Missions Gathering

The pan shot above shows a meeting of our missions team with local farmers and pastors on the outskirts of Thaba Patshoa. During the past few days, we have ministered to 150+ children and youth, and some villagers. The children responded keenly, and the team worked harmoniously.

Slaves

We have a team of some twenty missionaries in Thaba Patshoa. I have been appointed 'morning chaplain', to lead devotions after breakfast. This morning we looked at Jesus' Parable of the Wedding Banquet -- specifically how the 'missionaries' of the King are five times referred to in the text as 'slaves'. I said that we are mere slaves in announcing the invitation of the King, but the King Himself chooses His guests. He grants the increase. Among other things, this means that ours is not the burden, asking how did I do? what did I achieve? One missionary said: "I found that so freeing." Another: "That was really helpful."

Childrens' Ministry

All of this week, E. and I are on a short-term missions expedition to Thaba Patshoa (or Patshawa). The major focus of the mission is the children of the area. They have been responding keenly and attentively to spiritual input -- and our teams are gifted, it needs to be seen. Today the teams are ministering in the village of Thaba Patshoa (pictured). E. is on the left.

Cold Nights

Nights are bitterly cold in Thaba Patshoa. Some of the team did not anticipate how cold. Here are some team members warming themselves by the fire last night.

Work With Children

It is a challenge to connect from Thaba Patshoa. And if one succeeds, the connection is very slow indeed. Today several missionary teams converged here, and much work was done with children -- from tots through to teenagers. The photo shows M. serving cake for Sotho children after the Sunday service.

Missions Today

Here is a photo of how our missionary O. conceives of missions. In fact, this was the welcome that our missionaries received from a local farmer. O. was also usefully (perhaps) employed in herding cattle yesterday -- and in sharing with local farmers about the mission.

Circular Alert

I decided recently to send out a circular, alerting people simply to the fact that someone was circulating stories about me, following my service in urban ministry. I did this on experience -- I have witnessed ministers who did it and I have witnessed ministers who didn't. I did wrestle, however, over whether I ought to do it or not. One minister said to me afterwards: "That was a great help." Another e-mailed me: "It was the right thing." But one wrote: "Allow God to be your defender." The response, by and large, was very positive.

Thaba Patshoa

Our missions team arrived on the outskirts of Thaba Patshoa (or Patshawa) today. It was a day of orientation, prayer, visitation, and fellowship. Tomorrow we are to have a special Church service at 10:00 am, and children's activities and ministry at 1:30 pm. Missionaries from Botshabelo and Bloemfontein are to join us, so doubling the size of our team. I have had trouble getting an Internet connection. However, my missions communique got out today. The photo shows one of our missions team on arrival. You may click on it to enlarge.

Awful Big Country

South Africa is an 'awful big country'. Today E. and I are traversing most of it -- first stop Maselspoort east of Bloemfontein, more than a thousand kilometres' journey from Cape Town. I took the photo earlier in the day of some of our missions team, in Three Sisters in the Great Karoo. You may click on the photo to enlarge. The Great Karoo is a vast, desolate expanse.

This And That

I took this photo recently of son M. participating in Cape Town's Amazing Race -- a fisheye shot on Cape Town's foreshore. He is now in Paris, doing research at the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine. Then he travels to Greece to present a paper at an international conference, then to Italy for research near Mount Etna. Before the crack of dawn tomorrow, I leave on a missions trip. If this blog should go dead, you'll know that I'm having trouble communicating from Thaba Patshoa (which won't be the best of news, as I am communications officer)! If my blog is still "on air", there might be some interesting posts. You may click on the photo to enlarge to 90k.

Forgetting About Me

I tend to forget about me -- as do many ministers, especially young ones. During the past week, I was booked off by the doctor for fever -- yet I had four long journeys. I prepared five messages, and had a string of meetings, a few of them intense or important. I am also thinking ahead to a short-term missions engagement -- starting tomorrow with a long journey. So on a to-do list this week, I put 'ME' at no. 2, following the Easter sermon, to ensure that I look after myself.

Travelling Secure

E. and I are planning a journey to Thaba Patshoa at the end of this week. When I have travelled in Africa and Asia in particular, I have travelled with a chain, and a siren. I tie a chain around my luggage and lock it -- typically locking it to something -- and I set a siren to trigger if my luggage is moved. Many would have been thankful for having done the same -- among them son M. who was recently robbed in Nairobi (Nairoberi, as he calls it). One camera lens, he said, cost more than his flight to Nairobi. OBSERVATION: A useful device is a portable PIR detector. However, they can be hard to find in Africa.

Rich By 193 Years Old

Son M., in a recent newsletter, referred to my new electronics anthology as a "popular" book. However, just yesterday he joked about my revenues: "Jolly good ... at this rate you'll be rich when you're 193!" (being a scientist, he did his calculation). But while it was a bad day at the ranch today, it was a good day for my book. I made a stash -- the first day since publication that it has shown real earnings.

Plundered

This past weekend, for a second time, tons of our possessions were ransacked and plundered. However our neighbours found a stash and rescued valuable goods. The first time we were plundered, a door jamb was smashed. I am proud to say that I did such a good job of bolstering door jambs that nobody tried to get in by a door this time. However, they did try to lift the roof, then took out part of a wall, and so got in. The alarm was still sounding when I got there -- buried under plundered goods.

Ministry Thanks

Since I stepped out of urban ministry, I received a flood of thanks. Today I happen for the first time to be in the mood to put up some comments here -- just some that I received through this blog: "You have achieved so much." "You were an inspiration to many." "You are a credit to the kingdom of God." "You touched many people's lives, including mine." "You had a fantastic record of service." "You make us proud, dear Thomas." "A massive achievement." "An unbelievably triumphant success." "Aye aye captain." "A wonderful legacy". Not least: "You have a wife who is totally committed and dedicated." As they say in the ads: these comments are authentic. Thanks to those who sent them.

Mood Altering Drugs

When I was first in theological seminary, there were proposals that one should put LSD in the drinking water to pacify the population (this was also viewed as a potential terrorist threat). I would think that this has been tending increasingly towards fulfilment, though not as one expected it back then. By now, mood altering drugs are prescribed to about 10% of the population. I have seen studies which show more than 50% for a given profession. In many cases, this normalises people's behaviour. But I would think -- on the basis of experience as a minister -- that in many cases it empowers people to continue with lunatic behaviours where they should have crumpled long ago. OBSERVATION: We now live in a society which is pushing (or inviting) people beyond the bounds of the humanly possible.

Easter Service

It was a good Easter Sunday in the Karoo. Easter attendance met somebody's best expectations, as every communion glass was used up. One of the congregation said to me: "That was one of the nicest Easter services I've had in thirty-odd years." The theme was hope: hope for the next life, hope for this life -- because of God's grace and power through Jesus Christ.

Happy Easter

A warm happy Easter from the Karoo semi-desert. The photo, which I took earlier today, shows the central landmark of my parish -- the Towerkop. As will be seen, the Karoo is now green after rains fell a month ago, and gardens are beautiful. The Karoo is uncommonly quiet over this Easter period. Hour after hour, village streets are deserted.

Image Of New Life

I took this photo in the desert in the Northern Cape after rains. It has a special significance for me, as I carried the image always in my mind following the death of my wife: the ground-hugging flowers in a burnt landscape representing the many small graces and blessings which followed devastation. Everything after that seemed to be a grace and a blessing. "The flowers have already appeared in the land" (Song of Solomon 2:12). You may click on the image to enlarge.

NOTE: I returned to this post to delete it as lacking gravitas, but found it so popular that it stays. It must have spoken to others, too.

Not On Form

Approaching the Easter weekend, I just wasn't "on form". Tonight I went to see a doctor. He examined me, checked my blood pressure, pulse, and temperature -- and booked me off! I said to him: "No way!" Upon which he handed me a medical certificate, as if to say: "So there." However, if anyone in the Church should be looking in on my blog, I shall be carrying out all of my ministerial duties this Easter weekend, and with pleasure, God willing.

NOTE: The problem, in a word, is fevers. Caused by a less than common bug.

Mission Messages

I have been appointed "crack of dawn chaplain" for the mission at the end of this month -- or whatever the designation may be. Today I spent some time looking over three messages which are needless to say on ... mission. I selected Jesus' Parable of the Marriage Feast (Matthew 22). Three themes that I may cover: the generous (and rejected) invitation of the king, why the king's emissaries are again and again referred to as slaves, and the curious (but important) case of the man who was bundled out of the feast.

Water In The Karoo

This is a post with a difference. Water is scarce in the semi-desert. Therefore our Church in the Karoo catches water off the roof, which is channelled into large tanks. At the bottom of the tanks are valves (pictured). Typically one waters the (succulent) garden from the tanks. There are good rains in the semi-desert, occasionally. Early settlers sometimes built massive tanks, to provide water all year round.

Lesotho Solar

Today I designed and built my sixth solar power system in a year -- for the Church in Lesotho. Somebody asked me the unthinkable question: "Will it work?" It's a small 12V 2.8Ah system. I gave it a brief outing in the sun after I completed it, and it charged nicely. It will provide two times 80 candlepower all evening every evening and charge small devices such as cell-phones. OBSERVATION: For anyone who's used to one or two candles (or even fifty), that's a big difference. If indeed I designed it right, it should last five years non-stop -- or ten with luck.

Struggle Over A Hard Line

Sometimes, when at a loss as to what to post, I consider: what is on your heart? At the moment, I am struggling greatly with the question as to whether I should lay criminal charges against a number of people I have shown a lot of patience and grace, in fact month after month. I have sought the advice of authorities, and have sought it again. The advice is one and the same: under the circumstances, do it, and do it now.

Memories

This is the kind of photo that one risks one's life for -- to put it up on a blog. It's a photo of wife E., taken five years ago. She was on her way to Cape Town's City Hall, to listen to the Philharmonia Choir. She was surprised that I had this photo, as she doesn't have it herself. I found it in a photo album of one of her relatives in the east. Unfortunately this isn't Facebook, where one can click on Like. One may click on the photo to enlarge.

NOTE: The photo reveals eye folds, which are typical of the San. I have said that E. must have some San ancestors. The plateau where she grew up is full of San ruins.

Oldies And Newbies

A Church leader said to me about another Church leader: “He doesn’t count. He’s only been in our meetings a few times.” I said that everyone who is on a Church leadership is fully on board. Every leader should be treated with full deference and respect. OBSERVATION: I think that there is a spiritual reason for this. We are not merely talking about people's worldly experience as leaders, although a grasp of one's history may have some value. We are talking about a God-anointing. There is a certain pride in pointing to one’s “worldly” assets as being superior to someone else’s. In fact the question mark here would be over the Church leader who said: "He doesn't count." The principle, however, applies not only to Church leadership, but far more broadly.

Fallacy Theory Today

I think I have mentioned on this blog a recent trend to make peer review processes public -- which is made possible by the Internet. A book review which I wrote, titled Fallacy Theory Today, has been under such review, and was just promoted to official status -- that is, it is no longer under peer review. You may click on the link above to take a look. OBSERVATION: There is also a recent trend to make peer review a restricted public process -- restricted to members of a society or a seminary, for instance.

Happy Birthday

Wife E. (background) is celebrating her birthday today. Here are some of the guests. Most are from the Northern Cape: Augrabies, Upington, Kakamas, Prieska. E. is from the Eastern Cape: Kareedouw. It is the custom to have a feast. Last time I checked on the party, there was a heated debate about President Zuma who, it was thought, was too much surrounded by scandal for a president. You may click on the photo to enlarge to 200k. OBSERVATION: One of the ladies just looked over my shoulder and noted that Kakamas is soon to be incorporated into Namibia. Let the reader understand.

Best Dressed

E. and I helped out today with an Amazing Race-like event in Cape Town. I took this photo of the team which ultimately won the prize for the best dressed team. They participated as The Mimes. You may click on the photo to enlarge to VGA.

Surpassing Himself

Son M. has been "surpassing himself". This week he held ten academic lectures at Africa's foremost university -- and one public lecture on the West Coast. All the feedback on the academic lectures was good to excellent, while the feedback for the public lecture was enthusiastic. It seems like only yesterday that he dreamed that he may one day lecture at university. However, it still is "only a pastime", as he is wrapping up a PhD. See The Drupkelder for a photo.

Nyararisa: The Song

Two of the three most popular posts of the last month on this blog (and they haven't been up for half a month) are the two Youth Choir songs I put up. Here is a third. Titled Nyararisa, it is sung in Shona (by Itai, with the green shirt), Zulu (by Phakamile, with the purple scarf), and Afrikaans (by Ester, who later became my wife). I can translate the Afrikaans: "Yes Lord hold me in the palm of your hand." There are some interesting accents as choir members sing along in foreign languages. The other members of the Choir are Peter (English) and Francis (Shona).

Fear And Trembling

It is a central concern of my ministry: "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act." A common interpretation goes something like this: "You’d better perform as a Christian, or you have reason to fear and tremble." But can this be reconciled with salvation by faith? I have interpreted it like this: "You’d better work out the difference between faith and works and why, and do it with fear and trembling, because the consequences are awesome." Commentator Kenneth Wuest says: "The English translation is good if one uses the words 'work out' as one does when referring to the working out of a problem in mathematics." Too many, who go by the name Christian, have not figured it out.

SAPS 496 : Released

This post is another "just the basic facts", without comment. Last year I was criminally charged. The police immediately made it clear to me that the charges could not be withdrawn. However, the moment the investigation got under way, they suggested that the statements were suspect. I asked an officer for copies, but the request was denied. I then put the request to a detective. The request was again denied. I met with the senior public prosecutor. She signed permission to release the statements. I went to fetch them. A very nervous officer stopped the senior public prosecutor -- however, he granted me access to the statements. The file was now open -- but I didn't get to read it. The police then referred me to their website to request release. The website wouldn't work. I asked my accusers for the statements. I received no reply. An officer promised then to prepare me a SAPS 512, a formal request form. Finally I put my signature to a SAPS 512. A month after that, the request was refused. Some context: as a result of these statements, I was criminally charged. I was questioned, fingerprinted, mug-shotted -- and handed a rather serious SAPS 496: Released on Warning (here pictured). A date was set for trial in Court 15 at Caledon Square. But two days before trial, the public prosecutor threw out the charges, on the basis that there was "no reasonable prospect" of showing any wrongdoing. OBSERVATION: I was charged a second time, but the prosecutor again threw out the charges, on the grounds that they were "baseless". The second docket then went missing. One of my accusers made several  accusations since, in writing. I advised them to report to the police.

NOTE: With renewed interest in this post in March 2018, it now seems that there were no statements, as one reckons statements. The police's Cluster reported that there was no basis whatsoever on which to charge me. Not even false statements.

Global Network

In December, I published a sizeable electronics book, which I knew to be good: an anthology of my published projects (see the side column). However, revenues have been fairly quiet so far (wife E. likes clicking on the Revenues tab to have a giggle). Yesterday, however, a large global network cottoned on to the book, and is excited about it. The vice-president comments: "I love this fundamental and creative aspect of design." OBSERVATION: However, I was able to publish this book because publishers returned copyrights to me. I am now double-checking to see that I am free to pass on copyrights further. It shouldn't really matter: I am granting the network five projects out of one-hundred-and-eighty.

The Story Of E. And Me

For half a year now, I have been writing up the story of E. and me -- little by little. From time to time, people ask me how it is progressing. It has just passed the 20 000 word mark (a novella may be 20 000 words and up). The working title is An Arranged Love. OBSERVATION: I am taking the approach that, with language, less is more. People fill in the picture. And that makes a story more evocative. So the style is sparse. I have formal proposals with a number of publishers. However, publishing is an unpredictable business. Some of the book's USP's (unique selling points) are these: it probably is the first inside account of African wedding customs by a European -- in book form. Also, I had a Leica camera strapped on most times -- it is possible that many of the photos are firsts. And I think that it would reveal much about cultural dynamics in South Africa today. Private reviews have been enthusiastic. You may click on the photo to enlarge to 220k.

So Much The Same

Wife E. asked me recently: "Why are we so much the same?" On the surface of it, she and I would seem to be as incompatible as it gets: different ethnicity, just "for starters". I have pondered this question myself. I see a few things. We were both brought up in the midst of privation, far from any town. We were both brought up in missionary areas, in a disciplinary environment. We both had parents who knew hardship. While I can think of many more influences, it could come down to these.

Tok-Tokkie Beetle

I took this photo on the front path of our Church in the Karoo today. It is a so-called tok-tokkie beetle -- a member of the tenebrionidae family. It is called a tok-tokkie because it communicates with other beetles through tapping on the ground. It is a harmless, good-natured beetle. You may click on the image to enlarge to 460k. OBSERVATION: Not to be confused with the game tok-tokkie, which is knocking on a door and running away!

New Library

Ministering in the Karoo semi-desert today, I was introduced to our Church's brand new library (pictured). Every Christian should be well-read (not too much in trendy books!) and Church libraries may play an important role in this. At the moment, the library is unsorted -- even so, it is already open, and it is open to all the Churches in the area. The books are extremely wide-ranging -- we shall surely be giving this some further thought. OBSERVATION: This is the third time that a library has been established under my ministr(ies) -- not that I can take much credit for it.

Hard vs. Soft Security

In discussing electronic locks with a security company the other day, what came to the fore was "hard" approaches vs. "soft" approaches. "Hard" approaches are those which stop a would-be intruder with brute force numbers: say, only one code in one-billion will open a lock. "Soft" approaches will consider how the would-be intruder would actually be stopped. I show an example here from my book -- a stupidly cheap and simple design ©. This uses a twelve-key keypad. Of those twelve keys, all but S1 and S2 are wired in parallel with S3. In practice then, S1 and S2 must be pressed together to open the lock. All the other keys delay progress. How many intruders would guess, firstly, that this uses a parallel code? There are no such locks on the market. And even if someone handed an intruder the design, it would take them an average three hours to open the lock. In fact with some very simple changes, one could extend that to a week. OBSERVATION: Take some other examples. A twist of a magnet opens a lock (with a keypad as a decoy), or a puff on a dog-whistle does it. The only problem I can see is if one's lock should become popular enough to be "reckoned with" by intruders.

Thank You God

This one's a repost from 2012 -- words of thanks to God: "In my prayers last night, I thanked God for a life that has been extraordinarily blessed.  I had the privilege of being raised in three cultures (if not four), God blessed me with a sterling wife (now gone), He gave me two postgraduate degrees, I saw countries at war and at peace, God gave me precious friends, He gave me the honour of knowing great people, I was on six continents, I had the great privilege (as minister) of being admitted to people's most sacred moments and most dark, God set me in a wonderful creation, He delivered me from many snares and troubles -- and so very much more. This morning, in a prayer with my fiancée E. (and God gave me the privilege to love again) I thanked Him for 'all our blessings since we were small'."

My Throat

I have decided to put this photo on my blog without comment -- just some technical details. It is one of a set of about thirty photos. It is date-stamped Sunday 26 May 2013 -- and if one knows how to look, the date-stamp is embedded in this photo here. A standard Retinex filter was applied. The photo shows my throat, or what happened to it. It was my last Sunday but one in urban ministry.

NOTE: I received a request: if there is a set of about thirty photos, please put up more. I said no, for the reason that decorum prevents me. But to go some small way to satisfying the request, here is one more, of my right forearm. This, too, is date-stamped Sunday 26 May 2013 -- and again, the date-stamp is embedded in this photo here. A standard Retinex filter was applied.

Designated Funds

Throughout my ministr(ies), we have had a firm policy on, call them designated funds. We do not convert designated funds into contingency funds. Here's an example. In one of the many months of my ministr(ies), we were in a tight spot. There was a suggestion that we should convert a designated fund into a contingency fund -- that is, draw from money that was set aside for something else. I said no. Designated funds are designated. OBSERVATION: Apart from anything else, if people give something for a purpose, that donation needs to be treated respectfully. Yet it is common in Churches to convert designated funds into contingency funds -- say, draw from the building fund to pay the organist. However, I consider this to be ruinous to "investor confidence" -- or to put it positively, in my experience, where we have done away with "fund swaps", our finances have strengthened. I believe it is also a matter of faith to walk the straight and narrow.

Review How-To

I recently wrote a comparative survey or review of two popular academic books. While the article is still displayed as a draft on the Internet, I don't think there will be much further revision. The article is Comparative Survey: Fallacies. This blog post, however, is about the technique. When reading a book, I make plentiful pencil notes, in the book, prioritising certain lines as I go. Then I do an intuitive write-up, from the heart. Then I go through every page of the book, taking the prioritised lines and typing them up with references. Then I order them and integrate them with the intuitive write-up. If the style requires it, I strip out the references again. And with this particular article, I had the benefit of a top writer lending a hand with some editing.

Chocolate Keys

I had a consultation this morning with a security company. They wanted to tap my electronics knowledge. The best part of it? They gave me a big box of chocolate keys! OBSERVATION: My passion is African solutions (an example being African Solar -- there are other examples in my book). If it's electronics, I can surely do it, but would I do it if it's not my passion. Probably not.