Some humour

During the past two weeks the following happened:

1. On the first day of school a little boy walked into his Grade 1
class, looked at all the children, and said: "Hello, all you infidels!"

2. At Sunday school this past Sunday the 5 year old's were taught the
difference between wisdom and knowledge. The teacher asked: "Can
anyone here tell me what it means to be wise?". A little boy
replied: "You are wise if you know when to keep your mouth shut when
there's a woman in the house"

Thought this was worth blogging.

Matt's first day at school

I won't say too much, except that we are very proud of Matt today. Enjoy the photos.

Taking God out of the Church

It is interesting how we start seeing patterns. Coincidentally my friend Pete Grassow (www.rockinthegrass.blogspot.com) wrote about his experience outside the church buildings which resonates with a piece I wrote this morning for my book of Lenten devotions. The piece I wrote is based on the healing of Simon's mother (Mark 1:29-34).

The thing that struck me is that Jesus left the synagogue and went to Peter's house. I assume that Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James and John went to the synagogue to worship and that Simon invited Jesus over after worship. It is here that Jesus encountered Simon's mom-in-law and healed her. The thought struck me (with the help of the Interpreter's Bible) that we so often leave God at the place of worship. What would happen if we, like Simon, invited Jesus to our homes or our places of work? Will we be surprised to see that Jesus enters these places and touches the people who need Him most? (I am tempted to play the mother-in-law line here, but I will refrain).

I hope your day is filled with the assurance that God did not stay behind at your quiet time this morning, and neither did God remain at church. God is with us. I will be chewing on this one a bit further today. Please share your thoughts.

Vodacom, E220, Windows 7

It turns out that if you have a Vodacom E220 usb dongle, running on a
pc with Windows 7, then you might experience some difficulties with
your internet connection. Turns out that the Windows Updates corrupt
the drivers for the dongle, so this is what I have had to do with
another person's computer (I run Mac, which is a Latinese word for
"no problems").

1. Do a system restore on your computer to before the critical
updates were installed.
2. Make sure all Vodacom programmes have been uninstalled on the PC
and disable and uncheck all the Windows Automatic Update boxes
3. Use another computer to download the newest firmware update and
software for Windows XP. To do this, do the following:
3.1 Take the simcard out of the dongle
3.2 Go to www.vodacom.co.za, Services, Broadband, Downloads, pick
the correct file for download
3.3 Insert the sim-less dongle and run the files
3.4 Unplug dongle and insert sim
4. Plug dongle into the Windows 7 pc and follow the prompts
5. IT WORKS!!!

ps. I don't take any responsibility for any loss or damage to files,
hardware or software if you follow this advice. This purely worked on
this computer because it did not have important documents on it.

SHORTCUT: Buy a Mac

Sabbath and rest

How do you rest? What is your understanding of a time of rest?

A friend and colleague of mine, Schalk Pienaar said something the other day which made me think about the way I rest. Schalk told us that our times of rest should not be there as the time to collapse after we exhausted ourselves by over-committing. Times of rest should be used as moments where we get ready for work that lies ahead.

Think about this for a bit. It impacts on the way we see work, the way in which we commit ourselves to opportunities. If we simply commit, we will work, not being able to wait for that moment were we can simply space-out. This kind of rest is seldom effective. If we use times of rest to gain strength, prepare our spirits and our minds, then work becomes the blessing in which we pace ourselves, and could actually find ourselves being fulfilled by that which keeps us busy.

This past year, 2009, is the first year that I did not write any exams. Usually December is a time to collapse. This year I collapsed for a day or two, but then started to take care of myself and my family. While doing this, I actively spent time getting my spirit and mind in gear for the year which lies ahead. no, I did not plan the year nor did I do anything that can be classified as work. I simply prayed, surrendering things to God. It has been a time of saying: "Lord,..... is yours. I trust that you will let me know how to manage it". I did this with all kinds of things: my health, my family, my work relationships, projects that I know I will have to face". and each time a simple message returned. It said "Take each day as it comes. Do what you can, but don't panic if you do not finish what you set out to do. There may be a next day."

I moved my day-off to a Friday now and hope that this will not be a day of collapse, as Mondays always turned out to be, but rather times of refreshing and renewal.
I enter 2010 feeling ready, rested and relaxed. I pray that this will be the year of good news.