Almost Meeting Prince Philippe of Belgium

This last week (ending March 15), I spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thrusday in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at an environmental trade show, GLOBE|2008. During the first day of the show, I started to walk the show floor prospecting for potential advertisers. Toward the far end of the show floor, there was a relatively large group of TV cameras, boom microphones and a large group of lookers-on. As I passed by, I noticed that it was in the Belgium pavilion (an area where multiple companies from Belgium were exhibiting).

I went several aisles beyond the crowd and started working my way up and down the aisles. Roughly an hour later as I was approaching the Belgium pavilion, the crowd was still there.

I asked two of the people standing in the crowd who it was we were all looking at. They answered, "Our prince. Prince Philippe of Belgium." The second person said, "Crown Prince Philippe," which I understand to mean he is the heir to the crown once his parents pass.

As I looked into the center of the crowd, it was not obvious to me which one was the prince. So I asked and they graciously pointed him out to me. The picture above is of "Crown Prince" Philippe and his lovely wife Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz.

As I walked away from the crowd, I had two very distinct feelings. The first was absolute amazement and appreciation for how all of these people were fawning over royalty. What respect they were paying to this prince. It was quite encouraging to see people showing respect for a man in a high position of authority. It made me think how casual I am around the royalty I talk with everyday (Christ)!

The second thought I had was...."he is a man like any other many." Because I couldn't tell who he was in the crowd at first, I had another, more dignified, older man pegged as the prince. When it was finally pointed out to me which man was in fact the prince, it was not who I had expected. He was a man like any other. I remember thinking, "he needs Jesus just the same as any other man."

A strange juxtaposition of thoughts, but both were true.

I admit I had this inward desire to get my picture with him -- if for no other reason than to place it on this blog. I controlled myself and didn't run into the middle of the crowd and request a photo, but trust me.....it took self control. It would have been neat to have had a picture with Prince Philippe of Belgium.

Later that day, I learned that the managers of the trade show had been waiting at my booth with Prince Philippe to take a photo of me with the prince! Imagine my surprise. The magazine I publish, Pollution Engineering, was a media co-sponsor of this event and apparently show management was trying to get a picture of Prince Philippe with all the co-sponsors. Problem is they forgot to tell me and I am hardly ever in my booth because I'm out prospecting for business.

Imaging my surprise to find out that the Prince of Belgium was waiting at my booth for me (supposedly for 10-15 minutes) until he couldn't wait any longer and moved on. Of course, I was disappointed, but this also made me think how it is that Christ comes to us, pursues us and sometimes we're not home, not listening, or out carrying on the business of the day.

The very Prince I desired to get a photo with was at my booth waiting for me and I didn't know it.

Kind of a neat story......

The last thought I had was, "I'm better off than this fellow (assuming he doesn't know Christ)." I pray he does. I'm thankful to God that I do know Christ.

To read more about Prince Philippe, click here.