Bamboo in the Wind - Dhulikhel, Nepal

The drawing is a Dhulikhel Mountain range visible through Bamboo bent over in the wind, based on a  photo taken from the balcony of my bedroom. It is  a drawing in Oil Pastel.  I have included the Instagram picture as a comparison (enhanced by Snapseed app on the i-phone).  The Oil Pastel drawing I have given to Simon a Korean Colleague as a momento.

We were in beautiful Dhulikhel, Nepal for a gathering of CMS people from all over Asia,  about 70 in all. It was a splendid occasion, full of encouragement, as people shared their stories. We had an AsiaCMS board meeting at the beginning and then the Trustees stayed on to meet the people-in-mission (PiM).  We heard from KangSan and Francis about their vision for the future. Vinod lead the bible studies on (modern) Parables of the Kingdom.   There were inspirational dramas based on the personal  stories shared.  Plus visits to local churches and projects. Good food.  And lots of time to talk and chat and catch up.   I led a day training at the end on Samaritan Strategy.  There was a camp fire and cultural evening and the Asia PiM all said farewell to the 3 musketeers: Adrian,  John and myself. It ended in dancing the conga !

The views from Dhulikhel were stunning when the clouds lifted

I came across this poem which combines Bamboo, Wind and Mountain. I'm not sure if Dhulikhel held any such romantic notions for any of the participants.  We'll just wait and see!

The Mountain and the Wind

The mountain stands
The wind plays with her
Leaving her treetops in disarray
The wind moves on, unaware
Of the rustling gossips
Of him and her.

The mountain stands
The wind serenades her
A sighing song among the leaves
The wind moves on, unaware
Of the thousand songs he gave
Echoing in the bamboo grove of her heart.

The mountain stands
The wind dances around her
A waltz, a tango one eventide
The wind moves on, unaware
Of the face he left behind
Carved forever in her heart. 

Angelina Pandian

And here is my attempt at a Haiku poem (5-7-5 stucture) after Matsuo Basho

The Wind blows silent,
As Mountain Peaks through Bamboo,
A prayer is spoken.

trax 16 from greenbelt

trax16 podcast 01 September at 16:53 Report

the final trax16 podcast is from greenbelt festival, 2009. join mike, dave and anita as they look back over the life of trax16, remembering some unforgettable moments on the podcast, alongside hearing from some of the top people appearing at greenbelt this year.

gene robinson, the first openly gay bishop of new hampshire, usa gives us a lot to think over and talks about his early youth worker days. we also catch up with rob bell – pastor of mars hill church in grand rapids, michigan usa – and the man behind the nooma dvds.

thank you for your support over the last 3½ years. if you want to download any old podcasts, go to www.trax16.com. thanks for listening!

Worth Listening to for a more youthful perspective on Greenbelt

Occupation - drama in Iraq

It's a while back now, but I was gripped by the BBC 3-part drama Occupation, about British troops in Iraq. It focuses on the lives of 3 British soldiers in Basra from 2003 to the present.

They all return to Iraq for different reasons, for love, for money, for humanitarian reasons - to rebuild the country.  

 

It is a powerful, gritty drama, tense and complex. There are no clear lines between  'gooddies' and 'baddies', but motives as always are mixed. And the horror and mess of war and the powerlessness to actually change things all comes across.

And I suppose it made the conflict more real for me than the snippets of news on TV over the years  about suicide bombings and unexploded ordinance and a ever rising total of deaths.  And it is not one-sided. There is a lot about the struggle of the Iraqi people who do not have the get-out-clause of a ticket home. 

The Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian poem  ('the world's oldest known epic') is quoted twice:  by an Iraqi woman Doctor to her soldier lover and at a funeral. This story-poem frames the whole drama as a sort of motif. 

"Gilgamesh, what you seek you will never find. For when the Gods created man they let death be his lot, eternal life they withheld. Let your every day be full of joy, love the child that holds your hand, let your wife delight in your embrace, for these alone are the concerns of humanity." 

OCCUPATION is still available to view on BBC  i-player   You can watch the trailer on YouTube  and read a review on Times Online