We had worked hard all week and finished our work early, leaving Sunday open for exploring this magnificent city, so of course we headed right up to the castle. I believe that this was another God stumble, for what I found hidden in the middle of this awesome structure was a treasure of Scotland: the Stone of Destiny. I don’t know about you, but thought this was really cool, although the guard didn’t think so when I tried to get a picture of it.

In 1296 the Stone was captured by Edward I as spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair, known as St. Edward’s Chair. On this chair, subsequent English sovereigns, except Queen Mary II, have been crowned. In 1996, the British Government decided that the Stone should be kept in Scotland when not in use at coronations, and on November 15, 1996, after a handover ceremony at the border between representatives of the Home Office and of the Scottish Office, it was returned to Scotland and transported to Edinburgh Castle where it remains today. Scottish tradition holds the Stone of Destiny to be the pillow stone said to have been used by the biblical Jacob.

This in a sense became a signpost for me and I knew that woven into my business trip to a far away land was the confirmation of my destiny moment back on that mountain top.

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