Sunday, June 2, 2013


GRACE NOTES. . .

I had every intention of making a church service at St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church yesterday morning in Blaydon.  Unfortunately, the bus schedule for the Sunday is different than the rest of the week.  Instead of running every 20 minutes, the buses run once an hour.  

The first grace note of the day has to do with strangers.  I am one.

It is difficult cutting through the Georgie dialect here.  The natives must think I am hard of hearing because I have to ask that everything be repeated!  Anyway, the admonition of Leviticus 19:34 was taken seriously yesterday..."The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you."

I asked one of the workers at the B&B how I might catch the bus to the City Centre.  He explained the process.  As I approached the bus stop, I noticed a white van with its four-way flashers illuminated.  The driver got out and said that he could not help but overhear my question about the bus.  He provided laundry service for the B&B and was going downtown.  He offered me a ride and we had a very pleasant conversation on the journey.

His name was Ken and he had spent a few years working for Nissan Motors in Nashville.  He praised the hospitality he had received from Americans and said he had made it his mission to return the favor whenever possible.

I was his mission assignment for the day!

Ken dropped me behind the Life Sciences Museum in Newcastle, near the Central Metro Station. I took my backpack and camera and headed out to explore.  There were a lot of people out and about.  It seemed like every street cafe was full of people eating and drinking.  Large groups of young men were walking about carrying athletic bags.  I figured that they were either soccer or rugby club teams in Newcastle for a match this weekend.

I walked down to the River Tyne and there is a beautiful walkway all along the Tyne where people walk, bike, and eat.  Vendors had set up food, craft and souvenir stands and there were a couple of thousand people out to enjoy the day.  The area is called Quayside and it was hub of activity for the afternoon.

The architecture is amazing, much of it built during Newcastle's heyday as a coalmining and shipping region.  I passed the an historical marker on an old Elizabethan era building.  It read, "From the above window on November 18th, 1772 Bessy Surteees descended and eloped with John Scott later created 1st Earl of Eldon and Lord Chancellor of England."  Another plaque on building, there was a plaque that read, "In the year 1786, the interest of 100 pounds sterling at five percent forever to be annually distributed on the twenty-third of December among the ten oldest keelmen resident in this hospital: Was left by John Simoson, Esq. of Bradley, Alderman of this town, and forty years Governor of the Hoastmens Company:  The grateful objects of his rememberance have caused this stone to be erected that posterity may know the donor's worth and be stimulated to follow an example so benevolent."

How generous would we be to others if we knew that others might be looking to our example and commending (or not commending) it to others?

Today take the Metro to Berwick-upon-Tweed.  The tide will have gone out at about 2:15 PM.  At that time, I will begin walking the Pilgrim Way to Lindisfarne.  It's about a five mile walk, but the day is expected to be sunny and beautiful, so I look forward to the experience.

It is wonderful to be able to slow down, to not be on the clock, to explore and wander with opportunity to see and experience where God will lead next.



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