Celebration - and a slight setback

Joy has returned to Flat 24 Waalhaven with the return of my wife and son after their two-week break in Joburg.  I didn't realise just how much I resent being apart from them for any period of time - amazing what Phase One experiences can do to you!  Needless to say, I have of late become rather strident in my opposition to any practice within our church that has the result of separating spouses, no matter how inadvertent and unexpected such a result may be.  At the beginning of this year I put forward a resolution via our quarterly meeting here at SMMS, aimed at amending L&D to allow for consultation concerning stationing, especially when a proposed station will have an adverse impact on one's family.

But for now, I'm SOOOOOOO glad to have Belinda and James home again!

However, "into every life a little rain must fall" (Michael W Smith, "Leesha"), and my attempts to get into a PhD programme suffered a few drips today.  It seems that my proposed research area, being a critique of economic systems in the light of the Gospel, is falling into a bit of "no man's land".

The problem is that, firstly, I don't have a Masters in theology, but I do have one in financial management, so the School of Religion and Theology at UKZN indicated that while I would be supported by them in such research, it would probably be an easier path to entry if I approached the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.  I had such a meeting today, and while my proposed topic was received with the same enthusiasm that Theology did, there may be an issue convincing Commerce's higher degrees committee to allow me to embark on research that (a) has a primarily theological approach, and (b) is in the area of economics whereas my Masters is in financial management.

The door is not closed, though - the lecturers at Commerce have expressed willingness to explore other options, and to discuss the matter further with Theology.  However, getting admission to the PhD programme is not going to be quite as straightforward as I originally anticipated.