Pictures from Israel

While I have a few minutes of free wi-fi, let me upload some pictures. See them here.

My Wifey's birthday

Tomorrow (28th) is my Natalie's birthday. We will also be boarding the plane to go to Israel and Jordan for 2 weeks.

If you'd like, you can send her a message on Facebook. I know she'll appreciate it.

Happy Birthday Love!

My new toy

My new Nokia E71. A great gadget. Now I just have to wait for the battery to charge for 16 hours.

Mamma mia!

Instead of going to the ordination service, I went to watch Mamma Mia! and discovered the difference between Bloemfontein and Pretoria.

 

In Bloem people sing along in the movies.

 

Ag, dis lekker!

Quote of the day

"Church is Jesus with a group of people around him...moving somewhere...in order to change the world." - Dr. Peter Storey

Conference

The Conference of the MCSA is in session. It is a time of deliberations, debate and a time that I always look forward to. Bloemfontein is a beautiful venue and it is wonderful to hear the Afrikaans accent which is particular to this region.

 

We arrived last night only to find that our accommodation had been cancelled. The local committee did not confirm their booking and so the hotel gave the rooms away. That left us a bit stuck. By 8pm last night we managed to find a guesthouse, which turns out to be a much better arrangement than what the church tried to provide.

 

I am sharing a room with Peter Witbooi. The room has two single beds that are pushed together. The room is too small to seperate the beds, so I had to ask my wife's permission to "share" a bed with a bishop-elect.

 

I'll post some photos as the day goes on.

The Glen Methodist Church site

If you Googled The Glen Methodist Church, please click here to be redirected to the Glen's official blog.

A bit of a disasterous birthday party

We held Matthew's birthday party today at the church. He first went to Kim's party (she was born the day before him - the tenth) and then they both came over to the church to party some more. Matt had his Superman suit on aand was enjoying himself immensely.

I carried food around between the church kitchen and the tables where all the people were sitting. As I walked over, I heard a child crying, but did not make to much of it. Then I heard that this was a really "Ouch" kind of cry and walked over to the jumping castle to investigate. Out popped Marco (Natalie's cousin) with little Damen in his arms. I immediately saw that his arm was broken as it was flopping loosely all over the place. Ethan and Damen's mom quickly dropped them off in order to take her mom to a doctor. No-one had her number, so Marco and I jumped in the car and rushed little Damen to hospital. Natalie eventually got hold of Damen's mom who then met us at hospital. It turned out that Damen broke his arm just above the elbow socket. The whole front part of the arm then twisted almost 180 degrees and then pressed back.

Damen went onto surgery at 6pm. They had to put in 3 screws which will have to be checked in a weeks time and then removed in about 6 weeks.

Obviously we feel terrible about the whole event. Please pray for little Damen that he will recover quickly. He is such a brave little boy. Matt decided to pray a special prayer for Damen and told God how to fix his arm.

Lastly, happy birthday Matt. Sorry I missed most of your party. I know you understand.

11 September

It's Matt's birthday! He turns 5! I cannot help but think of that day when our world was filled with a new life and then almost collapsed. Thank you Lord for this beautiful life. Here is a then and now photo.

Dancing with giants

Dancing with giants is a risky business. They might just get bored with you and with one step it's over.

Tonight I presented a paper at the Theological Society entitled "Who's truth will set us free?". It is the chapter which will appear in our soon to be published book. I read the title, looked around and noticed that the people listening were all people who's textbooks and studyguides I read as a student. And now I was tackling the issue of our perception of truth!!!! C'mon!!!! Klaus Nurnberger, Neville Richardson, Louise Kretzschmar, Conrad Wethmar, Ettiene de Villiers, the list goes on of well-known professors who really did not need to listen to my interpretation of our misconceptions.

But I was greatly honoured by their gracious interaction with my thinking. At least they did not just listen to the paper and keep quiet. A dynamic discussion ensued and I felt like I was given another chance.

I must say that I love this environment. Let me say it again: I LOVE IT! I hope the feeling will be the same the day my paper is ripped to shreds.

Hayibo - ANC, with 15 million votes and new warships, frightened by cartoon

Another little article from Hayibo.com


Hayibo - ANC, with 15 million votes and new warships, frightened by cartoon

PRETORIA. Party insiders have confirmed that despite having a guaranteed two-thirds majority in the next election, the entire GDP at its disposal, R30-billion worth of high-tech weaponry, and complete control of the national broadcaster, the ANC has been "badly frightened" by a controversial cartoon by Jonathan Shapiro depicting the rape of South Africa's justice system by Jacob Zuma.

The cartoon appeared over the weekend in the Sunday Times and immediately unleashed a storm of activity at the ANC's headquarters in Luthuli House, where an alert level of 'Mshini Wami 4' was declared.

It was the first time Luthuli House has gone to 'Mshini Wami 4', the previous highest being 'Mshini Wami 2', declared in 2006 after Zuma had his account with Amazon.com suspended over late payment for a consignment of books which included the collected works of Freud and an illustrated beginner's guide to the work of Germaine Greer.

Addressing the Luthuli House press corps this morning, party spokesman Doughnut Phiri said that Shapiro needed to be "eliminated, destroyed or killed, both literally and/or metaphorically and/or metaphysically, or whichever one we are allowed to do by the Human Rights Commission".

Asked why the ANC and its allies had chosen to present an outraged united front against a solitary cartoonist rather than against Aids, crime, or the abuse of women, Phiri said that Shapiro was "more dangerous than Aids, criminals and women combined".

He declined to explain how this was the case, but said it was "logical to everyone but racists and counterrevolutionaries".

He added that the state could still decide to pursue Shapiro "with everything at its disposal".

This included four corvettes, one manned submarine and two unmanned submarines on bricks, six Swedish fighter jets flown by pilots leased from the Botswana Air Force, an oral poet named SlamSista Mzanzi, 15 million loyal voters, and a slightly soiled copy of the Constitution.

Shapiro could not be reached for comment this morning as he is currently in New York attending a United Nations-sponsored conference called 'South African Leadership: An Oxymoron For Our Times'.

Camping gear

I heard this advert on the radio and I had to listen out for it again. The voice said: "Coleman: Camping gear inspired by nature". The actor's accent made it sound like "Coleman: Camping gear inspired by Nietzsche". And so I thought, what would Nietzsche say about camping? Here are some ideas:

Concerning using a compass:
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

Bad directions on a map:
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you”

A leaking tent in the middle of a storm:
“Amor Fati – “Love Your Fate”, which is in fact your life.”

Running out of toilet paper in the middle of a hike:
“One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.”

Good boots:
“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”

Camp food poisoning:
“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”

Reading a GPS:
"There are no facts, only interpretations."

On gadgets:
"It will break. Live with it" - paraphrase

On self:
"Get over it" - paraphrase

Just a few thoughts. Can you add more?

Fat cats

This story just in from www.hayibo.com:

Mboweni "open to third term" after 28 percent pay rise

PRETORIA. Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has confirmed that he is open to serving a third term after he received a 28 percent pay rise this year. Mboweni's salary is now reportedly R3.8 million a year, or roughly equivalent to what a teacher earns in 27 years and a police constable in 40. "It's a dirty job," he said, "but someone's got to step up and take one for the team."

"Or take 3.8 million ones for the team, as the case may be."

Speaking to journalists this morning in Pretoria, Mboweni said that had not yet made a final decision over his future but would make an announcement once he had carefully considered his options.

It is believed most of his options are stock options in BEE companies with government contracts to build, demolish and rebuild public toilets in the Karoo.

Mboweni conceded that he had sometimes got tired of earning his previous salary, which was R2.9 million a year, and had at times yearned to "just be an ordinary Member of Parliament, spending weekends throwing empty whisky bottles over the wall, shredding wire-tap transcripts and doing donuts in my Beemer".

However he said that he had stayed on in the job out of a sense of duty, and because nobody else in the country, or indeed the world, could do what he did.

"Being Governor of the Reserve Bank is incredibly complicated," he said. "But fortunately I am almost supernaturally clever.

"Anyone other than myself who tried to do this would die instantaneously.

"They would whimper and then their heads would explode."

Asked why inflation was running at 12 percent while he was being paid R3.8 million a year to keep it between 3 and 6 percent, he explained that "numerous forces were at work".

He named these as "the Americans – both the superpower and the Cape Flats gang – oil, wheat, Helen Zille, the big machine they're building under Alaska that can control the weather, Helen Zille, malaria, space chimps, and obviously Helen Zille".

He also used the opportunity to announce that he would no longer be referring to himself as part of South African society in future statements.

"I cannot in good conscience continue to say things like 'We must all strive to tighten our belts as we face some severe economic challenges'," he said.

"I need to be honest with myself and with you, and let you know that from now on, you're on your own.

"So to recap: you need to tighten your belts, and you need to face some severe economic challenges, while I bathe in dachshund milk and have my scalp Botoxed."

The press conference ended on a sour note when one journalist asked him if he was turning into a fat cat.

A furious Mboweni denied that he was fat, insisting that he was "just big-boned" before storming out.

Broken arms, sick family and looking forward to the Promised Land.

It turned out that Nathan indeed broke his arm. A nice greenstick fracture running up the whole of his forearm. Doc suggested that we do not put a cast on as the break is nicely aligned and should heal within 2-3 weeks. Dion, that is the difference between a 21 month old and a 30 something ;-). As for the rest of the family, we all have to contend with the change-of-season illnesses. The rain always seems to sort than out.

In three weeks time, Natalie and I will be joining a group touring Israel and Jordan. Our visas are sorted, our money is coming loose and I am already wondering how I'm going to cope without my boys. I'm sure I'll miss them more than what they will miss me. If anyone has advice to share on internet connectivity abroad, please let me know. It seems like the interweb is very expensive in Israel. I'll be taking my Mac and hopefully I'll be able to upgrade my phone to either a Nokia E90 or E71.

Gotta run. E.W.A. Spring Tea.

Progress

Well, I'm feeling better. Tummy still sore, but I'll live. Matt is now ill with broncitis, Nathan almost broke his arm and Natalie has the sniffles. Now it's my turn to doctor them. Please pray for my family.

Good news: I got my Learner's license today. It was by grace, as I forgot to do 1 section of the paper. The marker graciously handed my script back and told me to finish the exam.

Phew!

Any case, let me run and do my rounds.