Dr Gordon Moyes, who used to lead the largest church in Australia and who more recently has been a politician in the New South Wales parliament, told the House of this turn of events, when giving his inaugural speech:“That flowed on to what was a very remarkable event in our life; an event that changed our life completely. It was the day that John F. Kennedy was shot.”
“Traditionally people say they remember where they were at the time of that tragic event. I remember where I was very clearly. I was in the United States Consulate, here in Australia, where we were about to have our visas stamped. I had been appointed to do postgraduate study in the United States of America.”
“When the shots rang out in Dallas, Texas, the doors at the consulate were shut and the United States Embassy went into very high activity. People were thrown out the doors and papers went everywhere, and with them went our visas, our work permits, our passports, our chest x-rays and a whole lot of other stuff. The result was that the boat upon which we were to travel, together with all our clothes, personal possessions and belongings, sailed to America—but we did not.”
Gordon Moyes. ‘Inaugural Speech to Parliament’, New South Wales, Australia, 30 October 2002.
More on the open and closed doors factor can be found in this chapter of the online book, Making Life Decisions: Journey in Discernment.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: Gordon Moyes.
