After three years absence, Nick Breakspear and his merry gang of tagalongs return with a serendipitous road trip entitled; “Spears into Secateurs”.
Where they’ve been, and what they saw is precisely what this crazy heaven-sent treasure hunt is all about. Presented over twelve shortish episodes in which the Breakspear crew follow a series of golden threads that mysteriously reveal the antidote to war!
Episode 1 – In the Beginning
Episode One introduces the first clue in this deeply cutting whodunnit — offered in the form of an ancient proverb
“It is the privilege of God to conceal a matter, but it is the privilege of Kings & Queens to search it out.”
But, why would the good Lord want to play hide and seek at such a precarious time in world history, especially as our delicate planet seesaws on the edge of annihilation!!! Well that’s the alluring invitation we extend to anyone who wants to tagalong and find out what on earth this is all about…
Knock, Knock… “Is anybody there?” cried the wild geese as they playfully flew overhead?
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 2 – Re-Learning His way
Here’s where our serendipitous journey really got started with an unusual gift … mysteriously left on the floor right outside my front gate. Little did any of us know when I picked up this curious looking item that it would become our guiding compass for the days ahead. Significantly it appeared just after we’d finished reminiscing about the “Shemitah” otherwise known as ‘the resting year of the Lord’ but more about that dreamy stuff in later episodes🕊️
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 3 – What’s in a name?
Everybody has a name … but where the name came from and what it means … not everybody knows.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 3 (Extra)
Whats in a name… good question? Here’s what my fellow travellers have to say.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 4 – Night visions in Oban
Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night and found yourself dazzled by a dreamy, yet troublesome vision, one that mysteriously carries on dreaming way beyond the cold light of day. Well, episode 4 gives us a tiny glimpse of what Nick saw when he was abruptly awakened from his slumbering by Dave’s relentless snoring. What began as a nocturnal inconvenience proved to be a Godsend, because it triggered a brace of night-visions that contained two songs …. adding even more mystery to there puzzling journey.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 5 – Unpacking the song
In this episode Nick and Dave are discussing those two cutting songs, Dave suggests that they might actually be one song. Nick says “Man I see things, but I don’t always know what I’m looking at… that’s why I need the Angel of the Lord to show me what I’m looking at?!”
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 6 – Every step a prayer
For Six days, Nick and Dave tramped around this dreamy isle.
Six days.
Every step a quest, to find the meaning, hidden within that cutting song.
Big thanks to all our fellow sojourners, especially (younger brother) David Woodman for contributing his prayerful-plea ‘Teach me your ways’.
It’s hard to believe he recorded this heartsong over two decades ago as it’s so relevant for today’s pilgrim. Along with Rachel Smith’s haunting violin solo on the Breakspear track ‘Soon.
All in all we have the reassuring sense that these songs and memories were created for such a stock taking time as this.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 7 – Lifting the Veil
Finally “D day” arrives = “D” for delivery of that cutting song. For sure it wasn’t what anyone expected. That’s why it’s going to take lots of quiet reflection to unveil “whatever it is.” As the forerunner song(below)suggests.
“If you can’t see it … then you can’t see it … until you can see it . It’s just the same as when you can’t hear. Something, someone else they are listening. Until you … you can hear it … for yourself. It’s your experience, that’s really what an experience it is. It’s yours and you cannot share it … only the stories about it. That’s why you can only hear and see it. Whatever it is … Whatever it is”
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 8 – Inquest over Breakfast
Episode 8 wraps up our latest Iona adventure, but not the bigger journey – that’s far from over. As the number 8 alluringly speaks of new beginnings. An alluring theme that continues in Episode 9 – when those pesky secateurs arrive back home?
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 9 – Secateurs Go Home
Two and a half years on from our surreal road trip to Iona … we thought it was time to reveal what happened to those mysterious secateurs, especially when they returned home with their dreamy message … that just carried on dreaming … into a glut of unexpected fruit.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 10 – Back to the Source
It’s been three months since those cutting secateurs arrived. High time, Nick and Dave got stuck into unpacking the evidence. Maybe it will lead us back to the SOURCE🤔.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 11 – The Unveiling
Little did we know, when we first set off on this serendipitous journey, that we would see the declaration made in episode one come true.
“WAR, WAR, WAR, everywhere WAR”, predicated by “Does the Creator have a plan for peace?”
In this penultimate episode we find ourselves on the verge of His gracious antidote that holds the good medicine, which has the ability to steer mankind away from annihilating itself.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Episode 12 is currently under construction and will be available ASAP. In the meantime check out what happened when we responded to an invitation to march to Gaza.
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
Cairo Reboot
(coming soon)
Is a short trailer—drawn from a much bigger story that happened on our recent trip to Egypt. More proof as if it was needed that “Every day is a school day!” Which suggests none of us are ever too old to learn. Even for old road-dogs like myself, who are still open to painting fresh pictures — of a totally different world from our present reality — with creative playmates who haven’t sold their souls to empires greedy cheeseburger.
Filmed and edited by Paul Sparkes
🕊️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🕊️
So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt?
Full explanation with video
So you wanna go back to Egypt? Not really! So, why did I board a flight to Cairo … six weeks ago? Why, because I wanted to join thousands of other caring internationals on the ‘Global March to Gaza’ a 50 kilometre trek from Al-ʿArīsh to the Rafah border crossing. The only weapon we carried was our unarmed presence.
Why?
To try and awaken the world to the heinous crime being committed against the population locked inside the Gaza Strip.
So what happened?
The march was crushed even before it started by the Israeli government, who leaned on the Egyptian government to prevent this peaceful demonstration from happening. (News article below)
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-857390#google_vignette
(N.B.The Global March to Gaza had no intention of entering the Gaza Strip. So why was this “March to Gaza” prevented from simply walking to Rafah.The answer was revealed four weeks later when Israel signed a $35 billion natural gas deal with Egypt.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/egypt-israel-gas
So what did we do?
Well, it was a strange turn of events, wall to wall confusion, security forces everywhere, people being arrested, some deported. Everything we had flown out here to do was now trashed. The organisers of ‘March to Gaza’ officially cancelled the event, advising would-be-marchers to become would-be-tourists for the rest of their stay. Although this news was deeply saddening to hear, it actually proved to be good safeguarding advice as we were foreign guests on someone else’s turf.
So we reluctantly “accepted”to stay and use our remaining time in Cairo as creatively as possible to tell a different story. So we took in the historical sights, museums, mosques, churches, synagogues, Pyramids including a sail on the legendary River Nile. These locations then became like symbolic transmitters on to which we offered up our heartbroken petitions to a far “HIGHER AUTHORITY”, just like biblical Moses did in his day for the slaves of Goshen. Despite the generations that have passed we are still praying justice and mercy for the millions of oppressed captives —this time caged inside the Gaza Strip.
One day we unexpectedly happened upon an ancient cave in downtown Cairo. This cave is where Joseph and Mary cared for the baby Jesus, after an angel told them to flee to Egypt from the land of promise, because an angry king wanted to kill all the children.
Ironically we were here — not where we had expected to be — but precisely where we needed to be to sing the now songs of freedom — written long ago. This time the proverbial Flip Flop/Boot was on an altogether different foot — singing loudly
LET MY PEOPLE (fellow humans) GO … PHARAOH!!!!
Soundtrack
First section “My Deliverer”by Rich Mullins 1998
Second section “Let my people go Pharaoh” Breakspear, Wanstall, Woodman 2004
Breakspear Inc. 