Today started late. I had no excuse, I just decided not to get up, and the beauty of voluntary work is that no one can tell me off if I don’t come in.

I went for a nice long run, that ended with me the wrong side of the motorway, and having to cross it – since there was no way I was going to backtrack all the way I had come.

Do you find that you itch loads after you really sweat? I don’t know why it happens, but its pretty annoying. I had a quick shower afterwards, which cleared it up, and then off I went to work.

Only Hlingiwe was there, sleeping. I was still fairly warm after all my exercise, and its the middle of summer, and she had a plug in fire heater next to her!

I then turned my attention to the computer. And the mess that it is. I cleaned and tidied my one last night, and I realised the time had come to do it here. Through the desktop PC, there was 6 different stores of documents, many of them containing duplicates, triplicates or worse. I combined them all, to form one folder of documents that was over 10Gb!

Then I reinstalled Windows. I seem to spend my life doing this. In the book I wrote last time, I said this:

“My main job today was sorting out computers. It is a little depressing how machines designed to increase our efficiency and productivity cause us more time getting frustrated because we are achieving nothing than anything else. Urban Dictionary dot Com has a definition for computers:

“A tool designed to accelerate, and automate, errors.”

I think that’s a pretty good description of most computers. I have personally today spent more than 4 hours trying to persuade one huge, expensive bundle of wire to function in the way Satan intended.“

When I got home, I started to read a book I borrowed from church, called “God’s Smuggler To China”. I got really challenged about prayer whilst reading it. It was talking about prayer, and how people should be praying so hard that they are weeping, shouting out to God, praying continuously, and I just thought about how I don’t do that. I don’t give time to God anywhere near enough. And maybe that’s why the thing I attempt fail. Like my band – we pray every time we pray and we are flourishing.

But when was the last time I lifted up CP.co.uk in ardent prayer? DIYsheffield? Medrevise? I can’t just try to achieve things that I know God wants without asking Him to get involved too!

So I spent a long time on my bed, praying, and reading the bible, asking Him to bless every project I could think of, our relationship, my friends, my family – everything. It was good.

I also played some football later, and ate some burgers.

But the most important thing was the prayer.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:6

Pray!

x

What I find weird, looking back at these two days, is that I remember nothing about them. Like I know work was done at Tshwaranang, I’m sure I had some lunch, 24 hours of breathing occurred. But all I remember is giving Mohau his birthday vest in the morning, then shopping for more fabric, and spending another 7 hours making a tshirt, this time for me.

Sadly, the pattern was for a woman, and I’m not a woman; however much you joke about my new found aptitude for needlework. This meant that I ended up producing something a little tight for me – hence it becomes a gift for you!

I’m sorry that I have nothing good to say, but literally I look back at these two days and all I can remember is “thhththththtth! Snap!”, as the rubbish thread I bought gets caught and snaps again. At least my backing spool didn’t run out today 1 inch before I finished.

I thought instead of a bible verse today you can just listen to this instead:
It’s here, track three.

Love you,

x

Here you go – its finally finished!

After working all night, and most of the morning, it was so nearly finished! The deadline was 4 o’clock, and yet at 3, one of the people who needed to sign it asked for some changes…

So in 45 minutes we rewrote the thing, packaged it up nicely, restapled, and delivered it, with 15 minutes to spare.

And then, to celebrate, we did nothing.

All day!

“Heaven and Earth [and long-winded health department registration documents] were finished, down to the last detail. By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
Genesis 2:1+2

Love you,

x

Today was spent almost entirely in the pool. I think it finally dawned on me that I’m leaving Harrismith, and most importantly, leaving the house with a pool in the back garden.

Anyway, so the day started at the office. We needed to finish that proposal, and despite much hard work, we still weren’t making much headway. The office was noisy, people kept answering their phones, and it was all distractions. Plus everything we tried wasn’t working, etc, etc. All in all, it was annoying, and I wanted to get things done.

So, after a few hours of this, I informed Mohau that we were going to mine for lunch. We had a sort of cold pasta risotto with rolls, and salad (although the lettuce tasted odd, and the tomatoes were about ten minutes away from being off).

Then, with the laptop set up on the table, we took it in turns to be typing, or amusing ourselves by the pool. It was pretty nice, and about fifty seven times more relaxing than the office. Mohau had to leave at 3, to call some people at the office; promising to be back by 3:30.

By 6:30, I decided to stop swimming, just in time for Mohau to arrive, looking flustered. We spent half an hour doing more work, then he gave me to a lift to Pastor Mark’s house, for bible study.

It’s a long one today:

“Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

So Isaac settled in Gerar.

When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance.

When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”

Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.

(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.

But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.

And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba.

And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

They said, “We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.” So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. “

Genesis 26

That was the subject of our Bible study. We talked about how Isaac was very like his father, both in actions (lies about wife, gets rich and asked to move on, digs wells out) – Mark put forward the opinion that he might be a bit of a sissy, too scared to stand up for his wife, and trust God; always runs away whenever there’s a quarrel about wells.

Talked a lot about trusting God – He told them to stay in the land and he would bless them and look after them – so there was no need to lie.

Rehoboth means spaciousness. I want to call our house here that, hehe.

And lots more stuff, but you can work that out!

Much lovings,
Chris

This morning heralded the dawn of Tshwaranang internet. It was very good to be able to use the web in the office. Hence, we now have www.tshwaranang.org, we have stuff@tshwaranang.org email addresses, and I can upload my blog with minimal effort.

It turned out that the instructions we had received in the box about the setting up the cable, were wrong. What I want to know is, why? I ended up on the phone to tech support, cracking up the whole office, as every time he did something that worked, I exclaimed that he was a very attractive, almost beautiful young man, that I could tell this over the phone, and if I wasn’t already engaged, then… well!

That aside, most of the day was spent doing fairly mundane things. I mean, I can tell you about filling out the registration form, which involved writing 70 names, ages, qualifications, job descriptions, etc – but you probably won’t be that interested.

Went to a place for pizza at lunch; it wasn’t amazing though, and the bloke annoyed me by commenting all the time and not leaving us alone.

I got some good footage for the video I need to make up at the townships too, which was helpful. Then I spent the evening at home, watching a preach called “Indescribable”, by Louie Giglie. I’ve seen another version before – its an extra on the Facedown DVD. But this one was pretty cool too.

Mohau was meant to come round this evening, but he didn’t lol – nor did he reply to my texts; and I cooked him dinner! Oh well, I’ll make him eat it tomorrow. Instead I read a book someone gave me called “Khayeelitsha, uMlungu in a Township”. It’s a true story about this white dude, who goes to live in the biggest township near Capetown. uMlungu is Xhosa (pronounced ‘Click’-os (as in hose)-a (as in bat) for white man.

So that was my day. And from God:

“Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.”
Zechariah 1:3

That sounds pretty similar to the New Testament to me!

Much lovings,
Chris

Today was an annoying day, because I didn’t really achieve very much. There was a lot of stuff going on in the office, but none of it very productive. At least the Tshwaranang website basically got finished, but aside from that it was pretty dull.
Hence not a lot to talk about today.

However, I did want to talk about my ideas of us moving here. I want to buy a big piece of land, and adopt loads of kids. How would you feel about that? I really wish you were here, I want you to be experiencing what I am.

Thought you might not be impressed…

Anyway, bible verse time:

I find this oddly powerful – its so lifelike – I could totally see someone saying, “Hey guys, let’s make a record of all this, I think that would be good!”

Love you,
x