Visa, visa, !!

I haven't posted much for a week or so, so first let me just catch up with things. Louise and I have enjoyed our break over Christmas and New Year and have used the time to rest (sheer bliss). We had some great weather and spent part of the time at the beach swimming, however for us both, sitting reading filled most of the holiday.

We're both back at work now, that means back to studying for me. I've just submitted some assignments and work that I've done on my recently completed module (Christian spirituality), I look forward too hearing back from my tutor as to how I have done.

It's not all been work for us both, this last weekend saw us going for what has to be the best swim I've had since I've been here in Jeffrey's. While in the sea I enjoyed having loads of small fish swimming around me! It's been a time of first's for me lately; while walking my dog early one morning I saw my first ever meerkat in the wild(I've only seen them in zoo's before), and was also treated to a great spectacle while driving through to St Frances; a herd of ostriches being herded, like cows, down the road. Driving very slowly past them was fun as they all peered into the car!

We have also seen the arrival of our Churches new Associate Pastor and his family (Donovan, Caryn & Kylie) which is really great news. They seem to be settling in well and I look forward to seeing how God will use this family.

That's about the fill of what has been going on in my life in the past week or so. Now down to explaining the title to this post. I'm living here in South Africa on a "temporary residents visa", this has to be renewed every two years. You may remember an earlier post of mine talking about our previous wasted trip to PE to sort this out. Today we went on the right day and with the right paperwork together with everyone's prayers (many thanks). We did however go with some concerns about the submission of my police clearance certificate (something I did before leaving the UK), my current visa shows it still pending. This was done before leaving the UK as I've said, so we were asked to submit a letter stating this with my application. We now find ourselves having to wait another week for it to go through so that I can go, once again, to PE to collect it. The guy who served us was the same friendly guy we saw at our previous visit and he was great. I hope I picked up the right signals from him, that the police clearance won't be an issue, however, we still must wait. Please do continue to pray, until I have the visa in my hand, nothing is sorted. I know that God answered prayer for us in that I felt real peace while in the office and with us getting the friendliest looking staff member working there.

GOD IS GREAT

PS. Louise put together a newsletter about our past year which can be read by clicking on the link below:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddp84qn2_0gp9kt669

Left to Tell

I've just finished reading one of my Christmas presents. It’s a book called 'Left to Tell' and is the story of a young Rwandan lady by the name of Immaculée Ilibagiza.

 

(Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza and Steve Erwin)

This book is an autobiography which portrays Immaculée's life and experiences during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

I'm not going to give a history lesson here partly because Rwanda's history and the events leading up to the genocide go back years. I will say for those not familiar with this shameful period of human history that the conflict was mainly between two tribes, the Hutus and the Tutsis. Over come by evil, the Hutus tried to kill all Tutsis.

Immaculée's story is about so much more then these killings. Her story is about an incredible relationship that she has with our Almighty God. This relationship is tested in ways that seem totally unimaginable for me. Some of the things described in this book that Immaculée and her family went through made me sick to my stomach but some how Immaculée is able to hold on to God through it all.

Can a person forgive as God calls each of us too? This story describes the struggles Immaculée had in forgiving but also the amazing truth of how God can make it possible for a person to forgive the worst of human atrocities.

As I read this book I went through all kinds of emotions and thoughts, I found myself questioning myself.

In 1994 I was a train driver on London Underground and it’s likely that while Immaculée was going through such terrible things I would have been simply getting on with my life complaining about my job and paying little attention to what was going on in the world.

• Why are we so numb to such horrors today?
• Why are such things happening in this civilized world of ours?
• Weren’t the terrible killings of thousands of Jews in the Second World War meant to have taught us to never allow such things to happen again?
• Are we aware at this very moment what maybe happening right now in parts of the world, maybe in Kenya with all its political unrest or in Pakistan for example?

Immaculée turned to God in prayer seeking for Him too intervene, I think we all need to follow her example.

This book, if read by you, will shock, upset and anger you. It will also challenge, inspire and remind you that God is real and can be found by anyone who seeks Him.

A braai with friends

Last night Louise and I went to a braai around Alfred and Michelle's house, there were a number of us there and we had a great time. I off cause didn't really fancy going when it actually came to getting ready to go there. I tend to always feel like that when it comes to social events, why? I had a great time with everyone, which is normal, so why do I never really fancy going to such things? I think it may be due to a lack of confidence in my self in social settings. I sometimes don't know what to say or do and then feel un-comfortable!

Social skills are like most skills, they are learnt, and this year I want to get better at such things. It’s going to take me stepping out of my comfort zone, at least to some point, but the truth is, doing so is often very rewarding. My friends at the braai were all Christians and our conversations actually encouraged my faith and my desire to live for God. I hope that I too may have been able to encourage others in the same way.

Fulfilling...

Happy New Year too all.

I'm not sure about the New Year thing, you know, all the resolutions and that!
But having said that, I do still have desires for the coming year, they focus mainly on my relationship with God, I want to get to know Him better, I want to live with a constant awareness of Him, I want to live for His glory.

Last year I felt that I didn't achieve all that I wanted too. I made plans but the year just didn't go as I thought. Having faced up to this I go into the New Year not filled with disappointments but with excitement coupled with renewed desires to fulfill all those wishes that have filled my thoughts over the past days.

My ramblings in this blog have been pretty guarded because I know that a number of people read it, but this is one thing I hope to change. Being more transparent with those who care will I'm sure bring good advice and conversation that if acted upon will lead me to fulfill my biggest wish, 'to live for God's glory'.
So stick it out with me please, transparency may not come over night, let me also ask you to please make contact with me and respond to my postings if God leads you to help me with advice or stories of shared experiences etc.

God bless you and keep you.

CHRISTmas Time!

Christmas is here yay!

I want to wish all who read my blog a very Happy Christmas.

May your New Year also be filled with much happiness.

So eat well, enjoy famliy and friends, and I hope many great gifts. But don't forget that Jesus is the reason for the season.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.

(Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7 NLT)

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

(John 1:1-5, 10-12 NLT)

God Bless You

Yay I'm on holiday!!

I'm as happy as a bear just out of hibernation!!

The cloud of unknowing!

This morning I've been working through an interesting unit in my studies on spirituality. Its been on the subject of hard times, they word it as 'dessert times'.

You can see from my last post that Louise and I have been through something of a hard time in that we aren't able to go to the UK for Christmas, so such a subject hit home with me easily.

I'm aware that many others face much harder times then mine. I want to ask such people to join me in viewing them in a way that will bring glory to God.

Dessert times or hard times, whatever you want to call them have been experienced and come through by many Christians and characters from the bible or from the history of the Church, we can learn much from them if we take the time to hear their stories.

In these hard times one may wonder where God is. A fare question I feel! But what I've been looking at in my studies may help shed light on what you may be going through.

When we are saved we often experience God in pretty amazing ways which is great, I myself was saved from drugs and really couldn't get enough of God. But God doesn't want to hold us or keep us at that point in life, He wants us to grow.

So it maybe that God has to take away that feeling of closeness experienced when we're first saved, even to the point where we may ask whether God has completely left us.

He doesn't do this because He wants to hurt us but because He doesn't want us to rely only on past experiences.

Experiences of God are great but when they don't come we often feel quite desperate. God does want us to rely on them but for us to rely on Him.

Times of darkness or uncertainty in our faith in God are often the times when He's taking us from experiences of Him, to a lasting faith in Him. They are seldom easy, but would they be of any real worth if they were.

I can't say that having worked through my studies today that I've found the answer to all our pain but I can now ask questions like:

'Lord are you trying to lead me into deeper degrees of maturity in this'?

'How can I get to know You better through this'?

Are you in a place where you can ask such questions?

In the past I would have done anything I could think of to escape that desert but now I am discovering some of the exquisite flowers that bloom nowhere else ... I am discovering God when God apparently was not there to be discovered.

(quote from Anne Townsend)

I want this to be my testimony in hard times, I pray that it will be yours also.

Are you seeking God for answers, or are you seeking the God of answers?

Sad news.

This is a hard one for me.

I know friends read this and I need to call for your prayers at this time. Louise and I won't be able to travel to the UK over Christmas due to passport problems. We are both very upset about it and so gutted that we won't get to catch up with family and friends.

We do hope that some time next year when the issues have been dealt with that we can try again.

So, we are very sorry to all who where expecting to see us both and hope you can be patient with us and as I've asked, keep us in your prayers.

Thanks guy's.

Heavenly Illuminations!

 

I've just been watching the most amazing thing from my sun room. The sky over the bay is peppered with evening clouds and theirs a storm that's causing the clouds to fill with illuminations. Its really cool to watch these massive puffy clouds glow. I can't hear thunder but the light display is great!

I hope it lasts up, it's getting darker and it's then that the real show will start!

 

Yeah okay, some strange things interest me!

Sunday in Port Alfred

Well not entirely!
We started our day with a beautiful early morning swim. Rather painfully we started of at the wrong part of the beach (it was very rocky under foot) but as we made our way further down the beach it became sandy and was absolutely great. I can't think of a better way to start the day.
After breakfast and a trip into town to visit the tourism center we decided to head out of Port Alfred for a drive to Bathurst. On the way we stopped of to visit a giant pineapple, how could we not?
The pineapple is huge and has a little gift shop at its base (no that's Louise!).

From hear we drove of to Grahamstown for a look around. Grahamstown has loads of history and a lot of Churches. I've been here once before very early in the morning and everything was shut, sadly, being a Sunday, most things were shut again! We did have a nice lunch together though. The drive to and from Grahamstown was very nice with great views of the countryside.
The countryside in this part of the country is very dry and harsh with lots of aloe vera trees and plants. The temperatures were very hot which kind of set the scene well.
Grahamstown has a yearly arts festival which I hope Louise and I can one day visit (if it's open!!).
We've been blessed with a lovely weekend; add to that great weather and that leaves Louise and myself very happy.

I will be putting more pictures on my photo blog so check them out:

http://mlk30.blogspot.com/

God bless ya

The Kowie river

Today we started with a nice stroll down the beach catching the early morning sun, wow man, even at such an early hour the sea was warm.
We headed back to the cabin for breakfast on the deck and yes, a dip in the jacuzzi!















Some nasty person directed the jets upwards! So things got a bit wet!
Jets pointing the right way and I was in bath heaven.

After breakfast Louise and I went into town to have a look around. Later we met with Louise's mom and dad, and the four of us went on a boating trip down the river Kowie.















Our guide took us all around the very posh canals and the canalside mansions, we actually saw a three story house that had its own elevator!
The boat ride then took us further down the river Kowie and further inland. It was lovely to be on the open water and to our surprise we sailed past our soon to be Associate Pastor, Donovan!

The rest of the day was spent chilling out, Louise and I went to the beach and enjoyed the sun and sea, cool man!

Port Alfred Sands

Louise and I were blessed with a very pleasant drive through to Port Alfred. We arrived early evening and shared a nice meal with Louise's folks. The wooden cabin that we are staying in is really nice, we've been given the double room with a jacuzzi in the en-suit which I'll have to try out!
The cabin is very close to the beach, the sound of the sea is just so nice.
We're looking forward to our first full day tomorrow.
I'll tell you more about it later.

Yay.........Holiday time!

Just a quick post before I set off.
Louise is just about to finish work then she's going to pick me up and we're off!
The weather looks like its picking up for us which is great, so the forecast is LOADS of laying in the SUN!!
Just heard from Louise's folks who are half way there already, Port Elizabeth is very busy with Friday traffic. I'm hoping a lot of that will have cleared by the time we get there??
So, what ever your doing over the weekend, I hope it involves FUN FUN FUN!!

God bless ya!

Let's just get away from it all!!

Louise and I are having a weekend away!
Thanks to her folks who have this great holiday points club thing!
I’m not sure of the proper name, but I do know that it’s enables them to book into some really great places.
Louise and I are both very grateful to them both for including us in their short break.
The place where we are going is called Port Alfred Sands in Port Alfred. It’s located between Port Elizabeth and East London and isn’t that far from Grahamstown.
Port Alfred is really a little fishing port but has become more of a holiday destination. It looks like there is plenty to do locally with game reserves and boating trips, theirs even a small train ride that you can go on taking you in land and into some beautiful countryside.

Louise and are both very excited and both feeling very much like we need this break. It’s been a year since we had any real holiday with us saving up our holiday time for our trip to the UK.
So, we may only have a weekend away because of work but it’s going to be great. Great company, great location, great food and a great big rest!
Last weekend Louise and I got to speak to my family in the UK via Skype which was wonderful. We saw Jack and Susan for the first time since we left the UK, man I miss you guys.
It’s all very exciting at the moment because we know that the next time we all see each other will be in the UK for our holiday, YAY!!
I can’t believe just how soon it is now to when we fly. Christmas in the UK, with family and friends, we can’t wait.
(But I do want to say that we will miss all those that we leaving behind and are looking forward to having another Christmas with you guys when we get back home!).
So, that’s it for now, I’m going to get some breakfast.
I’ll take pictures while I’m away and I’ll post them on my photo blog:
http://mlk30.blogspot.com/

God bless ya!

The department of home affairs!!

Well, as you may have read in my last posting, Louise and I went to PE so as to extend my visa, Louise had done a lot of ground work together with her Mom in order to make sure we had all we needed.
Having arrived nice and early and both of us taking a day away from work we were told that we couldn’t extend the visa until thirty days before my current visa expires!
Why they didn’t tell us this on the many phone calls that were made before we went through I don’t know!!
Anyway, they have told me that I shouldn’t have any trouble at the airport when I arrive back from the UK as the visa is still current; please pray for me that this will be the case. It was a very upsetting experience for us both mainly because Louise actually had to take a day’s holiday leave to be able to go and she doesn’t have much.
I will say that the guy who dealt with us was very nice and I’m hoping to see him when we return. We have to go through in January to try again to extend the visa so watch this space for more news and prayer requests.
The day ended up being an enjoyable one, we spent the day with Louise’s folks and managed to get some Christmas presents which was great. So the day wasn’t a complete waste.
Next time we go to PE it will be to fly out to the UK.
I’m getting excited now!!

PE again!!

I know, I said that Louise and I won't be going back to Port Elizabeth in a hurry, but we have to go through tomorrow in order to extend my visa. The office is in PE and Louise's folks are going through for other reasons so we're going to catch a ride with them. If we're not driving I'm sure all will be fine!
My visa runs out about March time next year but with us going to the UK for Christmas I don't really want to be trying to get back into the country with only a short time left on the visa . We've been told various things about what we must do to get my visa extended so it might be a bit of a trying time for us. Louise is great in such circumstances, she really brings the balance needed to get such things sorted out.

Yesterday, at Church, we found out that possibly five guy's from our small group are going forward to be baptised this coming Sunday which is really great. I know that God is going to be meeting with them in this and I'm so excited for them as they take this next step in there relationship with God.

If you read this before the end of Tuesday 6th November, I.E. tomorrow, please pray for us that all will go well with extending my visa.
Many thanks.

Yay.............I got to swim!

So, Saturday didn't start quite as planned, the weather looked a little bit like it was going to be a wet day but hey this is J'bay man, even if the weather looks down early, chances are it will brighten up as the morning progresses and it did.
Louise went off to a Christmas fete which gave me a chance to sort out my garage, something I been wanting to do for a long time.
But it's the weekend man and I can't spend the whole thing doing horrible job's eh?
So Louise and I took a drive over to Aston Bay and hit the beach, the weather was a little cold for Louise to want to swim but for me it was just begging for me to take a dip!
Yay, all week I've wanted to get into the sea and I really enjoyed this chance.
It's evening now and I've been sat in our stoop looking out at our garden, the sun is setting and the sky is taking on that red glow. A perfect end to a lovely day.
God bless ya.

PS, I've posted some new pictures on my photo blog. If you want to check them out visit: http://mlk30.blogspot.com/

The Heavens split open!

Wow man, last night (Wed, 31st Oct) we had a kicking thunder storm in the Bay!
Well, let’s just say that for an Englishmen it was kicking!
I don’t remember too many big storms in the UK with such incredible displays of lightning.
The sheet lightning kind of lit up the sky then the forks came crashing down. When you see such displays of nature created in and through our Great God you realise just how small we really are.
Small, but still so important to God.
Creations displays really remind me of how great our God is.
But that was last night!
This morning I woke to the sound of the sea and birds singing all around (Yes, God is amazing and how often He blesses me with such mornings). I went out to fetch some tea about 06.45 and sat with Louise in our stoop and already the sun was so hot.

On a day like today theirs only one way to start the day and that’s got to be a walk on the beach with Max!


Problem is
I just want to go and swim!
Still the weekend is approaching fast and I’m hoping to drag the wife too the beach for a swim (her first of the summer! Some South African’s need the water to be warm before they venture out in it!! Light weight!!).
So anyway, today is Thursday and we have our small group tonight, I’ve got some prep to do for that and I’m continuing with my studies, so its time to go, hope your day goes well.
God bless ya

PE......Never again!!

Why did I think that a trip to Port Elizabeth would be un-eventful?
Louise and I went on Saturday and all was going fine until I lost my accelerator cable!
Yes, something that I've never experienced before happened. I tried to put the peddle to the metal so to speak and found nothing there!
With much thanks I had enough momentum to allow me to pull over to the hard shoulder where we both scratched our heads among other things!! (Exploding tempers, frustrations and, well you get the drift!!)
I was able to push the car into a local car park where we had to call for help.
Help came in the form of my bestest Mother and Father-inlaw. Who came out and made it possible for us to get the car towed away and for us to get home.
WOW!! Why did we go to PE?
Never again, well, not until we really really have too.
But all was not bad.
We worship an amazing God.
We were to phone the storage yard where our car was towed to in order to arrange for the car to be towed on to a mechanic. Once contact was made we were informed that the repair had already been done and that their would be no charge. The cable had become unattached and the mechanic was able fix it.
Louise and I both were expecting to be stung with garage charges but that wasn't to be.
I say again, we worship an amazing God.
I can reflect on this event and say that I'm disappointed with myself. I'm teaching in our small group about persevering in hard times but when this happened to us, perseverance wasn't what I was thinking about. Still, God is so cool, I know that I'm still learning and every event in life like this gives me an incredible boost in confidence in our great God.
Live and learn eh?
So, the car is back home and all is well.
Both of us was quite glade that the weekend was over, not what I was expecting as I looked forward to the weekends arrival!!

The weekend, it be approaching!

(Part one of two)
It's Friday and I have that Friday feeling!!
Last night we had our small group as normal; it was great to catch up with our friends.
I started a new bible study with the guy's that looks at the book of James. The study is called 'Live Wisely' and is written by Bill Hybels. Anyone who has read the book of James knows that it contains some really down to earth teaching about the Christian life.
The first session looked at 'Developing Perseverance' and was taken from both James 1.1-4 and Job 1.13 - 2.13. It was an interesting topic to start with and looked at some rather difficult issues for us as a group, their required a lot of soul searching on all of our parts.
Troubles come our way as Christians, no one said that such things wouldn't, but we need to be asking ourselves:
Do we hold on to Jesus in those times?
Does our faith grow and do hard times promote perseverance within us and our relationship with the Lord?

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
(James 1.2-4, NLT)

James encourages us to look at our troubles in a new light; they are opportunities for growth within us as we grow into maturity in our life with the Lord. That isn't an easy thing to do is it?
But we can find joy in God even in hard times, (read Paul's words in Philippians). That joy is hardly likely to be in the very thing that is causing the hardship but should be in our faithful God who is always there with us in the hard times, who always brings us through such things, who always loves us even if we mess it all up.
With such real encounters with Jesus we can view hardships as growth opportunities even if they are ‘times’ that we would rather didn't come our way.
I guess we need to be looking first to God and then to what the end result in it will be?
Know this; it will involve opportunities to glorify God and also opportunities to become, more and more, the person He has created us to be.
One more thing we looked at in this study was the need for brotherly love and support of each other, particularly seen in the reading from the book of Job.
Job had three friends who came to be with him, they didn't get it right at every moment as you will see if you read the whole of the book of Job. But in this reading they did something really well, they spent time with Job; they sat with him for seven days and nights, they grieved with him.
Notice though, that they were silent!
When we support our brothers and sisters, our friends and our families we don't always have to have the right words to say. Often it’s about just being there with your love, with a hug and a smile.
We can all do that, can’t we?
Are you facing hard times at this moment?
Will you hold onto Jesus in the midst of them?
Will they cause you to grow more and more, into the person God has designed you to be?
Or are you someone who has been through a number of battles, and the very person whom God is looking for to support another person who He loves dearly?
Things too think about eh?

I've got more to say but think that I should maybe do another blog entry so as to keep each entry within a measured chunk!

Make a cup of tea, and then come back to my next blog entry!!