e-holiness

a fathers ponderings

they say that life begins at 40 and as i sit here in the early evening sun a couple of days before the end of july 2008 i wanted to record some of the thoughts and deeds which have happend since and will come to pass before i pass my 41st birthday, these are things which are buzzing through my mind and this is as much for me and you guys in the world of the web.

2008 has been and will continue to be a momentous year for me, my family and also my close friends, never did i believe that one year especially this year would hold so many new, challenging and exciting things. some of these have been in the planning, or should i say, have been building for many years, others seem to have crept up on me at such a pace that i don't know whether i am coming or going.

the big plan for 2008 was hatched during the christmas of 2005 as we decided to spend a month helping an AIDS charity in south africa, but really gained momentum as we placed an offer on a small holding in south africa last autumn, what God had planned for us would be a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs which has led to the small charity, thembalitsha uk, receiving over £200K in less than 8 months to not only pay for that land, which will be used as a home/village for children infected or affected by HIV AIDS, but also have the capital to complete the internal works on some of the buildings which will see that facility up and running towards the end of this year.

as part of this bigger plan i have handed in my notice and we (me, my wife and youngest son) will be moving out to south africa in october to not only oversee this project but to work closely with and extend the work currently being undertaken by the thembacare team in grabouw....what a massive step that is but we are trusting that the things God has said, in his word, through his prophets and people are correct and that the plan and purpose for my/your life will be fulfilled as we step out in faith with Him, this is something that has tested me, but i am assured that He has called us to work for Him and we step out with bold confidence, not in our strength but in His perfect love for us as we do His will.

towards the end of may our youngest son finished his GCSE's and we await with baited breath for his results, which are due when i am over on a short term trip to south africa in august, which might be a blessing for both him and me, our middle son is due to start university in september, a big step for any family but one which has almost caught us out as the business of our lives cram in, what with my work trips to croatia, germany and portugal all taking up so much of my time.

this coming saturday sees our eldest son's marriage in bath, the town not the thing that you clean yourself in, man where has the time gone, it only seems a minute since i was teaching him, with great aplomb the art of kicking a ball, playing tennis or reading (or in my case making up) his bedtime stories. having left home sometime ago to work with yfc in bath, this doesn't seem to be too bigger deal for me, but to know that he is now responsible for not only himself but also his wife is a concern and one that i hadn't thought would arrive this soon.

i am so looking forward to the weekend, to celebrate with them both, although the weather looks set to break before the 'happy day', but as the auturm approaches, one son married, one off to uni and our move with our third to south africa i have a year to look back on.

during 2008 i have made sure that i visited as many sporting events as time and money would allow attening wimbledon in june to see my final live tennis for sometime, watching as many laps at silverstone as i could, both today's mighty formula one beasts and those of yester year, had the opportunity to take my wife to the cup final, so glad that cardiff lost!, made visits to friends far and near....with so many goodbyes to come i almost wish november was here and that all was passed but it is with great gusto that i enter this stage of my life, knowing that God goes before, the wedding, the uni move, the giving up of work here in the UK and the move out to south africa.....come on!

mandela at 90

well i don't suppose that you are surprised that e-holiness focuses on todays top birthday, that of one of the most recognisable faces in the world, mr mandela. one wonders how such a man could forgive the people that imprisoned him for years on robben island and make such amazing steps to bring reconciliation to a nation on the edge of racial divide.

fears still abound of retribution by some of those less fortunate in south africa and the recent xenophobic attacks only prove that this nation is still rife with tension, but as we seek to leave these shores to work with those much less fortunate than ourselves our prayer is that God will be honoured in that country, he will have complete rule and sovereignty in all areas of south africa.

great lakes outreach

we spent a wonderful evening with our friends simon and lizzie guillebaud, it was great to hear about the work that they are doing in burundi through their charity, great lakes outreach. simon has been an inspiration to us for many years and i would encourage you to get behind his work either in prayer or with finances to enable them to continue to spread God's word and support those living in one of the most needy places in the world.

if you haven't seen simon's latest 'starfish' video then please follow this link, it's very challenging but well worth watching and if you want a real challenge then please buy his book, called for what its worth a post of which can be found here.

wow...amazing days, and amazing nights?!

after returning from a weekend at silverstone, well done lewis hamilton for one of the most amazing drives in grand prix history, i am now looking forward to charlie robinson and all that God will do through him tonight at quantion, see link here and also watching the wonderful oliver pengilley complete his prophetic art....come on God!

this weekend and charlie

i'm back from portugal and although i did have time to read a lot on the plane i haven't quite finished the book that i was going to review today and i'm not sure when that will be as i am having to process a lot of what is being said in it!

portugal is a wonderful place but i have let my vegetarianism slip, they eat so much meat and without speaking the language found it hard to say no to the dishes that were presented to me, piglet, dried cod, baby goat, black pudding, to name but a few, my stomach doesn't know what's hit it!

this weekend i am off to the british grand prix, see a few photos here from my day at testing last week, so we will be cheering lewis and jenson on over the next couple of days, but apart from silverstone i am really looking forward to meeting up and hearing from charlie robinson again.

charlie works with todd bentley and is currently keeping the appointments going from todd's diary as todd is full time in florida at the outpouring, i am sure charlie will explore and explode God's word and works in amazing ways so for those who know charlie or perhaps want to hear this amazing prophetic man then please come along to one of the meetings, as below, over the early part of next week.

sunday evening: quantion village hall, for location see here

monday evening: aylesbury grammar school for location see here

tuesday evening: quantion village hall again

hope to see some of you there.

thembalitsha on the web

just thought that i would bring you all up to date with the various sites which are now on the net with a link into thembalitsha and thembalitsha uk, if you would like to find out more about this amazing charity who work with people (including a great work with babies and young children) infected with HIV AIDS then please visit their web site here, which should be updated with info about thembalithsa uk, here, as usual the winslow christian fellowship keep their site up to date so please see their page here.

if you are on facebook please join our cause here, if you are on myspace then please add us here and to donate to the charity thembalitsha uk, who support the work of thembalitsha from the united kingdom then please follow a link to our justgiving site here.

to trade or not to trade, that is the question!

i'm not quite sure what i think to the news that tesco has announced it is stopping trading with zimbabwe until the political situation is resolved in that country, only last week it stated that ceasing trade would affect the 4,000 people employed on the farms that supply it and now they seemed to have done a complete u turn on that decision.

tescos are caught in the middle of a situation where they would be dammed if they did and dammed if they didn't, this whole scenario harks back to the 1980's and early 1990's where people refused to purchase products, like apples and other soft fruit from south africa, as we know the pressure placed upon that apartheid government led to the political situation in that nation being addressed, but at what cost.

the areas were we are working in south africa see the main fruit production and those families, who are poor enough already, would have been the ones to suffer at the coal face so to speak, these people are friends of ours and to think that anyone stopped purchasing their produce would cause any further suffering would be unthinkable. the same is with zimbabwe, with a government so out of control, rising food prices, food shortages and the like, it won't be mr mugabe that suffers it will the those local farm workers who tesco were so adamant that they wanted to support last week!

the whole situation needs resolving quickly, as we know if there was oil we, that's the western governments, would have set troops in five to ten years ago, but unfortunately for those caught up we tend to bury our heads in the sand and hope that this awful catastrophe will go away....

what can we do as christians to help elevate this, pray, protest, petition, what will you do, support tescos boycott or continue to look out for those who need our help?, big questions to a big problem.

kings and beggars

over the last couple of weeks my life has been so busy, not that it's quiet normally, however after a trip to croatia last week and a planned trip to portugal next week this week has found me in the company of the rich and famous. wednesday i had the pleasure of visiting wimbledon to see the tennis championships, with tickets to both the centre and no. 1 courts, where i saw the number 1 seeds in both the mens and womens draw (roger federer and ann ivanovic for those not up to speed)...that evening i attended a black tie do in london where i was able to meet up with john mcenroe and tim henman, to hear these two wonderful men speak of their tennis careers was great but as i sat amongst some of the most wealthy people in the world my mind was on the plight of the millions of people living in dire conditions around the world.

i am so grateful to God that he has enabled me to experience both sides of life, mixing with the haves and the have nots but what i am most mindful of is that whether people are rich or poor, black or white, european or african, without God they are lost and in need of a saviour, and as 'followers of Christ' it is for us to show them that He is the way into truth and life eternal.

p.s. john wasserman was once again on top form last night and i am so looking forward to charile robinson's visit next weekend, more of which will follow next week!!

john wasserman

just a short note to say that john wasserman from airport christian fellowhip in south africa will be visiting the vale of aylesbury vineyard this coming thursday (25th june) we will be meeting at the aylesbury grammar school on walton way, we have been so blessed by johns teaching over the last few years and would urge you to come and listen to this amazing teacher, all welcome.....looking at their address i can't believe how close i was for a visit when i was over in april....perhaps we will make a trip up from cape town when we move over in october!

it gets worse...

sorry for the lack of posts this week, it's been manic what with a trip to croatia on monday, tuesday and wednesday....what a wonderful country that is....and then blitzing around our green a pleasant land on thursday and friday i don't seem to have stopped.....i can't believe that the euro 2008 football championships are now into the quarter final stages and i haven't seen one game....but hopefully tonight i will catch croatia beating turkey, come on....

with such busy lives it's so easy to forget the pressing needs of this world, but the situation in south africa continues, a report in this weeks helderberg district mail has highlighted that the camp set up to house thousands of displaced people from the townships of zola and lwandle have been hit by storms this week, this is the camp that everynation somerset west are helping to support......lets not forget that there is a needy world out there as we busy ourselves in our own little world...