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She was born deaf, in a room at Windsor Castle in 1885, the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her name was Princess Alice of Battenberg. She learned to lip-read in more than one language, and she spoke English and German well enough that most people never guessed. She married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and raised a family that included a son named Philip, later the Duke of Edinburgh. In 1937, her daughter Cecilie died in a plane crash. By accounts of the time, Alice never fully recovered from the loss. In 1930, she had already been diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized. She had begun to speak of religious visions and of messages from God. Her doctors saw a symptom. Her family, in the end, agreed. One treatment she was subjected to is often attributed to Sigmund Freud's circle: X-ray exposure of the ovaries, based on the theory that suppressing her sexuality would calm her mind. Accounts differ on the exact details, but the logic of the era is clear enough. She was kept away from her children for years. Her husband lived elsewhere. Her son grew up in other people's houses. When she was finally released, she was a woman most of Europe had stopped expecting anything from. She went to Athens. During the Nazi occupation of Greece, Alice sheltered members of the Cohen family, a Jewish family, in her home. By most accounts, she kept them hidden while German officers moved through the city. One account says that when she was questioned, she used her deafness as cover and simply did not seem to understand. It is a story often told, and it fits what she was. She never spoke much about it afterward. Decades later, she was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, the honor Israel gives to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews. She died in 1969 at Buckingham Palace, in a room her son had made sure was hers.

justme

On 30 December 1952, the British bus driver Albert Edward Gunter (28 February 1906 – 2 February 1968) jumped the Tower Bridge in his double decker bus. On December 30, 1952, a London double-decker bus—Route No. 78—was crossing Tower Bridge when the roadway began to rise unexpectedly. The driver, Albert Gunter, realized that if he stopped, the bus would plunge into the Thames. Instead, he made a split-second decision: he accelerated. With 20 terrified passengers on board, the red Routemaster leaped across a three-foot gap as the bridge continued to lift. The front wheels landed safely on the opposite side, though the impact broke the suspension and injured Gunter’s leg. Miraculously, everyone survived with only minor injuries. Albert was later rewarded with a £10 bonus for his bravery — roughly £400 today — and became a London legend. His daring leap remains one of the most extraordinary moments in public transport history. #History #London #TowerBridge #UKLegends #TrueStory

Vic

Psalm 24:1 … and we thought it, the Earth, was ours. Perhaps we’ve even believed we are our own, we’re just…random beings for whatever purpose we can think of. Putting that aside for a moment, we consider what God tells us about who He is and what He’s done. He says “…He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the currents and the rivers.” We’re challenged to righteousness, without it, who can stand in His Holy Place? Who is it that gives blessings and righteousness and salvation? Do we seek Him… Require Him of necessity? Do we call Him Strong and Mighty, King of Glory? This earth…We’re as tenants in a Vineyard, we’re not our own, we’re His. The battles we face…He’s already won. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he’s clear about our purpose, “Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but rather each one of the other, let him seek the welfare of his neighbor.“ And “For the whole earth is the Lord’s and everything that’s in it“, Paul reminds us we’re “free to do anything we please, but not all things are helpful, profitable and wholesome. All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive to character and edifying to spiritual life.” He’s given us both a purpose and a place to accomplish His will. As we consider the boundaries man has created around nations, sectioned off pieces of the Earth, we can’t help being reminded of what God promised Israel from the very beginning, land and descendants…and honor. As Israel is being pressured by the world to give away land she doesn’t own, but given in covenant by God, we sit back, asking Him to reveal truth in what He’s already told us. This earth is His, He does with it as He pleases. His covenant promise with Israel has no timestamp. She can’t give away what she doesn’t own. Mankind has redrawn Israel’s map more than once, but that doesn’t change Who the land really belongs to. Lord, remind us daily about the blessing of where we live, no matter where that is, and that