Friday, November 15, 2013

The shots heard round the world.





50 years ago this week, shots were fired that were heard around the world.
At precisely 12:30 PM on Friday, November 22nd, President John F. Kennedy's life was abruptly and cruelly ended by three bullets fired from the rifle of Lee Harvey Oswald. 

The rest is well known history: the Warren report, the conspiracy theories that continue to abound, the Oliver Stone movie and the hundreds of books that have been written on the subject. The passage of half a century seems not to have dimmed the event in the public memory but rather caused it to attain the status of American folk lore 

Whether a lone gunman was responsible or, as many believe, there were others involved, we shall never know.
One thing is certain, as the Presidential motorcade wound slowly through the Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, John Kennedy had an appointment to fulfill that no police cordon or body-guards could prevent. Neither was it on his planned schedule.

He had an appointment to meet his Maker.

None of us can say what such a dread meeting entailed. The Bible simply states in Hebrews chapter 9:27:
"It is appointed once to die and AFTER death the judgment."

This being so, our own appointment is already entered into God's  date book.
The death of John F Kennedy teaches us all to so live our lives on earth that we will have no regrets when we ourselves are summoned to appear before the Highest Court in the universe.
Thank God we can have a counsel for our defense who will stand by our side. His Name is Jesus Christ and His services are free IF we avail ourselves of them.

In memory.

Ian


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Typhoon Haiyan. An evil wind.




An old English saying goes:
"It's an ill wind that does not blow somebody some good."

But looking at the scenes of devastation that are emerging from the Philippines, Typhoon Haiyan must surely be classified as an "Ill wind."

It roared in from the Western Pacific and coincided its landfall with the commencement of the Climate Change Summit in Poland.
This prompted the anguished plea from a delegate that 'The Powers- That-Be' must do something about climate change right NOW before there is another disaster.
This puts me in mind of the story of the crisis in Ant World.

 Jumbo the elephant would choose a path to the river that crossed the high rise apartments of ant city. They had been stomped on too many times and so a conference was called. It was decided that ten million or so ants would hang on a branch overlooking the jungle path, swarm on Jumbo as he passed beneath the tree and take him down.
However,the next day, as the elephant passed under the branch he raised his trunk, trumpeted and blew all the ants back to the ground. 
Apart from one. This single ant was seen clinging to a fold of skin on Jumbo's neck. Whereupon, with single voice, every ant screamed:
"Strangle him. Strangle him."

Which brings me back to the tearful plea of the conference delegate.  His "DO SOMETHING NOW" is like the "STRANGLE HIM" from ant world.

It fails to recognize that God's Hand is on the thermostat of climate, not ours, and what He expects of us is to "Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before Him" and leave the temperature controls to Him.

Jubilate 

Ian


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Lest We Forget.



There will be services held all over the world today to remember those who fought in the wars of the 20th Century.
3,000 years ago King David had his own remembrance service.
After one of his battles he set a precedent by saying:
"Any one who helps back home is as important as those who go to war."
Born a week after the outbreak of WW2, I would like to share my own memories of neighbors and family; some who went to war and some who stayed behind.
1) My dad, who was a baker by day and an air raid warning policeman at night.
2) My next door neighbor, Vic Hughes, who was a locomotive engineer.
3) Mr Brown across the street. A bobby.
4) His next door neighbor, Ron Tilsey, a high school teacher.
5) Neighbors at # 11 ( we were # 9 Lidget Grove in York). Morgan Day, a major in Madras, India.
6) Two doors further up. Gil Merrick. An army corporal.
7) Around the corner, Sam Pitchfork. Submariner in Battle of the Atlantic.
8) Across the street, Ron Colman. Royal Air Force mechanic.
9) Miss Wisely, Mr Holt, Mr Abbey, Mr Wilmot, Miss Waite: teachers at Poppleton Road Junior. My first school.
10) Uncle Jimmy, A Desert Rat, North Africa.
11) Uncle Oliver. WW1. Battle of the Somme.
12) My Uncle Chris, Lancaster rear-gunner, killed over France.
13) My mother and all the magnificent ladies who looked after the kids and kept the home fires burning.
Without their fight for freedom I might not be writing these words and you might not be reading them.
LEST WE FORGET

Ian.