in such a situation. Could it be, yes, could it be that their perception of a successful career is far way too high and lofty to even consider sweeping the floor?

It doesn't seem to occur to these students that if their car was to break down in the middle of a long journey, the mechanic with grease-smeared hands would be far more useful and helpful than one videoing a gelateria at a street in a southern Italian city. It can also be said that the cheerful grave digger whistles merrily as he shovels the earth back in to cover the coffin which holds the corpse of the company executive.

Yes, I started working life as a small fry, an insignificant cog in a large machine which has constantly kept me in my place with a weekly pay of just £4.00. But if this is as low one can get, then the only way is up.

And this began with my conversion from atheism to faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour in December 1972. Tremendous changes came after that. As I started to read the Bible, I felt both intelligence and wisdom began to grow, and I began to acquire knowledge. Like many other newly-converted Christians, there were parts of the Bible which I found difficult to connect, especially about the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and particularly with Joseph. It was a few years later while I was at someone's home when I came across a series of a comic book version of the Bible, and the owner was pleased to lend them to me. That is the whole Bible in the form of a comic strip. Suddenly everything fell into place and my understanding of Holy Scripture grew.

Including the prominence of Jerusalem in both the Old and New Testaments which inspired me to visit the Holy Land in 1976. And this was how I responded to the prayer. Although it sounds as if I was unsympathetic to the student's cause, actually I was right not to show too much pity. As one who left school without any qualifications and started working by sweeping the floor, not only had I survived for half a century by dirtying my hands, I also added how knowing God is the ultimate fulfilment in life, including growth in knowledge and wisdom, my visits to the Holy Land, our strong, loving marriage, and my denial of high education and careers being the be-all-and-end-all for our existence. Then I prayed for them to know God to be their purpose, as we are all going to die one day. Indeed, our lives are about the afterlife and are centred on it.

And the whole virtual group was in agreement. And my name was even quoted in prayers which followed.

Western Wall, Jerusalem, taken 1994.

Now I wished that I was more specific. Such as how I felt God be glorified when he allowed me to visit great locations such as the Great Barrier Reef, the thundering roar of Niagara Falls and the immense Grand Canyon. Not to mention a hike through a rainforest and waterfalls at Blue Mountains N.P. along with the admiration of tropical trees and vegetation not found in the UK. Furthermore, I can boast on God allowing me to look up at the night sky Down Under and see the Southern Cross directly above my head - a bane to my graduate friends whose hobby happens to be stargazing.

Therefore, may these students find their satisfaction in God through faith in the Crucified, Buried and Resurrected Jesus Christ of Nazareth.