The Real Thing

Anyone who has taken young children on a car journey will see the similarity between that and what I remember from a TV comedy called Bloomers, starring the late Richard Beckinsale.   In one episode the odd job van loaded with workers was travelling to a garden site.   As the journey continued an Irish worker on board called out, “Are we here now?”   It was of course the sort of question that you can only ever answer, “Yes.”   But the question asked by young children is “Are we there yet?”   Our 3 year old granddaughter is apt to ask at some point on the journey from Greater Manchester to Anglesey, “Are we nearly at Grandma’s?”

Journeys can be fascinating.   As a child, I used to love train journeys from Nelson, Lancashire to Fleetwood to board the Isle of Man ferry for our week’s holiday.   The first time was special because I had no knowledge of either the way or the destination.   Future journeys would possess landmarks to recognise as we rode or sailed.   The landmarks acted like signposts, telling me how far we had already gone and providing an estimate of the remaining journey time.   On these subsequent journeys I would look forward to suddenly seeing the distinctive grey sand of the beach at Port St Mary where I would play endless games of cricket during our stay.

For me this was the real thing, the highlight of the year.   I fully believed this was the most wonderful place in the world.   Even today It has a special place in my memory.   I was always happy when I was in Port St Mary.   Waking each morning and hearing the whistle of the narrow gauge steam train making its way to Port Erin was pure heaven!

With children of our own, we used to make countless journeys to Anglesey for holidays and then days out, once the A55 was constructed .   Our children always knew that there would be the highlight of dangling their crab lines from the pier at Cemaes Bay.   We used to talk often of the Kamikaze Crabs of Cemaes Bay.   Catching them was so easy.  

In retirement, Pauline and I love to take our car to Portsmouth and embark on the 24 hour cruise ferry to Spain when we continue our drive south to an old farmhouse in the mountains near Malaga.   Now that we have driven four times we are ready for the landmarks along the two day journey to Andalucía.   Each time we have gone by car we have been able to have the benefit of a SatNav to guide us.   Every so often we hear the voice prompting us to turn this way and that.   It gives confidence as we journey.   There are, occasionally, hiccups such as last year when we first used a built-in SatNav and were told to take a slightly different route to our regular hotel outside Santander.   Once the road I had set up in the SatNav was reached we turned left as instructed and drove for 3 miles to the edge of the built up area without seeing the hotel.   I worried at the time the something had gone terribly wrong.   I turned round and drove past the junction where we had joined the road and eventually we saw the familiar landmarks close to the hotel.   All was well!   We had simply needed to turn right and not left

On our first journey by car, nothing could have prepared us for the experience of the old city of Toledo.   We turned off the motorway and headed through the modern part of Toledo.   SatNav told us which exit we needed at the roundabout and when I calculated which exit I ended up having to reverse back to the roundabout from the city football stadium!   I had missed the exit I needed.   We laughed and eventually found our hotel.   Last year we changed our hotel, opting for the Spanish Parador overlooking Toledo.   I had input the postcode for the Parador but, despite this, we arrived outside the cathedral via some very narrow streets.   Thankfully I knew approximately where we should be and found the right road.   On taking up residence in our room we opened the balcony doors to see the most amazing view of mediaeval Toledo.   Later we would be dining on the terrace below with views of the city at night.   A view such as this was unbelievable!    The drive south had been enjoyable but the arrival that year was spectacular.

As we read the difficult text of the Book of Revelation we are on a journey through uncharted territory.   What we see is quite bizarre but revealing.   Parts of the narrative are understandable whilst others are so rich in symbolism that we struggle to understand.   We know that this was a dangerous book to write down and that a great deal was in code to avoid the consequences of upsetting the Romans and attracting severe punishment.   Although the code is plentiful it was understood by those for whom the book was written.   We might struggle to understand but the code was not for us to decipher.   It was written for the early Christians and contained encouragement and warning as they journeyed through life.

At the end of the book we read this wonderful description of the heavenly Jerusalem and marvel at its beauty.   It is a city built in the shape of a cube which meant it was a place for everyone with no exclusivity.   In this wonderful place dwelt God and his Son.   Theirs was the light by which all could see, so the sun and moon became redundant.   There was no temple in the city because the Jerusalem temple of old had been a symbolic place in which God was to be found in its holy of holies.   The gates of this new city were there but permanently open showing an amazing welcome.   This was reality in all its glory, for God was actually  constantly present with his people.   For me the description of the River of the Water of Life and the trees of life with their leaves for the healing of the people are the most attractive features.

The river is described as sparkling like crystal.   When I was a child growing up in  Nelson in Lancashire we had a beautiful park close by.   Through it ran a stream that looked orange because it had deposited pollution on the rocks over which it flowed.   It was not an attractive stream.   But today the water has been cleaned and it now looks totally different, although reduced spending has made the park itself look less lovely.   On an childhood occasion when I took a coach trip to the Lake District I marvelled at the clarity of the streams that flowed there.   The comparison of a town life with a rural one was very marked.   This still is the case, but now I live in rural Anglesey so the lovely sights are all round.

It is a matter of wonderment that touches me to think about God’s great provision for those he has made in his own image.   Despite the regular occurrences of famines in some places there is abundant food.   It is grown in the fertile soil, warmed by the sun and watered by the falling rain.   The people who lived in the Stone Age and Bronze and Iron Ages knew very well about the key function of the sun and the rain.   They fashioned their axes and some that were found by archaeologists as unused were fashioned as votive offerings and were thrown into waterways to thank the spirits that provided water.   They built places like Stonehenge with the lode stone aligned with the sun on Midsummer Day.   Without knowing the name of God or Jesus they just knew they were being provided for by some greater force than them.

Not only do we see the provision of food and water.   We also experience a life in which we enjoy the greatest love of all channelled through Jesus, Lord and Saviour.   Remember Tommy Trinder’s catchphrase, “You lucky people!”   We are indeed very lucky to have found such a love to sustain us through life.   The love and the grace of God are not matters of little concern.   They are everything to us.   Nothing that we have ever done has increased our entitlement to love and grace.   It all comes to us unconditionally.

I know how difficult the Book of Revelation is to read and understand.   It has always been the great challenge of the books in the Bible.   But it truly lives up to its title.   The early chapters are about a journey of learning and then we have the final section which is the revelation to end all revelations.  What is revealed to us is the full scope of God’s love.   After all we have been through in life, this is where we end our journey and it is truly amazing.   The open gates speak of a great welcome by God that says, “Come in for your arduous journey is done.   Come in and bathe in my glory.   Come in and drink water from the purest river.   Come in and use the leaves of my trees as a salve for your wounds.”

This is a wonderful picture of the God we serve and speaks of a love that is the greatest of all.