Thursday 20 March 2014

Spring Song


To day is the first day of Spring. It is not often you get to hear something beautiful for the first time on the first day of Spring.
The Finnish Composer Jean Sibelius wrote a Tone Poem called 'Spring Song' It tells of the coming of spring after the long cold yet magical Finnish winter The season of darkness passing and new hope coming just when the memories of Christmas begin to pass away.
Sibelius could write his country into his music ,you are there when you play his music and you feel like an eagle soaring over the forests and lakes watching people come alive. Finland is a land of the heart with a very hard language ,It is one of the few places where you can find peace and solitude and time to think . The Hill Country of Texas is another.
It has been over 40 years since I have been in Finland but somehow I have never forgotten it nor has the magic of the country died so to hear a piece of Sibelius lovely music for the first time has been superb and that same music I will listen to many times.

It made me think that if hearing a piece of music for the first time can have such a joyous effect what will it be like to see Jesus compared to whom all Sibelius music is trash as is everything else. There will be one day that first vision of the King of Kings who hung on a cross for me to save me from going to hell and to get me to His Fathers Kingdom.
Sibelius wrote some drop dead gorgeous heart grabbing music but imagine writing music to celebrate the first time you see Jesus and just kneel at his feet .He is the most beautiful symphony ever written. Maybe with "Spring Song" you can change it into your heart  not about the coming of a season but the King of Kings Jesus the Christ

Monday 17 March 2014

Home Star State

With the years ticking away I have been thinking where I would like to live in America. One picture sticks in my mind .In 2006 I was driving back to the house in Texas where I was staying and it was the most marvellous sunset . As I drove I could almost feel the place wrap itself around me like a loving mother. Bandera was small but had a lot going on. I had not met Stephanie but felt at home here. I had eaten in the OST and loved the décor then the food. The people I had seen were good folks a bit like Mayberry on the Andy Griffiths show.
In eight years things drastically changed and I am older and thankfully married to Stephanie. We could get a house in Montgomery and that would be nice but in your dreams you keep walking down to Bandera and the places round about her . There are snakes and fireants and scorpions but the people more than make up for that. There can be a shortage of water.
We have a big God who can do miracles like getting us a house in Tarplay, Utopia, Medina or Bandera or one of the villages round about.
I know two things after searching my heart - 1. I want to spend the rest of my life with Stephanie no matter how long or short that may be. 2. Texas just won't go away .I t has a Siren like quality and I felt safe thinking about it when it did not seem to happen. God has ways of making anything happen
Be practical, think carefully you are getting older and so on .The truth is you only get one life here on earth and it "ain't over till its over." We serve a miracle working God and may be he can let me hang up my Long rifle over the fireplace of a home in the Hill country. I know too that if I got called home first Stephanie would be in the place where her heart is. Being part of a community that cares and where everyone young or elderly contribute. Come lay your bones out in the Hill Country but it would be nice to enjoy life with my most wonderful wife and the scenery of the Texas Hill country for as long as the Lord allowed.

Saturday 8 February 2014

Repordem

As one who looks forward to living with his American wife in America in the not too distant future I thought I had better try to understand the politics of my future nation . I used to listen to Alastair Cooke -Letter from America and gained a lot from that but as far as I can see this is the way it is.
In UK there is basically no difference between the politicians so I am trying to understand the American party system .
There are Republicans and Democrats .The present occupant of the White House is Democrat but there have been Republican Presidents as well . So far so good .
The Democrats and the Republicans are different and there is an election due in 2016. No president can serve more than two terms. If I have read it right the next Democratic contender (why does it sound like a boxing match?) will be Mrs Clinton .If she is elected she will be the first lady President. Mr Clinton who has been president will be by her side except she gets to sit in the swing chair in the Oval Office and Mr Clinton will be there to advise her and tell her where everything is, which is useful. I think as an outsider that she will probably get elected for two reasons.

1 She is a lady. She will get a lot of the female vote. Unless the Republicans put forward a female candidate maybe someone like Sarah Palin. Now don't shoot me down I am looking in from the outside. Maybe that anyone who has had to govern a tough place like Alaska and do it with a smile can handle most things. So there is a possibility that my two reasons may get reduced to one.

2 My second reason for thinking that Mrs Clinton may get elected is that there is a third party.
The third Party is the Tea Party .Now the last time the Brits had this problem was when y'all threw our jolly nice tea into Boston Harbour . There was no milk or sugar added which as every Englishman knows is the way one drinks tea . From this iced tea was born. Though I would advise against drinking the water from Boston Harbour
 Anyway the Tea Party, it looks like to me will split the Republican Party vote. So whereas more people may vote for the Republican Party and The Tea Party combined the Democrats may get more votes for their party.This is where I start to get lost .

 If I was in America I would support either the Democrats,the Republicans ,or the Tea Party (I put them in Alphabetical Order not in order of preference)
I am still trying to understand The Electoral College which can swing the balance. There appear to be states that are only Democrat like California or States which are only Republican like Texas and there are swinging states which can go either way.  
I have a lot to learn but just think it could be worse, you could have an Emperor or dictator but that could not happen in America - could it ? Please take good care of my future country not just for me but for your children as well. I still Remember Mr Lincolns statement "that government of the people, for the people by the people should not perish from the face of the earth."



Saturday 11 January 2014

New Day Dawning

This is a picture of a new dawn at the start of a new day. Abba had a song "I have a dream a song to sing to help me cope with everything........" I long to live in America , it keeps coming back and coming back like a call .Jack London wrote the wonderful Classic "The Call of the Wild". America is like a call to the heart. As a foreigner I have the luxury of looking in .You as Americans understand all the political goings on. Though as an outsider I do not understand why the government feels it is unable to live by the rules it asks the people to live by?
I have to separate America form its government and think of the country and the people. The people are one of America's great strengths. They are the kind of people you can get along side. Yes there are bad guys and girls and whackos but the real American is inspirational, they love their land and when there is danger close ranks .It does not seem to matter whether you are Black, White, Hispanic Chinese - you are American no matter how diverse the background ."My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty of thee I sing ...let freedom ring." Now I LOVE freedom. Yes there are differences but not irreconcilable differences. You can still be Americans while sorting these out. The pride of statehood is also good , Texan, Virginian, Alaskan, Iowan. Okay sometimes you think the civil war is still going on in more than books . I did a version of Pickett's Charge from Gettysburg in one of my novel  The Scent of Home but even in writing that the sense of both sides trying to fight for what was right caught me up and I had to restrain my hero from joining one of Pickett's brigades. I dedicated the book to their memory.
I want to get a house in America and try and contribute to the community into which God leads us. You may say "He doesn't know the reality he is idealistic." Wait wasn't America built by idealists and people of vision ,something to believe in? These Visionaries were able to pass it on to the next generation .This caused people to move out from the original 13 colonies to right across the land as far as California and Hawaii and Alaska. If I am an idealist I will be in good company.
 My stepson Major Luke Parker USMC inspired me by his faith and character - now there is a guy I would have followed into battle. My Lord, Luke loved his country .I have had some good examples of Americans -yes the other kind exist but if you find a mouldy loaf in a bakery do you throw out the contents of the whole shop?
 One day I will die and be buried I hope it is in America and I hope it is in an America that I have helped support and build and backed -then I can get to Heaven knowing that I have done what God put in my heart to do - I wonder if basic training for the Marines in Heaven is as tough as it is down here -I have this picture of A marine drill Sgt with Angels wings - now if that is not idealism I do not know what is.