A race well run!

I was up EARLY yesterday morning (3:30am) and as I was heading to work, Richard had left the radio on a news talk channel which reminded me that it was Queen Elizabeth’s funeral day. In the blur of getting up at an unnatural hour, I had temporarily forgotten! HOWEVER getting up that early turned out to be a blessing. I was able to watch the ENTIRE proceedings, something I would never have had time to do at a later time. WHAT a show of pageantry & honor to a lady who truly ran the race well. Wow!

Some of you who are “new” to us may not know that Richard and I are dual citizens. We are blessed beyond blessed to have been able to come to the US over 25 years ago and work through the process of becoming citizens. America is truly home to us now and we have no desire to be anywhere else. HOWEVER we are still very proud of our British heritage. That was our start in life and that is who we are. We are Brits through and through. We have very much respected the queen throughout her reign. She stood for everything that was upright and was an incredible woman of wisdom and strength. Many do not understand the role of the monarchy in England but the royals work HARD and tirelessly for many different causes. Yesterday, we learned even more behind the scenes. Goodness, the queen was riding her horse just a few months before she died! I am MUCH younger than she and I have not ridden a horse in years nor do I intend to!

What impressed me most yesterday was the REAL and most important message from the queen even after her death and that was the real strength behind who she was. His name is Jesus Christ. The queen LOVED the Lord and the entire world heard the gospel message yesterday! Wow! Yes, it was very ‘high’ church and some may not have appreciated all the formalities but that’s irrelevant. The gospel message went around the world because of the life of ONE woman who had led her country well and stood on a firm foundation. As an aside, the first hymn sung was Love Divine, All Loves Excelling written by Charles Wesley in 1747. The words of that hymn are incredible and Richard and I actually had that as the first hymn at our wedding. I’m guessing it was a favorite of the queen’s also.

Well I didn’t get up early today. In fact I went to bed at 8pm last night, I was SO exhausted. Another busy but good day awaits so I will sign off.

Take care,

Liz