God's Word for today

Wednesday 30 June 2010

Something's wrong with this picture...

Friends of ours blessed us with a week's holiday with them at their timeshare at Sun City, and on our walkabout today I saw these two cars.

At the risk of blowing my feminist theologian credentials, if we were to win these cars (improbable since we don't gamble), how come Belinda gets the zooty 2-door convertible, and I get the oh-so-practical-but-boring hatchback?

The marketing person in charge of setting up this display HAS to be a woman - guaranteed!

Monday 28 June 2010

James and Granddad

We went and saw my father over the weekend, and took this picture of the first and third generation of Sharks fans in the Jones family

Gaaaaauuuuuuutraaaaaiiiiiiiiiiin!

I've been a bit slow with the blogging since I went on leave last week, but have really enjoyed the wife-enforced laziness while in smoke-infested thin-air Joburg.

One of the great adventures has been to go for a ride on the Gautrain.  For those who don't know what this is (where have you been?), this is the new high-speed rail link between Johannesburg / Sandton, Pretoria, and OR Tambo International Airport.  At this stage only the Sandton / airport link is open, but the trip was awesome none the less.  For a mere 21 bucks each (bargain - you can't drive the distance on this amount of petrol), my family and I were whisked along from Kempton Park to Sandton City in air-conditioned comfort at a breathtaking 160km/h, covering the distance in a mere twelve minutes.

However, what was most impressive was the fact that the parking is secure, the trains are regular and bang on time, and there are plenty of the most helpful and pleasant people on hand to help you every step of the way.

If this is the future of public transport in South Africa, it looks very bright indeed!


Train's coming...

















... and going ...



















Sandton station.  If it wasn't for the Absa ads, one could mistake this for the London Underground.
Isn't she luverly?

Saturday 19 June 2010

Hooray, hooray ... it's a holi-holi-day!

No, I haven't suddenly become a Boney M fan, but this inane tune has been playing in my head for the past day or two as I start a two-week break back in Joburg.  (Maybe it's all that pollution that's messing with my cerebral jukebox at the moment?)

And while it's good to have a bit of a break from what has been quite a hectic first semester at seminary, I'm sitting at my "old" desk in my "old" office in the back of my "old" house - and yet, somehow, it doesn't feel like "home".  My wife and I are, in fact, speaking of our flat at the seminary in Pietermaritzburg as "home", and the house that I still own in Johannesburg as being "Mom's place".

Which reminds me of a conversation that I had with Dr Simon Gqubule shortly before I left Uitenhage at the end of 2009, in which he asked of me where the place is that I call "home".  At the time I had to think about his question since, in Xhosa culture, the place of one's birth is what one considers to be one's home.  So for me, that would be a little hamlet called Royal Leamington Spa, which is situated on the outskirts of Birmingham in England (one needs to be specific for the benefit of this blog's American readers, since there is a Birmingham in Alabama as well).  Then again, at that time it could have been Joburg as well, since that was where my family was (I was alone in Uitenhage at the time).

But I've now come to realise that - for me, at least - home is where one's nearest and dearest are.  Seeing as I now have Belinda and James living with me at the seminary, I gues that (for now, at least), SMMS has become "home".

This makes me onder how one copes with the frequent moves in ministry - if each place is going to be seen as "home", it's going to make leaving a place that much harder.  Then again, the fact that "home" is wherever my wife and son happen to be may make it easier.  Anyway, that's another topic for another day - right now, it's really good to be able to do what I want to do without being at the beck and call of a seminary timetable, or at the mercy of examinations.

Friday 11 June 2010

Getting into World Cup 2010 - slowly...

Call me vrot if you will, but I've really been struggling to get into the spirit of the 2010 soccer World Cup.  Maybe it's because soccer is not my game - I mean, imagine kicking a ball backwards and forwards around a field for 90 minutes and ending up with a draw (I'd much rather see people hit a ball around a field for 5 days and end up with a draw...).

However, with the sound of vuvuzelas ringing around the seminary, and the prospect of an exciting opening match today (with about 70 fellow seminarians dressed in yellow, blaring horns, shouting for Bafana Bafana, and generally getting really excited), I'm beginning - slowly - to get swept along by the festivities of it all.

So here goes - LADUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMA!!!!!

Sunday 6 June 2010

My wife is being holy...

... do you think I should buy her a new pair of shoes?