God's Country

Part Four

'To what greater inspiration and counsel can we turn than to the imperishable truth to be found in this treasure house, the Bible?'

Queen Elizabeth II

"She is actually here?" Pastor Michael Winstanley sounded momentarily surprised but not necessarily disappointed by the news. Running a hand through his shock of white hair he considered the circumstances and decided it was not really a bad thing in the long run. If he was right and Charles Buckingham was their man, the problem of his daughter had to be dealt with sooner rather than later. It was an added complication at that stage of the proceedings but it could be coped with, if they took due care.

"She was apparently suspended from school and he had nowhere else to leave her." David Harrington explained with a shrug of his shoulders, not thinking the problem serious. "I was quite impressed actually...Charles just handed her over to Miss Scott without so much as a backward glance...I think he was embarrassed...maybe also angry...more than anything else and he did not even stop to think about it."

"I do like his commitment I must say...thus far at any rate."

"I am not sure it can be described as commitment just yet...Charles is in a really bad place Michael and he needs our money. His consultancy fee got him down here and bought us his full attention but not much more. Losing his seat hurt him deeply and as you know he is not even close to being over losing his wife. He feels he compounded things by backing Boris Johnson in the leadership election, which looks like his worst mistake, career-wise. He will give us a fair hearing and deliver his opinion but he is not offering us anything else."

"One never ever gets over losing a loved one...only God's love can ease that pain...so we have brought him to the right place." Winstanley said thoughtfully, sure that the Lord had His hands in most things. "Hopefully at the right time?"

"He is simply here to give us an honest assessment of the draft document Michael...merely his professional assessment...I am not sure we can count on anything more from Charles at this stage. Having his daughter here doesn't change anything...yet...he needs to see a future in the doctrine first."

"Sometimes I wonder if you have any faith at all, David...this is the moment and if we have done our homework properly this is our man...and I think God agrees." Winstanley grinned as he reached for the pot of coffee. "Sending his daughter here with him...it would have been yet another hurdle for him but now it is done...we all just have to believe."

"I have endless faith in God Michael but politics is just another matter." David Harrington sighed as his cup was refilled, offering his friend a grimace. He was accustomed to being in control in his business life. He was a rich man and he could usually find a way to get what he wanted, but they were not offering Charles Buckingham a simple job. Even with God on their side, there was no guarantee of success and if Buckingham joined them he would never be able to go back to mainstream politics. And as much as Charles needed the money he wanted to be a mainstream politician more than anything else. More than he wanted a family life for sure. David knew Charles well, and had talked to him a lot, trying to help him through his crisis. He felt that Elizabeth, and her father's attitude towards her future, held the key to his involvement in the project, not God's love.

"And that is what we strive to change," Winstanley reminded his younger friend. "God can lead this country out of the mess the politicians have got it into...and if Charles Buckingham is the right man...if he is the man we think he is...he will see that...and when he does nothing will stop him leading the charge. Not even his daughter."

'All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.'