February 28: Signing of the National Covenant (1638)

by archivist

Scottish Covenanters

It was on this day that we could say the name “Covenanter” was born.
For it was on the 28th February 1638 that the National Covenant was read out and signed in Greyfriars in Edinburgh. Upwards of 60,000 people had gathered in the city for the event.
On a ram skin parchment, the people of Scotland pledged to defend the Scottish Church against any such innovations that were against the Word of God and against anything that would undo the work of the Reformation and take the nation back to Roman Catholicism.
On the original Covenant there were more than 4000 names, hardly a space was left on it. In the days and weeks following hundreds of copies were made and sent throughout Scotland with hundreds of thousands flocking to sign them.
One minister describing the scene wrote "I have seen more than a thousand at once lifting up their hands and tears falling from their eyes, entering into Covenant."
Oh that we would see a day like this again in Scotland! Sadly, today will pass for most Scots as though it were just another date in the calendar.

My best read on marriage

One of the good things I found in California was the loan of this great book.

BED AND BOARD PLAIN TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE by ROBERT FARRAR CAPON (Author)

My Amazon review.

The best book on complementarity I have read though published in 1965 I do not think it uses the word. The author was a married episcopal clergyman with a family six.He knew whereof he wrote. His style may at first strike one as eccentric and verbose but hang in there. The man is a genius on this subject. Do not be put of by his his churchmanship. Marriage is not as he believes "a very great sacrament'.  Divorce is not 'a metaphysical impossibility'. His is Catholic marriage theology. mine is Protestant reformed with marriage a covenant which may be broken by persistent unrepentant failure to keep vows. However this disagreement takes nothing from the profound teaching herein given on all matters bed and board, husband, wife and children. I think he is weak on hospitality and surprisingly reticent on child rearing but on the fundamentals of marriage this is genius. One reviewer could not tolerate his sexism. Rot. This man is a counter cultural Christian who speaks truth not discerned from the prevailing culture but from the Bible and the wisdom of the ages. He wrote before the electronic age but that is no deficit. His world had no internet but it has real communication between people. Read and learn. Publisher reprint please.

Quotes


We get too sook old and too late smart, but with a loving God and forgiving friends, I am grateful and glad. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 18

The Christian mind has lo these many years been pretty well switched off as far as ordinary life is concerned. ...Of course in religion and morals it has tried to do its own cooking; but across the rest of life - schooling, housing, marrying; working, playing, spending- it has been content to buy whatever packaged mixes were available on the shelves of the secular idea market. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 33

About sex especially men are born mad; and they hardly reach sanity until they reach sanctity.- G K Chesterton quoted in - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 48

For a nun's life of course is utterly sexual....Of course, she omits as an offering to God,one particular expression of her sexuality; but it is only one out of a hundred. The sexual congress she does not attend is not life's most important meeting, all the marriage manuals to the contrary notwithstanding. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 49

...the Bible does not say that men and women are unequal. Neither does the church. There are no second class citizens in the New Jerusalem. It is husbands and wives that are unequal. It is precisely in marriage (a state, you will recall, not to be continued as such in heaven) that they enter into a relationship of superior to inferior,- of head to a body. And the difference there is not one of worth, ability to intelligence, but of role. It is functional not organic.It is based on the exigencies of the Dance not on a judgement as to talent.In the ballet, in any intricate dance, one dancer leads, the other follows. Not because one is better (he may or may not be), but because that is his part. Our mistake here, as elsewhere, is to think that equality and diversity are irreconcilable. The common notion of equality is based on the image of the march. In a parade, really unequal beings are dressed alike, given guns of identical length, trained to hold them at the same angle, and ordered to keep step with a fixed beat. But it is not the parade that is true to life, it is the dance. There you have real equals assigned unequal roles in order that each may achieve his individual perfection in the whole. Nothing is less personal than a parade; nothing more so than a dance. It is the choice image of fulfillment through function, and it comes very close to the heart of the Trinity. Marriage is a hierarchical game played bu co-equal persons.Keep that paradox and you move in the freedom of the Dance; alter, and you grow weary with marching. - - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 53-54.

...it is husbands who have done the most damage. , and it is they, who can if they will, do the most good. If the train doesn't move , repair the locomotive. Don't let the cars sit around blaming themselves for not being engines. Above all, don't let them try to act as if they were. For the cars have their own function, they are what the train is really about.They are what the engine is for.All the space in a husband is supposed to be given over to providing traction; it is the wife's capacity for freight that makes the trip worthwhile. The comparison is hardly flattering, but it does manage to be a bit gallant and, and as a husband, I am rather pleased that I was able to get it off. One should try to practice what one preaches, with or without elegance. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 57
Father's day is a joke and a commercially motivated one at that. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 58

Fathers provoke not your children to wrath ....Develop a passion for fairness. It you overdo anything, make it that. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 61

Children love fat mothers. They like them because while any mother is a diagram of place, a picture of home, a atone is a clearer diagram, a greater sacrament. She is more there. I can think of to better wish to all the slender swans of this present age, than to propose them a toast: May your husbands find your s slim as they like; your children should always remember you were fat. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 66

He who perished by a tree is saved by a tree. He who died by an apple is restored by eating the flesh of his Saviour. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 69-70

The vow of lifelong fidelity to one bed. one woman, becomes the wall at the edge of the cliff that leaves the children free to play a little, rather than to be lost at large. marriage gives us somewhere to be. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 70

Only Christian marriage has a chance to save nature. Not that mine is very natural - it can't be, because it isn't very Christian; but the truth remains. The disciple is not above his master; the Cross is foolishness, and the marriage bed is absurd. That much rings true. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 72

A man can give his wife is little besides trouble. He makes a life of hard labour for he, prompts most of her available time by begetting children upon her, and then leaves he alone with the whole business for the greater part of every working day. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 75

People admit that it's hard to pray. Yet they think it's way to make love. What nonsense. Neither is worth much when it is only the outcropping of intermittent enthusiasm. Both need to be done with out ceasing;- Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 76
Sexual intercourse is indeed society (though often not too mutual) , and it is certainly a comfort, when it goes well; but it is seldom much help unless its disasterousness is softened by a vast amount of incidental tenderness. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 76

Romance as the justification for marriage is pretty much a folk invention of less than eight hundred years 'standing. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p81

I have a sneaking suspicion that all this straight-faced piety about sexuality misses one of the Creator's most brilliant bits of humour. The body uses the same general equipment for both lovemaking and plumbing. Desire and drainage are hilariously close. I think that's a hint to take it lightly. ... It's a movement of the dance , not the be-all and end-all of the dancers. Omitting it doesn't stop the show. There's nothing wrong with mutual agreed abstinence if honestly tried. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 89

God himself spread his table. But Judas sat down at it. - Robert Farrar Capon, Bed and Board, p 94

The changing world (48) Aug 76

Aug 1 At Hillcrest a rambling homily on Feb 1. Wrote to Iain Murray complaining about the publication of Thornwell’s defence of slavery.

2nd    At Vom for vaccinations. Frustrated they would not give smallpox and typhoid at the same time. Jonathan miserable with a sore arm.

3rd    Jonathan had us up early with his groans. back to Langtang . We hear it rumoured that Vom hospital will be taken over by the government. It happened. Envy. People went o the government hospitals and it was in theory free. Reality was bribes and shortage of drugs. With us you paid for what you got and we never ran out of medicines.

4th  Langtang preparing to give talk to teachers on sovereignty of God. The paper says Vom will be taken over by April 78. A critical article which Rev Damina says should receive a rejoinder.

5th Vom criticised over finances. 

6th  Pankshin TEE. 11/15there. Lunch with Dennis Reddish at Kabwir.

7th  TEE Amper and then Garga. David Molyneux engaged to Sylvia. Peter Clark back from UK

8th  English service cancelled due to heavy rain.

9th  Boi where Doreen Collingham had her landrover immersed in a flooded river. I pulled her out with my l/r.

10th Boi too TEE Bokkos. Home via Kabwir.

11th Going to Pie TEE but Honda failed to start. Battery died and could not be charged in time for the class.

12th To Kabwir but Honda died near Amper. Hitched a lift. Lunch with Gulas. Brain Boddy brought me and Honda back to Langtang in L/R.

13th Good day at Bakin Kogi with all Langtang and Kwalla teachers.

14th Bwarat TEE. Peter Clark drove me to Jos. Road very poor by Bukuru. Visited Bulmers.

15th Too boys to Hillcrest morning seraice. Chaplain poor sermon. Katy St Pirans. Coffee with Bulmers, tea with Rules.

16th Bible Schools Committee. TEE complimented. Vom for jabs. Tea with Middletons. Cholera second jab not as painful as first. Later we were to see smallpox eradicated. Cholera which lasted the shortiest time was the least effective. 

17th Shopped in Jos. back to Langtand.

18th Tired. Sorted post and books.salas have raised a profit of over N900.

19th Kabwir TEE teachers with Colin Bulley. Aisa Beech to supper.

20th Langtang TEE teachers. Pastor not happy with proposals to hand over mission’s responsibilities to the church.

23rd Baxters here on bookshop trip. Good letter back from Iain Murray on Thornwell and slavery.

24th Paul Baxter found my Honda problem was a loose rectifier wire. 

26th Enjoying reading book of Hausa proverbs.

27th I have had several idle days. Reflecting over forty years later I see my bipolar symptoms in waves of hardware followed by inactivity and depression.

28th  Colin and carol Bulley visited from Kabwir

30th We took Kathleen Gula to Jos. Staying in William’s flat. Vom for jabs. 

31st Visited Bulmers. Shopping. Expected TEE books not yet printed.

Smoke in the USA

One delight in coming to the USA is that the tax on tobacco is not so burdensome as at home. Today a tobacconist said that steep increases in price in California is the result of the anti-smoking lobby getting state tax raised. But pipe tobacco here is less than a third of UK price and small cigars are my recourse not having brought my pipe. BTW I sometimes do not touch my pipe for weeks or even months on end. It is neither as addictive nor carcinogenic as cigarettes. But the small cigars enjoyed while I walk the dog reminded me of Rudyard Kipling.

The Betrothed

     "You must choose between me and your cigar."
     -- BREACH OF PROMISE CASE, CIRCA 1885.



Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I are out.

We quarrelled about Havanas -- we fought o'er a good cheroot,
And I knew she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.

Open the old cigar-box -- let me consider a space;
In the soft blue veil of the vapour musing on Maggie's face.

Maggie is pretty to look at -- Maggie's a loving lass,
But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of loves must pass.

There's peace in a Larranaga, there's calm in a Henry Clay;
But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown away --

Thrown away for another as perfect and ripe and brown --
But I could not throw away Maggie for fear o' the talk o' the town!

Maggie, my wife at fifty -- grey and dour and old --
With never another Maggie to purchase for love or gold!

And the light of Days that have Been the dark of the Days that Are,
And Love's torch stinking and stale, like the butt of a dead cigar --

The butt of a dead cigar you are bound to keep in your pocket --
With never a new one to light tho' it's charred and black to the socket!

Open the old cigar-box -- let me consider a while.
Here is a mild Manila -- there is a wifely smile.

Which is the better portion -- bondage bought with a ring,
Or a harem of dusky beauties, fifty tied in a string?

Counsellors cunning and silent -- comforters true and tried,
And never a one of the fifty to sneer at a rival bride?

Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close,

This will the fifty give me, asking nought in return,
With only a Suttee's passion -- to do their duty and burn.

This will the fifty give me. When they are spent and dead,
Five times other fifties shall be my servants instead.

The furrows of far-off Java, the isles of the Spanish Main,
When they hear my harem is empty will send me my brides again.

I will take no heed to their raiment, nor food for their mouths withal,
So long as the gulls are nesting, so long as the showers fall.

I will scent 'em with best vanilla, with tea will I temper their hides,
And the Moor and the Mormon shall envy who read of the tale of my brides.

For Maggie has written a letter to give me my choice between
The wee little whimpering Love and the great god Nick o' Teen.

And I have been servant of Love for barely a twelvemonth clear,
But I have been Priest of Cabanas a matter of seven year;

And the gloom of my bachelor days is flecked with the cheery light
Of stumps that I burned to Friendship and Pleasure and Work and Fight.

And I turn my eyes to the future that Maggie and I must prove,
But the only light on the marshes is the Will-o'-the-Wisp of Love.

Will it see me safe through my journey or leave me bogged in the mire?
Since a puff of tobacco can cloud it, shall I follow the fitful fire?

Open the old cigar-box -- let me consider anew --
Old friends, and who is Maggie that I should abandon you?

A million surplus Maggies are willing to bear the yoke;
And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke.

Light me another Cuba -- I hold to my first-sworn vows.
If Maggie will have no rival, I'll have no Maggie for Spouse!

The changing world (47) Jul 76

July 1st Work on Old Testament TEE book. Prayer meeting.

2nd        God TEE at Gazum led by Rev Bitrus but no food or drink. In twelve years I ate and drank what was put before me, no questions asked. It included eating dog. Only once did I have the runs because I was unknowingly given unspoiled wall dater. I thank God for a cast iron digestion! And for parents who made me clean my plate whatever the food.

3rd           Failed to get to Bakin Kogi class by car due to rain. Depressing. Two American teachers to tea.

4th           With the Isaacs at the secondary school as they cerebrated the USA Bicentennial. So the ex-colonials honoured their originators with a dinner. Hugh preached later.

5th           In landrover to Rich class. No drinks. Welcomed at Daffo by Pastor and Joyce McQuone. Good food with local potatoes.

6th        Rev Joshua led Daffo TEE well. Cold. Rain.Glad of L/R 4WD on way tp Panama where Jill Joyce beat me at Scrabble.

7th  TEE Tapshin. Home on Honda. Hugh brought L/R.

8th  With Hugh to good class at Gidan Adamu. Road blocks still since the coup. Did prayer letter.

9th  TEE Kabwir went well followed by chicken and rice. Visit from David Carling. I was down. Katy made conversation. 

10th Hugh lot  Jos  Me Mban TEE in L/R. Stuck in mud and river. Saw heron flying with a snake in its beak.

11th Took boys to Hausa service

12th Hugh did not bring the post back. Tried to radio about it. We has short wave radio with the mission stations like Jos but not a phone in 12 years. When at Limakara we would check in daily by radio calling Molai.

13th Bokkos TEE. Frustrated when Hugh failed to bring post from Jos.

14th Duplicated TEE calenders at Zamko. Good Sabon Gida TEE. David tipd a scorpion out of a cardboard box and killed it. Heavy rain. Katy cutting stencils forTEE.

15th Too much rain to go to Gwari so did Kabwir TEE instead. Preparing TEE tests.

16th Good Bakin Kogi class. Beef and rice. To Jos and meeting with SIM’s Ernie about TEE books.

17th Vom for wedding of Pam Spendlove, pharmacist, and Eric Middleton, accountants. Reception Rockhaven. They were to have a severely hadicapped son who died when a toddler followed shortly by Pam from cancer. Eric remarried with a Yorkshire doctor.

18th CRC preacher, expository at Hillcrest. Hannah Kimber 3rd birthday party.

19th Picked up L/R Kabwir. To Mwari class. Stuck in grass covered road at Fadama. Boi overnight.

20th Boi class. Meat and rice.Tapshin TEE chicken and rice. From Kabwir to family at Jos by car. Family found to be with the Bulmers at Hillcrest.Chat with Aussie Kieth Black, formerly in Sudan until expelled.

21st TEE Association with Ernie, SIM and Sue Davies of CMS. Sue was to die in her forties breast cancer, refusing to finish her tour early to go home for treatment. A great missionary lady.

22nd Kabrir TEE teachers then home to Langtang.

23rd Langtang teachers Paul Baxter with his usual grumbly self.

24th Lagtang students TEE then Was class. Given a chicken. Beat Hugh at Scrabble. He died of cancer in Belfast, 2018.

26th Work on OT TEE book. No Zechariah cook because of rain. Bad excuse.

27th Editing OT TEE MS then Scrabble with Hugh the best matched of opponents.

28th Gagdi TEE in LR. Road badly eroded by rains. I took the class. Chicken and rice served.

29     Finished the OT book editing

30     Yelwa TEE . Given rice and four cokes. To Jos for a TEE editors meeting but found it cancelled. There overnight.

31     Editing with SIM’s Ernie. Looked after the Hillcrest hostel while Bulmers were out. Visited Dominys. 

Diary w/e 24 Feb 18

SUNDAY 18 Feb 18

As dawn came I took Libby on a fifty minute walk. We came across two large noisy guard dogs and Libby gave a good barking contest. We sa four peahens by one house and found a quarter on the road so this walk profited me 25c as well as the exercise of my longest stroll for many months. This is hilly country so we were not on flat roads.Fewer than ten vehicles on the road all that time.
   After breakfast Jule and I left Dennis for church in Sacramento half an hour away. This is a new CRC church plant, City Life, where Joanna and family now attend. I was the oldest person there among perhaps fifty adults. Very reformed with lenten liturgy. I do not think any prayers were extempore. Only three songs and one of those was in Spanish so obviously this is missional. It was not at all dumbed down and was seeker friendly. The sermon was lengthy and relevant though not a verse by verse exposition. It was about baptism and the wilderness with good theology and application . The one criticism I have is the Lord's Supper. The table was not fenced and they did what I think is called tincturing, dipping bread in wine. Why? Hygiene? I cannot see this in scripture. Bread and wine IMO were taken separately and I simply o not like my food dipped in my drink with one exception. Ginger biscuits in tea.
   Lunch was with Joanna and her three eldest and her inlaws the Jonson's. Her father in law Wayne is a Reformed elder in RCUS Sacramento. He is very well read in all matters theological and a  political consultant so we had a great time of lunch conversation on all manner of things. Local craft beer good at the second eatery we tried. The first wanted us to wait two hours for a table. I commented loudly that I thought the US was known for service but having dined on four continents I had never been so treated. Obviously too popular a restaurant.
   Back to Dennis and later ready for bed, Dennis was in such pain from his catheter that we took him to the VA hospital in Sacramento where I waited until after midnight for the results of examination by urologists. He is on opiates for analgesia and we hope to have him home with a diagnosis of bladder spasms. Been here four hours so far.

Mon 19 Feb
The urologist gave Dennis opiates by injection and sent him home saying he had bladder spasms. I got to be at 4:30. At 7:30 I was up walking the dog for 55 minutes. I photographed a fowl on the Drakes lane pond, saw two deer I believe and had a resident tell me it was a private road and there were unfenced dogs. I had walked to the end. No barking from alleged pit bulls and no sign for a private road and where the surface was the same as a public road. I reckon she was a lying unfriendly local.woman. No more journeys out except walking the grounds with Dennis and dog. She goes mad when you throw a stick running round and round you on the leash so fast I was becoming dizzy and had to stop her. She does not retrieve the stick, only runs fast in circles with it.

Tues 20 Feb

Libby wanted out before dawn so off we went for an hour and went minutes. Half way we saw the sen rise and the dawn chorus was heard. Once again it was cold. This time I borrowed gloves but I still came home with a frozen fight hand. The left was kept warm by controlling the dog.
   Name dropping. The son in law of my host with whom I have been chatting today is the cousin of the governor of California.
   Visited am amazing sporting goods store, Bass Pro. Full of taxidermy, trophies and guns. Then a Walmart for shopping. Daughter Esther came to look after Dennis while we were out. We think he is sleeping a lot today's his steroid dose is reducing.

Wed 21 Feb

IM Billy Graham (1918-2018)- I first heard him Haringey 1954 when I was eight and I did not get out of my seat. Jesus invited us, not to a picnic, but to a pilgrimage; 

not to a frolic, but to a fight. He offered us, not an
excursion, but an execution. Our Savior said that
we would have to be ready to die to self, sin, and
the world. 
--Billy Graham (1918-2018)
(In Martin H. Manser's _The Westminster Collection
of Christian Quotations_ [2001], "Discipleship") 

If I didn't have spiritual faith, I would be a pessimist. But I'm an optimist. I've read the last page in the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.--Billy Graham

Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centred in anything short God and His will for us.--Billy Graham

No matter how hard we try words simply cannot express the horror, the shock, and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on Tuesday morning. September 11 will go down in our history as a day to remember.--Billy Graham, Speech, "National Day of Prayer and Remembrance" (14 September 2001)

We've always needed God from the very beginning of this nation but today we need Him especially. We're facing a new kind of enemy. We're involved in a new kind of warfare and we need the help of the Spirit of God. The Bible's words are our hope... --Billy Graham, Speech, "National Day of Prayer anRemembrance" (14 September 2001)

I had a Carey walk of one hour 55 minutes. I was slow uphill but like Carey I can plod. It was also an idolatrous walk. I put dog before God. I wanted to read my Bible first thing as per normal but Libby was barking for her walk and I am soft. Off we went and here are the pictures.

   My hostess went to the bank and post office in nearby Newcastle. I took some pictures which I will post. My host, Dennis has put video of Libby and me on facebook which I have shared. 

   Later Julie and I went to see their daughter Joanna and family in Sacramento. I was treated to In n'out burger and home brewed stout. A spirited exchange of views on a variety of topics followed.

Th 22 Feb

We went to the hospital to have Dennis's wound dressed. He was told it had to be cleaned out after IV analgesia but the urology department could not give the opiate injection that needed the emergency room and they had no bed available. It was a very long wait of about four hours. Christian, Esther's husband kindly came and took me home leaving Julie with Dennis for his painful procedure. They were home after 8pm

Fri 23 Feb

7am out for a good hour with Libby in the frost.

About to go with Julie to pick up Dilaudid (hydromorphone) for Dennis's pain. Let's see if hospital pharmacy here is quicker than NHS - which is tortoise pace. I used to be a community pharmacist hare. No more than five minutes for a one item script and would do 300+ in an eight hour day so under two minutes an item average.

Hospital pharmacy here is as slow as NHS. Wait half an hour. But what amazed me was the level of security, not merely ID to pick up a script but the glass partition. Medicines need more security than cash. Both bank and post office no glass screen. Pharmacy being glass. For more pleasant viewing, Libby.

Dennis resting waiting for the analgesics to lick in at home so nurse Julie may change the dressings. Major frustration today. Loss of Dennis's wallet since yesterday. Searched home and hospital to no avail.

Sat 24 

6am getting up and impatient Libby is barking downstairs demanding her walk. As my grandmother said, ‘Patience is a virtue. Possess it if you can. Seldom in a woman. Never in a man.” And not in this dog either. So out we go up before the sun and before I read the Word. Now frustrated. Six Nation not on TV or internet. At half time I am glad to be out of the country and unable to watch the rugby. My only consolation is Wales lost so no rugby illustrations in Levy's sermon tomorrow. I can but pray it is a game of two halves and England wakes up. I am eating breakfast. Not porridge. Visit from Christian, Esther, Joshua and Clementine then with Julie to Antiques bazaar and Walmart. The former is far too expensive compared with UK.

IM Billy Graham (1918-2018)

Jesus invited us, not to a picnic, but to a pilgrimage; 
not to a frolic, but to a fight.  He offered us, not an 
excursion, but an execution.  Our Savior said that 
we would have to be ready to die to self, sin, and 
the world. 
     --Billy Graham (1918-2018) 
      (In Martin H. Manser's _The Westminster Collection 
       of Christian Quotations_ [2001], "Discipleship") 

Jesus invited us, not to a picnic, but to a pilgrimage; 

not to a frolic, but to a fight.  He offered us, not an 

excursion, but an execution.  Our Savior said that 

we would have to be ready to die to self, sin, and 

the world. 

     --Billy Graham (1918-2018) 

      (In Martin H. Manser's _The Westminster Collection 

       of Christian Quotations_ [2001], "Discipleship") 

If I didn't have spiritual faith, I would be a pessimist. But I'm an optimist. I've read the last page in the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.--Billy Graham

Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short God and His will for us.--Billy Graham

No matter how hard we try words simply cannot express the horror, the shock, and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on Tuesday morning. September 11 will go down in our history as a day to remember.--Billy Graham, Speech, "Nat ional Day of Prayer and Remembrance" (14 September 2001)

We've always needed God from the very beginning of this nation but today we need Him especially. We're facing a new kind of enemy. We're involved in a new kind of warfare and we need the help of the Spirit of God. The Bible's words are our hope... --Billy Graham, Speech, "National Day of Prayer anRemembrance" (14 September 2001)

 

The changing world (45) May 76

May 1st   Holiday.Family to Jos  and met up with Bulmers at the Lutheran Dogon Dutse accommodation.

2nd         All to church at Hillcrest except for me to our EKAN Church - the Hausa title for COCIN, Eklessia Kiristi in Nigeria - not a word of Hausa in fact!

3rd         Two family’s children very happy together. Enjoying seeing the steam trains.

4th         Travel restricted by the new governor touring the city.Saw him at the station

5th          Took the boys to the zoo.

6th         Visited friends who were leaving the Institute of Linguistics. That was the name taken, in error by Wycliffe Bible Tranlators. They were to change again to Nigeria Bible Translation Trust.

8th           Ate with Jones of SIM, pharmacist with whom we did Hausa school in 1971.

9th           With boys to EKAN in the morning and with Katy and Dick to Hillcrest in the evening.

10th       Bought cloth to have a riga (gown) made. Sorry to hear Clarks to go home soon as Elizabeth is pregnant and they fear hepatitis at term. David locked himself in the toilet.

11th       Ate with the Williams our pharmacist who suppose all the missions from Jos.

14th       Took Jonathan to see Hillcrest School. He is not yet ready to board aged five.

15th       Governor Gomwalk and murderer Dimka executed in Lagos. Back to Langtang via Gills for lunch at Vom.

16th        Boys had Sunday School with the Campus Crusade teachers children. Heavy rain.

18th        Bokkos TEE teachers then to Mushere. overnight.

19th        Mushere TEE student class. Pastor Joshua led well. Books overnight.

20th        Rev Dauda led Bokkos student class well. Took Geof Kimber back to Langtang.

21st        To Kwalla class in landrover taking Geof Kimber. Came back due to heavy rain lest the river prevented our return tomorrow.

22nd        Shendam TEE led well by James. Kimber complains I drive too fast. Not the first to complain but I have many miles to travel and never had an accident in a country full of hazardous roads.

23rd         The boys cried at secondary school Sunday school. David unsettled by my travelling so much.

24th          Mwari TEE. Heard Hausa Bible read with lack of understaning bringing hilarity to me alone. Abraham looked for a city with foundations = birne mai tusa (plural of tussa - foundation) Instead was read, mai tusa - owner of a fart. No-one else laughed. All our Christians are second language speakers not versed in the intricacies of Hausa. Later I was to be told how  the Hausa Muslims despise the Christians mudering their mother tongue. For the Christians ignorance of the finer points is bliss.   Boi overnight.

25th Mart TEE on Honda but  Yakubu the teacher had failed to distribute the book and so get the course started.

26th On Honda to Tadnum TEE after rain. Fell where the road was washed away with the Honda exhaust on the back of my naked knee. I was wearing short. Home with a painful burn.

27th  Kimbers have been staying at Langtand. Breakfast with them. Leg stiff.

28th   Dressed a weepy painful legend hobbled to church.

29th Katy drove us to Vom. Dr Thomas said I was to be admitted for four days as the leg was infected. In Private Ward with a Fulani alhaji here after crashing his Mercedes. 

30th Managing with difficulty to walk to the toilet. Dressing changing very painful. I was cheered to be told that they normally give children morphine before such a dressing change.

31st The doctor says it will take three weeks before I am fully mobile. The alhaji has gone and now I have another one here with piles.He is very sociable.

The changing world (46) Jun 76

June 1st  More mobile known hospital. Alhaji Ahmadi in agony after his piles operation. He has brought his TV but the programmes are not up to much at all.

2nd   Dressing change less painful. Visits from Joyce McQuone, Bulleys, Christine potter and Peter Dominy.

3rd   Discharged to the great house where the family have been. Visits from Hugh Jones and Bentleys.

4th   Looked after Rachel while Katy took car into Jos for generator repair. Still weak at knee.

5th   Back to Langtang with Hugh Jones

6th   To Zamko to pickup Clark’s cook Zechariah who is to work for us.

7th   Editing TEE book on Old Testament introduction. Visit from Phylis Shorter and Elizabeth Burns.

9th   Kurgwi TEE with Hugh driving. Back via Bakin Ciyawa we stuck in mud. 

10th  Jos with Hugh and editing the OT Introduction with Ernie of SIM.

11th  Jos to Vom to Pankshin TEE led by Rev Joel. Vehicle had to be lifted out od a hole on way home.

12th  Piapung class. 14/14. No food but good book sales.

14th Garkawa class well led by Rev Daniel. 

15th Family and Hugh to Bokkos TEE then to stay at Gindiri. Supper with Birches.

16th Gave three talks at Pastors College on TEE. Dined at Birches then Bulls and Rev Luther’s.

17th Kabwir TEE class. Lunch with Gulas. Can leave bandage off the leg now.

18th Kwalla teasers at Bakin Kogi. Good discussion on predestination.

19th Tuttung class with Hugh and Amos from TCNN.

21st Mwari with Hugh over roads made difficult by erosion after rain. Stayed overnight.

22nd Mrari to Lusa where we were stuck in clay. Boi, Tapshin, Gindiri where we stayed after supper at Mathers.

23rd  Chat with Rev John Audu then rocky road Zango, Lere Gindiri. Chat with Wibberleys and supper at Drews.

24th  Kabwir teachers. Brought Dick Tyler to Langtang for two days.

25th Full class of Langtang teachers.

26th With family to Jos then with Hugh to Bauchi TEE and back to Jos.

27th  Disgusted by Rev Ezekiel at EKAN’s sermon on road safety. Greeted Koops of CRC. 

28th Back to Langtang. Rev Damina agrees I am travelling too much so I dropped going to Garga TEE tomorrow.

29th  Very tired so no study after lunch and no visit to class at Garga.

30th  Found morning very tired but some afternoon study

Diary w/e 17 Feb 18

Sun 11 Feb
Levy good on the second half of the Beatitudes. David and family here from lunchtime. Excellent roast beef. He came with me to evening service, Chris Roberts on Ps 139 part 2.

Mon 12 Feb
Love your enemies, yes. But for hackers I am looking up imprecatory Psalms.
Since I cleared my cache on advice I now have lost much stored on my mac like log ins and the facility to post a page to f/b in one click. The cache clearing did no good only the opposite. All this is a spin off of the hack.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/predictor I am 54th out of
Total players: 397167
After seven and a half months of leg ulcers I am pronounced cured PTL! Doppler in 3 months DV.
Continuing to give thanks for my healed legs. I am now wearing shoes for the first time in eight months. Goodbye sandals until summer.
Lovely visit to Hampton Court, Henry VII apartments and garden - but I cannot upload any of the photos.

Tues 13 Feb
Travelled the E10 to one stop from its Northolt terminus to pick up a parcel the P.O. could not get through our letter box nor return to deliver on the date requested. They came the wrong day. E10 to Ealing for bargain lunch at the Weatherspoons which has the best real ale selection in Ealing. Good chat with Levy concerning my determination to go to USA without full medical insurance. Gethin Jones at ELT the pastoral visit with a phone call from our member's solicitor in which I was nominated to be her attorney, able to give consent on her behalf in all matters including finances and medical.I am honoured tone given such a responsibility. Her family approves her decision. 
Back from Ealing Historical Society lecture on Luther by Lyndal Roper 24th Regius Professor of history at Oxford.

Wed 14 Feb
My U3A history only had one person join me so we enjoyed a chat in preparation for our postponed topic, Indian History. Anyone care to comment of the religious breakdown in the subcontinent before the British? The person leading us found no statistics.
Packing for two weeks near Sacramento visiting my friend recovering from major surgery and collapse. Thankful for my wife every day for the past 48+ years.
Shopping and library via the Greenford E10.
Good house group on 1 Sam lead by Chris Craddock.

Thur 15 Feb

At noon Debbie dropped me at Northfields for the tube to Heathrow T3 three hours early to check in for 3:20 Virgin to LA, an 11 hour flight. I foolishly chose window seat. With my diuretic it should have been aisle There was little to see for we flew north over Iceland, Greenland before going south over Canada. Nothing was really visible and we merely followed he dusk to land 6pm in LA. Virgin service was rather lacking in liquid on refreshment rounds. I managed little reading and reverted to the entertainment system. It is sophisticated but the in the classical..I watched two films. music is lacking. The selection is secular. No gospel nor oratorio. We were into LA on time. I foolishly declined a wheelchair offered when I had my stick. The immigration was very slow. Their electronic check in was inoperative. An official on hearing I had a connection make called a wheelchair and I was whisked through immigration, bag reclaim, customs and the long trek to the domestic terminal. There I asked for and got priority boarding on a full plane to Sacramento. It arrived early before Julie met me. She drove me to their new home where I could give Dennis my greeting at midnight. He is in pain, in bed but ever so pleased to see me. I have the top of the house to myself. Luxury to end my 29 hour long day. Fri 16 Feb Early morning colder than expected. Glad I brought a jumper.Up before Julie I see this house is more than twice the size of ours for much less than half the price. It is over a century old which ia ancient here where settlement in the modern era dates from the 1849 gold rush centred nearby..]I was up before the  family with Dennis then up, a pleasant surprise. Joanna cam and I met her four for the first time. They love the Cadbury's I brought. Toured the estate and shopped for some Virginian weed which I have started to enjoy on the verandah in the sun. 
   Julie tretedd us to er lasagne for supper and I met their two there daughters. Esther came with husband Christian, their baby Clementine and older sixth grade daughter too. Christian is an electricity line man. Abigail's husband Joshua has recently resined as a tenured chemistry professor in the south of this state. His family background is very unusual. Polish Jews who became Baptist and emigrated to Argentina to escape the Nazis. Julie presented me with a bottle of Graham's port, I gave to families Cadbury's chocolate, Old Peculier and IRC tea towels. So today I met six out of nine Roe grandchildren and the tenth is en route.


Sat 17 Feb
I have walked Libby, Anotolian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees cross - a shepherd guard dog. She is a real man size that one is proud to walk with. But she is more interested in sniffing than walking. Photos to follow.

Fims seen in February 2018

1. Victoria & Abdul (DVD) Judi Dench (Actor),‎ Ali Fazal (Actor),‎ Stephen Frears (Director) 

I have seen this criticised as pro-Islam. It is very positive on Islam and lacking in Christianity. Would Victoria start a banquet with no grace? This smacks of the secularism in Downton Abbey where they never showed grace said. I do not believe Victoria's death bed was so bereft of Christian prayer. The Munshi was a delight. His friend was so loyal to him too. The court and Bertie were so prejudiced and wicked. Dench and Izzard were very good. Great cinematography. Captivating story. Most enjoyable despite the Islam. Do women wear burkas outside of Afghanistan? A very human queen and never mad though lonely.

2. Viceroy's House Hugh Bonneville (Actor),‎ Gillian Anderson (Actor),‎ Gurinder Chadha 

This is too horrible a subject for pleasant entertainment. The horrors of partition. Bonneville and Anderson brilliant. He took his promotion from Downton well. The part suits him. I  think the romantic interest was an overdone sub-plot. The politics of it seem realistic. Mountbatten was betrayed by those he was sent o represent.

The changing world (43) Mar 76

Mar 1st  Kabwir to Mwari teachers’ meeting. To Jos via Kabwir and Vom. 

2nd        Bible School Committee in Jos. To Katy at Vom   .

3rd         Took Katy back to Langtang.

4th          Kabwir TEE teachers. Photographed grave of Rev Lloyd from Newport, pioneer Anglican there. I have a plate of Newport Castle which I presume he brought out.

5th         Langtang TEE teachers’ meeting. Sold many books. Dimka, murderer of Murtala apprehended.

6th         On Honda to Marti TEE via Boi. Tough ride. Back to Langtang.

7th         Brought American teachers to Hausa service. Preached in English in afternoon.

8th         Mban class in Zamko landrover on bad road. Given bananas and mangos.

9th         Tuttung class. Unusually not given food or drink. 

10th       Sabon Gida classs. Given yams and bananas. Greeted water driplers at Yelwa.

11th       Long journey to Bokkos class. Plateu cold and cloudy. Langtang hot and sticky. Theirty plotters executed in Lagos. The first relatives knew was seeing executions on TV.

12th       Bakin Rijiya, Was class. Katy upset at my many travels away.

13th       Road blocks still with soldiers saying it was a Plateau coup. Dimka was Ngas but exiled Gowon was accused and stripped of rank and pension. He did a PhD in Warwick, settled in N London and served as a church warden. Years later he was reinstated and the new Jos airport named in his honour.

14th       Once again brought the secondary teachers to Hausa service and translated for them

15th        Richa class then Daffo and Kwalla. Chat with Joyce McQuone at Panama,

16th       Daffo class. Slept in church vestry Tapshin. Heard Harold Wilson resigned from premier. No-One knew why but years later it was because he saw signs of the dementia which ran in the family. Later events proved him right. The last Labour leader I supported.

17th      Tapshin class. Very hospitable. Katy a bit easyer about my travels.

18th      Kurgwi class in Landrover.Carried yams back.

19th      Tafawa Balewa classs. Stayed with pastor who had been to the Emir of Bauchi with a dispute over butchers. They would be Muslims, the locals not. They are building a church with local stone not mud bricks. This is Sayawa country. They still resent the fact that the British put them under the Bauchi Hausa rulers.

20th   Bauchi class overnight  pastor’s home 

21st    Preached to mainly young people at Bauchi. Two lunches, one Nigerian, one European.

22nd   Mrai class on Honda. Then Kabwir where Katy and the children spend the weekend.

23rd    Bokkos class. Took family back to Langtang where the church convention has started.

24th    Class at Pie. Given a chicken. Selling books at convention. Ten to supper including Jill Joy, Peter clark, Keith Black, Bitrus Pam and Joseph Jibi.

25th   Took class at Kabwir.

26th   Kwalla  in landcover. Overnight  there after Bakin Ciyawa class.

27th   Kwalla class. Home to Langtang where convention has ended.

28th   Very tired in hot and sticky weather relieved a little by nearby rain.

29th   Mwari teachers. Still very tired. Stayed overnight.

30th  . Boi class. To Kabwir feeling weak. Stayed overnight.

31st    Home to longhand after Kabwir class and pleased with the arrival of a new fridge.