{"id":11464,"date":"2022-08-16T11:36:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T11:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/?p=11464"},"modified":"2022-08-18T07:26:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T07:26:23","slug":"luck-coincidence-or-providence-a-foster-childs-journey-through-racism-riots-and-reggae-to-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/luck-coincidence-or-providence-a-foster-childs-journey-through-racism-riots-and-reggae-to-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Luck, Coincidence or Providence? A Foster Child\u2019s Journey Through Racism, Riots and Reggae to Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>16 August 2022 | St. Albans, UK [David Neal]<\/p>\n<p>Derek Morrison\u2019s entry into the world in 1964 did not start well. Born to an Afro-Caribbean mother, and an unknown father, he was taken into foster care in the same year he was born. The reason we never discover, but his South London white working -class family gave him the love and care his biological parents were unable to provide. Even though visibly \u2018different,\u2019 the home was a loving and safe place, albeit secular.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_28944\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"  data-origwidth=\"800\" data-origheight=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W04SH0iN3Pc?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/ted.adventist.org&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&rel=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Luck, Coincidence or Providence by Derek Morrison\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cProvidence\u201d is Morrison\u2019s story. His relationship to his biological mother was strained \u2013 a stranger who would occasionally visit, but who would always instruct him to \u201cread the Bible and go to church.\u201d Then there were the three Christian story books in the home, which he believed belonged to him, put away in the cupboard and not to be read. Curiosity did not stop him reading them. The initials \u201cSP\u201d (Stanborough Press) was on the back of the books, the same as his foster mother, \u2018Susan Prudence\u2019 who informed him that this proved \u201cthe books were hers and not mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his teenage search for identity, he dug deep into Reggae and Rastafarianism, in part a response to the \u2018unpleasant feeling toward Black people in the UK\u2019 at that time.\u2019 Close shaves were experienced with the National Front as he \u2018providentially\u2019 escaped being beaten up by their skinhead adherents. And yet, while on his way to a major riot against the Front in Croydon, a sprained ankle on the steps of a railway station stops him in his tracks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/LCTP-Picture364.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11494 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/LCTP-Picture364.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"383\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/LCTP-Picture364.jpg 383w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/LCTP-Picture364-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/LCTP-Picture364-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Further close shaves were with the police. Living during the Metropolitan Police \u2018Stop and Search\u2019 era, he records how he was \u2018stopped and searched.\u2019 An \u2018Afro-comb\u2019 in his possession was deemed to be an offensive weapon &#8211; but he is not charged. A few years later he is set up as the cause of a minor road traffic accident, rather than the victim \u2013 which ends up in court. Up against a white judge, and white plaintiffs, he courageously defends himself without legal representation (truth telling was a value his foster parents had ingrained in him). The judge dismisses the case.<\/p>\n<p>To Morrison truth mattered, and gradually dawned on him that the father of Rastafarianism, Haile Selassie was not God. Introduced by a friend, one Saturday he finds himself in the north London Hamstead church. Sabbath School bible study attracted him, and as his friend Randal explained, \u201cWhen it comes to the Bible, you never stop learning.\u201d For Derek, \u201cIt seemed like the church was set up for life-long learning.\u201d A study of the gospels, resulted in a \u201cchange for the better\u2026 I felt calmer, less anxious. My language became more considerate and respectful, and I looked at people with a more opened mind.\u201d He was baptised, but not a pew warmer. He shared his faith at work, with friends, but the old life in some ways reared its ugly head. \u201cPray without ceasing\u201d (1 Thess 5:17) came the answer. Not only did it help him stand up for truth, \u201cWe can\u2019t change the policy of the whole company to suit one individual,\u201d on the matter of sabbath keeping, but also share his faith as he helped lead his friend Seyi to Christ, later followed by Seyi\u2019s older brother and mother. As Derek reflects, \u201cI felt incredibly humbled because I had contributed to Seyi deciding to be baptised and join the church just by being myself at work\u2026 I challenged him to come and try\u2026 and he did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morrison\u2019s case for \u2018Providence\u2019 is overwhelming and moving, with an underlying \u2018what if\u2019 thread throughout. He concludes, \u201cI ask myself if it were a stream of good luck, a series of chance coincidences or a sequence of divine providences that guided me through my teenage and later years. I think the latter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Derek Morrison is a member of the London Hamstead church, South England Conference<\/em>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Book Review:\u00a0Luck, Coincidence or Providence? A Foster Child\u2019s Journey through Racism, Riots and Reggae to Faith by Derek Morrison. Available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/lifesourcebookshop.co.uk\/book_author\/derek-morrison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LifeSource Bookshop<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;There was something inside me that had always said there was a God in Heaven. I just did not know anything about Him&#8217;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":11498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1568,1569,1570,1588,7],"tags":[627,1174,1172,1173,840],"class_list":["post-11464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children-teens-young-adults","category-communication-media-technology","category-discipleship-spiritual-growth","category-ireland-united-kingdom","category-news","tag-book-review","tag-coincidence-or-providence","tag-derek-morrison","tag-luck","tag-stanborough-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11464"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11526,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11464\/revisions\/11526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}