Guest Post

20
Dec
2023
Celebrating Citizenship

Celebrating Citizenship

Celebrating Citizenship

On September 9, 2023, we celebrated our US citizenship. Below the videos, read the notes that I prepared for my (and Sue’s) speech. Matthew’s speech was improvised, so there are no notes!

Special thanks to Samantha Powell for providing the raw video for both pieces below, as well as to Matthew Holmes for editing the various clips into the more seamless videos with titles and some added still graphics.

Jim’s Video

 

Matthew’s Video

 

Life in One Act and Six Scenes So Far. . .

  • Thanks to Mel Duncan, the girls Megan and Claire, Dr. Megan Stapleton, the seminary, (and Sue for all her behind-the-scenes work to make this happen) and to you all for being here to share this day with us. And thank the Lord for His providence that we can be together in this way.
  • Sign our visitors’ book, please.
  • Take a flag as a memento of sharing this day with us.

Today, we stand in front of you as three new American citizens, but it was not always that way. Join me in your mind’s eye—your imagination—as I take you back some decades to the dark continent of Africa, where life is quite primitive

Scene 1:

Here’s a little boy who sees TV and movies for the first time. It’s cowboys and Indians, it’s chasing robbers, and it’s glamorous people in California living in mansions, high-rise buildings, and driving fast cars (on the wrong side of the road).

A little later in this scene, it’s tourists with funny accents and loud voices visiting Africa—people who seem to brag a lot and swagger when they walk.

This little boy in Africa doubts if he would ever even want to travel to America, never mind live there or become one of them!

Scene 2:

Here’s a man in his late thirties with his beautiful wife; he’s matured somewhat since scene 1, but he’s still doubtful about Americans. But the executive director where he works calls him into the office and says, “I want you to often visit America and meet our customers, and I want you to sell books there. Go there with your wife for a week and see what it’s like.”

Not many weeks later, that man and his wife are standing in Logan airport in Boston looking somewhat bewildered and feeling even more so. They are on a ten-day visit that will take them from the northeast through Mississippi, Oklahoma, and California. The man is thinking something like, “I hope this visit goes by quickly so we can get back home.”

But just a few days later, this same man is thinking something like, “Americans are just like me; they are ordinary people (apart from driving on the wrong side of the road). They don’t swagger, and I have not heard any of them brag. He asks his American counterpart, “So Mike, do you think you could see me and my wife living here in America one day?” His answer is quick and unequivocal: “Yes!”

Scene 3:

This man, now in his forties and with more than thirty transatlantic flights on his record is standing on the campus of the Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, (MacArthur’s church) at a Shepherds’ Conference. There’s a big, smiling, friendly man with a southern accent he meets there. He works for Ligonier Ministries. “Jim,” he says, “I would love for you to come to Greenville, SC; it’s a beautiful place and you would love the people there!”

Not too long after that, someone else from Greenville SC persistently invites him, so on one of his visits from the UK, he adds more flights to his itinerary and takes a weekend in South Carolina. He finds himself thinking, “Hmm, this is a really nice place; I think I could live here. There’s Bob Jones University, a school where my son could go to, and the people are so friendly.”

Scene 4

Some years have passed and this African-born man, now past the fifty-year mark, is loading several luggage pieces into a rental car having just arrived at GSP. His wife and son are with him. They are exhausted after nearly twenty hours of traveling from Britain. He’s come to America on a work visa with a mandate from his British bosses: “Stop flying to America all the time. Go there and build the business!” Soon they are settled in a rental property near BJU and driving a beat-up old Volvo with nearly quarter of a million miles on the clock. Their son is checked in at the elementary school and they are learning the new language of American!

Life is not easy for this family. There are health and economic hardship challenges to navigate. No one in this family was born with a silver spoon in the mouth. There is, as it were, blood, sweat, and tears. They learn to “Suck it up, Buttercup!”

Scene 5:

Now into the 20-teens, this same family—now much better at speaking and understanding American and loving being in South Carolina—are praying that their Green Card application will be approved. There have been some hiccups in the process and he’s feeling, to quote John Calvin, that “We’ll need to have a lot of luck if the authorities really do approve this application and we will likely have to return to the UK.” It’s that sinking feeling in your gut.

But many people are praying for the family. One man from Ohio says, “Jim, you have embraced us, and we have embraced you.” Another man from Pennsylvania says, “Jim, you were an American long before you ever came here.” There are two factors at work here: prayer and the providence of God. Late one night, as he is viewing the status of their permanent residence application online, he calls his wife to the computer: “Sue, look at this—do you read it that our application is approved and we will get a Green Card?” They are ecstatic!

Scene 6:

It’s now 2023 and, much sooner than expected, there are three official-looking pieces of mail in this family’s mailbox. They are being asked to report to the Department of Immigration in Greer in February to take the US Citizenship test. With a rush of blood to their heads, these three family members begin to review the citizenship application test questions and soon they know more than 100 aspects of American history and values—and in February, they swear the oath of allegiance to become genuine Americans—just like you all here!

As we close off this speech, we want several things to be clear to you:

  • Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; (KJV)
  • Phil 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; (NASB 1995)
  • Ps 16:6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. (KJV)
  • 2 Peter 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. (NASB1996)

I was on a plane last week in the northeast and met with a US army serviceman. I expressed appreciation to him for his service and told him we had recently become citizens, but I found it easy to say this to him: “Scott, I’m first a Christian and then an American; everything else flows out from that.”

We left our earthly family in Africa and Britain. We have no blood relatives on this continent. But we have new friends who have become family to us, and many of you are blood-bought children of God—saved by His grace. You are His family, and you have become our family.

God bless you all; and God bless America!

 

Posted by Jim Holmes, 0 comments
19
Dec
2023
Majoring on Film

Majoring on Film

Majoring on Film

A Guest Post by Matthew Holmes

At the end of each semester, I try to post a short semester recap post on my Instagram page. However, as I was reflecting on my past semester I was led to sharing something I learned during the semester in place of my usual recap. This is adapted and slightly expanded from what I shared on Instagram.

As a film major, I have to participate in production classes (where the focus is on producing videos rather than lectures and tests) each semester. This semester, I took the biggest and most important video production class I’d ever enrolled in. It was called Documentary Production Seminar, and I had to produce two major video projects for it. The first was required to focus on the work of the Greenville Homeless Alliance (a collective of Greenville homeless shelters) and I was able to pick a subject from a series of stories I was presented with. Once I made my choice, I reached out to my subject to discuss producing the video. Because of this, I had to demonstrate my personal integrity to people I had never met with or knew about before. This was especially challenging when I interviewed my subject, a lady who I had only met the day before and who was incredibly nervous about being interviewed on camera.

After I finished that project, I had to produce a significantly longer video where I was required to find and approach a subject. I approached John Lehman, a pastor at Hampton Park Baptist Church in Greenville who my Dad has edited and published a number of books for. Mr. Lehman quickly and enthusiastically agreed to be my subject, meaning I was now in a scenario that was both the opposite and the same as my previous video. While Mr. Lehman has known me for many years and has a strong relationship with my Dad, there was just as much pressure on me to establish my personal integrity as a truthful and ethical documentarian while ensuring that I didn’t do anything that would hurt my Dad’s reputation with Mr. Lehman.

From these two projects, I learned one major lesson. The way I maintained a positive spirit and gained joy from working on intense, high-pressure projects was to keep in focus the importance of service to my interviewees and collaborators. Once I discovered that focusing on how I could tell their stories and give them a voice they otherwise wouldn’t have had gave me joy, I was freed up as an artist to focus on refining my craft and ensuring my films were not just good stories, but were emotionally meaningful and true. Rita (the lady I interviewed from the local homeless organization) wouldn’t have been able to alert people to the facilities that assist the homeless in getting their lives back on track if I didn’t have the equipment and the technological know-how to tell her story in a short video. John Lehman now has an additional tool that he will be able to use to promote his global ministry because of my initiative to make a short film detailing his life’s work.

I think that’s what great art is all about: it serves and glorifies God while giving a voice to the voiceless and inspiring an audience to achieve great things.

I’ll end by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Posted by Jim Holmes in Family and Friends, Guest Post, Reflections, Technology, Windows on My Work, 0 comments
07
Jul
2023
Thinking about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Thinking about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Thinking about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

I am preparing this blog in consultation with my son, Matthew, aged twenty years. He has prepared the text below, so the writing is entirely his. He and I saw the movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny recently and found it entertaining. It’s rated PG-13, mostly for some violent action scenes, but there isn’t anything that pushes the boundaries of that rating in those scenes.

It’s an action-adventure movie with a period setting from the late 1960s, the time I was growing up. It was fun to see how authentic the setting was—the style of cars, dress, décor, etc.

Matthew continues…

Intro

Dad and I recently saw the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Dad enjoyed it, and was interested in having me write a review for it that could be posted on the blog. I agreed to share my thoughts, and I’ll try to communicate my feelings without revealing anything that hasn’t already been shown in the trailers.

Plot Summary

The film begins with a much talked about sequence featuring a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford. This scene is set at the end of World War II and strongly evokes the feeling of adventure from the first three movies. Indiana Jones has infiltrated a nazi camp and is trying to retrieve a priceless and powerful artifact: the blade that the Roman centurion stabbed Christ with during his crucifixion. The weapon is going to be sent to Hitler, who believes that its power will enable him to turn the tide of the war and defeat the allied powers. Jones is captured by the nazis before he can retrieve the weapon. However, one nazi scientist doubts the blade is real and sees true power in another weapon at the camp: the Antikythera, otherwise known as Archimedes’ Dial. Jones chases after a nazi train carrying both artifacts, rescuing a British archaeologist/professor at the same time. Indy shares the nazi scientists’ suspicion of the blade and retrieves Archimedes’ Dial instead. However, it is not clear what happens to the dial at the end of the scene. After this the film moves forward in time to 1969, shortly after the moon landing.

Now, Indy is an aged archaeology professor who plans to retire. He doesn’t want to go back into field work, but his goddaughter, who’s the daughter of the British professor in the previous scene, reveals that the dial is still out there. She tries to coax Indy back into the field, but he refuses However, a series of inexplicable events and the return of the nazi scientist from the opening scene force him back into the field, despite not knowing who is friend or foe.

Acting Improves the Film

Harrison Ford delivers a great final performance, particularly during the action scenes. Incredibly for a man his age, he risked injury to do many of his own stunts. Most noteworthy is his digital de-aging in the opening scene, which is some of the most convincing work I’ve seen with that effect. However, his face is often lit darkly in that scene, to prevent any animation inconsistencies from being visible.

The other actors in the film turn in solid performances. Mads Mikkelsen plays the nazi villain, who acts as a fairly typical Indiana Jones antagonist, both in characterization and in performance. Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays Indy’s goddaughter, who acts as the female foil, although she isn’t a love interest, unlike previous female characters. I was worried her character would always be saving Indy from jams he’s too old to get out of himself, but this is mostly avoided in the film. I particularly enjoyed John Rhys-Davies return as Sallah, and I wished he had been given a more prominent role in the story. The weakest link is a “kid sidekick” character who appears in the second half of the movie. His actor gives a decent performance but the character isn’t given anything to do for much of his screen time.

 

De-aged Indy (Image from Rotten Tomatoes)

Comparisons to Other Films and Evaluation

This film shares many similarities with director James Mangold’s previous movie, Ford V. Ferrari. These films are both set in the 60s, focus on older men who aren’t content with their current times, and feature throwbacks to action films of previous eras. However, Ford V. Ferrari is significantly better as it isn’t saddled with high expectations from previous films and it tells an inspiring and little known story, rather than having to service fans and include callbacks to previous films.

However, I think Dial of Destiny is a decent finale to the franchise, and it certainly feels more like a classic Indy film than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Dial of Destiny does subvert expectations significantly by focusing on an artifact that’s powers are based in science rather than religion or the supernatural. Indy has a decent character arc that brings his character full circle from the first film, and there’s nothing in the film I would consider outright bad. However, I don’t think it ever is as electrifying as the first film, or as funny and shocking as the third. The best part for me was the music. John Williams, in what could be his final film score, delivers more classic adventure music that’s based on his original themes but includes a few new and memorable melodies.

Final Verdict

Overall, I would recommend watching Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in theaters, as the action of the film plays best on a large screen. The locations visited are visually engaging, the action is well staged, and the film moves at a consistently fast pace despite being two and a half hours long. Don’t go in expecting a film as good as the originals, but the film provides a satisfying conclusion to the story of America’s most iconic archaeologist!

Overall Grade: 7.4/10.

Listen to John Williams’ Soundtrack HERE.

View the Trailer HERE: or below

Featured Image Credit: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/indiana_jones_and_the_dial_of_destiny

Posted by Jim Holmes in Creativity and Aesthetics, Current Issues, Family and Friends, Guest Post, Reflections, Technology, Travel, 0 comments
23
Dec
2022
A Video for You to Enjoy

A Video for You to Enjoy

A Guest Post from Matthew Holmes

As a capstone project for my course of cinematography and lighting this past semester, I was required to create a short lighting project illustrating one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. As I was pressed for time with a thousand projects due in my other classes, I decided to create a short documentary film, as those are quicker to light and shoot. I asked Mum and Dad to come to BJU’s cinema building to record a quick segment tying the fruit of the Spirit to the process of book editing. I had no idea what they were going to say before they came in… this is the end result. Hope you enjoy!

Press play to view the video below.

 

 

Posted by Jim Holmes in Creativity and Aesthetics, Family and Friends, Guest Post, Reflections, Technology, 0 comments
15
Dec
2022
Hillbilly Wisdom from Nature Journal

Hillbilly Wisdom from Nature Journal

𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦

  • Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
  • Keep skunks, bankers, and politicians at a distance.
  • Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
  • A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
  • Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.
  • The best sermons are lived, not preached.
  • If you don’t take the time to do it right, you’ll find the time to do it twice.
  • Don’t corner something that is meaner than you.
  • Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
  • It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
  • You cannot unsay a cruel word.
  • Every path has a few puddles.
  • When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
  • Don’t be banging your shin on a stool that’s not in the way.
  • Borrowing trouble from the future doesn’t deplete the supply.
  • Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
  • Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
  • Silence is sometimes the best answer.
  • Don‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin’ you none.
  • Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
  • If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
  • Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
  • The biggest troublemaker you’ll ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
  • Always drink upstream from the herd.
  • Good judgment comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgment.
  • Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
  • If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
  • Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
  • Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
  • Most times, it just gets down to common sense.
Found on Facebook from Nature Journal / http://www.sonyaz.net/nature-and-animals/
Featured image from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/banjo-player-outback-hill-billy-2427086/
Posted by Jim Holmes, 0 comments
01
Dec
2022
Windows on My Work: Publishing for Women

Windows on My Work: Publishing for Women

Publishing Books of Interest to Women in Particular

The experts tell us that women, more than men, buy and read books. And so it is that publishers rightly keep women in mind as they prepare new titles for publication. In my responsibilities at Shepherd Press, two manuscript submissions came our way in recent years for publication, both written by gifted women, books written from the heart that addressed life issues with robust biblical fidelity and with a sense of warmth and sympathy on the part of the authors.

So I asked Sue if she would help in the editing of these books. Her response was immediate and positive.
She enjoyed working on both projects. Read a little more about them below:

Who Needs a Friend When You Can Make a Disciple?

If believers are not careful, church can be reduced to a mere social club. Barbara and Gina demonstrate how to find a cherished friendship through the process of discipleship. They have often observed, when women come to a new church, they seem to be on an endless search to “find a friend” so they can “feel” a part or “feel” connected. Often this leaves them discontent in their search. A more biblical and satisfying way is by developing discipleship relationships in the body of Christ.

Who Needs a Friend When You Can Make a Disciple? defines and highlights some practical “how-tos” to help women implement biblical ways to practice and sustain discipleship relationships.

Barbara and Gina’s aim in sharing their personal story is to show women the impact discipleship can have on their spiritual growth as they find a cherished friend.

Unmet Expectations: Reshaping Our Thinking in Disappointments, Trials, and Delays

Lisa Hughes likewise has experience in ministry that is valuable when shared with women. She has navigated challenging pastoral situations when it comes to understanding the disappointments people can face in life, so when her manuscript submission came along, I was particularly interested to see how she addressed it—and she addressed it with comprehensively biblical thinking and examples, and in a style that I sensed would engage with many readers.

Developing a cover for this was more challenging than for Barbara and Gina’s one, but, after thinking of prairie flowers and feminine icons, we landed on the idea of a woman walking to—who knows where? When Lisa shared this image with me (we got it from one of my favorite sources, DepositPhotos.com), I knew we had a winner as far as an apt visual metaphor was concerned.

Here’s text from the back of the book as we developed it:

Plain and simple, life doesn’t always turn out the way we imagined. Yet, we can respond in God-glorifying ways even when circumstances fall short of our desired hopes and expectations. With practical, biblical counsel from the Scriptures, we have the tools we need to put away sinful responses and be women who smile at the future (Proverbs 31:25). In reshaping how we think about disappointments, trials, and delays, we can grow in contentment, trust, and hope in the unexpected parts of life.

In each chapter we’ll look to the Scriptures for the life-transforming help only God can give. This book is designed to be an aid to growth, which is why inductive Bible study questions accompany each chapter, providing even more treasures from God’s Word for hope and encouragement.

Let Lisa tell you more about her book in the following words:

“You want me to speak on what?”

I admit I was a bit lost at first when asked to teach on the subject of unmet expectations. But it wasn’t long before the suggestion took on shades of pure genius. I have wrestled with a few unmet expectations myself and I figured other women must have had similar struggles. It seemed like the perfect topic to tackle!

I couldn’t wait to dig into the Scriptures and see what God had to say about unmet expectations. As I thought, studied, and prayed, I made some encouraging and soul-searching discoveries. Before long, I felt as though I was an archeologist, unearthing expectations everywhere I dug. Some expectations were easy to find and identify, lying readily upon the surface of my heart, while others were buried deeper. My amateur digging soon exhumed different expectations I had about life, the Lord, my family, myself, the best route to the grocery store, and so on. Expectations were coming to light by the spadeful.

There’s nothing wrong with expectations in and of themselves. And it’s easy to see, when digging around in the soil of our hearts, that we have all kinds of thoughts and plans for our lives. All well and good. Expectations aren’t the problem. But when we come face to face with thwarted plans, dismantled hopes, and unanswered prayers, what then? Will we respond with gentle faith and trusting submission to God’s unfolding plans for our lives? Or will bitterness, anger, self-pity, fear, or depression emerge from the miry clay of unbelief?

We have so many thoughts about how things could be different, fine-tuned, tugged into place, fixed, or changed, that when things turn out differently than we anticipated, we may find our hearts waging quite a battle. It’s possible that the cantankerous beginnings of the contentious woman mentioned in Proverbs were the result of her unmet expectations. In fact, it’s more than possible that she grew into her peevish little self, when her life turned out differently than she thought it should. Before she even realized it, her husband preferred to live on their rooftop—in the desert—rather than stay in the same room with her continual nagging. If only she had sought counsel in God’s Word. If she had, she would have been known as the “contented woman” rather than the contentious one.

I doubt that you want to be known as a contentious woman. I sure don’t. And I’m not saying that experiencing unmet expectations automatically make us grumpy and difficult to live with, but the possibility is there. Thankfully, the key to responding well lies in the Word of God. And that’s where we’re headed, straight for the help that only God can provide for those times when we find it difficult to accept our circumstances as God-ordained and good.

When I was around eight or nine years old, I would walk to and from school. It probably wasn’t very far, maybe a few blocks, but it felt like a long way, especially on cold, wintry days in Idaho, when the wind would sting my cheeks and rush right through my jacket. Yet my little journey became bearable when I would imagine I was a pioneer girl, trudging across the prairie, seeking help for Ma and Pa, who lay sick at home in our sod house. Then the walk home from school became an adventure, instead of something to dread.

So, here’s my proposal. Will you go on a pioneer-girl journey with me? As we study God’s Word together, we’ll discover that, though life may turn out differently than we expected, God always intends our good. We’ll look at unmet expectations from a biblical perspective, consider ways we’ve engaged in wrong thinking, repent of sinful responses, and look to the Scriptures to provide the sure footing we need to continue our trek. As we do so, we’ll gain a deeper and better understanding of the Lord and His perfect ways. Just like the pioneers, who were forever changed by their expedition west, we too will be changed through the study of God’s Word.

You may well be thinking, “Wait, wait. Hold it. I don’t want to do the pioneer-girl thing! I don’t have a problem with expectations. They’re not something I struggle with.” Don’t worry. You don’t have to put on a bonnet just yet, but I’d love to have you join me in the adventure, just the same. As we get underway, you may discover— as I did— areas of sinful struggle stemming from unmet expectations. It’s my hope and prayer that, as we press on together, we’ll gain encouragement and strength from the Lord Himself to respond with obedient faith and growing love for His faithful work in our lives.

Let’s embark on a journey together, a journey of growth, discovery, and change. I can’t guarantee it will be easy; real heart-growth rarely is. It is my hope that you’re not the kind to give up easily and my prayer that your love for the Lord will drive you to discover how you can give Him the most honor and glory possible, no matter what your circumstances. Are you ready?

Excerpted from Unmet Expectations: Reshaping Our Thinking in Disappointments, Trials, and Delays by Lisa Hughes, now available to order from Shepherd Press.



Posted by Jim Holmes in Friendship, Gospel, Guest Post, Publishing Books Today, Windows on My Work, Writing, 0 comments
		





	
			

				
				

					03
				

				

					Aug
				

				

					2021
				

				
			

					

				
					Jean Alison Holmes: Notes from Her Younger Daughter				
			

		
			
Jean Alison Holmes: Notes from Her Younger Daughter
Jean Alison Holmes: Notes from Her Younger Daughter


A Guest Post by Janet E. Green


Jean was born on 29th January 1927 in Nakuru, Kenya. Her parents, Gertie and William Robb were among a number of intrepid pioneers who were encouraged by the British Government to go out to Africa to develop one of their colonies – Kenya, British East Africa.


There was no aid given by the British Government, so those who decided to seek a life of adventure and hopefully a better life than what was on offer in Britain at the time, had to rely on their own resources. Some of the people were wealthy – there were a number of rich British aristocrats who moved the Kenya at that time, who subsequently behaved very badly! (White Mischief). But the majority of people didn’t have a lot of money and had many challenges with which to deal when they settled and made a life for themselves in that beautiful country.


Jean was an only child and she was born when William was working in the Muhoroni area. There was very little infrastructure there and Gertie had to go and stay with friend in Nakuru when her due date got close, because there was a decent enough hospital there. After the birth Gertie and Jean went back to Muhoroni.


It wasn’t a very healthy area in which to live and Gertie often succumbed to Malaria, whereas William seemed to be immune. Kenya was full of wild animals in all areas in those days, but Muhoroni was known for snakes, and very poisonous ones at that! One of William’s colleagues was caught by a python when walking out in the bush. Pythons aren’t poisonous of course, they catch their prey and constrict the life out of them and then swallow them! The man who was caught managed to grab the tail of the python and hung onto it for dear life, so it couldn’t squeeze the life out of him, and he yelled for help. A couple of hours later someone heard him and came to his rescue. He survived, but according to the story, there wasn’t an inch on his body that wasn’t bruised and he was hoarse from shouting!


Jean was about two years old when she got malaria and she very nearly died because it was a bad bout and there wasn’t a lot of medical help in Muhoroni. It was not very long after that when they decided to move to a more healthy environment and ended up in Ol Joro Orok for a couple of years. It was when Jean was about six years old that they moved to Ol Viron. William was tasked by his employer to develop a farm out of the virgin land and they lived in a shack while a little wooden house was constructed for them to live in. (William had to build that as well!)


Jean was about six years old by then, and remembered the place clearly. They lived in a thatched wooden house with an outside loo of course. It was all very basic, they grew their own vegetables, and William had to shoot for the pot to keep them going. And then there were the normal challenges of that period – people had to be very careful that their dogs were not taken by a leopard while out walking, or, more commonly, taken off the veranda at night. During the hours of darkness their dustbins were often raided by hyena, and they could be quite aggressive (especially if you met them when going out to the loo!). Jean also remembered that when the cows were brought in from where they were grazing, sometimes a buffalo would get caught up in the herd and arrive on the farm, where it would cause a bit of chaos before running back to its own kind!


But it was a wonderful place in which to have her childhood. She could run free and wild in all the space they had, and the Subukia Valley, part of the Great Rift Valley, was the backdrop to their farm. And there were beautiful birds and Colobus and Sykes monkeys in the trees; while you almost always saw game while out walking – antelope of many varieties, zebra and giraffes.


Later William and Gertie bought Ol Orien Farm, which was very close to Ol Viron, and they developed it from scratch. After Jean married Reg in 1948, they took over the running of Ol Orien. They all lived on the farm, in two houses that William and Reg built. (It was on Ol Orien where I was brought up together with my siblings, Margaret and Jim).


They settled for a short while in Rhodesia, and then Reg was offered a job with FAO in Iraq, so they set off for the Middle East, and to a life as different as you can imagine from farm life in Kenya!


When they returned from Iraq they settled in Botswana for a while where Reg had secured a job in the dusty town of Selebi Pikwe, looking after machinery that was used for the mine. After that they moved to Swaziland and ultimately on to South Africa where they lived for many years.


They eventually bought a plot of land at Monteseel in Kwa Zulu Natal, overlooking the Valley of a Thousand Hills. (Not as majestic as the Great Rift Valley, but very beautiful, nonetheless).  They camped on the plot while they built a house for themselves and Jean created a beautiful garden. They lived there for many years and only moved to England after their three children had left for Britain.


They bought a house in Darlington not too far from their son, and settled down to life in England, very different to anything they had previously experienced! After Reg died Jean continued to live in Darlington for a while and then she came to live with me in Minster Lovell.


We moved together to Truro in Cornwall and lived there for ten years, before finally moving to Bidford on Avon.


In every place she lived, Jean made a home, a garden and then energised the place with her indomitable spirit and vigour. Like so many of the other Kenyans of her generation, she was tough and feisty and worked pragmatically through all adversity.  She had a wonderful sense of humour and loved her cats, dogs and every animal that came to her. She was a voracious reader and read anything she could get her hand on. When she was younger and her eyesight was still good, she used to knit a lot. Jumpers and jerseys for everyone! She used to read and knit at the same time while listening to the radio, because for many years she had no access to a television! And there was always a cat on her lap and a dog by her feet!


Featured Image: Flamingoes, possibly pictured at Lake Nakuru


Posted by Jim Holmes in Family and Friends, Guest Post, Reflections, Travel, Writing, 0 comments
		





	
			

				
				

					28
				

				

					Jul
				

				

					2021
				

				
			

					

				
					Rev. Steve Martin Reviews “The Man in the Gap”				
			

		
			
Rev. Steve Martin Reviews “The Man in the Gap”
Rev. Steve Martin Reviews “The Man in the Gap”


My good friend, Steve Martin, kindly allowed me to use the following book review as a guest post.




SHORT REVIEW OF REX JEFFERIES, THE MAN IN THE GAP


 (The Life and Ministry of Martin Petersen Holdt)


 Shepherd Press; 2020; 176 pp; pb


I first met the subject of this mini-biography of Pastor Martin Holdt in 1994 in Atlanta. I was privileged to have him as a friend and confidant for the next sixteen years until his untimely passing. I shall always thank the Lord that I could know such a man of God as Martin Holdt.


Thanks go to Rex Jefferies and Shepherd Press for writing and publishing this inspirational biography of Pastor Holdt.  Its many strengths include the following:


    

  1. Rex Jefferies was a friend and co-worker of Martin Holdt and knew the subject well.
    2. 

  2. Rex Jefferies lives and ministers in South Africa and knows the national context well.
    3. 

  3. Rex Jefferies had access to surviving family members, correspondence and Martin’s many friends and co-laborers for more information. We get a well-rounded picture of the man.
    4. 

  4. Rex Jefferies is a spiritually minded man and has extracted the best qualities of Martin’s life and ministry to highlight. It is an inspirational read and I stopped and prayed several times in thanksgiving to God for such an example and that I might have more of what moved Martin.
    5. 



My only complaint is selfish–that there was not more to savor. Martin Holdt knew God personally and intimately and that alone makes a man larger than he would be otherwise. Much more could be written about Martin, his interior life, his theology, the spiritual and cultural context of late 20th and early 21st century South Africa, his weaknesses, etc. But that would have been a much larger biography.


I thank God for this uplifting biography of a much used man of God that serves to whet the appetite for a larger biography to come perhaps. May God uses this book to motivate many to pray that God would pour forth His Spirit on many more men and women to “stand in the gap” in their lifetimes, in their unique situations.


Steve Martin | Retired pastor for 31 years in Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Retired Dean of Students at IRBS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY in Texas / The review originally appeared HERE.


 


Posted by Jim Holmes in Family and Friends, Guest Post, Spirituality, Windows on My Work, Writing, 0 comments
		





	
			

				
				

					10
				

				

					Jul
				

				

					2021
				

				
			

					

				
					A Mother Remembered				
			

		
			
A Mother Remembered
This slideshow requires JavaScript.


A Mother Remembered


A Guest Post from My Sister, Margaret Jones


Birth and Early Years


Born Jean Alison Forbes Robb on 29th January 1927 to Gertie and Willlie Robb in Nakuru Hospital, Kenya, she was their only child and arrived rather later in their lives than was common in those days.  She was loved and cherished as a precious gift…though I have no doubt her father would have kept a firm hand of discipline on his headstrong daughter–for headstrong she was.  She was brave and adventurous, riding her horse like a man, completely fearlessly, but with always sensitive hands as she loved animals–probably more than she loved people.  Horseback was probably the most used form of transport she used as a young girl and woman.


The Kenya she grew up in was wild by anyone’s standards.  The roads, such as they were, were largely unpaved murram roads.  The railway from Mombasa through to Uganda was an arterial line and took days through heat shimmering savanna, and through the green softer highlands through the Great Rift Valley, and wheezing and blowing up the Timboroa Escarpment through Eldoret and on to Uganda. I won’t go on because this is about Mum, that’s just background.


Education and Young Adulthood


She was schooled mostly at Nakuru, boarding school as the family lived at Ol Joro Orok.  She was, like the majority of Kenyan children at the time, at boarding school from a very young age.   After leaving school, she worked for a while as a stenographer in Nairobi. I seem to remember she worked for the farming suppliers, Dalgety, Nairobi branch.   In due course she met, fell in love, and married my dad, Reginald Frank Holmes.  Theirs was a long, and as far as I know, a happy marriage.  Mum was feisty and Dad was calm and steady–a good combination.




Farming


Together, they built their rather unusual and adventurous lives. (We didn’t see our lives as adventurous until much later as quite mature adults, then we realised not everyone had enjoyed the freedoms and lifestyle we had.)  The first big venture was Ol Orien Farm, farming in conjunction with my grandparents, her parents.  Dad, meantime, worked mainly with the Soil Conservation Service in Thompson’s Falls.  He did a lot on the farm after work and on weekends, but Mum was the farmer.  It was a mixed farm.  The cash crop was pyrethrum grown for its insecticidal properties.  There was also dairy and maize, and a varying size of poultry flocks…and countless dogs and cats, the odd sheep or two and, of course, the horses.


Other Adventures


After the farm, which was sold just around the same time as Uhuru, independence from Britain, Mum and Dad began their life of living all round the world.  Previous to this, they had travelled a couple of times to Cape Town and back in the short-wheelbase Land Rover  KFT964.  (It was a Series 1, for readers who are interested in such details–and it certainly wasn’t a comfortable vehicle!)


So they lived on the Kenyan coast for a bit, then back in Nakuru.  Then they left Kenya and traveled south, stopping briefly in what was then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.  Dad worked for a garage in Bulawayo for a brief period, but he was head hunted by Food and Agricultural Organisation and went to Iraq, which Mum loathed.  I think she found it interesting, but she hated the restrictions on women.  They were only there for a year and then went on to the copper and nickel mine in Selebi Pikwe, Botswana. They were there for a few years and thence to Swaziland, then South Africa, various parts of it,  and eventually stopped at Monteseel almost midway between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.  Dad built them a lovely house there.  Mum made the garden out of virgin bush.  Neither job was unusual for them as they had done this before, starting with their first house together on Ol Orien.


Over the years Mum rode horses less and learned to drive…well enough, but she was a bit erratic at times. But, hey, we are talking a pint-size person who thought nothing of hopping in the current Land Rover, loading it with a handful of dogs, and sometimes cats, too, and traipsing off to who knows where over who knows what kind of condition of road in order to fulfill the current mission, be it visit one of us, or move house, or even just to go on holiday.  So when I say her driving could be erratic, I have to say that the erratic nature was only evident when she hit built up areas and traffic; she was fine driving in the bush and on the open road.


Insights and Thoughts


There was always lots of laughter in our home when we were growing up.  Both my parents could see the funny side in most situations.  I think we learned not to take ourselves too seriously and to avoid being self righteous or stuck up.  The moment we showed any sign of that as kids, we were cut to size and made to laugh at ourselves again.


She brought us up with a fair amount of no-nonsense discipline.  I clearly remember telling some of my little classmates aged about eight, that my Mummy was fiercer than the dreaded Mrs. Holland at our primary school.  I wasn’t wrong either.  You crossed Mum at your own peril.


She was an avid reader and knitter.  She made beautiful clothes for all of us, and no project was too difficult to at least give it a go.  She had the greenest fingers of anyone I have ever known.  She could grow anything and eventually, when she did learn to cook, she was a great cook, too.  She always baked, but in Kenya left the cooking mostly up to the Pishi, Thomas (Cook), or my Granny–Mum was running a farm, remember.


Dementia


So this is what we, her children and to some degree her grandchildren, have inherited from her.  Each of us has put our own interpretation on it, but I think it is thanks to her, and to Dad, that we all have a Can-Do-Will-Do approach to life and we are not afraid to stand up to anyone, no matter how fiercely they present themselves.   She will be missed, but as she recently suffered with quite severe dementia, to be honest, we have missed the real her for some years now.


The last time I saw her, she had just come out of hospital, a frail little shadow of herself.  Nevertheless, when I went to see her she greeted me as if she knew who I was, but what touched me most was that I was with Dave, my son-in-law, and there was no way she knew who he was any more.  Nevertheless all her childhood training and manners rose above the dementia and her own very reduced personal situation and she said to him, “How do you do?  How very nice to meet you again, tell me...how are you?”


That was Mum: the discipline and training to do the right thing in any circumstances right at the fore.  And the rest of us had better not let her down…or else!


Funeral Matters


With regard to her funeral, Mum requested no flowers, please, but if you would like to make a donation to an animal charity of your choice, that would be lovely.  Thank you.


Janet and I would love to see you at the service but realise the difficulty this might present.  My brother, Jim, is recording a tribute to Mum which will be played at the service.  A fellow South African, Raymond Zulu, will be delivering the service, Mum knew him and he is a very warm person.  Shaun will be reading a Scripture text (Mum was a devout Christian).  Geraldine and Alec will be giving tributes.  Afterwards you are invited back for refreshments at Jan’s little house, so please bring an umbrella if the forecast is for rain.




With thanks to my sister, Margaret Jones, for her permission to use her writing with just a few editorial tweaks to help with flow and transition (her original piece, HERE, was written with family members in mind) and with the graphics arranged in a gallery rather than at intervals in the text.


Posted by Jim Holmes, 0 comments