Pictures of me 10 and 20 years ago... BOY, I was young (and reckless)

Steve tagged me with a 10-20-30 meme (Steve, sorry to take so long to do anything about it! It'll be posted here soon).

So, last night I though, rather than just putting up text about what I was doing 10, 20, and 30 years ago I would try to find a few photographs. I couldn't really find any that related specifically to my life in October / November of 1977, 1987, and 1997, but I did find a few photographs from periods inbetween. I thought they may be a bit of a hoot.

Let's go all the way back! This photo was taken around 1986 I was 14 or 15 and already a REAL problem child! My parents had their own parking space at the local police station, I could identify most banned substances by smell, taste or proximity, and... well say no more, except that I was the child you warned your kids about...

The picture below was one with my school friends, Graham, John, myself, and Neil. This was our highschool band, probably taken in 1985 or so. We played at school 'discos', some pubs etc. It was a lot of fun... We got up to some mischief. Look at those skin tight jeans!? Heck, how things have changed!


This picture was taken a few years later. I had come to faith in Christ. I will write more about that in the 10-20-3o post. That even was truly the most significant event in my life. However, in this picture I was an undergraduate student (as you can see by the hair!) Our band was called 'The Rockets' (I think) we had a lot of fun, but we sounded awful!!


This next picture was taken during my stint in the army. My nickname was 'Prophet' because I was always trying to tell people what God's will was for change and transformation.... Nothing much has changed! I ran a campaign called "I'd rather have a shovel" - I tried to convince my fellow troops, and commanding officers, that I could do a lot more good with a shovel than a gun... "Send me into the township with a shovel, and I'll plant trees". They didn't like me much in the army. The security police visited my parents and questioned my brother since I was a member of the United Democratic Front (a grouping of policital parties like the ANC, IFP, and PAC that were banned in South Africa at that stage). If I had the courage I should rather have gone to jail than go to the army... At that stage all white males in South Africa had to do 2 years of military service, if you refused to go you would be jailed for between 4 to 6 years. But I didn't have the courage to match my conviction... Quite sad really. So these kind of antics were my 'small' protest to the apartheid military system... I should have done more.


This picture was taken in my first year in ministry (1991), see if you can spot me... I am the 'little head' in the back row on the right, behind a young and thin Paul Verryn (count 3 heads from the right for Paul, I am the next head along) - I was staying with him in Soweto at that stage. Those were heady times! I learned a lot about society, culture, and justice in those years.


This next one shows me in Carletonville / Fochville in the North West (or is that Gauteng) province? I was invited by the Mayor to do a prayer for a new set of buildings the outgoing town council had erected in an attempt to spend the money from the previous 'white' authority, so that there would be no money left when the multiracial authority took over the following year. They asked me because I was young and English, and so they thought it would placate the new black members of council. In my little talk I asked questions about the money, where it had gone, how it was spent, and whether the community had a say in it. My prayer was a prayer of repentance for injustice. I was not invited back....

Shortly after this I was moved to Grahamstown where I continued my studies doing an Honours and Masters degree before leaving Grahamstown for a post in Cape Town.

I'm sorry for the quality of the photos, some of them are OLD!

[Pic] Bike Helmet Protects Child From Helmet-Inspired Beating...

ha ha! This is hilarious! I love 'the onion', they have quite a wacky outlook on the news!

I had a few beatings in my childhood inspired by clothes, haircuts, and antics, that my family put me up to... How about you?

The headline (and benign picture) in this post come from the onion print edition.

The power of money! What hold does it have on you?

Money is a very powerful thing.  People die, and kill, for it (or the lack of it) each and every day...

Most people are unaware how much hold their money has over them.  We live as if we are truly free, yet for so many of us our decisions and lives are shaped by the decisions we make about money:

- what career will I follow?

- where do I choose to live?

- will I make it to the end of the month before the end of the money?

If you want to see how powerful money is, simply ask someone to tell you how much they earn... If they're silenced by your question, it is likely that they, like most of us, have been overpowered by money.

I am quite skeptical of pastors and churches that 'force' their members to tithe on their income (i.e., give a 10% of their earnings) by promising them that this sacrifice will bring blessing.  However, there is a faith principle contained in this practice...  The principle is not that God will bless you for giving God (the one who has no need for money) 10% of your income...  Sadly most of those Churches and Pastors are not using the money they get for the work of God!

However, the value of the principle of generous giving is that it forces me give away something that has a hold over me, without the hope of receiving anything in return.  Each time I give I find a bit more freedom.

And, of course, anything that has that much power over me must be subjected to the rule and authority of Christ - after all, he is not only my Saviour, he is my Lord!

As a minister I have had to make many choices that would seem counterintuitive in a consumer society... Today I was faced with a choice to earn more money to do something different to what I am doing now...  When my first thoughts turned to what I could get out of it I realised that this choice could not be made without prayer, and careful discernment.  Today I was reminded that I am controlled by money.  I don't want to be - I want only to be controlled by what will help to achieve God's mission of healing and transformation in the world.

Please pray for me.

What Americans think of the South African K53 drivers license test - it's nothing less than insane!

This report was posted by the famed 'cranky geek' journalist John C. Dvorak on his blog.  I have long felt that the K53 test is just over the top... No wonder people choose to buy a FAKE license!

Here's the post:

Cullen is a South African driving instructor. You would drink, too. His job is to teach people how to pass the driver?s-license examination, a trial of the country?s famed K-53 Method of defensive driving. Herein lies a problem, for the K-53 Method resembles normal driving about as much as Eminem resembles the late Perry Como.

Securing a driver?s license here is not as simple as passing the K-53, which is not simple at all. It also requires that one apply for the license, a bureaucratic process so daunting that it literally triggered riots this year. It necessitates eye examinations before applying for a license and before the road test - and all over again, should one fail. It often demands that one game the driving examiner, who may wish to flunk the hapless applicant in order to meet the day?s failure quota.

It is helpful to learn South Africa?s extensive and sometimes charming traffic code, which rates children from ages 6 to 13 as one-third of a passenger and includes a road sign that depicts a stick-figure man astride an ostrich.

Based on Britain?s national driving exam, the K-53 effectively requires an applicant to imagine that he is driving a live Claymore mine under assault by guerrillas in bumper cars. The handbrake must be silently engaged at all stops (ratchet-clicking is strictly forbidden) and all mirrors must be checked every seven seconds. Points are deducted for glancing at the gearshift, driving too slow, failing to ensure that headlamps and tail lamps are securely attached, failing to check the pressure on the clutch pedal, failing to look beneath the car for leaks and several dozen other sins.

Technorati tags: South Africa, License, test, crazy

Exclusive video! Ninja parade slips through town (unnoticed) again... Maybe we'll see them next year.

Here's an exclusive video showing a Ninja parade slipping through town again...  This was shot in Modesta California.  Watch carefully!


Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

Miss it!? Amazing aren't they!!? Well, maybe next year....

Technoratti tags: ninja, parade, unseen

Losing my religion... More and more people are doing the same.

If you were old enough to listen to contemporary music in the 1990's you'll remember the REM song "losing my religion".  The phrase actually comes from the American South where it is used to refer to being at the end of one's wits (usually it is associated with having lost the love of a significant person).

However, it would seem that all of America is starting to loose it's religion.  Recent research has shown that around 12% of Americans now consider themselves without any faith at all, that is up from 8% ten years ago.

The image in this post shows the changes in statistics... However, if you would notice they key points out '*Percent atheists, agnostic, or no religion'.  I am not sure that this accurately describes and emergent generations approach to faith. 

First, I think that there are many sincere Christ followers (in America in particular) who would rather have nothing to do with a religion held by it's President who sanctions war in its name, exploits the poor, plunders the environment, yet prays on Sunday.  Sadly George W Bush is a Methodist - if it were not for saintly America Methodists (among them Stanely Hauerwas), I would long have given up on United Methodism!  Sadly, the same can be said for almost every single denomination throughout the world (mine included!)  Heck, I am part of the problem!

Second, however, I think that statistics such as this do show us that we need to find news ways to SERVE people with the faith that we all need!  I think that as society changes we need to be ahead of that change, finding ways of taking ministry to where people have needs, not JUST asking people to bring their needs to where we can offer ministry!

Can you see the paradigm shift I am talking about?  One says "where do you have need, let us bring wholeness to you there".  The other says "we have wholeness here, bring your needs to us."  

Third, I think that measuring the effectiveness of any faith by numbers is dangerous business!  Just consider this for a moment - would you say that 12 people are less effective than billions today?  Well, if it was not for the effectiveness of the One (Jesus) and his remaining eleven disciples the billions would not be here today!  Churches that measure their effectiveness by seating capacity are measuring the wrong thing!  We should be measuring our depth, not our breadth.  We should be seeing what difference we are making to this world, not how many people are entertained in our services!

Last, I don't mind if people loose their religion, myself included.  In fact I quite often pray that God would release me from religion and free me to live a life of faith!  I don't want structures that bind, symbols that mislead, and communities that more concerned about sustaining themselves and their image in society!  I want to be part of something that is alive, flexible, life giving, life changing...

So, perhaps we need to embrace the loss of religion and find ways to discover and embrace faith.

Just by the way, we must not think that this will not happen in South Africa!  It has already begun.  Those of you who have children or grandchildren in primary school, just ask how many of your child or grandchild's peers go to Church...  Not many....  That means that their parents (even if they are people of faith) have lost their religion...  These will grow up thinking that Church is something strange and antiquated...

Technorati tags: religion, secularism, faith, spirituality, South Africa

Listen to Radio Pulpit on your cell phone anywhere in the world (no radio required)!

Many people have missed listening to Radio Pulpit, the Christian radio station, since it has moved from FM to AM here in South Africa.

Well, now you can listen to Radio Pulpit from anywhere in the world on your cell phone!  And no, you don't need a cell phone that has a built in radio.  Simply follow the instructions on the Radio Pulpit website and get set up!

Of course you can also listen via streaming audio on the internet.

I shall be on air again at 9am tomorrow (Wednesday, GMT+2).

Tell me about myself please!

My friend Wes posted these questions on his blog.

I'd love to hear what you think, or know about me.

1. Where did we meet:

2. Take a stab at my middle name:

3. How long have you known me:

4. Do I smoke:

5. What was your first impression of me upon meeting:

6. Colour of my eyes:

7. Do I have any siblings:

8. What's one of my favourite things to do:

9. Do you remember one of the first things I said to
you:

10. What's my favourite type of music:

11. What is the best feature about me:

12. Am I shy or outgoing:

13. Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules:

14. What's your favourite memory of me:

15. Any special talents:

16. Would you consider me a friend:

17. How many children do I have:

18. If there was one good nickname for me,what would it
be:

19. If you and i were deserted on an island, what would
I bring?

Thanks! D

Etymology of your faith... What do you put before God?

Sadly, I put many things before God.

I do it because I am sinful and weak.

I wish I wasn't.

Don't ever put 'the' before God.

Just a thought....

For the geeks... I can haz your computer language... LOLCAT programming language...

I thought that the geeks among us may enjoy this one... It is a programming language based on LOLCAT... These are some crazy hacker LOLCODE skillz...



These have to be the FUNNIEST LOLCAT quotes so far!

Read the code in this image and tell me what you think.

ITZ a PHENOMENON! Truly, it is! For more hilarious LOLCAT images go here to icanhascheezburger.com

OKTNXBYE

Technorati tags: LOLCATS, nerd, programming, code, OKTNXBYE,

Robot Arm writes copies of the Luther Bible [Pic].... How times have changed!

I picked up the following story from Boing Boing.

Here's a picture of a robotic arm doing what Monks did way back in the scholastic era - writing copies of the Bible out by hand!

My, how times have changed.... I have often thought of getting my New Testament students to write out the New Testament just to be sure that they are reading it!!!

When I candidated to become a minister we had to read the whole Bible from cover to cover. It was quite a worthwhile experience (except for Numbers...).

For more great images of this 'monkbot' at work (please check out the great font it is writing in) go to the flickr page.

Technorati tags: Bible, Robot,

A new religion in Soweto... God wants you to drive a 4X4.... iKhasi yam is changing, and I'm not sure it's all good.

Today I spent most of the day at the Jabavu community centre in Soweto. It is a place that holds great memories for me! Whilst I was not trained in the three phase system for ministry (I came into the ministry when Noah was just putting the finishing touches to his ark... Back in 1991), I spent a lot of time in Soweto, both during my student days, and also with Bishop Verryn (before he was a Bishop).

The area has changed somewhat, there are clear signs of renewal, investment and development. I remember a particularly bleak morning in 1991, or 1992, when the school across from the centre suddenly became a war zone as police fired teargas and rubber bullets at disgruntled learners... Today I watched an elderly women planting her vegetables in the school yard. I also remember being scattered by teargas grenades at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church at the entrance to Jabavu... Now, the Church is well kept, surrounded by a green park and well paved lanes...

I drove out of Soweto today and saw the familiar sight of the cooling towers, they are still the same, although they now reflect the new prosperity of upwardly mobile young black professionals with an FNB Bank advert on the one, and scenes from township life on the other.

What is of great interest is that the mural on the one tower has an ikon of the Madonna and Child. It goes to show that there are still religious sensibilities in the township, however, the radically political faith of the 70's, 80's, and 90's has given way to a new kind of Christianity. Whereas Churches were places of prophetic witness, places of safety from batons and dogs, places where rousing speeches of freedom and the journey to a new promised land were heard, something has changed...

There are signs of a NEW religion.... Two other things that reflect the change in demography and faith in the township. First, there is the facade of the brand new, HUGE, 'Maponya Mall'. It is all glass and iron, with designer shops, and everything one's first world heart could desire! It looks like a Cathedral to commerce....

Strangely enough, just across the road one can see that it is not only the secular economy that is booming, building is underway to extend and renovate the 'Grace Bible Church' a Church that is very much en vogue with young professionals, people with BMW's, GTi's and 4X4's... Faith, but of a new kind, quite different from that of the liberation struggle. I cannot say what kind of sermons are preached in that Church, but I do wonder if they have the same message of justice, social responsibility, mercy, and courage, that were preached in years gone by. I would certainly hope so!

However both the Mapnoya Mall and the Grace Bible Church are dwarfed by another new development in Soweto. That is to be found in the HUGE (and by HUGE, I mean HUUUGGGEEE) Universal Church of the Kingdom of God 'Cathedral' just behind Baragwanath hospital. It is such a stark contrast with the houses around it... It is opulent, it has palm trees, air conditioning, and looks a lot more like a 5 star hotel...

Don't get me wrong, I think that it is great that the economic cycle of Soweto has finally had an upturn! It is wonderful. However, when the finest building in your community is a Church, not a school, or a community center, or houses for the poor, but a Church, then something is wrong! Sure, Churches need buildings, but do they need to have the kind of buildings that are so out of place with their community that they dwarf their surroundings?

Earlier this year there was a service delivery riot in Wolmaranstad. The members of the community attacked cars and people at the local Churches because the Churches were out of step with the community - the Church's buildings became a target of the community's scorn, frustration, and anger, because they did not reflect the poor, or even truly help them. Rather they seemed to them to be nothing more than expensive white elephants that stood empty for 6 days of the week...

People will soon see through the motives... Sadly, this same Church was reported to be teaching its members that God wants Christians to drive a 4X4, wear the finest clothes, and have a snappy cell phone.... , and that Jesus drives a Porche... God for him!

Somethings wrong with that picture. Perhaps when our past is so painful it is easy to forget it, but perhaps we forget too quickly...


Technorati tags: Prosperity Gospel, Soweto, UCKG, Maponya, cooling towers

Can we afford to be ignorant? The recolonization of Southern Africa.

Every now and then while I am doing my devotions, I am 'arrested' by something that someone has said, this happened to me this morning so I decided to go back and find my little notebook from 2004. I always carry a little Moleskine notebook with me (I use the Moleskine folders to keep cards, notes etc, and then cut the small, cheap, ruled notebooks to put into the first folder - here's a picture of one of mine).


The notebook that I was looking for in this instance dates back to November 2004 - I was at the Methodist Church of Southern Africa's Mission Conference in Umtata. At that conference the President of the all Africa Council of Churches, Rev Dr Mvume Dandala, was speaking.

This picture was taken in South Korea, in it is Mvume Dandala in the center, Trevor Hudson on the right, and myself (about 10 kg's heavier than I am now!) on the left. Ah, those were the days.

Back to the point, in his keynote address Mvume said something to the effect of, "If we [Southern Africans, and particularly the Churches in Southern Africa] do not wake up to the crisis of HIV / AIDS we shall be re-colonized within the next generation".

I was shocked by that statement, but there was truth to it. He went on to say that AIDS is killing so many young people, skilled, gifted African women and men, that we shall soon have very few people between the ages of 20 and 60, and much fewer skilled persons between those ages. When that happens we will be colonized once again. However, this time we shall not be colonized by a nation state (such as America, China, or England), rather we shall be colonized by multinational corporations who wish to exploit the natural resources of our fair lands. If we have gold, oil, platinum, coal, and a host of other precious commodities , yet there is no-one left to extract, refine, and use these resources, those who have the power, the money, and the skill, from elsewhere in the world will do it for us, and eventually, they will do it in spite of us.

This colonization is a concern, but of greater concern is the reality that we are loosing a whole generation of people because of poor choices, hidden truths, and a lack of knowledge.

I worry about such things... Perhaps it will never happen in the way Mvume described it, but if I can do anything to stave the spread of this disease, and in some small and insignificant way help Africans to benefit from the blessings of Africa, I need to do so!

Then it struck me, I can make a difference - the difference that I can make is in the sphere of Education! I see this magnificent sign at least once a week when I go onto the University of South Africa (UNISA) campus. It is a picture of our past President, Nelson Mandela, the caption reads: "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world". I believe it! What we need is education that does a number of things:

• First, we need a very basic and simple form of education that teaches persons their value and dignity. Education that helps people to realise just what a gift they, a gift from God to the world. Life is precious and must be guarded and valued.
  

• Second, we need education that helps people to survive in the face of great challenges - in particular we need to help our young people (and our old) to make wise choices for life. It scares me to death to think that when I was at school, if I had a sexual relationship with someone the worts that could happen is that she could fall pregnant. Now, however, my daughter or son could die from just one bad choice! We need education to prevent such tragedies!

• Third, we need education that helps people not just to survive, but to truly live. This is the kind of formation and development that helps people to rise above the ordinary, to become the best that they can be; moral leadership, intellectual leadership, all matched with exceptional skill.

Perhaps what I am asking is that those of us who have some measure of influence should ask God to give us the courage to use it for the common good. If you write, write about what matters, when you pray, pray about what matters most, as you work spend your energy not just in pursuit of gain and pleasure, but spend yourself to bring healing and transformation to individuals and society.

I shall say it once again - if you are the best, the very best, if you're a lawyer, a doctor, a journalist, a parent, a gifted thinker, a passionate feeler, if you can do anything in the whole world, then do it for God!

Let's counteract ignorance with love, and spend our lives in service of Christ's mission to heal and transform the world - petty theological arguments, minuscule points of difference, differences in taste, these things should not stop us from being effective for Christ.

Technorati tags: ignorance, colonization, education, Mvume Dandala, Trevor Hudson, UNISA, AIDS, HIV, mission, calling

Why I think that Mac OS Leopard could NEVER compete with Windows Vista - and I own 4 Macs!

Yup, last night I gave in to the Steve Jobs distortion field - in the cold and wet I raced through the traffic to get to one of my favourite places on the planet, the iStore in Menlyn Park shopping centre in an affluent subburb of Pretoria East...

I have been anticipating the release of Leopard for some months now, and in the last few weeks I've been looking forward to the 26th of October - what a joy when the iStore staff phoned me to come to the worldwide launch of Leopard! So, like all Mac fanatics I went!

Now, before I explain the heading of this post let me just say that I currently own the following Apple computers:

1. Primary machine: Macbook Pro Mac OS 10.4.10, 2GHz Intel Core Duo (dual booting Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP Pro). It has a 'rough night out' gelaskin cover on the top - it has become quite famous at Methodist gatherings!
2. Secondary machine: Sony Vaio UX 180 P Micro PC with dual booting Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux (this machine 'lives' in my backpack!) I love this little guy! It is not much larger than a cell phone, it has a built in keyboard, a built in GSM / EDGE cellular modem and it runs for about 20 hours with my external battery pack! I most often take this little guy with me when I travel around the world. It can litterally fit onto my belt (when I really want to GEEK it!)
   
3. Primary desktop machine: iMac Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard!), with Windows XP in Parallels.
4. 'Old' Desktop: Apple Powermac G4 dual 1.25Ghz with a 23" cinema display running Mac OS 10.4.10.
5. My wife's computer: Sony Vaio TR3A, Windows XP Pro.
6. Daugther's computer: Apple iBook (the toilet seat model... Blueberry) running Mac OS 10.3.9.

[Just to mention that most of my machines were purchased with research funds (I could only use Macs for the magnetoencephalagraph that I used in Cape Town to measure magnetic activity in the human brain), or were acquired in trades. I have only ever purchased one new laptop, a G4 iBook back in 2003 - that has since gone THROUGH Wessel to another well deserving home] Oh yes, and let me add that one's spouse MUST be a saint to allow for SO MANY computers (she also has to earn a lot more than one does to keep one in the style to which one is accustomed... But that is another matter entirely).

You can see that we are a thoroughly Apple household!! We LOVE MACS!!!

So, you may be asking yourself, how could I possibly say that Leopard could NEVER compete with Vista!??? Well, the answer is simple - Leopard is just in a completely different league!!

Ha ha! Yup, Vista from my limited use, is to Windows XP what Windows ME was to Windows 95... Nothing but eyecandy and instability!

Leopard on the other hand is FANTASTIC!!! And yes, I am biased, but it is faster, more stable, and it looks even better than Tiger. I love the new Mail application, the new style sheets and eye candy, you can add 'to do' items and sticky notes directly in mail, the new Safari browser is FAST and user friendly, it also allowes you to 'snip' active elements from web pages to add as widgets in Dashboard. Of course the new Finder is magnificent! It has 'cover flow' that lets you see the contents of files within the finder (without even having to open an application like Word, Excel, Adobe reader, Keynote, or the Preview image viewer)... It is just fantastic!

So, yes, I bought a copy of Leopard last night - I aslo happened to see a cracked, working, iPhone! It is magnificent. If the guy who had the phone reads this post, would you mind dropping me a line? I'd love to stay in touch.

So, Steve Jobs and Apple, WELL DONE!!!! This is a great upgrade that will make my life so much more efficient and pleasant. It was worth going out in the cold and the wet, and the Apple iStore in Menlyn is still one of my favourite places in the whole world!!!!

Technorati tags: Apple, Vista, Leopard, better, iStore, Menlyn

Celebrating theological diversity, with respect. It is the way of Christ's Kingdom.

A fellow blogger, Stephen Murray, whose posts and insights I have enjoyed a great deal blogged the following challenging thought today:

I?ve been reading a lot of blogs of late where my guess would be that the authors wouldn?t classify themselves as ?evangelical?. I read them because I appreciate the way these folk wrestle with so many pressing issues and how they integrate multiple academic disciplines with such skill trying to probe into important topics facing the broader Christian movement. Yet as I read these folk I often wonder what they think of us.

Let?s say that by chance they drop by ?daylight and browse around, reading some of the posts. I wonder what they think about 4 young evangelicals who believe the Bible is God?s authoritative, infallible word for life and salvation, that salvation comes only through repentance and faith in Christ because of his work of substitutionary atonement and that hell is a real and coming judgment for those who reject Christ? Do they think we?re simpletons? Naive in our faith? Closed minded and narrow? Anti-intellectual? Misguided? What do they think?

Here's my response to him:

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for sharing this honest, and challenging, post. I have wanted to respond to it all day long but have not yet had the time. So, here goes....

I have also often wondered what others think of my particular approach to Christ... It is important on some level since my hope is that we (those who love Jesus and the people whom Jesus loves) will find one another now so that eternity won't be quite so difficult! Ha ha!

Seriously though, my realization in the last number of years has been that there are very few 'complex' and 'simple' expressions of faith. Rather there are simple and complex labels for approaches to faith. Each approach, I believe, is filled with complexity, depth, and a measure of conviction that makes it both precious to the person who holds it, and precious for God in relation to whom they hold it. It is much the same as me relating to my two children, I do not love or appreciate either of them more (even though one is older, more articulate and has a richer life experience because of her age). It does not make her experience of life, or of my love, more valuable or worthwhile. The fact that both of them live, and love me, is all that I long for. The rest is just unique (and sometimes just odd!) It doesn't impress me that my older child can do bonds of 18 while the younger child cannot yet crawl, since both are appropriate expressions of who and where they are. As I say, what impresses me is that they love me.

With regard to judgement however, I know that people often make the opposite assumptions to the ones you mention above about me i.e., that I am too open minded, that I am too intellectual, that I have lost my naive and simple devotion to Christ and that somehow I have lost sight of what truly matters in the Christian faith. Sometimes that hurts... However, I know that God is not impressed with my degrees, or titles, or anything else - these are simply thing that are more or less appropriate for someone who has had the education, opportunities, and experiences I have had. My quantum theories, and neuroscience, intricate readings of the Greek text, and all the things that I think are quite smart, must seem like 8 year old Maths to God - appropriate for who I am, but not important in the big scheme of things!

The people who judge me are probably correct, to some extent, about some of those assumptions, but they are also quite wrong in many others.

One of the things I have particularly tried to foster, at great cost, within our denomination (the Methodist church) here in South Africa is a love for my sisters and brothers that recognizes that diversity does not mean separation, neither does disagreement mean a lack of respect. I have sought to encounter people, rather than ideas, and to find what God loves about them first, before saying what I find objectionable about their words, thoughts or actions.

It is important that we are brave enough to leave our 'corners of conviction' in order to allow God to speak to us about new things, through strange prophets. That, I think, is the way of the Gospel.

There are of course some ideas and approaches to Christ, and Christ's Kingdom that I find incompatible with the Gospel (such as judging people by their race, which was a huge issue for us in the previous decades. In such instances I would encounter people with such views in love, and where they were not willing to change or repent I had to be honest, but loving, about how wrong they were). However, I know that I am often as wrong as those that I am quick to judge - so as time has passed I have sought to understanding first, then to make up my mind about people and their ideas. It takes discipline to do that, and I am still learning!

Know that even if I should find some aspect of your approach to the Christian faith different from mine, and I have not yet found such difference but the possibility does exist, I respect and admire your love for Christ.

Together with you in Him,

Dion

Thanks Stephen, you have challenged me, and reminded me that God's standard is both gracious and supreme.

A black South African wearing an AWB Uniform... A powerful advert for justice!

This is an incredible advert... It shows a black South African man wearing an old 'Khaki' uniform from the white supremacist group, the AWB. You can click on the image to see it in a larger size.

The caption reads [translated from Afrikaans]

"Any old clothes will do - you wouldn't be seen dead in these clothes, but for a homeless person they could mean the difference between life and death. Please donate any clothes that you no longer need"

Call the Salvation Army on 011 718 6746

Liveblog! Mac OS Leopard has been released! Discover the new features here.

For all the Macheads out there that have been waiting for the official release of Mac OS Leopard (AKA the Vista shamer...)

It's been released in the USA. I hope to be able to get my copy on Saturday (please Lord!)

If you're interested in following a live, blow by blow, geekfest of leopard feature discovery you can follow the constantly updated Gizmodo Leopard blog here.

Wohoo! I can't wait!

Wohoo! My wife's article on pre-assessment get's published!

The bright one in my marriage (she also happens to be prettier, more Christian, and the only one of the two of us who has given birth...), that's Megan for those who don't know, has just had an article published on the PFIQ website. It considers the struggle, and value, of pre-assessing learners for learnership qualifications.

Read it here.

How to create accurate references in MS Word 2007

So much of my life revolves around text, reading it, thinking about it, writing it, and of course trying to disseminate it to others. Anything that can help to manage and record my use of text more accurately is always welcome!

Just this afternoon I was reminding my students how important it is to provide detailed and accurate references in their work! Of course this not only aids verification, it also helps others who are doing similar research to find sources of use.

Here's a great tutorial from the Microsoft team (yes, Lord, I repent, Steve Job's I'll also be sending you a letter of apology)...

It will teach you how to do easy references in your papers, articles, assignments etc. using Microsoft Word 2007.

I use MS Word for Apple Mac, however, if there is anyone out there us MS Word for the 'dark side' please let me know if it works, and how it works!

15 tips for getting rid of clutter in your house!

I know there are some hoarders who read this blog!!! I've seen you saving posts!! Ha ha.

I found this great article on how to get rid of clutter in your house. My desk is not too bad... I do tend to hang on to things, but at least I am super neat! So, I tend to collect very neat piles of useless paper!

Here are a few tips to get rid of clutter, let me know what you think, or if you can suggest anything more practical and useful:

As with anything, getting rid of clutter can be made incredibly simple: just go through your stuff, one section, closet, drawer, or shelf at a time, and get rid of everything that isn?t absolutely essential, that you don?t love and use often.

Of course, simplifying a process like that isn?t terribly useful to many people who struggle with clutter. So, with that in mind, I present to you 15 fabulous tip for decluttering. These tips aren?t mine - they?re from you guys, the readers, repackaged into a useful little post.

Recently I asked you guys for your best decluttering tips ? and I pulled some of the best of those (there are many more good ones I wasn't able to use). They're reworded here slightly, and a couple have been modified indiscriminately by me. :)

But they're great tips nonetheless. Enjoy!

1. Declutter for 15 minutes every day. It?s amazing how much you can get through if you just do it in small increments like this.

2. Don?t allow things into the house in the first place. Whether you've begun decluttering the living space, or you?ve just completed it, stop bringing in new stuff NOW. Even if that's ALL you do and don?' start decluttering immediately, if you can only establish one habit at a time, establish the no-more-stuff habit first. This way, when you do get to decluttering the existing stuff, you've already stopped making it worse. Think of bailing out a boat with a hole in it. You can bail and bail, but it won?t do anything for the leak.

3. Donate stuff you're decluttering, so you don?t feel bad about wasting it.

4. Create a 'Goals' chart with decluttering on it - either daily, or 3 times a week. Check off the days when you declutter, and you?ll feel a great sense of accomplishment.

5. Start at the corner by the door and move your way around the room, doing the superficial stuff first - surfaces, empy the bin etc. Repeat, but do more the 2nd time around - ie. open the cupboards.

6. Whenever you're boiling the kettle for tea, tidy up the kitchen. If the kitchen is tidy, tidy up the next room - it's only 3 minutes but it keeps you on top of everything (helps if you have an Englishman's obsession with Tea as well!)

7. Use the 'one in, two out' rule. The rule: whenever you bring in an item, you have to throw away two other items. First you cheat, by throwing out two pieces of paper, but soon you will have to move to big stuff.

8. Make your storage space smaller and more minimal. If you have lots of storage, you'll fill it with stuff.

9. Clothing rule: If you haven?t worn an item in 6 months, sell or donate it.

10. The One-Year Box. Take all your items that you unsure about getting rid of (e.g. "I might need this someday?"), put them in a box, seal it and date it for 1 year in the future. When the date comes, and you still didn?t need to open it to get anything, donate the box WITHOUT OPENING IT. You probably won't even remember what there was in the box.

11. Declutter one room (including any closets, desks, cabinets, etc.) before starting on the next one. Spending time in that room will feel *so* good, and it will be so easy to keep clean, that it will motivate you to do more!

12. Keep a list in your planner labeled "Don?t Need It - Don?t Want It." When you're out shopping and run across some kind of gadget or other item you crave, note it down on the list. This will slow you down long enough to reconsider. Also, seeing the other things on the list that you nearly bought on impulse really helps.

13. Internalize that your value is not in your "stuff". It is just "stuff". And realize that your value grows when you share your "stuff". Hoarding is a selfish act.

14. Have someone else (who you trust!) help you go through things. They don't have the (sometime's irrational) emotional attachment that you might have, but can still recognize if something should be kept.

15. Gift everything. Books you?ve read immediately get recycled among friends, family or local libraries. If you buy a new gaming system, donate your old one ? and all the games.

Taken from: Zenhabbits.net

Top 10 IMMORTAL people... Guess what, Jesus is NOT one of them... I wonder why?

You may have noticed that I have been rather busy of late... I have had back to back meetings, classes, and appointments. As I've said a few times before I don't mind being busy. Occasionally, however, I do wish that the days had a few more hours to them!

However, what would you do if you could live forever!? I got to thinking about immortality AND eternal life....

First a bit of theology, a common heresy (and I used the word heresy very lightly here, since it could equally be applied to much of what I say and think) in popular Christian theology is that everlasting life means never dying... I can't tell you how many youth pastors, lay preachers, and ministers, I have heard speaking about accepting Christ and equating that acceptance with immortality (often framed with the notions of overcoming death, and living forever). Everlasting life is quite a tricky concept. Since the phrase does not assume that one has never died, it simply suggests that once one has received the gift of everlasting life one shall not die again. So Lazarus, in the New Testament, did not receive everlasting life when Jesus raised him from the dead... he just got a another chance at it, until he died again... Everlasting life is something that is likely to have come for him after he died again... You get the idea!?

Now, of course there is some truth in what our pastors and ministers say... One shall certainly overcome the effects of death through salvation in Christ, and then go on to an eternity of bliss in Christ.... However, death is central to the Gospel of Christ... It is NOT that Jesus DOES NOT die, neither is it true that we shall not die. Rather, the power of God is shown in that God overcomes sin and death. Death cannot hold us - that's the point!

Anyway, have you every thought who the TOP 10 IMMORTALS are (Just remember, that according to my little rant above, Jesus is NOT immortal! He died, and NOW lives forever)...?

Here's a link to a nice little list of top 10 IMMORTALS... I found a few of them quite entertaining. See if you can suggest any other 'immortals'.

Technorati tags: death, eternal life, Jesus, immortal, Lazarus, Heresy

Have you ever wondered what's inside a balloon animal? For people who have too much time on their hands...

Amazingly, some poor soul took the time, and clearly has great skill and imagination, to outline with anatomical precision, what exactly one finds inside a balloon dog...

He (or she) must have been a Masters or Doctoral student who has a chapter of that all important thesis due... Only that kind of pressure leads one to do something as creative, yet meaningless as this.

I recall once unpacking and repacking a number of cupboards, cleaning under the mudguards of my Vespa scooter, alphebatising my collection of Mac magazines, and moving the furniture around the lounge three times, when I had to submit a chapter of my Doctorate...

When I was a student at Rhodes University in Grahamstown we had a society called the RUWAB soc... It consisted of about 10 of us, all doing graduate work of some kind, who met before a critical deadline and constituted the Rhodes University Work Avoidance Behaviour society... The first one to break down and go and do some work had to buy everyone else a round of drinks. I never paid!

Anybody else done crazy things like this when you know you have other IMPORTANT things to do?

Cooking with pooh... [pic] Choose your title with care...

Uh, yes.... Just goes to show that you have to be quite selective about book titles - not everyone will think of the same things when they hear the title of this cool little book.



So, any suggestions for the title of my new book on Bede Griffiths' cosmic Christology?

Willow Creek Church repents... We were wrong.

I have visited Willow Creek Church in Chicago. It is impressive in very many ways - it is extremely well matched to its context. In fact, I have enjoyed quite a lot of what has come from that Church, the Willow Creek association, and Bill Hybels himself. I have even had the good fortune of meeting Bill Hybels and spending a bit of time chatting with him.

I am certainly NOT one of those pastors or scholars who believes that nothing good can come from America. Sure, there are a few things about Willow that I think need changing (both in their context, and certainly for ours), but I think that there is a lot that we can learn about being strategic, careful, and deliberate in sharing the Gospel.

However, this remarkable article came into my inbox today... It was quite a challenge to read it. However, on the other hand it also shows me that perhaps there is something more to this Church than just empire building - they have integrity, and the courage to admit where they've made a mistake.

Read it if you get a chance and let me know what your thoughts are:

Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels? office hangs a poster that says: ?What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?? Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry?church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage?has impacted every evangelical church in the country.

So what happens when leaders of Willow Creek stand up and say, ?We made a mistake??

Not long ago Willow released its findings from a multiple year qualitative study of its ministry. Basically, they wanted to know what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not. The results were published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek. Hybels called the findings ?earth shaking,? ?ground breaking,? and ?mind blowing.?

If you?d like to get a synopsis of the research you can watch a video with Greg Hawkins here. And Bill Hybels? reactions, recorded at last summer?s Leadership Summit, can be seen here. Both videos are worth watching in their entirety, but below are few highlights.

In the Hawkins? video he says, ?Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples of Christ.? This h