London June 2017 Day 6 – Walking along the Thames and in Walthamstow Village

In the morning we took a walk along the Thames from Vauxhall to Westminster Bridge.

After a rest in the flat we decided to take a walk nearby – in Walthamstow Village.

There we met a group of young women who did something called “Nomadic Dialogues” and they were talking about food, so we told them about Swabian food like Maultaschen and Spätzle :)

We continued our walk in the Village to the old cemetery where Hermann took lots of photos.

Later we left the Village for the High Street where market people were just packing up their goods. Hermann needed a rest, so he sat on a bench while I took a walk in the street. A lady said: “Jesus loves you” to me (I replied that I knew) and gave me this little card – a “Heaven Travelcard”. Interesting idea!

How Do You Recognise A Christian?

Recently I heard about two Christians, one from Jordan and one from Iran. Both had to flee their countries, because they had converted from Islam, and had asked for asylum in Germany. Even though our asylum laws include people like them and even though Christians in Germany spoke in their favour, they had trouble being granted asylum – simply because the people involved in the decisions didn’t know whether to believe they had really become Christians or not. They had conversations with them on how they converted, their beliefs etc., but couldn’t really tell if they were telling the truth or just faking to reach their aim of a life in Germany. About the man from Jordan the authorities said he wasn’t telling his story credible enough.

These two cases – two of many, I suppose – gave me much food for thought. First I wondered what I would do if I had to decide on their asylum applications. Would I, being a Christian myself, be able to distinguish real from fake Christians? I’m not sure, but then I could always pray about it and trust that God would show me what to do. However, how is it possible for non-Christians or nominal Christians to distinguish? They are almost unable to decide properly, I guess. After all, it is possible to fake faith – at least for a while. Many oppressive governments send their spies into “illegal” churches in their countries and these spies are obviously able to disguise as Christians, deceiving even genuine believers. So how is it possible to distinguish the true from the false ones?

The other question I asked myself was – if I was in the situation of these asylum seekers, meaning if I had to ask for asylum in a foreign country because of my faith – would I be “credible” enough for the authorities? How could I prove to them that I was a genuine Christian and not someone who just had practised the right words and behaviour? I thought a lot about that, but haven’t found an answer yet.

London 2014 Day 4 Part 2 – Going Underground with London Transport Museum

In the late afternoon of this day we visited Aldwych Underground Station. We had booked the tour beforehand on the website of the London Transport Museum. I started the booking process as soon as the online shop was open and when I looked again not much later all was sold out.

The station had been closed in 1994 and is now being used for example by film companies (who put most of the posters up which you can see on the pictures) and for music videos.

The toilet is still in operation ;)

We had to walk downstairs – 160 stairs. However, this number seemed to have increased when we walked upstairs again ;)

A German (or Austrian or Swiss) construction worker immortalized himself in one of the tunnels:

This hilarious music video was made down there:  

The tickets for the visit of app. one hour cost 25 GBP per person, but it was definitely worth it. We got lots of information on the tube and the station itself - a special treat for tube fans like me :)