anchor
I wake in the wake of tragedy. Though I was nowhere near the coastline of the horrific events that rocked the ship of Sandy Hook Elementary School, the resulting ripples have reverberated across an ocean. Absolutely tragic. Senseless. Heartbreaking. Just a few of the plethora of words that come to mind as I read about the Connecticut school massacre. To be completely honest, if I were waking up in the United States today, I would be terrified to send my children to school next week. But then again, who’s to say the same couldn’t happen in South Africa? Or India? Or Brazil? When...
boxes in the sky
Well, it’s that time again. Packing time. This marks my ninth move in ten years. Perhaps the most time consuming aspect of this exercise is sorting through all the goods we have accumulated and having to decide which are precious enough to occupy space and weight in our luggage, which are worthy to be boxed and stacked in storage, which will be relinquished to the giveaway pile, and which are doomed for the dumpster. And every time I face these decisions, my mind wanders to Matthew 6:19-21 – “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where...
my cup overflows
One of my hopes for this blog is that the content of these posts would magnify God in the mundane. Today’s mundane happens to be samp. What? Samp. (If you’re American and you don’t know what samp is, try Wikipedia. If you’re South African and you don’t know what samp is, shame on you!) The nice thing about samp is … okay, there are three nice things about samp: one, it’s cheap; two, it’s filling; and three, a little bit goes a long way. My problem is, I always forget Nice Thing #3 – that is, just how much samp is cooked from so little that goes into the pot. You see, if you’ve never...
the gift and the giver
When my daughter was three, we lived in an apartment complex. Our next-door neighbors were a lovely elderly couple who adored our kids. Almost every time the wife saw our daughter, she had something deliciously sweet to offer. Hard candies, lollipops, biscuits, chocolate – you name it. One afternoon, I was hanging laundry outside on our balcony, with my daughter by my side. The husband from next door appeared on his balcony, and immediately my daughter shouted from our balcony to his, “Where’s your wife?” He poked his head inside to tell his spouse that she was being summoned, and a...
wonder
The following post was written as part of Lisa-Jo Baker's "Five-Minute Friday" challenge. Write freely for five minutes on the topic of the week, and link it back to her blog to see what others have contributed. This week's topic is Wonder. As we prepare to upheave a family of five to a new continent, I wonder about many things. I wonder where we will live, where we will work, what we will eat, what we will drive. I wonder who we will meet, what we will do, where we will go. I wonder many things as I cast my mind’s eye to the unknown. Then I am able to share with a friend that we have...
community
This weekend, I witnessed community. I witnessed community when a friend's toilet got blocked and he called us to borrow our plunger. He could've just gone to the store to buy one, but he chose to drive to our house to borrow ours. Community. At church, one kid needed a new diaper and the parents didn't have an extra. I overheard the mom saying to the dad, "Hey, where did you find that diaper?" "Oh, I got it from the Smiths." Wife: "Oh, well, in that case, go ask the Jacksons for some wet wipes." Community. Community takes many shapes and forms -- but how beautiful and authentic it...
lean on me
Some may have seen it as a normal, run-of-the-mill, Friday night music rehearsal in preparation for the Sunday morning church service. For me, it was more than that. For me, it was a tangible portrait of the interdependency of the body of Christ. You see, there were only six of us in the sanctuary that balmy evening. Yet if just one had been missing, the dynamics would have drastically changed. As we lifted voice and instrument to make music unto the Lord, the term ‘individual’ faded into insignificance and we were morphed, united, into one song. If only one of us had been playing or...
blessed be the name
This morning, our home church in Cape Town (for 17 years for Kagiso and 10 years for me) had a special farewell service for our family in conjunction with the annual Thanksgiving service. During the service, I had an opportunity to share the following: In the song, Blessed Be Your Name, the lyrics kick off like this: Blessed Be Your Name In the land that is plentiful Where Your streams of abundance flow Blessed be Your name Some may argue that we’re headed to the land that is plentiful, where streams of abundance flow. But the end of the song says, “You give and take away, You give and...
thanksgiving
In school, we've been studying American history, with a focus this year on how America was colonized and how the Europeans first settled and established the early colonies and later formed the United States. It baffles my mind to consider what it must have been like for those first Pilgrims to arrive in an unknown land and have to figure out a way to survive. At the same time, we've recently been challenged by friends who are preparing to be missionaries to think about the incredible privilege we have to have the gospel. Just before Jesus' ascension, he said to his disciples, "But you...
letter from dad
I stumbled upon this piece of paper today, folded in six in the bottom of a keepsake box. Yes, it's dated as the 15th of September 1994. 18 years old. Almost ready to become a museum exhibit. It has made its way from the zipped pocket of my tennis racket case, across an ocean, from house to house to ... I can't remember how many houses. And I still have it. For those who may not be able to decipher doctor's script, the letter says this: Hi, Kate! Way to go! Six games in a row!!?!! Well, why not? But good adjustment, revised game plan, + hanging tough. The WORD for this year is:...
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