hand-knitted squares by over 130 people,
including 50 boys. These blankets are
destined for the Hamlin Fistula Hospital
in Addis Ababa, and the transport will be
provided free by Intergrow Marketing,
Mainfreight and Emirates Airline. When
I think of the generosity of spirit of so
many people, and the commitment to
serve needy others that has gone into this
project, I am truly amazed. I could say
speechless, but I now have a word to use
thanks to Edward in Yr 1 - and I can say
that this project is truly Goddish!
Goddish applies to a number of happenings
since the last Kingsway: the baptism of
12 people; the donations of $1800 to the
Hearing House and $7000 to Kidz First
Hospital in Middlemore; the collection of
130 pairs of good second-hand soccer and
rugby boots for children in Vanuatu; and it
could even apply to a hall of boys clapping
Oracle as it crossed the line in the final race!
Good and Goddish things surround us
every day, but we don’t always see them,
and so they pass by unnoticed. I want
to end with a good observation that
came to light in the recent spring-clean
of my office. It was written by Henry
Ward Beecher:
“If any one should ever give me a dish of
sand and tell me there were particles of iron
in it, I might look for them with my eyes and
search for them with clumsy fingers and
be unable to detect them; but let me take
a magnet and sweep through it and now
would it draw to itself the almost invisible
particles by the mere power of attraction.
The unthankful heart, like my finger in
the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the
thankful heart sweep through the day and
as the magnet finds the iron, so will it find,
in every hour, some heavenly blessings, only
the iron in God’s sand is gold!”
May we sweep the day’s sand with
thankful hearts and see the beauty of
those around us, and the presence of God
in this community. Wouldn’t that be a
Goddish thing to do?
WIshing you well in the run up to the end
of the year.
Fr John Goodwin
Chaplain
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