A few years before her death, Queen Elizabeth and her protection officer, Richard Griffin, were hiking in Scotland not far from her castle in Balmoral. They came across two tourists from America on a “walking holiday.” The Queen always made it a point to stop and talk to fellow hikers, so she greeted the pair and as they engaged in conversation it was clear they didn’t recognize her. To be fair, her appearance wasn’t what most people were used to seeing as she was dressed down in clothes suitable for hiking.
As they talked, one of the hikers asked if she lived in the area. She explained that she lived in London but had a “house just the other side of the hills.” They wanted to know how long she had been coming up there and she told them since she was a little girl (over eighty years). Then came the clincher: Had she had ever met the Queen who had a place up here somewhere?
The Queen told them she hadn’t but then pointed to Griffin and said that he met with her regularly. They asked Griffin what she was like and because he had worked for the Queen for three decades he told them, “She can be quite cantankerous at times, but she’s got a lovely sense of humor.” The tourists oohed and aahed at this and before you knew it, one of them had placed a camera in the Queen’s hand so that she could take a picture of them with Griffin. She graciously obliged.
Then (wait for it), Griffin took a picture of the Queen with the two hikers—because he knew they would appreciate it later.
This is why history is so much better than fantasy. You can make up fantasy, but you can’t make up history—even when it sounds like fantasy. I have a vague memory of coming across the story before—but it didn’t make much of an impression on me. Then I heard it again when we were on a tour bus in the Scottish Highlands, and it blew me away. Even though it’s a true story, it’s like a parable because there are so many spiritual lessons that can be learned from this story.
For example, do you think it’s possible that we have ever been in the presence of royalty (God) and not known it? Have there ever been any holy moments in our lives?
- How about when we came into this world?
- How about when someone we loved left this world and we needed to be comforted?
- How about how and why we have made it to this point in our journey despite whatever obstacles we’ve faced?
- But we make a mistake if we limit God to the “big stuff,”—He’s been in our life in the “little ways” as well:
- How about the One who gives us our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) and fills our hearts with joy (Acts 14:17)?
- How about the One in whom we live move and have our being (Acts 17:28)?
God has been with us and blessed us, and the truth is many of us have not even been aware of that or acknowledged it. We thought we somehow did all of that ourselves. We’re living on third base and we thought we hit a triple but it was God who put us there.
I love this story because of the insider humor between the Queen and Richard Griffin. She displayed absolutely no hesitancy about throwing him under the bus when the hikers asked if she had ever met the queen. And he gave it right back to her when they asked him what the queen was like. It sounds like they had a great friendship and that’s such a wonderful thing to have.
And then when they put the camera in the Queen’s hands and asked her to take a picture of them with Richard Griffin, it’s funny, but it’s also poignant because they were satisfied with much less than what the moment was made for them to have. They could have a picture with the Queen but they wanted a picture with Griffin instead. Sigh.
How often does this happen to us? We are satisfied with less than what we were made for? Our Heavenly Father created us in His image—He made nothing else in that way. He did that because He wants us to share in His life. He wants to bless us. He wants us to have dominion over the world He created.
But so many people are satisfied to live with so much less and it’s Jesus weeping outside Jerusalem—not for Himself and the crucifixion He was about to suffer, but because of what He wants for them and their unwillingness to accept it!
This happened with the tourists because they gave royalty a quick look over and decided she wasn’t. They didn’t mean anything by it, but nonetheless, that‘s what they did. And people are doing the same thing with Christ today, aren’t they? They don’t make the decision that Jesus isn’t royalty, that He isn’t for them after carefully reading through the gospels—they make it based on a bad experience someone had, what a celebrity said, or because none of their friends follow Jesus. They put more thought into what their favorite coffee order is than they do about the One who loves them more than they love themselves.
But here’s where our story turns because Richard Griffin, on his own, took a picture of them with the Queen. He made provision for them despite their rejection of the Queen. He realized that sooner or later they would look back on their encounter and realize they had been with the Queen. They would have a picture of themselves with the Queen’s protection officer—but not one with the Queen! They would spend the rest of their lives lamenting the opportunity they let slip through their fingers.
What Griffin did was an act of grace. He made provision for their negligence. Now they would be able to look back and laugh at their folly because they had a picture of themselves with the Queen—how great was that?
In the same way, Romans 5:6-8 tells us that God has made provision for us through Jesus Christ. “While we were still sinners”—hiking through this world with no thought of God—He did for us through Jesus what we couldn’t do for ourselves. The cross occurred so that we might have glorious life through Him. How great is that?
There’s more. Like Griffin, Jesus is our protection officer. John says this in 1 John 2:1-2:
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The truth is, everyone on this planet is searching for something (whether they are aware of it or not). The answer isn’t found in material things—you can have everything to live with but if you don’t have something to live for you will be empty. It’s not fame—look what the famous people do—they can’t go anywhere and have to live in seclusion. It’s not politics—the donkey or elephant is not going to save us—we need the Lamb!
What everyone is looking for is God (whether they know it or not). He has set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Augustine said we were made for God, and we are restless until we find Him.
He’s not that hard to find. That’s what Paul told the Athenians when he said, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27).
Someone said there are two important days in a person’s life—the day you were born and the day you find out why you were born. If you didn’t know about God’s purpose for you through Jesus, then today has become that day because you were born to be in relationship with God.
If this is that day, read Acts 2 and do what 3,000 others did to find new life in Christ.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 