Polar Bears in ‘Danger’

 Urgent news today in the Times about global warming and catastrophic climate change – blah, blah, blah……

…next we’ll be priced off the planet by our own establishment and governments using the fear factor to keep us under control.

A Remembrance. Plus something from “Behind the scenes.”

So here I am, it’s Sunday 11th November. It’s always a sad day for me because I remember my Uncle Amos, a gentle giant of a man. A Lincolnshire blacksmith, a rustic rogue but an absolutely gentle gentleman who adored my Auntie Lil and treated her as princess – which she was to him – even though they were really poor, they were rich in each other’s company and esteem. They both died a couple or more of decades ago, but I still remember them and specially Amos cos I remember how he would suddenly change when something banged in his vicinity, or if he smelt something that had gone bad, or if anything such as a bird would fly very quickly over his head or past him with that wooshooshooshooshing sort of sound. Any of these would trigger such a demolishing reaction of fear and panic in this loveable man that he’d become unhinged and reduced to a wreck, crying, hiding his face, covering his ears as his past caught up with him without warning.

Amos had been a despatch rider in “The Great War 1914-1918″ and the things he’d seen, endured and escaped never let him go. He survived what millions of others didn’t and he couldn’t sweep it under the carpet and move on. The horror continued to grip him for the rest of his long life.

We have war veterans being created every day even as I write, their experience is no different to that of Amos. If they die their families are gripped with the horrific thoughts and imaginations of the manner of their loved ones passing as well as coming to terms with their loss. If they live,  their lives and those of their nearest and dearest are held in that grip and all of them suffer. Make no mistake – the wounds are shared no matter what and they don’t heal unless the Lord is able to come in and do something of a divine nature.

We need to remember them all, always. We need to remember that politicians make war, but soldiers, sailors and airmen and their families prosecute the cause and bear the scars. We need to make sure that we never reduce warfare to the glib political soundbite and photo-op or the the sales tag of yet another risible combat computer game which trivialises bloodshed in the name of entertainment and the free will of the modern citizen.

My Uncle Amos survived and still hurt badly all his life. I remember. I remember him and his less fortunate comrades over the sorry Century when mankind learnt so much more about killing and maiming efficiency. I see that the 21st Century is business as usual -  just as Jesus warned us to expect.

“Where was God in all that conflagration?” shouts the atheist and the angry….

He was beset with grief as His creatures used their free will for evil, but He was also inspiring goodness in thousands of other events as He was able to engage with humanity through the prayerful intervention of His people caught up in the tides of  malice and combat. He was there and He still is – it’s just that mankind increasingly chooses not to listen to Him and walk with Him such that evil triumphs while good men do nothing.

On another note, my bruv in  San Diego sent me an email in response to my enquiry about  how he and his had survived the recent wildfires. From ‘Behind the Scenes’ in California, Chris writes…

“So, yes, the fires did mangle some of the outlying areas around San Diego. It’s strange how selective they seemed to have been. They burned a house here, a hillside there, an avocado grove over there. You would think they would just sweep through taking everything in their path, but the fires bobbed and weaved, danced here, and lingered over there. It was very odd. What the media didn’t tell people was that the volunteers who brought food and water to the various evacuation sights were all Christians. Christian doctors and nurses donated drugs and helped the many hospital evacuees, and the retirement center evacuees. Many Christian groups came to entertain the children, and even to school them while they were away from their homes. Christian bands played, and the multiplication of ministry around the county was nothing short of amazing. The church in San Diego is better equipped than anyone would have imagined, and the media and the politicians don’t want anyone to know about it. All San Diego really needed the government for was to put out the fires and keep order. The church handled the human side as it should, and no one complained about the loving care they received. It’s such a blessing to see the church in action. It almost makes you wish for more tragedy so that the church can better reveal the love of God.  “

I’m also in receive mode at the moment as I feel the Lord is taking me across a decisional crossroads at present. I’m so excited and just hope that I’m hearing right and that things will go as I feel the Lord is showing me.

In Joshua 6 we read about how the Israelites walked round Jericho once daily for six days then on the seventh they walked round seven times finishing with a loud shout that heralded the victory and the beginning of the conquest and the realisation of freedom. Note the number seven, the perfect number – cos it was His plan. I’m waiting for the sevens to be revealed in the Lord’s plan for my ministry. Not long now I feel.

I’ve been in and amongst some lovely prophetic people lately too with much stuff being transferred to the old journal!

Yesterday I was working in Mintlaw, a lovely community 10 miles West of Peterhead. A superb pharmacy with great staff, very well run and everything [ and I do mean everything]  in it’s place. Usually when you go to a new pharmacy as a locum, you swap life stories with the staff as we enquire about each other, and often my being a pastor leads to comments or discussion positive and negative. But not yesterday. Nothing. No response at all. Nada! Nix! Nyet! Nuffink! Blanked on the spiritual. This was so unusual so I asked the Lord during my quiet time today and he reminded me of 2 Cor 10

2Co 10:13 – 17 :  But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.  For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:   Not boasting of things without our sphere, that is, of other men’s labors; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,   To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.  But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

You’ll note that there are three elements of being described here : measure, sphere and region. The Lord tells us that we should rule our measure, our personal being, our immediate self, then we can go on to rule our sphere [ of influence ] be it household, fellowship, community, workplace as an employer etc etc then we can be entrusted with our region -  that extensive calling where we really are appointed to whatever work or ministry that Holy Spirit leads.

I was out of my region – I believe and also not glorying in the Lord but in ……self.

Thank you Lord for protecting me and others from ill timed and inappropriate attempts to draw others before hearing from you!

a pre-Epilogue maybe … .. .

pre-Epilogue.

I’ve had a wonderful three weeks of searching, reading, praying, talking, worshipping and receiving. There has been a very real undercurrent of personal insecurity at times along with some definite aggression from the other spiritual camp. But at last I think I’m receiving a clear picture of the future for me as a man and a pastor.
I wanted to quote this passage [ below ] three weeks ago but was stopped, but since then it has become even more real. It’s the epilogue from Peterson’s book “Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work” which I commenced reading way back in February, finished in June, re-read huge sections during Summer and then cherry picked during September.

Epilogue

A quest is not a conclusion. All pastoral work is work in-progress. But neither is it aimless wandering. There is a goal. Along the way there are words that motivate, and light filled moments that illuminate the next step. I have used the metaphor of stones now in two different ways to show how the biblical materials in general and the Megilloth* in particular can be useful to pastors who are in quest of authenticity in their ministry : as foundation stones for constructing a substantial base upon which to build a parish ministry; and as gem stones that, when placed in the setting of kerygmatic worship call attention to particular aspects of pastoral work in the body of Christ.

There is a third way to use the metaphor. A poem on 1 Samuel 17:31-40 by the Norwegian poet Gunnar Thorkildsson is full of suggestiveness for me as I listen for encouragement and look for direction in my pastoral work. The poem reads [ my translation ]:

Odd shaped pebbles roll
and tumble ‘round the Rock which
smooths them into five smooth
stones
one of which will
kill a giant.

The image of the stones, waiting to be selected from the brook by David as he prepares for his meeting with Goliath holds my attention. David has just discarded King Saul’s armour as ill-fitting. The offer of the bronze helmet and coat of mail was well intentioned. But to accept it would have been disastrous. David needed what was authentic to him. Even as I do. For even though the weaponry urged upon me by my culture in the form of science and knowledge is formidable, I cannot work effectively with what is imposed from the outside. Metallic forms hung from my frame will give me, perhaps, an imposing aspect but will not help me to do my proper work.
And so I kneel at the brook of scripture, selecting there what God has long been preparing for the work at hand and find smooth stones. The rough edges have been knocked off. The soft parts have been eroded away. They are bare and hard. Nothing superfluous. Nothing decorative. Clean and spare. Scripture has that quality for me – of essentiality, of the necessary. I feel that I am, again, travelling light, delivered from an immense clutter.

David, in that moment at the brook, was at a point in history when the old leadership traditions were a shambles. The patriarchal, exodus, and wilderness traditions had all been developed in a nomadic culture. Now God’s people were settled in a world that was agrarian and urban. The recent past in which charismatic judges had shown flashes of brilliance had disintegrated into anarchy. The attempt, out of all that chaos, to establish order again through a monarchy was already on the way to failure. While David is at the brook, Israel is at the point of losing its identity to the Philistines.
What strikes me so forcibly in that picture is that David was both modest enough and bold enough to reject the suggestion that he do his work inauthentically [ by using Saul’s armour ] and that he was both modest enough and bold enough to use only that which he had been trained to use in his years as a shepherd [ his sling and some stones].And he killed the giant.

It is a turning point in the story of God’s ways with his people, although no one knew it at the time. A new leadership ministry was taking shape. David was not yet king – it would be years before he was recognised as such. He was a marginal figure, even as the pastor is in our society, and slipped back into the obscurity of shepherding in the hill country. The world at that moment seemed divided between the arrogant and bully people of Philistia and the demoralised and anxious people of God; between the powerful but rather stupid giant and the anointed but deeply flawed king. No one could have guessed that the man picking stones out of the brook was doing the most significant work of the day.

*Megilloth = Song of songs; Ruth;Lamentations; Ecclesiastes; Esther.
I really felt that I could identify with so much of the whole book and the epilogue was a very accurate summation for me.
I’ve felt that I’d been at a brook for a long time and the Lord was showing me things in the streambed and floating things past me.
I’d recognised that I too needed to be smoothed by attrition and erosion, and I feel the Lord has certainly been doing that and blessedly is continuing to do so – Wonderful!
I feel as though I’ve cast off some one else’s armour, my suit is in view and some of it is on my body.
I think I know what my stones are, but not where and who the giant[s] may be – but that doesn’t matter because I’ve learned to listen so much more than ever before and am confident I’ll know when to aim and when to throw or when to just build with my stones.
I feel that I’m coming out of my chrysalis and leaving behind some traditions, but not all of my heritage.
I want to try and be modest and humble in my approaches to things so that the Lord gets all the Glory if things go right for me and those whom I’m called to be amongst.
I know I’m not going to be a king, but I do feel that my time may be getting closer to fulfilling other words spoken prophetically over my life.

I’m still wating ……….. on Him.

More another day when I’ve got time to write.

Iraqi Update – from the opposite side to the media!

I know I’m late posting this but it took me a while to get permission, then I forgot. However, it’s still relevant.

” Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2007 12:28 PM

Subject: Fw: Iraq Update

This the kind of news that we are missing from our Drive-By media. It is a must read and PASS it on to all your friends and your liberal enemies. We are really winning this war on terror.

Subject: Iraq Update

All – Received this today and thought it would let all know that the Iraq situation is improving.

Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:49:58 -0700
“**** *******  MAJ USA FORSCOM”

All,

I haven’t sent an update in a while, and as we are in the 13 1/2 month of a 15 month deployment, frankly I am a little tired which minimizes my energy to write e-mails just to write. I know all of you are busy doing what you do (it isn’t easy preparing your “unit” to win the National Championship — but I am pulling for Coach to do it). But I figured that if I gave you a quick heads-up as to what is going on here, you would find the time to read it and “stay informed.”

What really spurred me to write was any of the multitude of articles relating to the testimony of General Petraeus to Congress last week. I cannot comment on what he said point for point, nor can I comment on what he was asked point for point — not only do I not have TV for the most part where I am out, I don’t have the time to read the transcripts either. The truth is, I really don’t want to. We have hosted multiple congressional delegations down here South of Baghdad and in every case, those who wandered far away from the Green Zone all walked away with a more positive view of the progress being made. A few weeks ago, REP Baird (D-WA) visited us and told us that he absolutely voted against the war on multiple occasions, but that after a brief (by yours truly) and a tour of our market he said he had changed his mind. True to his word, when he returned back to the states, he announced the same to the media, much to the chagrin of many of his peers. As for those who “visit” but never venture far from the Green Zone, well I am not sure that they were over here to see any progress made anyway.

Now while I would rather not get into the political fray (it is so polarized right now that I don’t think either side really cares to pay attention to what is happening) what I do want to do is tell you how things are for me and my Soldiers right now.

We haven’t had an IED in our area since May (since shortly after the May 12 attack when our Soldiers were ambushed and two were taken prisoner). We haven’t had any major attacks on our Soldiers in almost three months and we haven’t had a casualty since we lost one on an air assault the beginning of August (and it was May for the last one before that).

Since our Soldiers were killed in May, the tribal leaders have stepped forward and have committed to fighting Al Qaeda with the Iraqi Army and with us. This occurrence was much more subdued than the more publicized “Anbar Awakening” but it has the same effect. We have established personal relationships with all the major tribal leaders in our area and that has enabled us to secure our area, improve the essential services and help these people get on with their lives. Every area has power now (for more hours a day than Baghdad and higher than 2004 levels) and that also equals better water. We have rebuilt 4 schools and are rebuilding all the rest in our area — two more should begin construction this week. Roads are open to civilians for the first time in 4 years and the kids are all back to school. In fact, this morning the local school minister conducted make-up testing for the school kids that missed the tests at the end of the last school year.

Where we had on average 10 attacks a day, mostly lethal attacks that resulted in death or injury, for the first 10 months we were here, we now AVERAGE less than one a day for the last 3 months.

Commerce is so much better — the largest market in our area (where the congressmen toured) was hit by a vehicle IED last October and has been operating at about 20% capacity until about June. Well now it is at about 85% capacity and the locals are actually building new stores to keep up with demand.

I would be lying if I told you that I would rather be here than home with my awesome kids and lovely/wonderful wife. But I am enjoying myself and I never imagined that we would make and see as much progress as my unit has experienced over the last year+.

I also talk to so many of my friends and peers all over the country. Some are still sustaining casualties, but even in those areas, everyone agrees(in my circles) that things are so much better today than they have been in a long time.

I read an article in the Stars and Stripes newspaper by Adrianna Huffington that said that there is only one side of this story and that no matter what anyone says, we are losing over here. Maybe I just had a bad night’s sleep for one article to bother me so much. I have never met Ms. Huffington but I can say with certainty that she has never visited Southern Baghdad, nor has any of the naysayers that seem okay with the United States quitting and leaving the Iraqi to fend for themselves.

Now even if you don’t agree with war, or if you don’t agree with why we went to war, I do believe that all of you support the Soldiers — heck I hope you all at least support one Soldier and his unit). Well, be proud in what this Army has done with your support behind us. In the last 6 months, we have really turned this country around and headed in the right direction. We have reached out and are bringing Iraqis together for the first time in years.

The next time you are at your favorite Starbucks and the discussion turns to Iraq, speak with confidence that the men and woman who represent our great country are doing well and doing it right. With time, we will be able to leave Iraq in the capable hands of Iraqi security forces, with the hope that the region is a little more stable in the hands of a proud people and not in the hands of a dictator.

I tell the Sheiks around here that my next visit to Iraq, I want to bring my son to visit them all and show him how the tribal systems work and how beautiful and historic a country Iraq is. Now that is a few years off, but the point is, there is an optimism around here that hasn’t been prevalent in probably a few years (though I am always optimistic).

I hope to be home sometime in November and if I am lucky I will be able to see many of you over the next many months. I hope all of you are doing well. Even though I have not done a good job of keeping you all updated on a more frequent basis, know that you all are in my thoughts constantly.

Thank you again for all of your support and most of all, your friendship.”

 This was sent to me from my friend Chris in San Diego -  His father knows the officer who wrote the report.

Ciao for now.

Dave