It's our anniversary!

Taken from Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet' the following was read by our good friend Richard Bradbury ('The Big Man') shortly after 3pm on this very day 5 years ago...

Then Almitra spoke again and said...
"And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:

You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together
when the white wings of death scatter your days.

Aye, you shall be together
even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread
but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together, yet not too near together.
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.


A fine day was had by all, but an even finer five years have flown by since - I love my wife!

Freedom for the captives?

At the moment, thanks to my friends at charliechikankata, I'm reading 'The Shackled Continent' - an enlightening if uncomfortable read. Recognising that Africa is the only continent to have grown poorer over the last three decades Robert Guest seeks to diagnose the sickness that conitnues to hobble Africa's development.

Geography, colonialism, poverty, AIDS and the prevelance of disease, power-thirsty tyrants, bad governance, poor aid, unfair, and iniquitous trade restrictions amongst other things are all examined and critiqued:

'[The] problem with blaming the legacy of colonialism for Africa's current woes is that it gives little clue as to how these woes could be ended. history, like geography, cannot be changed. Grieving for past wrongs is natural and human, but it can also provide an excuse for despair. If today's problems are the fault of the West, the obvious thing to do is demand that the West should solve them. The trouble with this approach is twofold. Firstly, today Westerners do not feel particularly guilty about the sins of dead people who happened to come from the same country. Secondly, efforts by rich countries to solve Africa's problems have, over the last few decades, been spectacularly unsuccessful. Put differently, countries that prosper tend to do so by their own efforts.'

Grieving for past wrongs is natural and human, but it can also provide an excuse for despair.

Having spent time in this wonderful continent and with many African friends I'm finding Guest's book a shockingly stark and painful book to read, but there are stories of hope as well. Uganda's success in curbing the spread of AIDS, Botswana's peaceful prosperity and the continent's economic engine, South Africa, avoiding a full-blown civil war.

Guest's own question is 'how can Africa keep pace with a world that won't slow down?'

[Funnily enough, as parents of two small boys who show no signs of 'slowing down' (or sleeping!) Lisa and I have been asking a similar question?!]

The unlikely hope of an 'impossible' peace?

A couple of things I've read today seem to be suggesting the same thing.

According to Charles Ringma:

'Hope can be born in the seemingly most impossible of situations. Hope does not need hopeful circumstances to raise a vision for a better future. Hope can be born in the most humble circumstances. It can spring up in the most unlikely places. And frequently, it is possessed by the most unlikely people. Hope frequently eludes the rich and powerful. It often makes it's home with the poor and needy'

While in Robert Guest's 'The Shackled Continent' I came across a story that adds surprising weight to Ringma's thoughts.

'In the early 1990s, two religious terrorists in Nigeria, Muhammad Ashafa and James Wuye, tried to have each other killed. It was during a burst of religious rioting for which Mr Ashafa blamed the Christian parliamentary group led by Mr Wuye, and Mr Wuye blamed Mr Ashafa' Muslim youth organisation. Christian assassins knocked on Mr Ashafa's door and killed the man who answered it. Their victim, as it happened, was Mr Ashafa's uncle. But they did not realize this. Meanwhile, Muslim assassins attacked Mr Wuye, hacked his arm off, and left him for dead.

Both men believed they had killed the other. When they later discovered that they had not, they took it as a sign from God that they should make peace. So they set up a joint charity to promote dialogue between Muslism and Christians. Now passionately committed to encouraging people of faith to live in harmony, Mr Wuye and Mr Ashafa are now the best of friends'(!).

An unlikely hope? Well, as likely as 'Christian assassins'!

The Good(est) News!

If the angel Gabriel had phoned himself it would not have been any more exciting than the call we got this week.

It's perhaps been a while since adjectives such as angelic and cherubic have been applied to my little brother - Weeman, but the lack of a heavenly choir or trumpeting seraphim did nothing to diminish the gospel he proclaimed!

Sometime at the start of December Joshua and Daniel are getting a cousin! And Lisa and I are getting our first neice or a nephew!
In other words, Simon and Katie are having a baby!! And we can't wait... largely because we want to see how the new arrival is accommodated in the back of an Alfa Romeo sportscar!

Transporting conundrums aside it's fair to say we're well excited!

[It looks like he or she has a touch of the Jonny Wilkinsons?!]

God's gift

'You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.'~Desmond Tutu

Well done Wee-man! (and Katie)

Mark Twain apparently reckoned marriage...

'Makes of two fractional lives a whole;
It gives to two purposeless lives a work
And doubles the strength of each to perform it
It gives to two questioning natures a reason for living,
And something to live for;
It will give a new gladness to the sunshine,
A new fragrance to the flowers,
A new beauty to the earth,
And a new mystery to life.'

Which is why we're really chuffed that today my brother (afore mentioned 'Weeman' a.k.a. Simon!) and his wife celebrate one year of 'purpose'!

The soundtrack of our lives!

Ask anyone (any parent that is!) and they'll tell you that having kids involves sacrifice. Some might say it's all about sacrifice, but that would be harsh! But whether it's your sleep, your money or your sanity I reckon little people (and I don't mean Oompah Loompahs?!) can seriously rob you of it all! But let me add, very quickly, it's all worth it!!

That said, one of the things that we don't seem to do as much (although Lisa will probably try to deny this!) now that we have two 'little people' is buy music. Not sheet music, but recorded music! Which means my wish-list grows by the day! Currently I'm fighting the temptation to 'invest' in some Bob Dylan, Ray LaMontagne and Rufus Wainwright!

Yet without knowing it, certainly without asking for it, it would appear our lives have acquired a new 'soundtrack'. Although far from original and not a little repetitive our household currently seems to be filled by 'Tears and Tantrums' the latest offering from the as yet undiscovered 'Joshua James'!

I'm left wondering (hoping?!) whether or not other parents of young children have a similar soundtrack endlessly looping, albeit by different artists?!

Legacy?

Will it be the conflict in Iraq or peace in Northern Ireland? How will Tony Blair be remembered? What will his 'legacy' be? It would seem that for some this question is becoming all-consuming - it's all about legacy!

Which I guess is a human enough concern - how will any of us be 'remembered'? What will we 'leave behind'? I would certainly admit to wondering from time to time what my 'legacy' might be as a parent, a husband, a friend or even as an Officer?

Which is why I was encouraged when I came across Oscar Romero's poem 'Prophets Of A Future Not Our Own' (after all Archbishop Romero's legacy was fairly weighty!)...


This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

I wonder if Tony has ever come across Mr Romero?

What's in a name?

Unfortunately 'Philo' and 'Thistle' didn't get a look in again, nor did Caleb (a definite possibility for a while) or Doren, but there's always next time(!). Actually I'm not sure there will be?!

Still, as with his brother before him, when considering the not insignificant responsibility of naming our son, we knew wanted a biblical name, ideally with a meaning we liked and a character that we admired and wouldn't mind our son emulating! Hence...

Daniel (of Hebrew origin) meaning: 'my judge is the Lord'.

We can only hope and pray that Daniel will come to share his namesakes' quiet convictions - I mean, he even had a song written about him...

Standing by a purpose true,
Heeding God’s command,
Honour them, the faithful few!
All hail to Daniel’s band!

Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known.

Many mighty men are lost
Daring not to stand,
Who for God had been a host
By joining Daniel’s band.

Many giants, great and tall,
Stalking through the land,
Headlong to the earth would fall,
If met by Daniel’s band.

Hold the Gospel banner high!
On to vict’ry grand!
Satan and his hosts defy,
And shout for Daniel’s band.


As for his middle name? Perhaps 'Thomas' isn't such an obviously positive choice. It's fair to say that people are less likely to readily acknowledge Thomas' positive attributes. I mean, he was a bit of a doubter wasn't he?!

Rather ironically (for a variety of reasons), even the night before Daniel was born we found ourselves literally doubting 'Thomas' was the name for us! But we reckon it is (Lisa certainly knew it was when I started suggesting Doren as an alternative - she's so square!). But we reckon it is because after all his mum and dad have been known to question a few things?!

The Thomas of the New Testament may have 'doubted', but his doubts had a purpose - he wanted to know the truth (and you can't knock him for that). His questioning was a way of responding to his own faith journey , but they weren't a way of life.

So, what's in a name? If his parents prayers are answered and our hopes realised then Daniel Thomas Hanover will grow as a boy and become a man known for his quiet, but steadfast convictions birthed from a healthy, inquiring faith. May God hear and answer prayer.

The Hanover Boys

Without doubt one of the highlights of the last few days was when Daniel and Joshua met for the first time.

It seemed that over the last week Joshua had somehow worked out that something was afoot. He’d recently started lifting Lisa’s tops (hopefully a pastime he’ll grow out of!) to pat her tummy saying ‘baby, baby!’ And then the morning after Daniel had been born (but not yet home) when he got up, Joshua made his way from his cot to the crib we’ve put up in our room to look in saying ‘baby? baby?’ Somehow he knew things were about to change!

So when he finally met Daniel, it’s fair to say Joshua was well excited! With his incessant mantra of 'baby, baby, baby!' and his insatiable need to get as close as brotherly possible, he’s been lovely ever since – really affectionate and intrigued by this new arrival. Whether the novelty will wear off when he realises Daniel’s here to stay and competing for scarce resources, only time will tell!

the diplomacy of midwifery?!

By her own admission, our midwife was rather 'backward in coming forward' to mention the fact that Daniel's hair shares the same shade of 'African Sunset' as his brother! At least they'll have company in the playground!

Just in time!

I think I’m right in thinking that Japanese car manufacturers coined the phrase ‘Just in Time’ to refer to one of their preferred methods of working. But it’s fair to say that the term could easily and accurately be applied to Daniel’s earthly arrival. (Other adjectives that I would readily use would be physical, violent, intense, bloody and horrific, but I wouldn’t want to put anyone off!!)

Anyway (just in time…) we arrived at the hospital a little after 2.15pm and he ‘popped out’ (this in no way describes the intensity of what had preceded his appearance!) at 3.06pm! I was mighty relieved we hadn’t left it any later – as is the passengers seat of our car?! Enough said!

Life-changing silence!

More often than not a blogging silence can be attributed to little more than a lack of focus, purpose or poor use of time, but this week things have been different. This week there's been a very real reason behind the silence…

…we’ve had another son!

Yep, a little earlier than expected Daniel Thomas Hanover entered the world on Friday 27th April at 3.06pm! For the ladies out there, he weighed in at 7lbs 1. For any metric ladies – 3.208kg!

And he is wonderful!