Meditations: Discipleship

Discipleship: Not just the same old jazz.

One time in Moldova, I was asked to give a short talk to a youth group. During the talk, I mentioned that some people say that there are many ways to God. At the end of the talk, a girl approached me in a jovial manner. I thought that maybe she was joyous about something I had said. She was, but not quite in the way I had intended.

I had been speaking in Romanian and she informed me that as I had mixed up the words ‘Cai’ and ‘Căi’. On face value, there doesn’t seem much difference to an English speaker, but the little accent on the ‘a’ changes the words meaning. ‘Căi’, which is what I was intending to say, means ‘ways’, however ‘Cai’, which is what I actually said, means ‘horses’. So, I had informed the church youth group that some people say that there are many horses to God. This particular girl found that extremely amusing. At least it brightened up her day a little.

In life, we can often get nonchalant about things that are familiar to us. By the above situation, I was already very used to speaking in Romanian, so hadn’t check carefully what I was saying. As Christians, discipleship is a topic that we have (or at least should have!) heard a lot about. Thus, we it can become very familiar to us and we can start taking it for granted. Actually, though, in the Bible discipleship is one of the key topics and something that we Christians should be fully involved in.

Two Analogies

One way in which discipleship is described in the Bible is in terms of the growth of a seed. In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 it talks about a seed being planted, watered and then made to grow. A seed doesn’t just instantly become a plant; there is a process of growth from something small into something well developed, or in other words, from a simple seed into a small sapling eventually into a fully functioning plant.

In the same way, when someone becomes a Christian, they received the seed, which is the Word of God (Luke 8:11). However, they are not instantly a fully functioning follower of God. They are still rough around the edges and have much to learn. Gradually, they are watered as other Christians help them and as they learn. Finally, in many cases after much time and many difficulties, they become fully fledged followers of Jesus, who are living for Him and being efficient in their Christians lives.

A second perspective is that of the birth and growth of a child. This in many ways is similar to the analogy of the seed but adds an extra dimension. Like plants, humans don’t start off mature. We develop in the womb and then are born as little infants dependent on our parents and then others on the way, who guide us to maturity. This then gives rise to the concept of spiritual parents; those of us who are more mature in faith, helping others who are less mature grow in faith. Paul talks about being a spiritual father, for example, in 1 Corinthians 4:15.

There are many Biblical examples of these sort of discipleship relationships. Elijah and Elisha, Moses and Joshua and Jesus and the apostles to name but a few. In Matthew 28 at the end, there are the famous verses of the Great Commission where Jesus calls his disciples to go and make disciples throughout the world, so if we consider ourselves to be His disciples then we should also be making other disciples.

How does a disciple look?

Once I was at an evangelistic camp. At the end, one of the campers shared that she was nervous about coming to the camp because she thought that she would meet there lots of slightly odd skinny people with blond hair and blue eyes. People started looking at me. Fortunately, though, the girl concluded that the people she met were much nicer than she had expected.

People can have stereotypical images of what Christians are like. Sadly, some of these can be accurate, although often not always. I read in a newspaper one time an article about new students getting started at university and it included a comment something like ‘help, I’m only meeting Christians’.  Christians are often thought of as being boring or socially inadequate. When we think of disciples things can get even worse as this word conjures up images of men with beards, dressed in robes and sandals. Actually, though, as we’ve seen above all true Christians are disciples and the characteristics of a true disciple presented in the Bible are very different to those presented by the world.

Much could be said about these, but just briefly we see in the Bible that true disciples are people who:

-Put Jesus in first place in their lives (e.g. Mark 8:34). When I was finishing university in England, in many respects I would have liked to have stayed there to study more but I realized that this wasn’t God’s plan for me, so I had to give up what I wanted in order to do what He wanted.

-Base their lives on what the Bible says (e.g. John 15:7). If something is important to us, then we take notice of what it says. When I play board games, sometimes situations arise when there are different opinions about what the rules are. For example, in Catan, if someone’s road has had a house built into it by another player, can they continue to develop the road? In such moments, my instinct is always to turn to the official rules that came with the game and see what they say. This doesn’t always solve the problem because some situations aren’t mentioned in the rules or alternatively sometimes people make a fuss! When it comes to our lives as Christians though, God has left us a very clear authority in the Bible to follow.

-Communicate with God by prayer (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 5:17) If we love someone it’s obvious that we want to communicate with them. Not only that, but if we don’t communicate with someone, we won’t get to know them. I know a lot about the queen of England, but I don’t actually know what she is like as I have never communicated personally with her. This is all to say that if someone is a disciple, he will want to communicate with his master, especially if he loves him. They way we communicate with God us by talking to him through prayer, in the same way, that we talk to other people, except that we don’t physically see God, but nevertheless we know He is there due to the responses that He gives.

-love and has fellowship with other Christians (1 John 1:3). Sometimes people say that they believe in God in their own way and so don’t need to go to church. They just pray on their own at home. However, God calls us to be in relationship with other Christians. It is difficult to get through the challenges of life on our own and in any case, the church is described as the family of God. If we are a part of that family, it would be strange to not want to spend time with our relatives!

-Produce fruit (Matthew 7:20). We’re not talking here about having green fingers, but rather there are two types of spiritual fruit that Christians should have. Firstly, are the changes made by the Holy Spirit in us as seen in Galatians 5:22,23. Secondly, there are other people who we have helped to come to know Jesus as illustrated by Paul wanting to visit Roman in order to have a harvest among the people there (Romans 1:13).

-Obeys Christ (John 8:31). It is one thing to know what to do, but it is another to do it. Many people have studied and know well the Bible, but do they actually put into practice what is written there?

These are then some of the things that we should be helping others develop in their Christian lives. Of course, before we can help others, we need to be making progress ourselves in these things. Assuming that this is the case, then we should also naturally want to help other people, younger than us in the faith. This is our calling and anyway, the best way to learn is to teach others. The question is then how can we help others to develop such characteristics in their lives?

Image by Barbara Bonanno from Pixabay

CSC Balti update

English and Bible Camp 1^st to 7^th July 2019

The annual English and Bible camp went well. We held it at Vadul lui Voda, a manmade resort by a river, near to Chisinau. This year, we were apprehensive as we stepped out in faith and hired a much nicer, but more expensive venue than in previous years. Before the camp, there were a number of details we were unsure about including finances and the fact that we were sharing the large campsite with other camps. God provided though, and both the financial situation and sharing the camp worked out fine. In fact, although there were other camps going on at the same time as ours, except for a few times, you could hardly notice.

36 participants came to the camp meaning that together with the CSC team and team from UCCF, there were over fifty people at the camp in total. The camp programme was similar to previous years, with a mixture of English lessons and Bible studies together with cultural and other fun activities. Something encouraging was that on the evaluation form at the end of the camp, in response to the question about what they had learnt at camp, almost everyone said something connected to the Bible studies. Additionally, in response to what they liked about the camp, one person said that they liked that they had become a different person!

Also, 12 people said that they were interested in finding out about other CSC activities and most importantly, 10 people responded positively by raising their hand to show interest after the Gospel talk on the final evening. There are some photos on facebook.

Here are the thoughts of Eliza Lazo, who attended the camp:

“To be honest I have had my fair share of camps throughout my life, but the Uncover camp was the greatest of them all! I can definitely say that it has made an imperative impact on my life, on the good side of course
It has opened my eyes and mind to more than I thought was possible.
The people were (and still are) amazing and open-minded, ready to listen and learn. And don’t even get me started on our English team, because this could take a while. I am so grateful for the time I got to spend at the camp, and I am also thankful for the people who made it happen, who brought a bit of light in the minds, hearts and lives of about 40 or so students!
Overall, like I had said at the closing night, the Uncover camp saved my life, in more ways than I know of yet.
Thank you sooo sooo very much!

Romania Reminiscences 2

The Journey

As the train chugged along, Ben found it increasingly hard to stay in the little compartment that he was cooped up in. In this sense, the train seemed kind of old-style. Rather than a big, spacious salon type wagon full of seats, these Romania trains were compartmentalised. Ben reckoned that eight people could fit in his compartment that of course depending on their personal dimensions as it were.

His compartment was only half full, but that still meant spending an uncomfortably long period of time crammed together with complete strangers. Ben had thought that maybe he should initiate some meaningful conversation, but due to the fact that those with him were not fluent in the same languages as he, it had proved difficult. In order to get some respite from this incommodity, he had decided to leave the compartment and stand in the hallway that ran along the side of the compartments, starring out of the window. He was slightly concerned for the safety of his things that were stuffed into a modern style suitcase and a couple of industrial-strength carrier bags, not to mention his go everywhere rucksack that contained his laptop, but there weren’t many items of value. Even the laptop was not by any means the newest or best-performing type around (you could easily get some odd jobs done, while windows was loading up), so probably nothing too much to worry about and in any case it was unlikely that anybody could slip anything out without others noticing, so, unless the whole compartment was to hatch a plan, he thought it highly likely that everything would be just fine, in spite of the worry that was niggling him.

As he peered through the window, he was enthralled by the scenery that laid itself out before him as the train sped along; luscious meadows, sown with all sorts of intriguing crops; fields populated by cows, sheep and even goats; different villages, many of which illustrated the word ramshackle that he had meditated on earlier, but nevertheless gave an air of simple, communal living; and hills and other contours that built up to areas of extraordinary mountain beauty. Some of the mountains that they passed as the train rumbled on to its destination were simply breathtaking. The windows of the train were large and closed except for a small panel running along the top that could be tilted open. This added an extra dimension to the viewing experience as cold air rushed in and swept over Ben with a refreshing blast.

At one point, while Ben was submerged in this viewing experience, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning to see what it was about, an older lady, face worn from the stresses of many years, but adorned with a headscarf which offered dignity and a sense of humility, stood there. 

 'Să aveți grijă să nu te curentezi!' she said.

Ben stared at her. His Romanian lesson hadn’t gone quite that far, and he had no idea what she was saying.

'Să aveți grijă să nu te curentezi!’ she repeated as if, maybe, Ben hadn’t quite caught what she was saying and needed to hear it once more. That, however, wasn’t the problem.

‘Eu nu…’ Ben spluttered then stopped. Now, what was the rest of that phrase he had painstakingly learnt? he thought to himself. Actually, there were two good phrases for moments like these and it was time to pluck one of them out of the bag. How else would he learn Romanian?

He reflected for a moment as the old lady looked at him, thinking about repeating her words for the third time, but then realising something was up. Ben, on the other hand, was reflecting on whether to say that he didn’t understand or that he didn’t speak Romanian. A third option would be to ask the lady if she spoke English, but he felt that that was unlikely. He decided to go for the one about not speaking Romanian.

'Eu nu vorbesc limba Romana', he said triumphantly, but with a stutter.

The lady looked a while at him and then replied with a smirk on her face, 'Pai nici eu nu vorbesc limba Romana, puiule, eu vorbesc limba română!'.

The discussion was going beyond Ben’s head. Nevertheless, he could tell that he hadn’t quite said something right. He started racking his brains to try to think how to ask the lady to repeat what she had just uttered. ‘Repeate vouz’ came to mind, but that sounded like something an English tourist would say, so he thought some more. Fortunately, he had studied diligently his book of ten basic Romanian lessons from his local library and after a while, it came to him, ‘din nou’.

He broke the uncomfortable silence by saying to the lady, 'din nou'.

She looked at him, seemingly smirking yet again, 'Bine, puișor, limba română se spune, nu limba romana'.

Aha, this time it clicked. There were different types of vowel sounds in Romanian due to accents that you put on them. In particular, 'a' can be soft or hard. He obviously hadn’t quite mastered that lesson yet. He felt like he could give it another go.

'Eu nu vorbesc limba Romănă'

'Aproape, dulceața, dar o să te inveți!' were her final words before turning and leaving to return to her compartment, obviously feeling that that was enough language teaching for one day.

Ben also decided it was the moment to go back to his seat and have a sit-down, language learning was tiring after all. Little did he know, that in more ways than one, this was going to be a theme over the foreseeable future.

 Previous - introduction

Next - The arrival

The Lost Cheese 3

The Decision

Lecture house was actually a bit much said. It was more like a little room in some Greek immigrants’ home, which they had converted especially for the purposes of being able to offer discourses on a wide range of topics. Romans weren't really into all this philosophizing; that was more of a Greek thing. That being said, Aurelius had always suspected that there were alternative motives for this particular lecture premises. The Greeks who lived in Aurelius' little civitas (or polis as they would say!) were generally business-minded and this lecture house was a good way to meet and get to know new clients, not to mention offer product placement lectures. He could never forget the time they came to talk on water purification, where people from Rome had wanted to sell bronze micro-sieves. Apparently, all the rage in the big civitae, but a bit ahead of the times for the simple populus from Aurelius' area.

Aurelius approached it with trepidation. He’d had a good day yesterday, once he had gotten back to his cheese selling spot. He’d sold all bar one (two if you count the lost one). As he’d expected, his parents were light-hearted in their response when he confessed that he had misplaced (a good substitute, he felt, for the much stronger word of lost, less incriminating and arguably not far from the truth; he could indeed have easily sat down somewhere and just let the cheese slip out of his little leather loculus without his noticing) one of the cheeses. They didn’t mind about the lost income and even said that one of the Cheeses was leftover was God’s way of providing for them as that evening his mother hadn’t gotten around to preparing any Pultes Iulianae, so the cheese came in handy. Aurelius didn’t know about God’s providence, but in any case, he wasn’t a fan of his Mum’s stews, so a nice bit of cheese had gone down nicely!

When he finished recounting in his mind yesterday evening’s happenings, he turned his attention back to today. Actually, it had been his parents’ mild-mannered response to the lost cheese, which had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. He’d reflected on Lorena’s exhortations and there was certainly something in it. But it wasn’t until he got back home and reflected on the change in his parents that he made the final decision. He was going to go to the lecture and find out once and for all what this was all about.

So, here he was finally, standing before the Karagounis Papastathoupolus abode, which had the lecture hall contained within a small room annexed on to the building on the right. He was to be here that he would get to the bottom of things. Fortunately, it was possible to approach the room without drawing too much attention to yourself and indeed on this occasion there was no one much around. This particular building had a nice big doorway, and well-portioned spaces which served as both windows, but also ventilation. In Aurelius’ case, they were about to serve another purpose.

Aurelius sauntered along as if he didn’t have a care in the world, and as if he was going further, but as he passed the lecture room, he casually glanced through the fenestram to see what was what. You didn’t want to turn up to these things if no one else was there after all. That was a social fax pau, and most uncomfortable as he would then have to enter into conversation with the speaker or anyone leading.

Aurelius was well skilled in this sort of subterfuge, and it worked a charm as he passed by, glanced in and to his slight sadness, but not unexpectedly, there was no one there except for two people standing in the front. He carried on going thinking that it wouldn’t do to enter in such circumstances. He felt relieved as he went on his way, but also regretful. Maybe he’d missed something important? Maybe others had shown up?

That night, Aurelius found it had to sleep. He tried counting ovium, but whenever he got to around vx, he just felt like it wasn’t doing any good and gave up. Many a thought was going around his mind and gnawing at him. What had he missed at the lecture? Maybe he should have gone in? What was it all about this new religion? Why the change in his parents and who was this speaker?

The next day was cheese day, again. Aurelius was on holiday from scola, and it had been time enough to rest from his last cheese selling exploits, so he was now his turn to once more enter the cheese store, select some fine examples and go to the forum to try to vendo them.

As he was on his way to his usual cheese selling spot, he stopped for a short break. Ten cheese weren’t so light after all. He decided to check on them after his previous unpleasant antics searching around for a lost cheese and getting into a spiritual dilemma as a result.

So, he sat down to take a breather and then opened his loculus. To his surprise, we could even say astonishment, history was repeating itself. He was sure that he had put 10 cheeses into the loculus, but now he could only count 9! He tried counting a number of times, but the same result.

‘How can this be?’, he thought to himself. ‘Maybe this was a divine reminder of the events of the past few days?’

He started to try and find explanations to help him dismiss this thought. He could easily have dropped the cheese or simply miscounted in the beginning, or maybe an unscrupulous person had slipped it out the loculus when he hadn’t been watching. All plausible possibilities and if it wasn’t for the next fateful turn of events, he probably would have accepted them and gone on his merry way.

From: Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

 

The Lost Cheese 2

An Encounter of the Fortuitous Kind

From his eavesdropping position by the doorway, Aurelius caught a fair bit of what was being said.

At first, it all seemed most peculiar, as those with a proper vernacular would say. Gradually though, he began to tune in and start to follow. It was all about how there was one creator God (Aurelius wondered what Mars, Jupiter and his Greek friends’ favourite deity Zeus would say about that). We human beings, however, have rejected Him to go our own way. Now though, He has made a way to be reconciled to Him through His son and have a restored relationship with Him.

As Aurelius listened, he thought this is quite a comprehensive overview of things. Aurelius was more of a short, sharp to the point sort of person, and a few times he found his thoughts wandering off, particularly in the direction of that lost cheese. Where could it be?

After what seemed like an age (and Romans certainly knew a thing or two about those) the man drew to a close. By now, Aurelius was pretty glad, not just because of the overwhelming detail of the talk, but also it was uncomfortable loitering in the doorway, and he was nervous about being sprung.

Now that it was all over though, Aurelius realised that some decisions needed to be made. Most pressingly and urgently, whether to enter the house and if so, in what manner? Should he go for a swaggering, everything's under control style or should he pretend that he heard nothing, or should he rush in to question his parents, and especially this new guest, on the topics discussed? The same dilemma could be applied to the message he had just heard.

Ever one for indecision, he spent a moment or three reflecting on the choices before him. I suppose it all comes down to what is most important was the most meaningful thought that he finally managed to muster after his deliberating. Well, I'm occupied with the business of selling cheese, and indeed looking for the lost one, concluded Aurelius to himself. Existentialistic decisions will just have to wait till another day.

With this seemingly momentous conclusion, he felt a burden lifted from his shoulders. Why do something today, when you can put it off until tomorrow was Aurelius' dubious philosophy. So, without further ado, he did an about-turn and set off back to the forum. Ave!

Initially, he trudged on with defiant bravado. He didn't need any of this new-fangled religion. Maybe it works for some, including his parents, but it wasn't for Aurelius. He was happy the way he was, and besides, he was young with the whole empire before him. No need to complicate things, when so much opportunity lay ahead. Not to mention that he had pressing business to hand.

So, where could that cheese be? He hadn't seen it anywhere, but not to worry. He still had nine to hand and selling such a quantity was no mean feat. The cheese business was competitive these days, especially with gorgonzolium, the new cheese on the block, causing quite a stir. Aurelius didn't think it was anything to wrote home about. He preferred his parents’ hard cheese. This new stuff had mould in it that supposedly gives it a special taste. Who wants to eat mould thought Aurelius? Surely, it could never do you any good, and besides, that greeny-blue hue is repugnant. Nevertheless, there were those of a different disposition.

As Aurelius pondered the current cheese market, and what he could do to have a bigger impact thereon, he noticed before him a tall figure. A black-haired lady, a little older, but a lot wiser than he had stumbled across his path, slightly faint from a long session of discussion and debate at the Russunium lecture hall.

Aurelius startled in an annoyed fashion as he didn't like being cut up by the traffic as he went about his daily duties. He could understand why cart rage was such a big issue in today’s modern society. He was about to share some choice vernacular with this intruder on his path when he glimpsed a little closer the face of his intended target. It was none other than Lorena, the girl, or should he sat lady, who lived just down the via from him.

‘Salut', he greeted her, ‘anything new and interesting from today’s debates at the lecture house?’

‘No, just the usual fair', she replied, ‘Stavos Gianniaperilos Miterilogu on stoicism. A bit boring really. But tomorrow something special is coming up'.

‘Oh, really. What's that?’, tried Aurelius to ask in an enthusiastic tone.

‘There's a new speaker visiting our little civitas, and he's going to talk about a new religion that's caught on fire, starting from an outer province, where the Hebraicus people live.’

Aurelius was intrigued. Could this newcomer be the same person as he'd seen at his parents' house? He didn't want to let on though.

‚Quid id ad me?’, he said to try and hide the curiosity that was growing in him. ‚I haven't got time for such frivolities. I'm a businessman and I've got Sestratii to earn!’

‚But don't you ever think about the deeper questions of life? Your Sestratii what do you any good when you're walking in the golden fields. Besides, you"re more of a wannabe than anything else. How many cheeses have you sold this week?’, countered Lorena.

Trust Lorena to go for the jugular. She knew right where to strike.

Skillfully, Aurelius sidestepped the question (that lost cheese certainly turned into a good thing now), Well, I would have sold more if I hadn't lost one.’

Deep down inside though, he knew Lorena was right many a time had he thought about what lay beyond this life and simply tried to suppress it with other things because he didn't know and it scared him. Maybe it wasn't just coincidence that they had met like this. Maybe he should go hear in a more proper, fully exposed way what this man had to say.

The Decision

The Lost Cheese

For Aurelius, it had been one of those days.

On the way to the forum, not so much a funny, as an annoying thing had happened. He'd been happily wending his way along, admittedly weighed down by the ten cheeses he had for sale when he had bumped into Markus. This as usual meant bad news. This time it was all about his family's new mosaic. It needed cleaning. Most sane people had slaves for this sort of thing, but not the Maximus’. Their slaves were already busy with other chores and they couldn't possibly go out and buy another one. That would, of course, cost many a Sestertii and they were already in economy mode, saving up to invest in their new country villa.

So, guess what? Markus had invited (imposed would be more accurately said) on Aurelius to come and help. Aurelius, being a servant-hearted sort of chap, couldn't help but agree, even though dies saturni was usually his day of rest. Somebody always wants something, but rarely does anybody want to give, thought Aurelius to himself.

That was everything by all means on this fateful day. Hardly, had Aurelius got away from Markus when who should come across his path other than Sophia. She was a statuesque girl, not so young as it happens, but nevertheless a black beauty. From what he heard and the little he had observed a very diligent person as well. A good wife option it would seem, but for Aurelius she wouldn't even give him the time of day, even though her family had one of the best sundials around!

When he spied her, he thought about trying to bump into her as it were and start a conversation, but this was easy said than done as Aurelius was a nervous, hesitant chap and anyway, as soon as Sophia saw him, she altered course. Oh well, maybe another day, but probably not!

Finally, Aurelius had arrived at his intended destination, the Forum in the centre of his town. To top off the other annoyances of the day it had begun to rain, and umbrellas hadn’t been invented yet, so he was just going to have to get jolly wet. It was all in a good cause he thought though, as he laid out the cheeses he had for sale. But alas, there was still one more misfortunate to be had on this horrid day, quidem he was supposed to have ten cheeses, but there were only nine in his leather loculus!

What to do? Should he stick it out in the rain and try and sell what he had, or would this prove to be a fruitless endeavour and maybe he would be better off to go and search for the lost cheese?

He mused for a little while, but soon it was clear that due to the inclement weather there weren’t be many buyers for his dairy fare. So, reluctantly he packed up to return home thinking that he would check on the way in case he had dropped the cheese. He thought this unlikely, but you never know.

He was apprehensive about returning home, partly because of not wanting to get in trouble about losing the cheese, but there was also another reason. Lately, his parents had been acting kind of strange. They’d got involved in a new group of friends. Nothing wrong with that, except Aurelius had heard rumours that they were members of a new religious cult that had recently been spreading. Sounded a bit worrying to Aurelius, especially as from what he knew, the Roman empire didn’t take kindly to such things as new religions that could threaten the Pax Romana. By Jupiter, this could all mean trouble!

As Aurelius wound his way back home, he checked the streets for any signs of his lost cheese. It was a hard, well preserved one, Parmesanium he was thinking of naming it after one his favourite towns (they just serve the best ham around!) but his parents seem to prefer the more mundane caseus firmus, which was at least an accurate description.

No sign of the cheese, but plenty of time for reflection. In the past, his parents would have been very angry about such oversights, but recently, since they met their new friends actually, things had changed somewhat. They seemed calmer and to have a much more relaxed perspective about the stresses and strains of daily life. What could the cause be? Maybe this new religion of these new friends wasn’t such a bad thing after all? I’m not sure Caesar will see it that way though, thought Aurelius, unless of course, his parents have gotten some new friends as well.

Finally, after a fruitless journey home, there it was before him, his family’s condominium (the neighbours were a bit of a wrench, but maybe Aurelius could introduce them to these new friends of his parents and then there wouldn’t be any more bards after midnight or barneys before).

Aurelius had a quick check around the outer court to see if there was any cheese sitting around, but alas none was to be found. He approached the doorway (he’d be thinking about latching something out of wood over the space to flip back and forth but hadn’t quite gotten around to it). Maybe, it was just as well that the doorway was open, as sounds easy emanated forthwith. Aurelius became conscientious that there were guests in the house. Once again, taking advantage of the open doorway, he peered inside. There were his parents reclining surrounded by their new friends of whom there was a considerable number plus there was a new figure. A small, middle-aged, not impressively looking man standing before everyone in the room. He seemed to be waxing lyrical about something. Indeed, he was becoming very animated so as to say that it must something of great consequence.

Aurelius’ initial reaction was to pull away. After all, he didn’t want to get too involved. He was young and had everything before him. He wouldn’t like to get mixed up in some new religious cult, especially not one that the authorities might not approve of. However, as he tried to move away, he strangely caught an ear full of some of the things that were being said. They intrigued him and he felt drawn, rather than to distance himself, to actually move closer to hear better…….

An Encounter of the Fortuitous Kind

Romania Reminiscences

Introduction

Ben was on a journey that he would never forget. He'd heard about the country of Romania for sure. Unfortunately, a lot of it was negative, connected to Communism and all of its consequences. And then, of course, there was football. Without football, Ben's knowledge of the world would have been poorer. But as it was, he was well clued up on geography having watched matches from all sorts of places. Bucharest was one of them. He had vague recollections of Rapid Bucharest, whose players, fortunately, weren't so rapid as to give West Ham the run-around.

And then, there was the World Cup. Ben was old enough to remember red-shirted players giving some Columbians a few problems. Lăcătuș was one of them if Ben wasn't very much mistaken. A funny name if ever there was one, Ben had thought at the time. Ireland had put pay to their progress in the end, though.

Next, there was the World cup in the USA. This was a golden time for the Romanians' golden generation. There had been a flaw though. They'd allowed some players into the team whose surname didn't end in -escu, which had obviously disrupted team unity and led to their quarterfinal exit. I mean look at Bulgaria, hardly anyone whose name didn't end in -ov ever got into the team and they made it to the semi-final and, by Ben's reckoning, really deserved to be in the final, which they could have won. They even beat Germany on the way.   

Such football reminiscences could have gone on for a long time, if it were not for a sudden jolt. This woke Ben out of his deep football-related meditation. It was probably a good job too, as he was getting close to ’98 and 2000 in his thoughts, not happy years for English football fans as far as Romania is concerned.

The jolt was from the train coming to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Well at least to Ben it seemed like nowhere. The train spent many a minute standing still for apparently no reason and with no announcement to illuminate the passengers as to what was going on. Gradually, Ben was to learn that this was not an uncommon occurrence, but no problem, Ben was from Britain after all. And maybe it was better to not know that you are waiting because there are the wrong type of leaves on the line.

While he was waiting, it gave Ben a chance to reflect on his surroundings. The train looked like it had seen better days. Ramshackle was a word that came to mind. Sadly, the same could be said of many of the passengers. Old people who looked like they'd had hard lives and young people who looked like they were having hard lives. The man sitting beside Ben was typically plump and middle-aged with not so designer stubble and an ominous-looking bottle by his side, the size of a large coke bottle, but brown and three-quarters empty.

There were also beggars. One little child had a sign with her, 'Mor de Foame'. With the help of his bi-lingual dictionary, Ben had worked out that this meant starving. He'd compassionately given her his last cheese sandwich, although she obviously wasn't quite that hungry and instead of scoffing it down, had put it in her pocket saying 'mersi'. Well, Ben thought it was quite a merciful act, although he would have been happier if she'd eaten it 'cos he had slaved ages to make those sandwiches and now he too was quite hungry.

The Journey