God is love...

One of the central tenets of Christianity is the fact that, among other things, God is love. In fact that then translates into the most important of commands that Jesus gives us…to love! Since we are created in God’s image and our ultimate achievement would be to fulfil that image, we then should also be love.

I have often observed that if you have a particular view of God that is often the way you would respond to others…or is it the other way around? Perhaps we might say God is one thing and then act as though God is really something else…particularly the religious types.

Anyway, I’m just waffling now…the inspiration for this post was really the share this video…I thought it to be feel goodish… (thanks John for the heads up of the video on the sacredise website)

Remember God is love!

Again...

So there I was, innocently coming out of the gym in Claremont going to pay for my parking and I felt a presence behind me. As I turned around there he was...again...ready to strike. Now before you all jump up and phone me to check if I'm alright, it was not a mugging.

Let me go back a couple of months to explain the title of this post. There seems to be this thing that some young people do here in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. They approach you at the petrol garage or parking lot or the like and say, "sorry to worry you dude, do you think you can help me...my car has just run out of petrol about 1km from here, please could you spot me a couple of rand to get petrol so that I can get home to ..." This has now happened to me twice before tonight grrrr.... My response, pull the other one, it has bells.

Tonight when I was paying for my parking I had my iPod playing in my ears and I noticed this guy and his girlfriend walked past me. I thought I had seen him before but I couldn't place him. I just thought he was hanging out in a very strange place since the Pick n Pay was already closed along with all the other shops in the centre, and he certainly looked like he was dressed to go to Tiger Tiger and not Virgin Active. When I truned around to go to my car he was in my face...the penny dropped. All I did was to take my earphone out of my ear just enough to say "Sorry dude, I've heard your story before." When I walked away I got angry and wanted to go back and have a "chat". I can't stand freeloading con-artists.

So what do I do, how do I respond. I deal with homeless people pretty much everyday of my life and they have their stories, I can seemingly deal with their crap. These guys, who seem to have what they need by the looks of their wardrobe, well I just don't know. All I can say is beware!

Has it been that long...

Wow, I can't believe that it has been over a year that I have posted on this blog...there's a possibilty that nobody even read this...who knows. Well I guess here goes.

I have been at Church street Methodist Church for just over a year now and I can say that I am happy. Had you asked me a couple of years ago if I'd be happy running a church that averages an attendance of about 100 per sunday and has only 300 members I would have said no. I have come to discover the joys of having this kind of congregation.

I grew up in the one of the so-called Mega Methodist Churches in South Africa, Northfield and did some more stints at some of the other multi-staffed Methodist Churches in South Africa (Alberton,Willows and Benoni Central). I always thought that I would be a part of that in of set up. I guess that this is still a desire for me since I love to be able to exclusively use my top spiritual gifts, but in reality I need to be able to do more as a Methodist Minister. That is partly why I am so happy that I am at Church Street. There is a sense that the laity are quite capable but in the end the buck stops with me and I need to be able to do what I need to do when the takkie hits the road. Although I have completed my formal training as a Minister, this is a place where I can continue to learn so that when I go to other churches that may be multi-staffed and have a bigger congregation, I can cope.

The other thing that makes me happy about being where I am is the following:


I live in Cape Town and I have teh time to enjoy it too...

So maybe one day I will return to Gauteng to the rat race and be part of a church that is growing like crazy...but for now :) I love what I'm doing.