Reflections

Reflecting on life, living and other things

Oct

2022

Memorial Ash Sprinkling of Jean Alison Holmes

A Curse and A Blessing: The Memorial Service of Jean Alison Holmes

Penrith, England, Saturday August 12, 2022

Notes I prepared and delivered in honor of my mother’s wishes for me to speak at her funeral. Due to COVID travel restrictions, I was not able to speak in person at her funeral service, although I did prepare a video recording that was played on the day. The following notes are some thoughts I handwrote in preparation for the small, family memorial service conducted a few miles from Penrith in the beautiful Lake District of England.

CURSE

Genesis 3:17-22, notably 19b-20 “For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” . . . “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.”

A word that Mum often used was a Swahili one–FUMBI–dust. Whether a cobweb or some ethereal particles on the carpet that needed disposing of. we would joke about the dust (pronounced in a Yorkshire accent) or the fluff (similarly said in Yorkshire tones).

God’s Word is very sobering in how it describes the universal human condition. Gen 2:7 “The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground”–then, after disobedience to the clear and distinctly revealed will of God, the pronouncement of the curse (Gen 2:17) “…You shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die…”

Our first parents knowingly disobeyed the revealed will of their Creator and therefore brought disorder and death into our world.

Here, very starkly, in these human remains, is the evidence, the proof, of the outworking of sin, disobedience to God.

“For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” That is our universal and inevitable condition. We may ignore it, suppress it from our minds, party and hedonize it, to “not be so morbid about it”, but, like taxes, it won’t go away and we will eventually encounter it. Emily Dickinson’s words are so apt:

“Because I could not stop for death
He kindly stopped for me.”

That’s the curse.

BLESSING

But there is also blessing. What is it? Consider the next verse–verse 20: “So the man called his wife’s name Eve.” ZOE = Living, Life, Life-Giver. Staring inevitable death in the face, Adam is given faith to see that his wife will yet deliver life–first of all in their progeny: they will have sex and they will have babies–and ultimately in the the Seed of the woman, Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus, God in human flesh, was a perfect man–unique and sinless. Paul the apostle compares and contrasts this in 1 Corinthians 15:45. “The last Adam–Jesus–became a life-giving spirit.”

CURSE: By nature, each of us will inherit the curse of Adam–physical death.
BLESSING: By grace, each of us may inherit eternal life through the person and work of Jesus, the Seed of the woman, through the substitutionary work He did in living a perfect life on our behalf and then in His death, receiving an eternity’s worth of punishment so that our sins may be imputed to Him, and His righteousness to us.

As we sprinkle the remains of our mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, we remember her–lovingly–as the one responsible for bringing us into this world. And with thanksgiving to God for the good news of His grace that, through Jesus, He rescues sinners who repent and trust in Him alone–to Heaven.

I often told her, referring to the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, that my only hope in life and in death is that Jesus has lived and died for sinners such as I am , and I have no other hope than in Him.

This is a sober and sobering event–and I administer these words in a way as best I can to honor her wish that I should speak at her funeral.

We do not lower her body in a casket into the ground. Instead, we scatter these, her earthly remains, to be distributed by the winds of heaven from this location where the ashes of my father, Reginald Frank Holmes, were similarly scattered some nineteen years ago under the same sun–and we await the sure and certain promise that God, for whom nothing is impossible, shall gather and reconstitute and rejuvenate these very same particles this very dust… into resurrected bodies.

Are we sobered by this? Surely so!

But we may be joyful, too, as we consider how God wove the account of redemption into Mum’s life, so that she was born of God-fearing parents and how she was able to learn not only from her upbringing but through God’s Word faithfully preached that there is a way back for sinners to be reconciled to God through Jesus–and so we can conclude with the words of Fanny Crosby that she and Dad loved:

To God be the glory, great things He has done
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son
Who yielded His life and atonement for sin
And opened the life gate that all may go in

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son
And give Him the glory, great things He has done!

Sep

2022

More about Working with Wood

Some time back, I shared some thoughts about working with wood (HERE and HERE). Time spent away from my desk is spent profitably and enjoyably harnessing some God-given resources and converting them into useful items. Three projects come to mind:

Doubling up on Desk Space

Part of being productive involves having an environment in which it is possible to spread out somewhat. A single desk seems too cramping, so I dreamed up a design that would accommodate some ugly plastic shelving that needed concealing and that would also give me some significant extra space for working. Home Depot sells lumber at a reasonable cost, so off I went to find out what I could use. Initially I thought plywood (carefully edged) would be sufficient, but I discovered pine strips bonded together into an attractive board, so I settled on that. After a few weeks of measuring, cutting, joining, sanding, and varnishing, I was pleased with the outcome.

The Problem with Books

The problem with books is that they need decent accommodation. Sue and I have been blessed with gifts of several beautiful volumes and we have purchased others in light of ongoing study and being kept appraised. Two of our friends, an elderly couple, are amused that I had to inform them that their generosity caused me to build another pine bookshelf named in their honor!

Sagging Encyclopedia Shelves

The third item proved a more challenging one for me to construct. After we were married, Sue and I purchased (in part as an anniversary gift and as a kind of memorial of my paternal grandmother) a set of Encyclopedia Britannica. It came with a pretty standard set of shelves, and these did not take long to start to sag.

I have long loved the appearance of cedar (and related woods in its family). Strictly speaking, cedar is a Middle-Eastern tree, but there are variants, some of which grow in South America. Home Depot had some from Colombia. After researching some cutting and finishing techniques online, I took the plunge and purchased a couple of small pieces to see what they handled like. I was surprised by the softness of the wood and its responsiveness to being glued and screwed. A week later, I went back and purchased several pieces with a view to constructing a bookcase for the set encyclopedias that proved a visual annoyance to me each time I noticed how their shelves sagged.

Although some of the pieces of cedar appeared a little twisted, when I glued and screwed them into a frame, they straightened and stayed that way. That was pleasing. And all the time, there was the fragrance of cedar on our back deck where I was working. It was challenging to make relatively invisible joins that would still keep the piece strong (Encyclopedia Britannica sets are about as heavyweight as they come), but the resultant bookcase is pretty pleasing to look at, even if I did not apply as much linseed oil as I might have done to get the tones and grains a little darker.

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Jun

2022

Musing on Memes

What’s in a Meme?

Good question. A meme is meant to convey a thought or an emotion using a graphic symbol or metaphor and a few terse words. I worked up a few of them over the last several months (it was fun finding the images and sourcing the quotes) and posted most of them on my Facebook account.

Here’s a great quote from Teddy Roosevelt (too long for a meme):

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Enjoy viewing them; get thinking; and maybe get motivated!

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May

2022

Getting to Know Ronald Reagan Better

Standing next to the Berlin Wall Obelisk

In my university days in South Africa, the name of Ronald Reagan, recently elected as President of the USA, always brought about the image of a genial, sincere, kind man. A good friend once said that he would perhaps be the last of the great American presidents.

On a visit to California earlier in the year, my good friend Anthony Russo and I had the opportunity to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, located in Simi Valley, some miles north of Los Angeles. It was a short and easy drive from where we were staying in Van Nuys in readiness for attending and exhibiting (and selling books for Shepherd Press) at the Shepherds’ Conference.

My thinking was that an hour or two would be sufficient for the visit. I could not have been more mistaken. Arriving shortly after 10am, by 4pm we were still enraptured by all there was to see and think about.

As the museum’s website well states, “Perched on a mountaintop with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains, valleys and the Pacific Ocean, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is one of California’s most beautiful and unique destinations.” It continues, “The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is an immersive museum-going experience. More than twenty galleries highlight the life and times of America’s 40th president. The Reagan Library also presents entertaining and informative temporary exhibitions on a wide range of subjects.”

From actual Reagan memorabilia through hologram 3D cinematic experiences, the offerings to visitors proved to be engaging and fascinating. Of particular interest were the exhibits showing how President Reagan was transported–whether in Airforce One (a retired Boeing 707–and there’s a story in itself all about that, given how the aircraft had to be dismantled, transported by road, and reassembled on site), Navy One, or other vehicles such as the presidential limousine.

Other exhibits include

Foundations of a Leader
Evolution of the Great Communicator
Governor of California
Victory and Inauguration
Assassination Attempt
The Oval Office
The White House
The First Lady
Rebuilding America
Berlin Wall
Peace through Strength
Honoring American Heroes
Camp David and Rancho del Cielo
The Post-Presidency
Mourning Ronald Reagan

Reagan embraced a fundamentally Western and biblically integrated worldview. He may have had unfavorable influences in some of his thinking, but his optimism, his commitment to a thoroughgoing work ethic, his power of persuasion over friends and foes alike (think of his most memorable line: “Mr. Gorbachev: Tear down this wall!”) and his concern for the greatness of the American way of life underline his presidency with a sense of remarkable success.

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Sep

2021

Introducing Coffeetime in All Seasons

Coffeetime in All Four Seasons

An ongoing project in recent years has involved working with Roger Ellsworth on the preparation and presentation of daily Bible meditations or reflections. The project originated as we discussed an idea he had–and which speedily morphed from a single, standalone volume to several more, and, quickly after that, into a reading for each day of the year.

We’re pleased to say that we now have a new format for these delightful readings–four seasonal books that gather all of the months of the year into the four seasonal categories: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

The creative energy that has gone into developing this series of books has been considerable. We are passionate that you will enjoy using and sharing these excellent resources.

Enjoy viewing the introductory video here!

There’s another video you could also view HERE that introduces the Autumn readings.

For more information, visit www.mycoffeecupmeditations.com or click HERE.

Aug

2021

Jean Alison Holmes: Notes from Her Younger Daughter

A Guest Post by Janet E. Green

Jean was born on 29^th 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

Jul

2021

Reflections and Recollections of My Mother

My mother, Jean Alison Forbes Holmes, died in the early hours of June 21 after a lengthy decline in her health. She was ninety-four years old. I was unable to attend her funeral in person, due to Covid protocols in the UK, but I was able to share an MP4 video tribute. The text on which I based my presentation is below, and the video may also be viewed here.

Mum, Reflections and Recollections

My mother’s life spanned the greater part of a century—perhaps the most remarkable century in human history as far as innovation and technology was concerned. In 1927, the year of her birth, commercial air travel was almost unknown (that was the year Charles Lindbergh flew solo over the Atlantic ocean), the Model T Ford motor car had only just given way to the Model A, and Joseph Stalin was beginning to take control in Russia. What are my early recollections of Mum?

She was a constant presence
She was a steady reference point
She was an avid communicator
She was an energetic producer
She was a compassionate giver
She was family focused

She was a constant presence

I was born on a farm, and the farm was Mum’s domain. She ran the show. Yes, with Dad’s help over the weekends, but the farm was her operation. So she was always chasing things up (she could be kali!), making things happen, keeping the laborers on their toes to ensure that everything was working as it should. One of my early memories goes like this: there was a shamba, a field, where she had to drive through a gate in our ex-military Jeep. She got out to attend to the gate; I got into the driver’s seat and pressed the accelerator pedal with all my might. She was not pleased by my early instinct to become a motorist. I was just three years old at the time!

She was a steady reference point

That ties in with the first point. Her influence helped me form many of the common-grace values I was to hold to as a child: integrity, honesty, truthfulness, politeness, discipline, and other such qualities. God and the Bible—albeit in a low-key way—were very much a part of her culture and thinking. I lived away from my parents quite a bit as I was growing up. I had two years in a boarding school in the Rift Valley in Kenya, and another four or so years in my teens in Rhodesia living with other friends or family members while I attended day school—a happy alternative to boarding school. But Mum (along with Dad) was a constant reference point. The weekly letters, always updating me on local news, how the dogs and cats were keeping, and what life was like for Dad at work, were always received gladly. And this leads naturally to the next point:

She was an avid communicator

She was always communicating. In the early 1960s, Dad bought her a Baby Hermes typewriter, and she would clatter away on it for hours on end writing and then mailing letters to the four points of the compass. When she upgraded her typewriter, I took over that Hermes and taught myself to type. Later, when computers become commonplace, I helped her set up an email address and she was busy emailing back and forth all through the week just as she had done with her typewriter, notwithstanding failing eyesight.

She was an energetic producer

I have an idea that Mum was very reliant on house servants to do a lot of the mundane work, including cooking and cleaning, but when those colonial days came to an end, she got out some cookbooks and started to catch up all the things she had never learnt. Not only were there the mouth-watering smells that came from the kitchen that made me and the dogs and the cats salivate, but there were other projects going on—knitting during the day while she read a book, sewing and making new clothes, and packaging up gifts and necessities to family members living in other parts of the world. She didn’t make a big deal about these things, but just got on very competently and energetically and did them. It was the same with her garden (she must have had green thumbs)—not just the beautiful flower beds and shrubs that she had, but also the vegetables and fruit she grew—a tribute to her capabilities and diligence in managing the agricultural side of things.

She was a compassionate giver

Mum’s giving came through in many ways. Where she knew of a need that she could meet, she just got on and met it. Her modesty and generosity extended widely in ways like this: she saw some wool she thought would be good for knitting a sweater, so she knitted a sweater and mailed it to me. Or she would press on me (or Sue) some cookies she had made—“Take them; you’ll be hungry later on.” I could provide a lengthy list.

She was family focused

Maybe this draws it all together—she was the constant presence, the steady reference point, the avid communicator, the energetic producer, and the compassionate giver. And in it all, she was family focused. I know she wanted me to speak at her funeral, and if it weren’t for the COVID protocols in place, I would be addressing you in real life, not from a monitor like this. But that’s just the way it has worked out. I plan to visit the UK, God willing, for when we scatter her ashes. I mentioned in one of my points that God and the Bible were very much in her thinking. In recent years, I would often say to her, “Mum, the only hope that we as sinners have before a holy God is that there is a Savior, Jesus Christ, who has lived, died, and risen again on behalf of people like us and who welcomes us as we come to Him in repentance and faith.” She would always nod in agreement. So let me leave with you the words of the first question and answer from the Heidelberg Catechism:

What is your only comfort in life and death?

That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Jul

2021

A Mother Remembered

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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.

Jan

2021

Day by Day, and with Each Passing Moment

There’s a Hymn on My Radar. . .

The turn of the year provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on how we use the time–the minutes, hours, and days that God gives us–and it brought to mind the words of the hymn by Carolina Sandell (key details are below).

Day by day, and with each passing moment
Translator: A. L. Skoog;
Author: Carolina Sandell (1865) (also known as Lina, and sometimes spoken of as the Fanny Crosby of Sweden)
Tune: BLOTT EN DAG | Oscar Ahnfeldt

Enjoy listening to the melody here:

The words are:

1 Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what he deems best–
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

2 Ev’ry day the Lord himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares he gladly bears and cheers me,
He whose name is Counselor and Pow’r.
The protection of his child and treasure
Is a charge that on himself he laid:
“As your days, your strength shall be in measure”–
This the pledge to me he made.

3 Help me then in ev’ry tribulation
So to trust your promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation
Offered me within your holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when, toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

For my musically minded readers, you could view the score HERE (thanks to Hymnary.org). And I see that hymnary.org also offers a dynamic / interactive way of viewing the hymn music as it is played HERE. However, be prepared that this seems a much speeded up version!

Further Insights

Hymnary.org (HERE) offers further interesting insights:

Translator: A. L. Skoog

Skoog, Andrew L. (Gunnarskog, Sweden, December 17, 1856 [sic]–October 30, 1934, Minneapolis, Minnesota). Evangelical Covenant. Son of pietists. Tailor’s apprentice at 10. Family emigrated to St. Paul, Minn., when Andrew was 13. Only formal music training was 12 lessons on a melodeon. Organist, choir director, and Sunday School superintendent in Swedish Tabernacle, Minneapolis, 1886-1916. Co-editor of hymnals: Evangelii Basun I & II, 1881-1883; Lilla Basunen, 1890; and Jubelklangen, 1896. Was in editorial committee of Covenant’s first three hymnals: Sions Basun, 1908; De Ungas Sångbok, 1914; and Mission Hymns, 1921. Editor and publisher of Gittit 1892-1908, a monthly choir journal with music; a series of ten bound volumes of choir selectio… Go to person page >

Author: Carolina Sandell

Caroline W. Sandell Berg (b. Froderyd, Sweden, 1832; d. Stockholm, Sweden, 1903), is better known as Lina Sandell, the “Fanny Crosby of Sweden.” “Lina” Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor to whom she was very close; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. Many of her 650 hymns were used in the revival services of Carl O. Rosenius, and a number of them gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt’s music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg’s hymn texts.

Oct

2020

Election 2020: Two Visions for America (Decision Magazine)

Franklin Graham is indefatigable in his labors to further the Christian faith and the Judeo-Christian worldview that has been the foundation and cement of so much of the American nation.

When it comes to casting your vote, what are the issues involved?

It is axiomatic that a person should vote not so much for the personality of the candidate as for policy that the candidate will apply once in office. The runup to the 2020 elections has been characterized by media hysteria, and often, in such situations, the real issues remain unaddressed as the cameras and the news anchors concentrate on the personalities of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates rather than on their worldviews and values, thus leading to the policies they espouse.

I am not an American citizen, so I do not have the right to vote in the 2020 election. However, I do see the issues, and I appreciate the clarity with which Franklin Graham presents them. Consider the following notes from the October 2020 Decision Magazine online. The full text may be found HERE.

By way of quick snapshot, notice that the policy differences are, in most cases, diametrically opposite. Phrased this way, I might ask you questions such as:

Do you believe in the sanctity of life or in the slaughter of preborn infants?
Do you believe in the right and responsibility, under God, of following your own conscience?
Do you consider that a judiciary should act in keeping with the values of the nation’s founding fathers?
Do you believe in the biblical work ethic, and the proportionality of reward in keeping with initiative and industriousness?

Abraham Lincoln well said this:

Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.

The issues at stake in the November 2020 election are much more that a few blisters on our behinds.

Where the Parties Stand

“I think it’s the duty of every individual Christian at election time to study the issues, study the candidates, then go to the polls and vote.”
—Billy Graham, 1952
Every four years, as delegates from both major American political parties gather to officially nominate a presidential candidate and running mate, the party platforms are finalized and adopted, and policy positions are set for at least the next four years.

In August, with the coronavirus altering how the conventions conducted their business, the Republican Party met in Charlotte, North Carolina, streamlining its official proceedings and relying on its 2016 platform to stake out a consensus of who it is and what it believes. The Democratic Party, meeting in Milwaukee, chose to adopt a new party platform. What follows is a comparison—drawn from those platforms, the Democratic and Republican party websites, and public statements—on where the two major parties stand on key issues for evangelical voters.

Abortion on Demand & Federal Funding

Democrats say they will “restore funding for Planned Parenthood” and will oppose and “fight to overturn federal and state laws that create barriers to women’s reproductive health and rights. We will repeal the Hyde Amendment, and protect and codify Roe v. Wade.” Congressional Democrats have repeatedly defeated “born-alive” protection bills and supported increased funding for abortion domestically and internationally.

In keeping with the belief that “the family is the bedrock of our nation,” the GOP platform affirms, “The unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.” The GOP supports a Human Life Amendment and state laws requiring informed consent, parental consent, waiting periods and clinic regulation. The GOP has broadly supported President Trump’s ending of funds for international abortions and partial defunding of Planned Parenthood.

Religious Liberty & Conscience Rights

Although the party states: “Democrats celebrate America’s history of religious pluralism and tolerance,” the platform says they will “reject the Trump administration’s use of broad exemptions to allow businesses, medical providers, social service agencies and others to discriminate,” meaning policies would aim to give preference to LGBTQ rights in cases in which religious exercise and rights of conscience conflict with liberalized interpretations of sexuality.

Republicans affirm that religious freedom in the Bill of Rights protects the right of the people to practice their faith in their everyday lives. The platform endorses the First Amendment Defense Act, which would protect faith-based institutions and individuals from government discrimination. Additionally, the Trump administration has instructed federal agencies to accommodate rights of conscience for government employees, reversing Obama-era policies.

Human Rights & Global Religious Freedom

Democrats laud religious freedom as a “fundamental human right,” but will never “use it as a cover for discrimination.” The platform vows support for Iraq’s Christians and Yazidis, China’s persecuted Uyghurs and other religious minorities. Also: “We will restore the United States’ position of leadership on LGBTQ+ issues” in diplomacy and foreign policy, advancing the GLOBE Act and making LGBTQ issues a priority at the State Department, USAID and the National Security Council.

The GOP favors integrating human rights issues into every level of diplomatic relations. Beginning in 2018, the U.S. has hosted an annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, drawing an international coalition to defend and promote global religious freedom. “Religious freedom for all people worldwide is a foreign policy priority of the United States, and the United States will respect and vigorously promote this freedom,” President Trump wrote on June 2.

Federal Judges

The Democratic platform says: “Our courts should reflect our country. Democrats will appoint people to the bench who are committed to seeing justice be served, and treating each case on its merits. We will nominate and confirm federal judges who have diverse backgrounds and experiences, including as public defenders, legal aid attorneys and civil rights lawyers.” Candidate Biden has vowed to seek judges who “respect” the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.

The GOP platform states: “A critical threat to our country’s constitutional order is an activist judiciary that usurps powers properly reserved to the people through other branches of government.” The party supports the appointment of justices and judges who respect the constitutional limits on their power and respect the authority of the states. President Trump has promised to continue working to appoint conservative federal judges.

Economic Empowerment & Poverty

The platform says: “Americans deserve an economy that works for everyone … it is a moral and an economic imperative that we support working families by rebuilding the American middle class.” The party supports raising the minimum wage to $15/hr., helping make home ownership more attainable, eradicating homelessness, “ending poverty and enabling all Americans to live up to their God-given potential.”

The GOP supports eradicating welfare dependence by proposing “the dynamic compassion of work requirements in a growing economy, where opportunity takes the place of a handout, where true self-esteem can grow from the satisfaction of a job well done.” The Trump administration included Opportunity Zones in the 2017 tax reform law to spur economic opportunity in poor areas.

National Defense

The platform says the U.S. military “must be the most effective fighting force in the world.” To keep it that way, Democrats “will bring forever wars to a responsible end,” rationalize the defense budget, invest in future technologies, repair civil-military relations, and strengthen the covenant with service members, veterans and military families. They vow to reverse the Trump administration’s transgender ban and rebuild trust in the VA while improving mental health outcomes for veterans.

The Republican platform favors building and maintaining a strong military as the path to peace and security. The party’s Principles for American Renewal says: “Keeping America safe and strong requires a strong military, growing the economy, energy independence and secure borders.” The party platform seeks to restore the nation’s military might and to rebuild troop numbers. Military pay has risen more than 2% each year since 2017, after six years of raises below 2%.

The ‘Equality Act’ & Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) Laws

Candidate Biden has vowed to fast-track the Equality Act, which would federalize sexual orientation and gender identity in laws across the nation with detrimental outcomes for public education, domestic religious liberty and many other arenas. The Democratic Party has not taken a position on SOGI laws per se, but the party platform and party position statements, as well as legislative actions, have strongly supported “LGBTQ+” rights when they have conflicted with the religious beliefs of faith groups.

President Trump has continued to signal opposition to the Equality Act—a bill that would create legal chaos as sexual rights collide with the religious beliefs and practices of millions of Americans. The GOP platform doesn’t mention SOGI laws, but it includes strong statements in support of “traditional marriage and family” as “the foundation for a free society, and has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling cultural values.” It laments the Supreme Court ruling legalizing national gay marriage.

Israel & Jerusalem

“Democrats believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States. Our commitment to Israel’s security, … its right to defend itself, and the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding is ironclad.” Democrats support Jerusalem as the capital and oppose efforts to “unfairly single out or delegitimize Israel.” They oppose settlement expansion and any steps that “undermine prospects for two states.”

Republicans express “unequivocal support for Israel,” pointing out that it is the only Middle Eastern country with freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The GOP recognizes “Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state.” The party opposes the U.N.’s treatment of Israel as a “pariah state.” In 2018, President Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, fulfilling a campaign promise.

To read further, be sure to activate the link HERE.

A Curse and A Blessing: The Memorial Service of Jean Alison Holmes

Penrith, England, Saturday August 12, 2022

CURSE

BLESSING

More about Working with Wood

Doubling up on Desk Space

The Problem with Books

Sagging Encyclopedia Shelves

What’s in a Meme?

Here’s a great quote from Teddy Roosevelt (too long for a meme):

Getting to Know Ronald Reagan Better

Coffeetime in All Four Seasons

Jean Alison Holmes: Notes from Her Younger Daughter

A Guest Post by Janet E. Green

Reflections and Recollections of My Mother

Mum, Reflections and Recollections

She was a constant presence

She was a steady reference point

She was an avid communicator

She was an energetic producer

She was a compassionate giver

She was family focused

What is your only comfort in life and death?

A Mother Remembered

A Guest Post from My Sister, Margaret Jones

Birth and Early Years

Education and Young Adulthood

Farming

Other Adventures

Insights and Thoughts

Dementia

Funeral Matters

Day by Day, and with Each Passing Moment

There’s a Hymn on My Radar. . .

Further Insights

Translator: A. L. Skoog

Author: Carolina Sandell

Election 2020: Two Visions for America (Decision Magazine)

Where the Parties Stand

Abortion on Demand & Federal Funding

Religious Liberty & Conscience Rights

Human Rights & Global Religious Freedom

Federal Judges

Economic Empowerment & Poverty

National Defense

The ‘Equality Act’ & Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) Laws

Israel & Jerusalem

Windows on My World

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