A cup of tea - gangnam style

Finally got back on the work this morning - an hour with Audrey, in the drizzle.  But I found three of my magazine route at home and was able to have a little chat as we delivered the magazines.  Captain B announced he was going to Wisley at about 7.30 this morning. I think Mark rang to say he would be there.  He set off early with a box of sandwiches.

Its grey and rainy today - hard to see where sky ends and Channel begins.  The waves are fantastic - rearing up high and crashing on the shore.  Telling us over and over again of the unimaginable power of their Creator, Jehovah of armies.

We went to a concert on Sunday night. The congregation had hired a local hall, and put on a great show - along with tea, cakes and sandwiches. It began with Jason and Hannah singing a mixture of Jazz and Country and Western. There was a lovely little drama somewhere in the middle "True Love Will Have its Way" - based on The Song of Solomon, surely the greatest poem ever written.

It is the story of the faithful love of the beautiful Shulammite girl for her shepherd boy - and how she turns down all that King Solomon. who wants her for his wife, can offer her because of that love.

It contains some of the most beautiful words in the Bible, and I had them read at my parents funerals.

 "Place me as as seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; because love is as strong as death is, insistence on exclusive devotion is as unyielding as Sheol is. Its  blazings are the blazings of a fire - the flame of Jah.  Many waters themselves are not able to extinguish love, nor can rivers themselves wash it away..."

I hope that Jehovah's love for my parents will be as strong as death is, and that He will wake them up from the sleep of death when the time comes.

There were Fillipino singers and dancers, which took me and Col right back to our Expat world.

The concert ended with a rousing troupe of dancers - Zumba - led by one of my Ghanaian sisters, her niece and others. Wow.  Can she dance!  And it ended up with a load of brothers joining them on stage and Gangnamming back and across at a gallop.

I was so carried away that I attempted a zimmery gangnam into the kitchen when we got back and I was about to make us a cup of tea.

"Steady on" panicked Captain B, "you'll frighten the horses."

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Not doing much

It was a sunny day, but cold.  And I have done nothing really.  Back and legs v painful after my Olympic exertions of yesterday.   So rather a depressing day, except for a lovely link which Valerian sent me to a New Zealand Convention, with Maori brothers and sisters singing the closing song, the one which includes the line: "He soon will awaken those sleeping in death".

That makes me think of my dear aged parents.  And reminds me that i have loving brothers and sisters all over the world.

Oh and a Kathryn postcard came, which was nice.

Col was out photographing what I have been categorizing as finches, but are in fact (I am sternly informed) crests.  And he has rather a charming Kingfisher.  I did get the sheets washed, and made a potato curry. And studied.  And provided the hungry hunter of crests with a hot meal when he got in.  But nothing else to speak of, so a pretty wasted day.

But I feel pretty wasted.  Moan, moan, whinge, whinge.

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My Olympic Swimming Gold

I guess all three of us in the hydrotherapy pool this afternoon got the gold. We had to race each other across the pool a few times, and all ended up with 4 points each. (Glows with pride.)

Martin was so lovely and kind about my talk - and Lara was a great householder. Anyway, I am now signed off in the "Illustrations From Familiar Situations" slot.  And possibly the next time I appear in the School it will be as a householder.

So, my day today was spent doing a couple of loads of washing, and studying in the morning, and exercise in the afternoon. And I cooked the Captain a full English breakfast for his tea. He came back from Arundel laden down with bacon and sausages. They have a great butcher and deli at the bottom of the hill.

Will I get back out on the field service tomorrow?  Its so urgent.  This present system of things on the earth is rapidly coming to an end. I think more and more people are aware of it too.

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My Talk in the Second School

This is the talk I will be giving in the second school tonight.

TALK – week beginning 21 January 2013

If someone says: “Pray with me first, then give me your message”.

Setting No.2. Overcoming a potential conversation stopper

And I am working on the use of illustrations - so I hope you note my two illustrations.

Sue.  Thanks for asking me in.  I’m Sue.

Lara.  I’m Lara. I see its not easy for you to stand for too long. Besides, if I am going to hear your message, we need to pray together first, and I don’t think we can pray on the doorstep. When I mentioned the Witnesses were calling on me, I was told by my minister that you refused to pray with him when you came to his door to talk to him.  I wanted to find out why.

Sue.  Thanks for much for giving us the chance to explain. Because it must seem odd, wouldn’t praying be the first thing we would do, before we started to talk about the Bible?

Lara.  Yes, that is what I think.  So why don’t you?

Sue.  The answer lies in these words of Jesus, here at Matthew 10:12,13.  Would you like to read them?

Lara.  (Reads Matthew 10:12-13) "When you are entering into the house, greet the household;  and if the house is deserving, let the peace you wish it come upon it; but if it is not deserving, let the peace from you return upon you."

Sue.  The context here is that Jesus is teaching his disciples how to do the Christian preaching work. And do you notice that he says they are to greet the householder as they call at the door?  But he doesn’t say that they are to pray together.

Lara.  Not there, no. But Jesus did teach us to pray.

Sue. Yes, he did. And prayer is of vital importance. But so is paying close attention to what Jehovah, our Creator, has had recorded in his inspired word. And in fact the Bible uses a very simple illustration to show us how important that is.  Its here at 1 Peter 2:21. I will read it for you.  "In fact, to this course you were called, because even Christ suffered for you, leaving you a model for you to follow his steps closely."

Do you see how it says we are to follow Jesus’ steps closely?  Imagine, for example, if you were following a guide through a minefield, you would not go wandering off would you?  You would put your feet exactly where he put his feet.  Or to bring it much closer to home, think of the way you want your children to follow your instructions closely. When you tell them never to go near the railway lines for instance, do you want them reasoning that its OK when they are with a gang of more streetwise children who say they know all the timetables and when the trains are due?

Lara.  Of course not, children don’t necessarily see what the danger is, or who is a safe guide and who is not.

Sue.  .  Yes, but parents do.  And they love their children and want to keep them safe. And that is what our Creator, Jehovah, wants for us.  He wants to keep us safe. He knows that we live in a world full of spiritual dangers – a spiritual minefield, if you like - and he wants to guide us safely through it.  And he has given us a reliable guide in his Messiah.  So we try to follow in Jesus footsteps exactly, not taking anything away from what he taught, but also not adding anything. And, had Jesus wanted his disciples to pray with those they called on, wouldn’t he have said so clearly?

Lara.  I suppose so. And yet it was Jesus who left us the Lord’s Prayer.

Sue. He did Lara. And that is so important, because one of the first things Jesus taught us to pray for was the coming of God’s Kingdom. And we do pray for its coming. And if you read Matthew chapter 10, you will find how Jesus instructed his disciples to tell people that the Kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.  In harmony with that, I am here at your door now to tell you all about it.  This is a beautiful summary of what that Kingdom will do. Reads Revelation 21:4: "And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”  God's kingdom, which is a heavenly government, will wipe out every tear from our eyes.  All causes for suffering will be gone. What human government could achieve such a thing?  Yet God’s Kingdom can.  If you can spare me a bit more time, I would like to show you chapter 8 in the book “What Does the Bible Really Teach?”  - “What is God’s Kingdom?”.  It will explain more about the Kingdom whose coming Jesus asked us to pray for when he taught us the Lord's Prayer.

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Clouds like mountains

The snow sky has lifted this morning, we have some sunlight coming through, and the line of clouds like mountains that often lie along the far side of The Channel are back.  I have just been re-reading Lauren Elder's "And I Alone Survived".  She was in a small plane with two others - the pilot and another passenger - which crashed in the Sierra Nevada, right at the top of one of the highest peaks.  When the plane was finally found, rescuers had to climb up to it, the spot was so inaccessible.

Behind them was a winter wilderness of rocky mountains, and in front of them was a sheer drop of thousands of feet to the desert floor.

All three survived the crash, but only Lauren Elder survived to tell the tale.  It is an extraordinary story and I believe it was filmed. But I don't think the film will have come anywhere near the immediacy of the book.

Lara is coming round this afternoon so we can go through my talk which I have to give in the Ministry School on Thursday. We will be in the second school, but if there is more snow and not everyone can get, we might find ourselves on the platform.

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A winter dance

What have I been doing?  Can't go out, combination of arthritis and snow.... My hydrotherapy was cancelled.  I did get to the meeting Sunday morning, thanks to the gallant Captain B who drove me as near to the door as we can get, and came in, picked me up and walked me back to the car.   There were a lot of empty seats as the talk began, but people began to arrive and we were pretty full by the end.

This morning the sky and the Channel are equally grey - the sky looking full of snow - and there is snow still lying. We have to shop this morning and pick up my medications.

I think another poem is called for.   But do I have a snow one I haven't blogged before? There is this little verse about a cold New Year many years ago. We were staying with my  parents at the bungalow.

Those were the days when getting up from my chair was just that - getting up from my chair - not the marathon Everest climb by the North Face without oxygen and Sherpa support that it feels like now.

Whatever the weather - obviously apart from rain - my mother hung the washing out.

 A January Washday in Sheffield

                by me

Black trees rattle in the icy wind

Through gale-smashed panes the greenhouse sings

Tights, shirts, tea-towels, bras and knicks

Dance to welcome eighty-six!

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A symphony in grey and white

The balcony is white with snow, the Green is white, and snow is clinging to the balcony rails.   Beyond it the Channel is steely grey with white horses - and there is a lighter grey snow sky above it. It has been snowing heavily since about 7.30, but seems to be stopping.  And it does seem to be thawing rather than freezing.

There are a few small touches of red - some valiant balcony geraniums still flowering through the snow, and my little geranium car keeping warm under its snow hoodie.

I rang up this morning to see if my hydrotherapy session was still on.  It was. But they rang later, just as we were having an early lunch, to cancel. They must have decided it would be safer to leave early today. The snow is clearly much worse inland.

We hope to be able to drive the huskies over to Jackie tomorrow for supper. And all I really have to do today is to make us a roast chicken dinner for tonight and start my studying for Sunday.

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