A Miraculous Journey

Last Sunday 20th December, we had enjoyed a fantastic Christmas Family Service with a packed house, carols, a nativity play with a real donkey, mulled wine and mince pies, followed by a great afternoon with our families who live nearby.

Joyce and I returned home to complete our packing ready for our car journey to Germany the following day, where we were to spend Christmas with our daughter Coralie, her husband Jens and their five children. The weather forecasts across the country, and the traffic conditions around Dover were not looking at all good. Our ferry was booked for 12 noon the following day.

By 8pm we were ready and packed; as we prayed we felt we should have a bath and get to bed right away. We decided that if we woke up earlier than the alarm which was set for 4am, we should set out without further delay. We both awoke at 1am and had the overwhelming sense to get up and leave immediately. At 1.45am we set out and as we reached Bristol the snow was thick, traffic on the M5 travelling very slowly. But as we travelled east the weather improved and by the time we reached the M25 the roads were clear and there was no congestion. We reached the ferry port in 3 ½ hours and were in good time to catch the 6am ferry – no questions asked about our later booking.

The snow was thick in Dunkirk, and again we travelled on snowy roads almost as far as Brussels. It was not all plain sailing as temperatures fell as low as minus 9c and our screen washer froze – I had been too sparing with the screen wash fluid! As we entered Germany the roads were clear and we were making great progress. But just around Cologne the snow began to fall again and we wondered whether we were going to make it. This snow fall only lasted about forty miles and the roads got better. We eventually arrived in Frankfurt Germany by 3.30pm.

We had driven 600 miles in complete safety and received and rapturous welcome from our family.

However, many of our friends and family were wondering how we were managing. Were we stranded in Dover, buried in a snowdrift in France, sliding on ice in Belgium, delayed in Germany? No we were safe and warm in Frankfurt, Germany.

As we reflected on the way God had led us, we were amazed at how we had been guided and protected. It truly was a miraculous journey.

The Piano Accordion

A few weeks ago, I was asked by one of our Church Life Groups whether I was available to come and accompany their Christmas Carol evening. This was to take place outside their house, and was for everyone living in their area. I was very happy to oblige, and dug out my Christmas music and got practising.

I was given my first accordion in my early teens, I had shown some ability in playing the piano, and my father was eager that I would follow in a family tradition and play my instrument for the Open-air outreach of our church. David who was probably my closest friend also acquired an accordion and we set to work to master the instrument.

We managed to figure out the vast number of buttons on the left side, and soon could play a number of popular hymns with an acceptable degree of skill, including “And can it be,” and “Guide me O Thou great Jehovah." They then let us loose on the Sunday Night Hymn Singing in the square in Camborne, Cornwall. On Friday evenings in the summer (weather permitting), we plied our trade in such villages as Baripper, Brea and Penponds, to name just a few.

As my skill increased, my reputation spread, and when the CSSM (Children’s Special Service Mission) came for their annual Beach Mission to Perranporth, I was asked to provide the musical accompaniment for their Hymn Singing in the Park on Sunday nights. The first time Joyce saw me was in the role of accordionist on one of those occasions. It was not “love at first sight” so I have no recommendation to budding suitors to rush off and buy themselves an accordion!

Later on I became a regular member of the team on the Beach Mission run by the CSSM in Nefyn, North Wales. Once again the accordion came into its own as I accompanied the choruses at the daily service on the beach. I was a team member on this Beach Mission for a number of years and the ravages of the sand took its toll on my accordion.

By the way, Joyce and I met at Nefyn, I was attracted immediately, but it took me another couple of years before the feeling became mutual, and we fell in love and later married. The accordion was tucked away in our family home and came out at Christmas and on other rare occasions, but because of the amount of sand it was of limited value.

When our son Daniel went to college, he had a friend who was an accordion fanatic and I was persuaded to give it to this fellow student, and thought my accordion days were over. However, just a few years ago someone in Living Waters Church found out about my accordion prowess and asked me to accompany carols for a church outreach at a Victorian Fair. I hired an instrument, got practising and did my stuff.

This kindled a desire in me to again own an accordion, so I set about finding how much they cost. The prices had gone through the roof, new instruments were in the £1000’s and second hand ones several hundred pounds. I thought my aspiration would have to be abandoned, however, shortly after this we were visiting our family in Bulgaria and Joyce suggested I look for a second hand instrument. We found the accordion shop down some steps in the bowels of Plovdiv, and to my joy there was a beautiful Weltmeister Meteor, 80 bass, three voice accordion. The price was 140 leva which when translated into UK pounds became £42 – probably 10% of its true value.

So once again I have an accordion which sits beside the piano, gets played occasionally, has its public airing at Christmas and evokes many past memories.