Fourth of July Forty Years Ago

Independence Day in England

                Forty years ago, I celebrated Independence Day in England. Categorically, it was a “quasi-celebration.” The English did not ignite fireworks on July 4^th. The day passed with no recognition. I remember thinking I don’t think singing “The Star-Spangled Banner?” would be well-received.

                How did a second-year elementary school teacher end up in England during the summer of 1980? Jimmie Lady, a former pastor of Ralston Baptist Church, and his wife, Lyneeta, invited me to accompany the two of them along with their two preschool daughters, Christa and Janna, on a pastoral exchange in Bicester, England, at Calvary Southern Baptist Church. We stayed in a 150-year-old police station converted into a pastor’s home located in Bicester, an Oxfordshire town, nestled in the Cotswolds close to Warwick Castle, Blenheim Palace, and Stratford-on-Avon. This invitation was an Anglophile’s dream.

                My trip with them afforded us an opportunity to visit the London Metropolitan Tabernacle, once pastored by Charles Haddon Spurgeon dubbed the Prince of Preachers. We met a genuine knight at Warwick Castle. In a drenching rain, we toured Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill and then traveled a short distance to Churchill’s understated, but serene burial place in the church’s cemetery in the village of Bladon.

                Another highlight with Jim, Lyneeta and four-year-old Christa and two-year-old Janna was getting tickets to a Shakespeare play in Stratford-on-Avon, the hometown of William Shakespeare. Those two precious little girls were wonderful during the entire performance. Even then we had glimpses of how successful the two would be in life.

Lyneeta holding Janna with Christa on
the grounds of Warwick Castle. Later
Lyneeta, the girls and I toured the majestic
 St. Paul's Cathedral together after
navigating the "Tube" schedule, its
map, and making each train successfully!

                What fun Jim had driving the British car through the English countryside to the hover port at Dover, where he drove it onto the hovercraft! (The Chunnel was only a dream on a drawing board then.) After crossing the English Channel, Jim motored us through France to our destination in Interlaken, Switzerland for the Summer Assembly of the European Baptist Convention. 

Passing became a bit more challenging when Jim began driving the French autoroutes since he was positioned on the right side of the car but driving on the right side of the road! He would ask me, sitting on the left side of the back seat, if it was clear to pass. Since the traffic was moving briskly, if no car was in his passing lane, I would yell, “Go!” Jim would gun it and more than once let Lyneeta know he was just “keeping up with the traffic.”

Jim after blessing the food at a fellowship time

after church. Pam O'Keefe, our Cockney-born 

host, holding Janna. Pam, trained as a child,

by her father to be a pickpocket on London 

streets., was gloriously changed when she heard

the Good News of Jesus and received Him,

resulting in a dramatic change in her life.

             Even though we had a delightful time, as I reread my journal, I found it sprinkled with numerous opportunities to share Jesus with hurting, dad and broken people, young people lacking focus, grieving individuals or people who had never heard what the Bible says about Jesus. Jim preached many times. He and Lyneeta met and ministered to the church members, primarily U.S. airmen and their families based in England. Jim shared what Jesus said about “being born again” from John 3 with a vicar when he was invited to tea. Jim was authorized by the Ponca City Rotary Club to exchange a banner with the London Rotary Club. He and Merrell Rozell, one of the leaders in North Sea offshore drilling for the Conoco Company, attended the luncheon where Jim had a brief opportunity to speak to the London Rotarians, just as when he exchanged banners with the Oxford Rotary Club. Merrell and his wife, Mary, graciously hosted us in their London home.

The Front of the Card given by Jim Lady that
Mother covered with plastic and carries in her
Bible. Below is the inside concise
explanation of salvation.

Jim and Lyneeta ministered at Ralston Baptist Church fostering the spiritual growth of the church body as Jim preached, and they taught and lived the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though Jim died in 2013, Christa and Janna continue, along with their mother, to faithfully serve the Lord sharing the truths of God’s Word that Jim loved so much.

           Mother carries in her Bible a card given her by Jim when he pastored Northeast Baptist Church in Ponca City. She says it conveys so succinctly what salvation means.
           As we celebrate Independence Day this week, how important to embrace the truth that Jesus declared us free from the curse of sin. Yet His followers recognize the deeper their relationship with Him becomes, the less personal independence one tries to clutch. We become increasingly more dependent on His Holy Spirit for direction and power to obey, resulting in a peace that passes understanding and a heart at rest.