The Hand of God?

Terry gave me this poem, written by a good friend of his, who has since died.  He said she would have liked it to be read and published.  And this is the best I can do.

I would love to have been able to talk to her about the last line, and assure her that this was not "the hand of God", or "an act of God" as some people might define it.   It was in fact the very opposite.  What she describes so vividly in her poem happens because we are cut off from our Creator.

Anyway, here it is:

Tsunami
by Maureen Williams, written 2010

The wave emerging from the deep
Was soon to the make the whole world weep.
Out of the ocean like a ghost
Before progressing to the coast.

This line of surf moves on with speed
A silent threat to do its deed.
The people on the distant shore
Beheld this sight with puzzled awe.

The crest arrived, nowhere to run.
The place where all had had their fun,
The young, the old, they met their fate,
They watched too long, it was too late.

The sandy beach that is no more,
There's only death upon the shore.
Huge boulders thrown up by the sea
Destroyed the jetty, boats and quay.

After the tumult there is no sound.
Devastation is all around.
The cries for help, the screams of fear,
The call of birds all disappear.

Water and bodies everywhere,
Those who are left can only stare.
To comprehend is always hard
That this could be the Hand of God.

A vivid description - especially of the sudden silence in the tsunami's wake.  But I would have loved to talk to Maureen and show her what Genesis so clearly and simply tells us.  Because when our first parents made that fatal decision to cut themselves - and us, their unborn children - off from their Creator, their Source of life, they found that they could not even keep themselves alive, let alone run this beautiful and complex planet.

We, their damaged children, cannot keep ourselves alive either.  Nor can we manage the planet with its immense forces and its complex patterns.  So we have these "natural" disasters - like tsunamis... But are they natural?   Had our first parents obeyed their Creator, things would have been so different.   All the natural forces would have been under perfect control.  We would find them splendid and awe-inspiring, but we would have nothing to fear from them.

And I would have wanted to remind Maureen of what Jesus did when he was on the earth.  How he calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Matthew 8:23-27 tells us:  "And when he went aboard a boat, his disciples followed him. Now look! a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but he was sleeping. And they came and woke him up, saying: “Lord, save us, we are about to perish!”  But he said to them: “Why are you so afraid, you with little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and a great calm set in. So the men were amazed and said: “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.”"

The winds and the sea obeyed Jesus.   So when he is ruling over us as the King of Jehovah's Kingdom, he will bring the earth back into the peace and the harmony there was in the beginning.

And, wonderfully he has also been given the authority to wake the dead from their dreamless sleep.   Once again, he demonstrated that while he was on the earth. We all know about Lazarus to this day!

Jehovah's spirit can and will empower him to restore the earth to the Paradise it was always meant to be, and to awaken "many of those asleep in the dust of earth".

So when Maureen the Poet next opens her eyes, it will be in an earth ruled by the law of loving-kindness, and an earth in perfect balance. No more "natural" disaster to fear.


Captain Butterfly went up to London today to see the Natural History Photography Exhibition.  We would usually go together. Will I be able to get there next year?

I am now a bit scared of "that London" - though we lived there for many years, and had some lovely day trips in the early years of our retirement.  Jackie and I were talking about them this morning.  But she, like me, is now anxious about the idea of a London trip. And she is a London girl.

I devoted my day to shopping, making a roast chicken dinner for the weary traveller to come home to, finishing my study for tonight and practising my part in the Ministry School with my pretty young householder.

A Guy and a Gal have got Engaged

Its all over the papers today. If WW3 has started, we will have to look to the back pages to find ou...   aarrgghhh... disappears in large radioactive blast.

Actually, according to Bible prophecy the two superpowers are not going to go head to head again, though the world remains divided. And I think we can understand why, given that a WW3 unleashing all the weapons of mass destruction we now have would ruin the planet for human habitation.  And the Inspired Scriptures assure us not only that Jehovah "will bring to ruin those ruining the earth", but that "the meek" (those meek towards their Creator) will "inherit the earth" and live forever upon it.

Jean and I were out on the doors yesterday - not for long as it is so cold - beautiful sky, but icy wind. We went back to a road I had many return visits on - found only a couple at home, but both were interested and we can call back.

Today, cold but sunny, I plan to be out with one of the young pioneer sisters after my visit to Maggie. We plan to call back on a lady who has taken a Bible and a Good News brochure and see if we can get a study started.   I hope at least we can point out to her a couple of important things Genesis tells us, as she has already started to read it.

But of course we have to find her in first.

Captain B has been called out on a lot of SUSSAR search and rescues recently - some of them very sad.

https://twitter.com/Crawley_Police/status/935448731197067264?s=04


Oh - and back to my heading.  I wish Prince Harry and Meghan Markle a splendid wedding - which I am sure they will have (us Brits are very good at organising these State occasions) - but most of all I wish them a long and happy marriage.  I hope they will take the advice of the Creator of marriage, as set out in His inspired word, because that advice works. 

Waiting for Reviews (of "Waiting for Gordo")

I only have 2 reviews of  "Waiting" on my Amazon page.  But they are both lovely. And I got a boost yesterday when I got an email from an Oz friend - we gave her a copy of the book when they visited us. Not only did she love it, but a visiting friend picked it up, started reading it, and was enjoying it so much that she took it back to Victoria to finish!

What author could ask for more, that people are enjoying her book?

I listened in to the meeting yesterday - as Col (off on his Detectoring) rang me to say there was a lot of ice about, and he was worried.  The thought of another fall...  The Watchtower was about courage, which made me feel a complete wimp (which actually I am), but I don't think I am going to be able to be at all courageous in the face of ice.  It is too easy to fall. And if I fall I will break something. I am still quite crippled in my left arm from that fall in Sheffield.  And also poor old Captain B will be back on nursing duty.

And then I got our calendar in a mess and double booked us for Saturday night. It was Jackie who helped to sort that one out.  Now I have managed to get in a muddle all my life, but when it happens in your seventies, it takes on a sinister overtone...

Jean and I went to the Field Service group on Saturday morning - though we did return visits, not first calls, and had some good calls. Still so hard to find people at home though.

I have a talk on Thursday night - just 2 minutes - and I have emailed it to the young sister who is my householder and she will come over on Thursday for a practice session.

We had Jacks over for supper on Saturday - beef chile with small small things (spring onions, chopped tomato, yoghurt, grated cheese) - and lemon drizzle cake with ice-cream after. I made the chile on Friday so it wasn't a rush.

It is a recipe I learnt many many years ago on Planet Expat when I did a Tex Mex cookery course.   I have cooked it many times since then, and it has never let me down.  The Captain and I finished this batch for our supper tonight.

The Northern Lights, the Southern Lights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpLd20_htF8&t=

My sister in law - well worth a watch!

Busy day today - to Angmering this morning, then out with a young pioneer sister this afternoon, meeting tonight.  The lady we were calling on turned out to have 2 very large alsatians and 2 smaller dogs. Thank goodness they were friendly. 

And in the middle of it all a second batch of Butterfly Memberships arrived.  Aaargghhh.

But what have I been doing during the week?  Its gone by so quick.

I was out on the field service on Tuesday - doing not-homes and return visits.  I have to remember to give all the ones we still could not find at home back to the field service group.

I visited Maggie on Wednesday. She looked brighter than last week. And I got the usual warm welcome, though I am not sure she knows who I am now.  But she still loves the sparkly fan that Col bought me - she always remembers that.

Tomorrow will be butterfly paperwork, shopping, cooking for Jackie on Saturday night, and getting the Watchtower study done.

The young sister who lives across the road is meeting me in the car park as I shall be chauffering her to the meeting. She is my householder next week.

The Smallness of Kingfishers

Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis

It was a busy weekend - in my terms, nowadays.  It was the Assembly at Haysbridge on Saturday. Captain Butterfly nobly chauffered me and a pretty young sister (he never minds driving her).   It was a lot of driving for him as it was also the AGM of Sussex Butterfly Conservation.   I was sorry to miss it as it's always a good day out. And poor Col had to miss the Michael Blencowe talk, which is a highlight.    Then we went to Jackie for supper and she had cooked us a roast lamb dinner - with raspberry tart and ice-cream to follow.  Perfect.

Sunday - the Captain detectorised all day - but did not find a hoard of Viking gold.   Still he had a good day out, in this lovely Sussex Autumn.

There was no meeting on Sunday. Field service instead. I did not make it to the group - but did get out a bit later in the morning and had 3 very interesting calls. But how to keep up with them? And how to find someone to come with me to all of them?

Col was out in the week photographing Kingfishers.    Apparently some years ago a kingfisher flew into the visitor centre at The Wetland Trust, flew into something and was killed.  The member of staff who picked it up said it was so small - such a tiny fragile creature. Yet they are fierce little fighters and fishers.

How wonderful it will be when God's Kingdom is ruling over us. The little thing would not have been frightened of us then, but could have flown straight over to the first person it saw to get help in finding the way out.

What a mess we have made of the paradise planet Jehovah gave us. But a rescue is on the way - so close now.   Our Saturday Assembly was to remind us of that and to strengthen us to keep going, because as Jesus said:  "This good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." - Matthew 24:14

We - every one of us on the earth today - has the privilege offered to us of being part of this great Kingdom preaching work.  It will never come again.

George Orwell and Us

Its now Friday and I am trying to think what I have been doing... the answer is probably Not A Lot.  Made another fruit cake for the AGM.  And Jean and I were out on the preaching work on Tuesday. We had a very good morning out - nearly two hours, amazing for us. It was sad too though, as one of Jean's regular calls is in such distress. She desperately needs proper medical attendance for her husband at home, but is not being given it (for "health and safety" reasons). Suddenly, in retirement, their lives have become full of pain, and almost impossibly difficult.
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Yesterday I was out with one of the young pioneers - young compared to me that is (though who isn't these days?) - yet she too was talking about the difficulties of ageing!

And for some reason it made me think of A Clergyman's Daughter by George Orwell.  He writes very movingly about the loss of faith of his central character.

And given only faith, how can anything else matter?  How can anything dismay you if only there is some purpose in the world which you can serve, and which, while serving it, you can understand?  Your whole life is illuminated by that sense of purpose.  There is no weariness in your heart, no doubts, no feeling of futility, no Baudelairean ennui waiting for unguarded hours.  Every act is significant, every moment sanctified, woven by faith as into a pattern, a fabric of never-ending joy.

She began to meditate on the nature of life. You emerged from the womb, you lived sixty or seventy years, and then you died and rotted.  And in every detail of your life, if no ultimate purpose redeemed it, there was a quality of greyness, of desolation, that could never be described,but which you would feel like a physical pang at your heart.  Life, if the grave really ends it, is monstrous and dreadful.  No use trying to argue it away. Think of life as it really is, think of the details of life; and then think that there is no meaning in it, no purpose, no goal except the grave. Surely only fools or self-deceivers, or those whose lives are exceptionally fortunate can fact that thought without flinching?



So I think we both wondered just how those who do not know the truth cope with the ageing process.  Its not easy, even when you do know there is a meaning, and a purpose, and a rescue on the way.

Re faith, George Orwell says this:  "It is a mysterious thing, the loss of faith - as mysterious as faith itself. Like faith, it is ultimately not rooted in logic, it is a change in the climate of the mind."

And there is the problem.  Because for faith to be real living and enduring, it must be rooted in logic, in reason.  Jehovah asks us to love him with our whole mind, as well as our whole heart and soul.

We need that connection to our Creator to give meaning and hope to our lives. It won't be completely restored till the end of the Thousand Years, but just to be heading back there makes all the difference.   At the end of the Thousand Years, which will be wonderful in themselves, our real lives will begin. There will be so much to know, so much to do. So much happiness.  And everything will be full of meaning.  Nothing will be futile.

This morning it was shopping - the big Marks and Sparks - with Captain B.   It was a lovely Autumn day - low sunlight, shining Autumn colours.   A day to tell those who will look and listen of its Grand Creator, Jehovah of armies.

"Islander" - Patrick Barkham at the Sussex Wildlife Trust AGM

We - Captain and Mrs Butterfly - went to the AGM of the Sussex Wildlife Trust on Saturday morning.   The guest speaker was Patrick Barkham, talking about his latest book Islander, A Journey Around our Archipelago.

Col has met him in the Butterfly world and he remembered Col and remembered his name...  left me awe-struck as it keeps my two remaining brain cells at full stretch remembering my own name these days.      We have heard Patrick speak before in the year of his launch of The Butterfly Isles.  He is s very good speaker.  We now have a signed copy of Islander - and a rare edition at that, as the first run was printed with The Isle of Man upside down on the cover.

It was a very well organised AGM. The boring business bit went like clockwork, the Chairperson's speech about the year's achievements was impressive and interesting. Patrick's talk was excellent, funny and informative.  And it included islands I have never even heard of, for all that the UK is so small.  I am looking forward to reading the book now.

Then we had an excellent buffet lunch, and a drive home through the loveliness of Autumn Sussex.

Jacks came for supper - I did cook, rather than Cooks, this time.  A beef curry a la Delia (Captain B just found me a new Delia at a Charity bookshop), a trusty old Madhur Jaffrey carrot and cabbage stir fry I used to make a lot on Planet Expat,  And a dahl courtesy of the Waitrose chill cabinet.  There was at time when I would have made it all and more.  The usual ice-creams to follow.

Yesterday was the meeting at the Hall, The teaching seems to get better and better all the time. What will it be like a thousand years from now?  What wonderful things will we be learning then?

I hope we will all be there to find out.

I did three calls in the afternoon - one to a young girl I called on weeks ago, but have never found home again. I think I will have to leave it now as that map will be being worked again soon.  But I also called on two elderly ladies, leaving both a little card asking if all is well with them.  I have been faithfully delivering the magazines every month but have not seen them for ages. And one of my sisters at the Hall usually sees one of these ladies on the bus.  But she hasn't seen her either. So we were a bit worried.

At one door, I found that the bells had been dismantled and there is one of those keyholder boxes outside.  So I did not knock, just left card and magazine, and hope that someone will contact me.

But my other lady - the lady of the bus - rang me in the evening to assure me she was fine.  Apparently her door bell is not working!  It lights up as it if is, but it isn't.  She seemed touched we were worried about her.

I was trying to think what on earth I did on Friday, but realised it was a shopping and cooking day.  We shopped and I made the spicy beef casserole in the morning, and a big carrot cake in the afternoon. Captain B and Butterfly Mark are now going out into the field again - mushroom season - and I need a freezer full of cake for the packed lunches.

Talked to Bea of the North yesterday. Apparently I either haven't sent her a copy of my book - or it never arrived... and she wants to read it.  I was sure I had sent to both aunts, but maybe I didn't. Anyway, as soon as the next batch arrive from the US of A, I will send.  Jean wants me to send one to her daughter in Oz - she insists on paying for both book and postage.    So that hopefully will be 2 I have sold!  The dizzy heights of bestsellerdom beckon.  But not in my direction. 

Still, I just want people to enjoy reading it. Hopefully it might make them think a bit. And I would love to make a bit of money for my young publisher...

Yawning and Spinning

I was driving poor Captain Butterfly mad yesterday by yawning all the time... he even started to spin round in his chair saying "I divorce you, I divorce you..."   But I reminded him it was too late - we are no longer in Saudi.

"Not fair" he sulked
"Life isn't fair" was my cruel but accurate response.

Though, to be fair, I had had quite a busy day for me.  Hospital in the morning - sleep clinic - for my sleep problems - then to Maggie in the afternoon - a bit harrowing as she was having a difficult time.   She startled me as I was leaving by saying something new.  She has been consistently losing words and phrases and is now down to very few. But she suddenly said "Thanks for putting up with me."

She has never said that before.

I had to go back and reassure her that I wasn't putting up with her. That I wanted to come and see her. She and Don were very good to me always.  But I don't know how much of what I said she understood. Nothing, I guess, but you have to try.

And I also did some calls on the way to Maggie and on the way back.  Mostly they were not at home, but I did find two in. And one I can call on again.

They are stressing return visits in the meeting tomorrow. But it is not easy.

The Captain had a good day as he and Butterfly Mark went off adventuring.  And he also sorted out his pictures for the 2018 Calendar.    But where did 2017 go to?   People sometimes ask me if I am bored in retirement, and I have to assure them that I haven't had time to find out yet.

Great telly.  Masterchef - the Professionals; followed by The Apprentice; followed by the new series of Detectorists.   My head was spinning by the time I went to bed.  I wonder what all this constant input is doing to our brains?

Saving Elephants

We went to a talk by Saba Douglas Hamilton on Saturday night.  Wonderful, and tragic.  But it is amazing what one person, one family can do.
https://www.aardvarksafaris.co.uk/saba-douglas-hamilton-uk-tour-dates/

Very well worth going.  The hall in Haywards Heath was packed and it went on quite late, but we were enthralled.  Interesting, funny, sad. The Kenyan government seems to be making a valiant effort to protect its precious elephants, but they are up against the destructive currents of the world.

And the tenderness and bravery of elephants in the face of all this is heartrending.

Saba is realistic about what she is up against, but is achieving some great things.   I hope she will talk to the next Jehovah's Witnesses who call on her, because we want to tell her of the promised rescue for all the earthly creation.


Yesterday morning got off to a dramatic start. One of our neighbours, not young, had a bad fall and so we took him to the A & E, and did our shopping there, instead of locally.


On the doubleplusgood side, a lovely bunch of flowers arrived, beautifully packaged, roses and flocks in creams and lilacs. They are from cousin Linda, Catherine and Jessica who came over to see us on Saturday.   Jessica is a darling little girl of nearly two, with a real Hay look to her when she laughs.

It was a busy weekend for us - for us these days.  Wine and cheese at Micah's on Friday night, which was great. And Captain B really enjoyed it.  We chauffered Jean.   She and I had intended to go out on the work on Saturday, but it poured with rain all morning so we had to cancel. Then Linda and family came - then we went to Saba - then it was the meeting in the morning for me - Detectoring for Captain Butterfly - and - A LANDMARK MOMENT - to supper at Jackie's!  It has been nearly 6 months but maybe we are back to normal - or as normal as we can get these elderly days.

Aunt Jo rang and we managed a talk  we are both a bit deaf now. She is 93, but still valiantly living on her own and coping.   Not easy though.  We talked about my  mother, and what a lovely person she was.

Herding Elephants

African Bush Elephants, Loxodonta africana

I am just re-reading Ffyona Campbell's wonderful "On Foot Through Africa" and among its many gems came across this:

Speaking of her father, a man of very strong character, and his visit to her walk, Ffyona says:  "As I tried to direct him into a tent I was reminded of an old Zairois proverb: "He who wishes to herd the elephant must first take into account which way the elephants are already heading."

Indeed.

The photo is from Captain Butterfly's recent safari.

I have read my copy to death and will now have to get another one.  It is very well written and gives such an interesting view of the continent, as she walks through its various countries.

She even meets one Jehovah's Witness as she walks along - a local guy - and has a brief chat with him. 

Once again, I am reminded of the importance of the Kingdom preaching work.  Which we were out on yesterday. We had some very interesting calls, including one to a young journalist who was on the phone to Joan Bakewell (!), and one to a lady who was working in her garden as we passed by en route from the journalist. She took some literature from us, assured us she has a Bible, and said we can go back.  And Jean and I were out on return visits on Tuesday.  We hope to get back to the first call work on Saturday, but only for an hour as a busy weekend is coming up, starting with visitors for lunch tomorrow.