CMR Bean Beetle

If, after a satisfying soup, you should find this critter at the bottom of your bowl, say your prayers and wish your friends goodbye. It is a CMR (Cape Mounted Rifles) Bean Beetle -- common throughout South Africa, and deadly poisonous. I snapped this one at De Hoek. These beetles help keep locusts in check.

"Great Church"

We make no special effort to elicit letters like this (click on the image to enlarge) -- it just is this way. However, we do receive the occasional complaint that we neglected someone. OBSERVATION: I think people receive better attentions if they are more tightly "in the loop" in the Church, and if they let us know of any special need. In a chaotic Church like ours, it is unfortunately easier to overlook someone.

"Bite The Dust!"

South Africa can be funny. I got caught in a roadblock – twice for the same offence. The second time, an officer ordered me: “Hit the dust!” I said: “Hey?” His colleague said: “Bite the dust!” I said: “You mean, Hit the road?” Indeed, they meant "Hit the road" -- they were not going to ticket me twice. OBSERVATION: This is what happens in a country with eleven official languages. The offence was a classic South African story, too. My license had expired – however, I wouldn't have been in trouble if they had issued the new one as they promised. My fault, though.

Grande Theft

At our leadership meeting earlier this month, it was reported that 57 communion glasses had been swiped from our Church, according to our last inventory list. Actually, I make it 69, since 12 more glasses were swiped by swapping them with plastic "replicas". That's about R1,000 ($130) worth in all. The photo, taken several years ago, shows a communion "stack" in the foreground. OBSERVATION: That's me in the photo, but I look a little different now: bearded, bespectacled, leaner, and greyer.

Wittewater Church

Last week I visited the Wittewater Moravian Church (pictured), which lies some 100 miles north of Cape Town. The gospel was first preached here at a spot just off the right of the photo, by Rev. J.W.A. Stoltz, in 1859. The Church was built in 1911. Compare this with the neighbouring Goedverwacht Moravian Church.

Returning To Decisions

I received an e-mail from a deaconess today: could we alter a decision our leadership took earlier in the month? I could see her point, and we'll return to the decision in question. However, in general I discourage a return to decisions -- and if we do, they must be revisited by the same body that first passed them -- the whole body, together. OBSERVATION: One reason for this policy is that it minimises politicking, as one sometimes finds in Churches.

Moravia To Môrester

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Earlier this week, I crossed the bridge between Moravia and Môrester, over the Berg River -- about 150km / 100mi north of Cape Town as the crow flies. That's my red three-wheeler in the background. You may click on the image to enlarge to 150k.

Giving Plants A Voice

The next concept I wish to tackle electronically is a a device which I hope will give the plant kingdom a voice -- to turn plant "emotions" into sound. I previously did experiments in this line, which were partially successful -- but I found that plant "voices" ran too wild -- they went "off the scale". They would speak for a while in tones and semitones, then suddenly in multiple octaves. OBSERVATION: As soon as I give the plants of our planet a voice, human voices, for the first time in history, will be in the minority. Also, humans will finally appreciate what they have been doing to plants' emotions by eating them. But seriously, who wouldn't want to hear their pot plant talk? (I previously monitored voltages in plants, and used a voltage-to-frequency converter to enable them to "speak").

Oh-So-Efficient

Our women are oh-so-efficient. Registrations for our annual Women's Morning close the Sunday before the event -- then every attendee receives a name tag on arrival (pictured). You may click on the photo to enlarge to VGA. See Women's Morning.

A Letter From My Leadership

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This week I stumbled upon a letter that our Church leadership wrote me not ten months after my arrival here. It was about certain people who were "doing tremendous harm" -- and behind the scenes, some of our leadership threatened to resign if I did not take the action requested. You may click on the image to enlarge. OBSERVATION: I did take action, and the people concerned provided considerable opposition. Also, there were longer-term consequences for my ministry. However, our leadership was right. This action was needed for spiritual growth, and we were well rewarded.

Knock-On Effect

I was to travel to a wedding (conducted by me) with a Church elder. But our elder was more than an hour late, so I set off alone. However, the reason he was late was that a special guest (his travelling companion) was late. The special guest was late because his outfitter was late. His outfitter was late because the tailor was late. Call it the "knock-on effect". One finds it everywhere in South Africa. OBSERVATION: I arrived at the venue an hour later than I had wanted to -- only to discover that the "knock-on effect" was at work at the other side as well. The company that had been hired to set up the wedding was more than an hour late. So, too, was the bride.

Acclaimed Poet

This morning I tried my hand at some poetry in Church. Judging by the reaction, I am now an acclaimed poet. Here is my poem:
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. . . Don't forget the date
. . . Of our wonderful fête
. . . You'll be in a state
. . . If you find a closed gate
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The Fête is on Saturday the 5th of November, from 8:30 am.

NOTE: Within a day, this poem shot to no. 1 on the Mail & Guardian Hot Right Now list. My status as a Great Poet would now seem beyond doubt.

Introductions

Last month I reported that I had introduced "a friend" to our Church leadership. I introduced her last week to my sister -- and this week she introduced me to her best friend. My friend is an au pair to international businesspeople, a deaconess in our Church, and a student of theology, majoring in child counselling. See also Introducing A Friend.

Stained Glass Repair

Work began this week on repairs to our Church's stained glass (see the photo), after a person or persons unknown took more than thirty shots at it at the end of July. Several windows are being repaired by Jan Bitenco's Stained Glass Masters. 90% of the damage was covered by insurance. And we debated once whether we should insure the glass or not.

Comeback Trail

I've been on the comeback trail with electronic design. At the beginning of this week, I reported that I was developing a magnetometer. Yesterday I submitted the design for publication. It was snapped up in 11 minutes flat, by the UK's top electronics magazine. That must be a record for me. It is scheduled to appear in the new year. OBSERVATION: (I wish this would happen to my theology!)

A South African Harbour

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The photo shows the quintessential South African harbour -- with three times as many vessels under the water than on it. If I had turned my camera the other way, I would have captured at least another four sunken boats. It's Hout Bay Harbour, and I met there for lunch today with my former academic mentor. Click on the photo to enlarge to 110k and survey the scene. See also Lambert's Bay.

"She's Got Issues!"

This one's an "adult" post. A counselee bedded his girlfriend. She sat up on the edge of the bed and cried. He asked her what was wrong. She said she had been reminded of having been raped many years ago. My counselee said: "She's got issues!"

Muti Murder

This one's not for the faint-hearted. Last week, a three-year-old boy in our groundsman's circle was murdered for muti. The boy's organs were removed, and he was cut in pieces and put in a suitcase. The murderer claimed that he was acting on behalf of his father, a sangoma. Our groundsman said: "They wanted the muti to obtain wealth. They took the wrong muti." OBSERVATION: "Muti" is traditional medicine, and a "sangoma" is a traditional doctor. However, the words may be related to witchcraft, as in this case. I use the word "circle" for informal family relationships. His "nephew".

The Finances

A member asked me this week how the Church's finances were doing. I said we'd had the double challenge this year of the economic downturn and of the Church having suffered a tragedy. Nonetheless, I thought that the Church had responded "famously". The last time I checked, we were about 4% in the red after conservative spending. Things could be better, but they are not dismal. OBSERVATION: I have often heard it said that Churches do not work according to the rules of the world -- they frequently don't do what the world does around them. I say that God is the real giver -- and one hears again and again of His faithfulness in Churches. Our own finances are marked by extreme swings from month to month. See also Finances That Work.

Flashback 1967-1968

This is a recent photo of the islets of Abaiang, which lie on the northern side of this remote Pacific atoll. During 1967 or 1968, I lived on one of these islets (Nuotaea -- not pictured), as well as on the south side of the atoll, at Morikao. Every day, we swam in these waters. In 1993 and again in 1998, I visited the south side of Abaiang.

Integrating Generations

It seems that I bear the mantle of "court photographer" in our Church -- although I have stiff competition from our office secretary. Here's my favourite photo of our Women's Morning last week. Personally I like it because it nicely captures the action (click on it to enlarge to VGA) -- but a Church member thought it was "very beautiful because it is young and old mixed". OBSERVATION: The "old" are in the background here. I consider that a Church should successfully integrate all generations.

Scary Session

I met this morning with a man who controls 45% of the world markets. Or so he said. He controls the current economic downturn, too, and the Arab spring -- among other things. It was a classic case of mania -- and a scary session. On the one hand, he laughed irrepressibly. On the other hand, he warned: "I could turn to terrorism -- just like that!" and he snapped his fingers. "I'm at tipping-point!" It didn't seem to help that he blamed clergy for the state of the world. I manoeuvred my way out of the vestry, and when he realised that I was "home free", he became very agitated. He tried to block my path, and to close the gate on me, but I'd got in front. OBSERVATION: Nonetheless, I dropped items of spiritual counsel into the conversation.

Designing

I frequently receive electronics mail -- that is, from electronics students or enthusiasts asking for advice. What strikes me again and again is that people who need to do electronic design want to know exactly which component to place where and why before they place it. My own secret to design success is a) to work in an intuitive "haze" without really thinking, and b) to do this with (often) "live" circuits in front of me. If that doesn't bear fruit, I stop and focus on the science -- then do a) and b) again. OBSERVATION: This not seldom leads to blow-outs -- my biggest blow-out having caused me thousands of rands (hundreds of dollars) worth of damage in a split second. Typically, if I have a design intuition, I'll buy several of the same components so that I won't be stopped if one blows out. Yesterday, as an example, I blew out a CMOS 4069 (R5 / $0.5o each).

Worship Team

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This one's just a pretty picture. It's our Worship Team yesterday morning. We appoint one person to lead the worship, and the rest are impromptu members -- anyone is free to join. The Worship Team is kept on the hop by our "worship deaconess", here dressed in pink and grey. (I don't know what the joke is).

Identity

It is nearly ten months since I lost my wife Mirjam. There have been some challenges I would have anticipated -- others I would never have predicted, or suspected. Arguably my biggest challenge in the longer term has been one of identity. While people describe me as individualistic, idiosyncratic, original, I have discovered that I had not really viewed myself as an individual. Anything that turns the attention on me has been very difficult for me. I freeze. I had always been we before.

Blackberry Joke

I have a few friends who carry Blackberrys. I have said that I have a very good Blackberry joke, and I would send it to them if I thought that they would get it. (For those who are "out of the loop", the Blackberry service went down last week).

Magnetometer

In my spare time, I'm whipping up a cheap (less than R100/$10) magnetometer. The purpose is to detect rotation within the earth's magnetic field -- the strength of which, in Cape Town, is about 26,000 nanotesla (0.5% of the strength of a fridge magnet). So first I worked on detecting the earth's magnetic field -- that is, getting the circuit to work at all -- then I worked on reliable or stable detection. Next I need to increase the sensitivity, and work on response-time (my circuit works with rate of change). Finally I'll focus on harnessing the circuit. OBSERVATION: One might ask what for. As one example, suppose a thief jumps in your car / automobile and drives away -- then turns it within the earth's magnetic field ... Apart from this, there would be 1001 applications. The image shows the intensity of the earth's magnetic field.

Church Caterer

N. is a member of our Church, and our unofficial Church caterer. I describe her as "unflappable". She is capable, tranquil, cheerful -- pulling together first class meals for dozens of people without a hitch -- with a little help from her friends. She has really been gifted to serve the Lord in this way.

Women's Morning

This morning our Church held a Women's Morning, followed by lunch. Our member A. (pictured) led a small part of the morning -- helping in the Church kitchen, too, as you see here. The event begins at 9:30 and closes at 1:00, and costs R35 ($5 / €4). It generally includes a testimony, crafts, an informative talk, and lunch -- with prayers and choruses in between. It is a popular event.

Stop The Siege

Our Church has a Benevolent Fund -- and recently I have come under great pressure to assist people from the Fund -- mostly outsiders to the Church. I have so been under siege that mixing with our members on a Sunday has become difficult. Last Sunday, in fact, I called armed security (and, worryingly, couldn't get through to them). This week, our Church leadership instructed me henceforth not to assist outsiders -- and appointed "bouncers" to deal with the crush. OBSERVATION: While we do have sympathy for the needy, it cannot be at the expense of ministry coming to a halt.

Spiritual Warfare

At our leadership meeting last night, we discussed the need for nominees to our leadership to be able to engage in spiritual warfare. Perhaps one should say to engage in war, as "spiritual warfare" may merely sound like fervent prayer. I said I didn't think that all of us needed to be able to deal with it (but ideally we should all be capable of witnessing it, and keeping our heads). OBSERVATION: This is an interesting subject from a number of points of view. One is that we were having this discussion at all. When I arrived at this Church, spiritual warfare was in the domain of the minister, and our leadership only dealt with it insofar as they instructed me to "deal with" someone. It doesn't work that way any more.

Pincushion Protea

Here's a protea I snapped on the slopes of Table Mountain recently. It's a pincushion protea. Our region has more than 8,550 floral species, of which only a third may be seen elsewhere in the world. You may click on the photo to enlarge to VGA.

Leadership Jokes [6]

Last night, at our monthly leadership meeting, we discussed whether we should increase our Church's insurance for cash. The conversation went like this:
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. . . A deaconess: "We do put it in the safe."
. . . Our treasurer: "That's pretty safe."
. . . Our accountant: "That's fairly safe!"
. . . Another deaconess: "Nothing is safe!"
. . . And our accountant again: "All I need is for someone to hit me over the head while I'm opening the safe!"
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OBSERVATION: Perhaps it's not very safe. Yet we seldom keep much cash in one place. We keep moving it off the premises. The insurance would be adequate 99% of the time. My favourite in this series of posts: Leadership Jokes [3].

Keep Following

A minority of Churches are what one might call viable, in our so-called Atlantic Area of Cape Town. Call it self-sustaining. One of our few "self-sustaining" ministers e-mailed me this week: "After 18 years of ministry I look back and say, God you did it I just followed! Keep following, you will be more than alright!" OBSERVATION: ("Viable" and "self-sustaining" may be defined in various ways, but I think the terms will be understood).

Thank You For The Challenges

At our annual Thank-Offering, people often include a note of thanks with their gift. This year, I received this note: "This is my Thanksgiving to the Lord ... mostly [for] the challenges I am going through in life, because these challenges strengthen my relationship with my Lord. Thank you Lord for all.”

Scattered

There have been no few days in ministry where I have intended to start a sermon in the morning, but there were so many distractions that I didn't get past the first page by noon. Today was such a day -- except that by noon today I was drinking ginger beer at a street café with a deaconess. Then the turmoil continued. OBSERVATION: I don't let the turmoil go on for too long, though. Tomorrow I shall shut it out -- or perhaps, rather, demote it in the interests of a few priority items.

Obedience To Family

A young woman -- a wife and mother -- came to see me for counselling. Her husband had been unfaithful, and this had culminated in his lover turning up at the front door and belittling her. She left home with the children, and moved into a flat. At this point, her family ordered her back to her husband -- and she dutifully obeyed.

Haiku Operating System

In an idle moment at the Church office this morning, I got the third beta release of Haiku up and running (see the screen-shot -- click on it to enlarge). In a world of MS Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux distros, (BeOS) Haiku is a little-known departure. OBSERVATION: I think it is nice. It is user-friendly, very swift, and solid -- however, its apps are fairly rudimentary, its menus lack structure, and (elsewhere on this blog) hardware support may be wanting. This screen-shot includes the famous "floating teapot" demo (bottom right). It's a brave project -- and may be downloaded free for "live" testing. That is, it won't touch your existing system.

Many Visitors

One of the purposes of this blog is to portray "typical urban ministry". With this in mind, the subject of this post is visitors. Our Church may have more visitors in a day than other Churches have in a year. Another minister told me he would throw his arms in the air and shout "Hallelujah!" if he had just one visitor on a Sunday. Some Sundays, I would estimate that a quarter of our congregation are visitors. OBSERVATION: Visitors typically come from sub-Saharan Africa, or from Europe. What this means, too, is that our congregation is relatively unstable -- and yet the Lord sustains the Church year after year.

Ordination

This is a photo of me (on the right) taking part in an ordination service in the 1980's. It is common for ministers to lay hands on the head of the ordinand. OBSERVATION: If several ministers are pressing their hands on one's head, this may represent an enormous weight -- certainly more than a bag of cement. (Now you have the insider perspective)!

Ever-Present AIDS

AIDS is ever-present in my ministry. I surely deal with its repercussions on a weekly basis. Yesterday, as an example, a member came to see me and said that her daughter had AIDS and had "become terribly thin". She lost another daughter to AIDS earlier this year. Both of these daughters have attended our Church in the past, and have sent their boys to our Sunday School.

Top Ten Stressors

Psychiatrists Holmes and Rahe identified life's top fifty stressors, measured in terms of the damage they did to one's health. Here are the top ten: 1. The death of a spouse, 2. Divorce, 3. Marital separation, 4. Going to jail, 5. The death of a close family member, 6. Personal injury or illness, 7. Marriage, 8. Getting fired, 9. Reconciling with a spouse, and 10. Retirement. OBSERVATION: From my experience, I would think of another two candidates for the top ten: major success, and cultural relocation.

Anniversary Service

We held our Anniversary Thank-Offering service this morning. It always was an Anniversary service, but came to be combined with a Thank-Offering. The children played a prominent part -- participating in the call to worship, the prayers, two songs (pictured), and the reading. A deaconess organised the service in its entirety.

Family Synergy

When a couple come to see me in the vestry, there's not much they need to co-ordinate as they leave: don't forget your sunglasses, honey -- and then they may need to find each other's hands -- to hold hands. But when a couple with children come to see me -- assuming that it's a well functioning family unit -- the synergy is a wonder to behold: you take the baby's bottle, honey, and I'll take the teddy, you hold his hand, and I'll grab her harness, and don't forget the keys, and I've got your jacket ... And then it's all complemented with kind words and sympathetic responses.

Thank-Offering

Every year, our Church holds a two-day Anniversary Thank-Offering -- inviting people to bring a gift of thanks to God in the Church vestry: which is, a token of thanks for blessings, a portion of a special windfall, or neglected tithes. Up to a fifth of our members come in person, while many others put a special offering in the collection plate. Today people shared with me their reasons for thanks to God: their salvation, their family, their Church family, God's provision, peace in crisis, and much more. OBSERVATION: I wish that everyone could hear the outpouring of thanks -- but it is only me.

Making My Friends Happy

It's the first new electronic design I've submitted to a publisher in an age (pictured) -- submitted last night. It's a self-contained metal detector which, using nine common components, will pick up an old Victorian penny at 180mm. This means that, by component count, this design outperforms everything else out there. At last, I have made my friends happy (they were pressing me to return to electronics).
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NOTE: This design has been snapped up by EPE Magazine in the UK, where it will appear in the near future.

Self-Publishing

Self-publishing has come a long way since, say, ten years ago. I like the "organic" system that some publishers use. They enable authors (such as me) to publish free of charge -- they taking a modest cut from sales. But it doesn't end there. They monitor what one's sales are doing, and if they look promising, they adopt one's work and promote it. Four of my books have been "adopted" like this. I haven't made a fortune (yet) -- I wouldn't be able to afford more than the plane ticket to pick up the cheque -- to pay for the plane ticket! OBSERVATION: Other options may include professional editing or paid promotion. The image shows my Electronics Scrapbook -- a sizeable collection of designs that electronics publishers kindly returned to me. Incidentally I did my own promotion, which had about zero pay-back, but helped "flag" my books as ones that were moving.

Scones At 10:30

I went to a local hotel with our associate minister. We arrived at 10:20, and I ordered scones and coffee. The head waiter said: "I'm sorry, Sir, scones are not on the menu until 10:30." I said: "Bring the scones when you're ready." He said: "We have rules, Sir, and you have to abide by them. Scones are not on the menu until 10:30." As he spoke, a waitress passed us with a tray of scones! OBSERVATION: Thankfully, the head waiter didn't last. Nor did the 10:30 rule.

BFO Metal Detector

I did some designing this week. Here's a spin-off of my experiments. It's a beat frequency operation (BFO) metal detector -- and a good one -- for BFO. It is able to detect an old Victorian penny at more than 100mm. It is based on a novel 555 LRC oscillator. Note that the 555 IC must be a CMOS version, such as the ICM7555 or the TLC555. Instructions for winding the coil L1 may be found at BFO Metal Detector [2]. The output is taken via a wire to a MW radio aerial, and the radio is suitably tuned, to find a good heterodyne. It's a nice, simple project for entertaining a child. One may experiment with the value of R1 to tweak sensitivity. OBSERVATION: This may easily be turned into a self-contained BFO metal detector. A similar circuit is twinned with this one, only with an 820µ inductor for L1, and a 10k multi-turn potentiometer for R1. A crystal earpiece is wired between the two outputs.
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NOTE: You may re-publish this design, on condition that you acknowledge the designer (Thomas Scarborough) and this blog (http://thomasscarborough.blogspot.com).

Thanks In Sorrow

One of our members lost two close family members within a month. She said she didn't think she'd cried so much in her life -- but: "I thank God that I can pray, and I thank Him for all the good things in my life." I know that this came from the heart.

"Priesthood" Carried The Church

Our Church suffered a big blow with the death of the minister's wife early this year. However, I have said many times that I think we have done famously since then, considering. That is, the Church has suffered, but not as one might have thought. I feel confident that this is due to the priesthood of believers, or ministry by members. Because we had the priesthood of believers in place -- even if it wasn't perfect -- it carried the Church.

Blind Review

Many academic journals have a policy of "blind review". That is, the peer (expert) review panel don't know whose paper they are reviewing. Having gained a little experience with academic journals, I suspect that blind review is not that blind. Rather, I suspect it works something like this. The editor writes to a popular contributor: "Hey, Bob, peer review think you made a hash of it this time. Be a sport, and tidy it up." Or the editor remarks to the editorial assistant: "Heck, peer review passed this? Who is this Sheila anyway? Give her the usual brush-off."

How Many No Shows?

Elsewhere on this blog, I note that about half the people who request appointments with me are "no shows". Not seldom, they then ask for another appointment. This happened to me this morning -- someone gave me a second "no show" in a row. So how long does one keep granting appointments? I keep on more or less indefinitely, although I don't make subsequent appointments a priority -- I take such people "on the side". OBSERVATION: On occasion, I have been glad that I did this. For example, a woman failed four times to turn up for a wedding appointment. The fifth time, she turned up, and it changed her life (she decided to marry -- which brought stability and contentment to her, her partner, and their children).

Fresh Design

Friends have been urging me to do some fresh electronic design. So, a fortnight ago, I fired up an oscilloscope for the first time in a year or two (one can "see" into circuits using an oscilloscope). Then I designed a novel four-component LRC oscillator, as the basis for a metal detector. Progress looks good -- but I have lost the "drive" to do this. The photo shows the oscilloscope probe.

Advent Calendar

A special part of my childhood was the Advent Calendar. I ordered one for a friend today, from Europe (see image). OBSERVATION: Traditionally, these calendars marked the advent of Christ. However, even the "traditional" ones may now mark the advent of Santa. As for the non-traditional ones ...

Restaurants!

As life has had it, I have visited a fair number of South African restaurants latterly. I would estimate that a third of them make "capital" mistakes. I shall spare blog readers the worst of the mistakes -- but one wouldn't think there would be so many "classic" situations: taking the order and forgetting the patron, smoking out the restaurant with a blocked chimney, staff screaming at each other across the floor, asking the patron to lift his feet while they clean, serving a deep-frozen meal, telling the patron to wait while they go buy paper for the bill, the inevitable wrong orders ... The full list would be a long one.

Being vs. Doing

A major discussion in Christian leadership today is being vs. doing. It was a major emphasis of my last term at Fuller Theological Seminary. Thus it is said that Christian leadership is not about what I do, it's about who I am. Part of the reason for emphasising being vs. doing is that doing has led to widespread dropout in the past (an emphasis on achievement, but character fails, or burnout ensues, and so on). However, I consider that being and doing are merely different aspects of the same. Those phrases "what I do" and "who I am" have one word in common: "I". I have called this an inordinate emphasis on self, in both cases -- whether one is speaking of doing or of being. I think this to be the real, underlying problem in dropout.

Lost Marriage Forms

The BI-36 is the crucial marriage form in South Africa. It is signed by the bride and groom, two witnesses, and one (or sometimes two) Marriage Officers. But the Department keeps losing my BI-36's -- I mean, the evidence that I conducted some weddings. Most recently, a couple wanted to register their baby's name, only to discover (to their shock) that their marriage wasn't registered. I had completed the BI-36, and our secretary had submitted it to the Department. Fortunately, our secretary had made a copy for our files, and this saved the day. Even so, the husband needed to present this to the Department in person, together with the Marriage Certificate (a document of lesser value, which I hand straight to the couple). OBSERVATION: In various situations, proof of marriage may be vital: for business, for travel, for policies, and so on. It's at such crunch points that I tend to get contacted: "The Department has no record ... !"

Flashback 1983

I took this photo of wife Mirjam standing before the legendary Mukorob, or Finger of God, in 1983. The Mukorob collapsed five years later. According to Nama tradition, its collapse would mark the end of the power of the White man in Namibia. So it did. The Tripartite Agreement was signed eighteen days later. You may click on the photo to enlarge to 200k.

Face Painting

This one's just a pretty picture. At our last Church Fête, we introduced face painting. I don't know that it added much value to the Fête, but it brought colour and joy, and it attracted the children. That's what we wanted. You may click on the photo for VGA.

Smoke And Mirrors

Ministry was smoke and mirrors this week. It had me deeply worried, and deep in prayer -- until I saw behind the mirrors, and through the smoke. It was all an illusion. Someone commented: "Human nature!" Regrettably it's not a tale that can be told on a blog.

First Restaurant Experience

I took one of our congregation to a restaurant for breakfast, and ordered bacon and eggs for us both. He told me it was the first time he had been to a restaurant. He ate much of the breakfast with his hands (he only used a fork to take a stab at the bacon). He was unfamiliar with a number of items on the table -- for example, sugar sachets. This has happened several times in my ministry here (that a congregant ate at a restaurant for the first time).