Carry the Torch, Wembley Stadium 2011.
My friend Kevin & I purchased our tickets to Carry the Torch, A Day of Worship & Prayer at Wembley Stadium London with 1000 Church Leaders.
I had arranged for Kevin to pick me up at 6.30am to get the early train to Victoria, half way into his journey to collect me he realised he had left his ticket behind on the kitchen table, he quickly sent me a text to say he was returning home & would be as quick as he could.
We arrived in the station car park around 7.0am, I looked over at one of the platforms where there was a train waiting & said to Kevin, hope it is our train as we rushed to get to the ticket office.
On asking for a return to Wembley Station we were told that there were engineering works on the line & we would have to get a train to Crawley then a bus to Gatwick to enable us to get to Victoria., on asking if there were any other later trains going direct the answer was no, really helpful ticket officer.
We collected our tickets & walked up the stairway to the next platform, feeling a little disappointed as it looked like we were not going to get to Wembley on time.
As I stood on the platform I glanced over & the train I saw when we arrived was still waiting opposite, just by sheer chance a porter stopped beside me, I asked her if that train was going anywhere today, with which she replied Victoria Station, I said When, in about two minutes she replied, you have never seen two middle aged men complete the two minute mile in a cloud of dust, we got on that train sat down & it pulled out of the station, Amen we said, satan lost that one.
Perhaps I should not have mentioned satan as kev quietly said, you wont believe this, guess what? No idea I replied.
I have left my ticket to Wembley in my van, I was beginning to question if perhaps we were not meant to be going today, never mind I said, we will get in one way or another, no problem
We arrived at Victoria, got on the underground and made our way to the Stadium in plenty of time.
We started to walk towards the venue, it was sunny & a few people were making their way ahead of us, I looked up at the Arch above the building thinking how large it was, I had not seen it before, I then threw my right arm up in the air & shouted,
“ Thy Kingdom Come “, just came out, felt good, not sure if anyone heard me or not, seemed a good thing to share at the time.
We then joined the queue to get in, mulling over the fact that we were one ticket down & what course of action would we take, we need not have worried as the nice lady on the door said to Kevin, as long as you are in “ The Book of Life “ you can come in.
He was in that book so we were free to go in after being given a wristband to wear to identify we had paid. Amen, another hurdle over turned.
We went up the stairs to be greeted by staff & offered some tea or coffee, after refreshments we walked into the main room, it was about a third full of people with lots going on, around the room were many tables with about a dozen seats to each.
We chose a table towards the back of the room so as to avoid too much noise, it was not long before our table was full with new friends as we introduced ourselves to each other.
Jonathan Oloyede, Pedro Arias & the worship team opened the day; by this time you could really feel the presence of God.
Most of the days speakers & events can be found through links on the Internet.
I have written this first part, as it is an important testimony to the day.
At 12 noon a performer by the name of David Cooper came on to sing
The Lord’s Prayer.
I was sitting at my table, closed my eyes & as David started to sing my eye lids started to sort of tremble & I could see this amazing bright light, not visibly but from within, then tears started to roll down my cheeks & I started to sob, this experience continued until the end of the song, such a beautiful peaceful experience.
Click or copy the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KYw3Lgh5x8&context=C3d16687ADOEgsToPDskJjuq5nxsZzf1ZkKi0JP6Zf
The rest of the day was awesome & soon the end was closing in so I decided to leave 5 minutes early as to miss the rush, We were about to leave when Christopher a friend at our table stopped Kevin to take his details as they had been chatting quiet a bit during the day. I stood & waited while they swapped numbers etc, then we left the crowded room.
We were the first to go down the escalators to the entrance, looking out of the windows I could still see it was a beautiful sunny afternoon, we stepped out of the main door & felt specks of rain, just for a few seconds, then we stared up at the sky to see the most beautiful Rainbow I have ever seen, it was parallel to the Arch above The Stadium.
Genesis 9:16
Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on earth.
We made it across London on the tube without any problems,walked into Victoria Station with 8 minutes to our train leaving for home, perfect timing.
I overheard a conversation as we were walking to the train that there had been an oil spill in the morning & many roads had been shut around Crawley so we may not have made it to Gatwick, see there is a God.
Then came the final thing that convinced me that God had been present during our day.
I sat down on the train & placed my arms on the table, felt my wrist & remembered the wristband, up to now I had not even glanced at it as I quite often wear these bands to support causes.
What was on the wristband?
THY KINGDOM COME
