For some the 30th July 1966 was an important in British history. It was the day that England won the world cup beating West Germany 4.2.
In goal for
England on that day was my namesake, Gordon Banks.
It was on the
this very day that I travelled from Royton in Lancashire to Newmarket in
Suffolk to begin a five-year apprenticeship as a jockey. I was fifteen and had left St Anne’s C of E
Secondary Modern School that summer.
I had no
previous interest in horseracing, nor had any of the family. I had never ridden
a horse in my life apart from the occasional donkey on the beach!
Behind this
somewhat unusual career choice lies a whole back story which I am not going to
recall here except for a few salient points.
Just after
my sixth birthday my father was killed in a road traffic accident. Following
the custom of the time he was laid in his coffin in the front room of our home.
My abiding memory is the lid of the
coffin lid leant against the wall with a little brass plaque simply saying his
name, date of birth and date of death.
At the age
of fourteen I began to go through a typical adolescent angst (albeit I didn’t
know that phrase then). I became aware of my own mortality and that no matter
what I did or where I went, one day like my dad, I would be put in a coffin with a
little brass plaque that simply stated my name and date of birth and
death. The question that follows is, ‘then
what is the point and purpose of my life?’ For me the answer lay in what was to become
the focus of a film and then a TV series Fame, a 1980 American teen musical
drama film about students at the High School of Performing Arts in New York
City. In particular the chorus of the
title track ‘Fame’ sung by Irene Cara.
I'm gonna
live forever
I'm gonna learn how to fly
I feel it coming together
People will see me and cry
(Fame!)
I'm gonna make it to heaven
Light up the sky like a flame
(Fame!)
I'm gonna live forever
Baby, remember my name
In short I
was seeking immortality through fame. Become a famous jockey and then when I
die more might be said of me and a memory live on. This coupled with my small stature and a quip
from a school friend who said as we were talking about work after school
that I ought to become a jockey, that all set me off on the journey to
Newmarket.
Fast forward
about ten years and not a famous jockey and not even working in stables anymore
but as an Animal Technician working for Spillers at a Food and Nutritional
Research Centre. I worked alongside David, a young man in his mid-twenties just
like me. However, David was a Christian and more that one of those ‘born again
types.’
I began working there in March 1974 and by November David had been inviting me to various ‘meetings’ and given me a Bible.
And then I read Colossians 3.3. a verse that was to turn my life around.
‘For you
have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’
Today being
Palm Sunday, we were reflecting on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
There is no
question that Jesus had set the time in the lead up to the Feast of Passover.
There is no
question that some of those who shouted out in praise to Jesus were hoping
Jesus would be the Messiah who would establish once again the power and
prestige of Israel as a sovereign nation and not subject to Roman rule.
However, the first place to be ‘attacked’ by Jesus was not the Antonia Fortress Military barracks in Jerusalem but the Temple.
Maybe as the
week went by some of those who had hailed him as Messiah grew disappointed,
felt rejected and angry and saw him as a false Messiah in their understanding and
began to call for his death.
But what
about Jesus. How do we imagine him feeling at this time with so many competing
ideas and thoughts, hopes dreams and aspirations swirling around what the
Messiah would be and do.
We see a
Jesus who is focussed and not swayed by others to be what they want him to be,
to be part of their group.
Jesus knew who he was and his calling and vocation, he was not for turning to the left or the right but to walk the path ordained for him by God whom he spoke of as Father.
Colossians 3.3 was the answer to my adolescent
angst, it was the answer to the question that had taken me down to Newmarket,
it was the answer to the question over my concern about fame and being known and
my life counting for something.
God knew who
I was, God loves me, God has a unique plan for me that gives me purpose and
focus. On the 1st January 1975 I made a New Years Resolution to
become a Christian and have sought to live in that reality ever since.
A question
to be asked is how much do we know ourselves loved of God. How much do we accept that
there is a unique plan and purpose for us ‘hidden with Christ.’ That is, the more and the better we get to
know Jesus the more our true selves will be manifest.
If we can
learn to grow and live in this reality then it releases the demands we might
have to be what others think we should be. It can release us even from the need
to be loved and liked albeit both are important for our well-being.
If
we ponder deeply and regularly that God who called creation into being, who
raised Jesus from death, and so much more, that this God knows and loves us and
calls us by name, then what others may or may not think of us becomes secondary.
At fifteen I
was concerned that my life would be summed up on a simple brass plaque stating
the date of my birth and my death. I then sought to ensure my name would be
remembered upon my death. I then discovered that there is only one place you
need to ensure your name is written, that is in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Your name
may be written in all sorts of places, but do you know that your name is
written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
Revelation
3:5, ‘The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I
will never blot their name out of the book of life. I will confess their name
before my Father and before his angels.’
Remember, your
name is written on His hand and that before the throne of God above we have One who makes the perfect plea on our behalf. (Hebrews 7.25)
https://youtu.be/4MUNywhsZPU?si=V_2kyHNFISflDOYY
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