The Prince Is Coming

The Prince of England was here this week. For Americans, the royalty of England has been a source of fascination. From the beginnings of the Revolution to the abdication by King Edward the VIII in public fascination, the British Royals bring intense scrutiny all over the world. In reality, the Queen of England and her famous family have little to no power, but their influence is obvious and everywhere. For Australians, when royalty visits, it is like a national celebration. Because it is relatively difficult for the reigning royalty to shadow the shores of Australia, the media circus was at its finest. Prince William graced the pages of every newspaper and television, and this American watched and read with great interest.

I remember when Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married. Why this was such a media spectacle was beyond me at the time (I think I was only seven) but perhaps in all of us is a little reverence for royalty. There was Prince Charles dressed in his finest formal military outfit and Lady Diana with the wedding dress from heaven. How she dragged that piece of clothing up through the church was amazing. Their carriage ride was seemingly from a fairy tale and the whole family watched with rapt attention on our sixteen inch, rabbit-eared TV the fairy tale wedding. Millions of people watched the ceremony (I can't imagine how nervous the pastor was) and my wish was to be part of the throng that welcomed the happy couple afterwards. It wasn't long afterwards that Princess Diana became pregnant - a boy who they named William. His has been a life of scrutiny and he has dealt with the invariable crush of media very well.

Prince William was here in Australia this last weekend visiting the various areas affected by natural disasters this last year. His first stop was in the north of the country where Hurricane Yasi decimated the crops and destroyed the livelihoods of some of the Australians. Then, on to Brisbane to talk with locals about how life has changed, how tenuous our existence is. Finally, the Prince of made his way west to the small farming villages around Grantham and then on to Toowoomba.

In the wake of his visit, a transformation has taken place. The newspapers have catalogued the faces of those who lost everything during the storms. A woman in Cairns was shown grieving the loss of the source of her stability; the people of Grantham, who became internationally famous when the town they called home was violently washed away, were pictured sifting through the rubble; the city of Brisbane, thousands of homes destroyed, was a carrier of grim faces.

But then the Prince arrived. The people of Cairns stated that the sun came out for the Prince - it was only their second day of sunshine this year. The people of Grantham and Toowoomba waited patiently on the future king and at his arrival, tears turned to joy, sadness to smiles - there was a rejuvenation of life. To his credit, the Prince did not hold back from the people of Australia - just the opposite. Prince William shook hands, smiled, touched people, consoled them in their loss and brought grateful relief from the shock of recent months. He spoke kind words, he held no sympathy in reserve and I was impressed by the very 'pastoral' way he took these people into his heart and gave them comfort.

Christine asked me if I would like to go see Prince William when he arrived in Grantham. It was raining that day; I wanted to mow the lawn; I had a thousand and one things to do to make an excuse to not make an appearance in Grantham (which is less than ten miles from our house). Surely the Prince will have enough to do without making time for this American Aussie and his family. I might get to glimpse him from afar - see the sun shining off his head (we have very similar haircuts, I think) - I had enough to do at home. These excuses ran through my head and I verbalized them to Christine. She, too, wanted to go see him - it could be a once in a lifetime event - and yet we hesitated. Life gets in the way, bills to pay, excuses to make - he'll come back some day and then we'll go.

My response to Prince William is a lot like how I deal with King Jesus. It should be simple to perk up and make the trip to devote myself to the King each day, to take a trip into solitude to find a few moments where I can be comforted, touched, smiled at in the presence of the sovereign and yet time and time again I make excuses; life gets in the way. He'll be back some other time when it's more convenient for me, and I forget how life changing it is when we continue our relationship with the King. He comes to us, not the other way around; we don't need to feel guilt but a sense of excitement when presented with the opportunity that the King is right around the corner. He has time for all of us, not just those that are struggling or having difficulties, but Jesus wants to share in all of life's moments.

Prince William's visit was a beautiful thing. I pray that King Jesus' stay is even more beautiful.

Bull in a China Shop

Christine was laughing when I got home the other day. She had made a trip up the street to downtown Laidley, approximately six blocks from our house. Laidley is considered a big town for the Lockyer Valley, it's business district having shops lined along the main street roughly three blocks long. There is a shoe shop, a butcher, a restaurant, a movie rental place, a hardware store all with creative and inventive names. The name of one of the markets is "The Food Shop." I love it. From what I understand about townships in Australia, the only thing needed to be considered a town is a pub. You don't need a post office or a store, a gas station or hospital - just a bar. Laidley has at least two pubs; I haven't been inside either one yet not because of any particular leanings toward Puritanism, but I haven't taken time to get to know the local talent. One of the pubs, a hotel bar advertising Karaoke, sits midway along the main street advertising itself as a sports bar. It all looks very quaint.

Christine was laughing because of the excitement outside this pub. I'll try and recreate the event - I wasn't there so the dialogue will be false, but the sense of the conversation will hopefully fill you in on the colorful life in small town Australia.

To set the scene, Christine had motored downtown to go shopping (at the Food Shop, I believe) for groceries. Parking out the back, Christine noticed police cars greeting Laidley residents as they spent their hard-earned cash in the CBD (Central Business District). Lights flashing, the police officers had cordoned off the walking avenue between the stores. Many people were standing around watching the goings on. Christine stepped up to see what kind of hubbub would cause Laidley's finest to be out and about. She approached an older gentlemen who held up his hand.

"Best not go in there, Mate." (Even the ladies in Australia seemed to be called 'mate.' That or 'darl,' 'sweetheart,' - which sounds like 'sweet-hawt' which every time makes me jump)

"What's going on?" Christine asked as she looked over the quasi police tape.

"See that trailer over there?" The man pointed behind Christine to the parking lot.

"Yes," she said.

"A bull got loose, stuffed the whole trailer." (I'll get to Australianisms in a different blog, but at this point, just try and fit everything in context) Christine looked behind and noticed that a wooden trailer with metal siding looked like it had barely survived a tornado. "Yeah, big one. It must have been cheesed off about something, probably looking for a bluey, and tore out of it."

Christine's amazement was apparent.

"Yeah, that's why the police are here. The bull is loose - they say it's already been cornered."

"Where did they capture it?" Christine asked ready to jump across the line to find the police pulling some sort of Crocodile Dundee move to calm the savage beast down.

"It's in the pub."

"What?" I'm not making this up. The bull was in the pub.

The man looked at Christine. "I'm not making this up. The police cornered the bull on Patrick Street (Main Street) in the hotel. As big of a mess as the bull made with trailer, I wonder what kind of damage it's doing in the pub."

"Maybe it was thirsty." Christine said.

The old man looked her over. "Yeah, maybe. Or maybe it wanted to sing some karaoke."

True enough, the main news of the week was the picture of a bull escaping from its trailer to make headlines with antics in the bar. Only in the country would this even happen, I think, but when Christine told m the story, it was as if I'd been placed in the middle of the movie "Australia." I expected Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman to jump out of the background.

Just a short saga this week. Life is a good place to be.