FROM WAR, AND AN INTERMINABLE JOURNEY, TO SAFETY

This family of 5 contacted me weeks ago, when they were fleeing Putin's war. There were two parents, a baby of 5 months, a 2 year old and a 4 year old. They needed help. They had gained visas to enter the U.K., but their Ukrainian relative couldn't accommodate them. Neither could we easily, as we were sponsoring another family of 5, although I said we would as well, if I couldn't arrange something else for them. The family were travelling by foot, bus and train and sleeping wherever there were refugee tents or centres, through Ukraine, Moldova and into Bulgaria. They were going to fly into Gatwick near midnight and ask the Red Cross to accommodate them. I spent many hours liaising with the Red Cross, Crawley Council, West Sussex Council and the emergency housing team and managed to arrange to have them met personally at Gatwick and provided with accommodation at the Gatwick Hilton over the weekend, until proper arrangements could be made for their future safety. I found this photo, the family sent me, so moving, of their youngest, safe on the soft white sheets of the hotel that first morning after they had arrived the night before. Other photos followed, of all the children and family, finding peace after their trauma. Later more photos, once the family had been moved to other safe accommodation, of the children playing in the local park, amidst the glorious greens of England's spring. 

ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART ONE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFpYhuH-n7Q

ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART TWO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STVJxukhA3o

I AM PROUD OF MY WRITING, FOR JESUS’S SAKE, THAT HAS HAD ME FOUND INNOCENT IN HEAVEN, BUT TWICE A CRIMINAL ON THE EARTH. THE FIRST IN 1990 WHEN I WROTE A BIBLICAL TEXT ON THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN PEACEFUL PROTEST ABOUT THE BOMBING OF YOUNG IRAQI RECRUITS DURING THE FIRST GULF WAR. THE SECOND, IN 2016 WHEN I WROTE ON MY BLOG, TO ALERT THE PUBLIC ABOUT A PAEDOPHILE, AND WAS SUCCESSFUL IN FORCING THE AUTHORITIES TO STOP HIM HAVING ACCESS TO CHILDREN. THERE WAS ALMOST A THIRD! IN 1997, WHEN I WAS ARRESTED FOR NAILING MY PROPOSALS FOR REFORM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE DOOR OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. WORDS ARE POWERFUL MESSAGES THAT CHALLENGE  CORRUPTION, CONFRONT THE WICKED AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE CALLED  TO COMMUNICATE HIS WORDS,  IRRESPECTIVE OF THE COST.

http://bishopjonathanblake.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/press-release-concerning-met-police.html

"You brave, courageous and wonderful man. To stand up for the truth

 in the face of suppression and oppression is truly an act of a pure heart."