History – Page 4 – Gregory Scott Blog

England Travel Journal – Day 2

Windsor Castle, Changing of the Guard, August 31, 2023

We started our first day in England at Windsor Castle, which, none of us knew until we got there, was founded by William the Conqueror, one of the subjects of our tour. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

Inside, we visited St. George’s Chapel, where we saw tombs of kings and queens of England. The highlight was the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II, England’s longest serving monarch, who died in 2022. Reportedly, she prayed daily and read her Bible and considered herself a servant of King Jesus, which is a testimony to the leavening work of the Kingdom in the country we will be studying on this tour.

After leaving Windsor, we drove a few miles to Runnymede, home of the signing of the Magna Carta, where British nobles forced King John to acknowledge certain rights, including trial by jury, as well as the rule of law. This is stuff that gets us lawyers very excited.

There are actually two Runnymedes. There is the commercialized place, where you can buy a cappuccino and see the JFK, American Bar Association, and Duke of Cambridge monuments. And then there’s a place called Ankerwycke.

Ankerwycke can be found not far away on the other side of the Thames, at the end of a narrow, poorly marked road at the end of which is a small car park. To find the actual spot where the Magna Carta may have been signed requires a trek through a field with no signs or markings, except “Bull in field.”

England Travel Journal – Day 1

I had a “chance” meeting with someone in this small town outside of London

Day 1 is always a travel day on GSB study tours. I usually focus on all the inconveniences of travel because they seem to preoccupy my thoughts. But this time I was distracted by something else.

The Greater Houston Area, all in, has about 6 million people. Given the number of people, it is unusual to see someone you know when you are out and about in the city.

So, I’m at the gate in the Houston airport waiting to board our flight to London, and I look across the way and see an employment attorney I know waiting to board a flight to Amsterdam. She is, in fact, one of the two employment attorneys in Houston to whom I refer plaintiff’s employment cases. So, I walked over and we chatted, both noting the coincidental nature of the meeting.

The GSB team and I then boarded our plane to London. As I am getting settled in my seat, I look up and see the person in the seat in front of me is an attorney/mediator I know, who is also from Houston. She is one of 5 mediators I typically use to mediate employment cases. She is also the mother-in-law of another employment attorney in Houston I have known for years. We both commented on the coincidental meeting, got caught up, and then settled into our seats for the nine-hour flight to London.

After arriving at London’s Heathrow airport, we picked up our rental car and headed to our first destination, the town of Windsor, where the GSB team planned to visit Windsor Castle.

As we are walking up the street toward the castle entrance, I see an attorney I know from Houston, an attorney many consider to be the best personal injury attorney in Houston, perhaps in Texas. We’ve known each other for years. He refers employment cases to me, and I refer personal injury cases to him.

England Travel Journal – Prologue

If you have never journeyed vicariously with the GSB Team on a study tour, I encourage you to do so, starting tomorrow.

There are four reasons you should check in every day for the next 14 days.

First, you will travel with us vicariously. Sure, you may still have to go to work every day; your summer may be over and the kids back in school.

But there is no law against imaging yourself on a journey to a far-away land every morning for 3-5 minutes. There is no law against it unless, of course, you are driving a car or operating other heavy machinery. Augustine of Hippo (not Canterbury) said the world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only a page. But if you read this blog every day for the next 14 days, even if you don’t physically travel, you will have read at least two pages.

Second, if I do my job you should be able to use each blog post as a devotional. So, bring your Bible or your phone. If the Lord anoints what I write, who knows what He might do in you. If you don’t like devotionals, you are at the right place. I don’t like devotionals either, and I never use them. But this will not be like any devotional you have read. There will be Kingdom history, commentary on the lives of men and women who changed the world for King Jesus, and the foundation of it all will be the Word of God, which is sharper than a two-edged sword and able to cut between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12.

England Travel Journal – Reading List

If you are GSB regular, you know that in anticipation of GSB Travel Journals I publish a reading list.

Keeping that tradition alive, I offer the following books in preparation for following the GSB Team as we travel across the pond and back through history to study the christianization of England.

The books are as follows:

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, The Venerable Bede. I love this book for the same reasons I love Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History-it is written by a man who loves God and is looking for His hand in history. I also like that Bede finished this book in 731 A.D., which makes him a lot closer to the events he describes than modern historians. The Venerable Bede has served as our posthumous tour guide before, and I expect we will lean hard on him again this time.

The White Horse King, Benjamin Merkle. The author had me hooked in the first few pages when he explained how historians are always looking for a new angle on popular historical figures to knock them off their perch but that in the case of Alfred the Great, there was a reason he is the only English monarch ever given “the Great” tag-he was truly a great man. The rest of the book did not disappoint.

On Diverting Astroids and Jesus’ Return

So, today for the first time in history, man intentionally hit an astroid with a projectile and altered its course. Humanity will now breathe a sigh of relief knowing man has a fighting chance against the greatest threat to global annihilation.

When I heard the news today, my mind went to a completely different place. I thought, what if 1,000 years ago, we had told Christians that before Jesus returned we would be able to launch a rocket 7 miles into space and intentionally hit an astroid less than 200 yards wide with enough force to alter its course.

I believe most Christians would have said that was impossible, either because the necessary technology was inconceivable or that by the time it took mankind to achieve such technology, Jesus would have already returned. Yet, here we are.