Impressions London Left

Seven days, two spent flying and driving, from South Georgia’s farmland to the huge city of London England. My first sign of culture shock though was eating lunch in Atlanta with my brother and sister in law who were helping us get to and from the airport. I walked into the loud crowded restaurant and felt a bit dazed and confused. I looked around at the people noticing a stark difference from city life to country life. The kale salad with tangy dressing was good.

I knew I needed a break from ministry even though it was technically my husband’s sabbatical. I needed one too, after all, I am married to the Pastor.

We love the Lord and are so grateful God called us both into the ministry before we even met but it’s a 24/7 job with a heavy burden if you truly care about people. We love our church family and are grateful they allowed us this time to get away and rest and get refreshed.

I was unable to sleep on the plane so when we got there we took a 4 hour nap and then got out and explored London. We saw the Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster and more. I loved hearing the accent of the people there. Someone asked if my husband was from “Down Unda” (Australia) I think it was because of how he was dressed. He was wearing one of our son’s pairs of camo shorts and a t-shirt. That’s not London style but he looked cute to me. When he opened his mouth people knew exactly where we were from as they looked at us with a smile like they were trying not to laugh at our country twang and southern drawl. It can feel quite uncomfortable is those tiny lifts (elevators) with loads of people.

One thing I noticed about the people over there that were walking outside (or running) was that they all looked different and they weren’t trying to all look the same. I saw many different races and nationalities and we met Uber drivers from all over the world.

There were only a few Protestant churches that I saw and we attended one of them. The Metropolitan Tabernacle where Charles Spurgeon preached. John got to stand behind the pulpit after church. We bought a couple books from their bookstore after the service.

We also took a train to Cambridge one day and visited the college that CS Lewis taught and preached at. We ate at The Eagle pub where they first announced the discovery of DNA. We had the best fish and chips and smashed green peas. And the absolute best sticky toffee pudding. My word!

We rode to Oxford and the Cotswolds one day and had the best afternoon cream tea (tea and scones). The Eagle and Child restaurant was under construction where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien would eat and talk. We got to walk beside it though. The rain kept us from walking to some places we wanted to see in Oxford.

We got to go in the oldest church in London which was also where Benjamin Franklin worked. A wedding had just taken place there and we saw the wedding party walking outside and throwing white paper hearts into the air. It was glorious.

We saw Princess Diana’s home and garden and statue and sat and read and journaled in a park. We ate so much good fresh food and walked so many miles each day.

The fourth day into our trip we were walking down the street and my husband was holding his brand new phone that he just got a week ago with a free upgrade and he was following the directions on it and a man with a mask on riding an electric bike came from around a big column and grabbed my husband‘s phone out of his hand with sticky gloves and took off on his electric bike. He stole my husband‘s phone. I immediately yelled, “Give that back!” to no avail. We never got the phone back.

That put us in a tailspin that caused us to miss the rest of our plans that day as we talked to a security guard and called the police and made a crime report and made sure our finances were secure. He is still locked out of all of his Apple ID things and will have to get a different phone number.

I told him that the devil still found him on his sabbatical. He had been journaling on the sabbatical with a journal app on his phone and I’m praying that all of that will be able to be recovered, including pictures etc.

I prayed that the Lord would redeem the phone getting stolen and turn it for good somehow and I told John that I was praying that. And it happened a few days later.

We had an hour long taxi ride from the hotel to the airport the last day. After some small talk, the situation about the phone getting stolen came up and that turned the conversation to spiritual things. The taxi driver said, “Are you big on God and Jesus?” My husband said, “Yes I am. I’m also a Pastor.” The driver told us he had been reading his Bible and bought a children’s Bible so he could understand it better. He was trying to figure out where to read in the Bible and which church to go to, and that there was a Baptist Church down the road from him. He asked us how to get saved after talking for a while. He said, “Which verse in the Bible tells me how to become a Christian?” I was so glad I had memorized the Romans Road and all the verses about salvation and I’m used to sharing them because I work the altar at church every Sunday morning and get to lead people to Christ often. John did most of the talking this time but I would quote the verses. After John answered a lot of his questions we got to pray with him and lead him to the Lord right after we pulled up to the airport to park. It was perfect timing so he could pray after he parked the taxi.

God redeemed it! That made the whole trip worth it! I felt like I was on a mission trip. And we are if we are saved because we carry Christ in us, the hope of glory everywhere we go.

After all the sightseeing, the best site I saw was a taxi driver bowing his head to ask Jesus to save him. Nothing compares to knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior. He is the Treasure and Joy.