Update on Liam the great

Sadly, Liam had to be admitted to hospital again this afternoon.
He'll be fine. He just needs some special care for a few days.

Thanks for all the prayers.

Please keep praying.

Much love,

D, M, C and L

World AIDS day - prayers for healing, reflection and encouragement.

Today is World AIDS day. Today we remember that the Church has AIDS. We do not minister to people who are HIV positive, as if they were people outside of the body of Christ. No, we ask God to heal us, for all of us suffer from this disease.

Whether you are HIV+ or not, this disease reminds us that we shall all face death. It reminds us that we shall all be ill at some stage. It reminds us that we need one another to be strengthened and encouraged to face the reality of struggle. It reminds us that society can be cruel and that people can be judged for something that afflicts them. Most of all, this disease reminds us that we have a God who cares and longs to bring us healing and hope.

Prayer of invocation:

Loving God, you are our parent. You look upon us with mercy and compassion. You understand our weakness. Our suffering breaks your heart. Look upon us with love, grace, and compassion today. Father, you know the pain of losing your only son to death. Jesus, you know the pain of dying and leaving those whom you love behind. Spirit you are the giver and sustainer of life. With confidence we approach your throne of grace that there we may receive mercy.

Renew our spirits and draw our hearts, bodies, and minds close to yours. All of us are subject to the frailties of life. Strengthen us in our weakness, bring us wholeness in spite of disease. For those who live under the impending threat of death, offer them comfort and strength in the knowledge that death does not have the final victory and that in you there is true, eternal, and blissful life that lasts for eternity. For those who feel the pain of seeing a loved one die, fill them with courage through the power of your Spirit of life. Surround them with caring and loving people who will show to them the love that you want to give them in their time of need.

Help each of us to strengthen our resolve to obedience and service. Give us courage so that we would not shy away from facing our own frailty and pain. Move us to go to the places of death, like your beloved disciple John went to your cross, so that we may offer love and healing to those whom you love.

Let us delight in doing those acts of mercy that will bring healing and honour Your name.

Today we declare the faith that neither height, nor depth, neither life, nor death, neither angel, nor demon, nor anything in all creation can separate us from Your love. You are the creator God. You make a way where it seems none can be found, your bring forth living waters in the wilderness. We place our trust in You, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN

A meditation to guide your prayers and actions today

Nosipho’s story – no greater gift.

Nosipho is just thirteen years old - tonight she is lying awake next to her 8 year old brother and her 5 year old sister. Her father named her Nosipho when she was born. She remembers that tonight. Her name has a very special meaning. Nosipho was born to her proud parents, Mxolisi and Vuyisile, in a remote part of South Africa called northern Kwazulu Natal. There was no work there for Mxolisi so he went to the city to find work as a labourer working on the roads. Mxolisi wanted to live a good life and take care of his family as best as he could. So, he faithfully brought money back to his Vuyisile and Nosipho at every opportunity. He and Vuyisile were blessed with a son who they named Andile (meaning 'the family is growing'). They loved their children very much and had great dreams for their future.

However, with each year that passed it became more difficult for Mxolisi to be alone in the city. The months that Mxolisi and Vuyisile spent living apart took a toll upon their marriage and they would often disagree and argue. Once, when they argued, he told her that 'he had needs', 'like all men do'. And so, he decided to take a 'city wife', as many of his friends had done. Sadly, his city wife was HIV+, and so when Mxolisi returned home one December, himself HIV+ by this time, he gave Vuyisile another child, Thandi (which means 'nurturing love'), but, he also gave her the killer virus that would take both their lives.

Mxolisi and Vuyisile discovered that they were HIV+ in the year that Nosipho turned 8 years old. Andile was 5, and little Thandi was just 2. Thandi had already been infected with the virus her mother was carrying through the milk she drank from her mother’s breast. Sadly, both Mxolisi and Vuyisile died of AIDS within 3 years of discovering their status, Thandi, however, is still alive and now a little girl of 5.

Nosipho is a clever little girl. However, she hasn't been to school since her father died when she was 11 years old. By that stage her mother was already very ill and confined to bed, but at least then Andile and Thandi could stay with their mother while Nosipho begged for food and money at a traffic intersection on the edge of the township. She watched the other children going to school dressed in their smart school uniforms, with book bags that had pencils, paper, and no doubt some lunch to eat. She wished that she could be like them, but that would not happen - her mother eventually died as well.

Tonight as she lay in bed she was no longer a child, but a parent, overnight she had become a 13 year old head of a household of three. She knew that she had a much greater responsibility than other 13 year old children. Each day she has to get enough money from the cars and commuters that come whizzing by to feed her two siblings and herself. She has a small cardboard sign on which she has written in a child's handwriting 'No parents, no food, no work, 3 people to feed. Please help. God bless you'. She also needs to get a few rand extra every month to help pay for Andile's school fees. She wants him to stay in school and learn so that he doesn't have to suffer like his father did. She doesn't want him to suffer like she is suffering now. Whatever money she has left after she has paid his fees, when there is any, is given to the 'aunty' who looks after her sick sister, Thandi, while Andile is at school and she is begging at the traffic lights. She doesn't trust the aunty, she drinks, and she's sure that she hits Thandi. But, she has no option. It is too dangerous for Thandi to be with her at a busy traffic intersection.

There are other girls like Nosipho. In fact most of the child headed households in South Africa are headed by girls under the age of 15. Nosipho knows this because she meets some of them every Sunday at a little group for children like her that is held in the tin church near her shack. They sing songs, some kind ladies read stories to them from the Bible, and then they say prayers and get some food to eat. The church has also given her clothes and shoes for her and for her brother and sister. There is a lady from the government clinic who comes to visit their group once a month. She always asks Nosipho if she is safe, and asks if she and her brother and sister are getting enough to eat. You see, Thandi needs special medicine to keep her healthy, but she can only take her medicine if she eats properly, or else the medicine will make her sick instead of healthy. So on days when Nosipho does not get enough money, or food, to feed all three of them she lets Thandi eat first, so that she can take her medicine. Andile eats next, because he can't learn when his stomach is empty. Nosipho often lies awake at night hungry, but she knows that she is a 'gift' from her parents to Andile and Thandi – that’s what her name means. Nosipho means 'a gift'. It’s the name her father gave her. She doesn't play anymore, she simply lives to be a gift to her brother and sister. Tonight she prayed to ask God to help her because a man has said he will give her R20 if she takes her clothes off and sleeps with him. She's praying because she is afraid. She has been told at church, and she has seen the posters, and heard the stories - Nosipho knows that's how little girls get sick and die – but she needs the money. She wants to be a gift. She doesn't know what to do. Maybe God will do something to help her tomorrow? It is Sunday, she will ask one of the ladies to help her.

Reflection: Stories such as this are common in South Africa. In KwaZulu Natal the death rate is higher than the birth rate because of AIDS. Recent statistics from UNICEF have suggested that up to 50% of children are HIV+ and an increasing number of children are growing up without their parents. Children like Nosipho face a stark and dreary existence. They are robbed of their childhood and dignity in a quest to survive. Very often their only support comes from community organisations such as churches and civic groups. For most children the lack of access to food, or poor nutrition and feeding practises, coupled with infection, leads to their untimely death. Children who are born in rural areas who do not have 'bar-coded' South African Identity documents do not qualify for medical care, schooling, or any form of government grant. Sometimes the most basic of help, like helping children register for an ID Book, or offering children a daily meal, and seeing that they take their medication can mean the difference between life and death. Methodist Churches in Southern Africa train all of their ministers to offer support and care to persons who are infected and affected by HIV. It is a central part of their training for ministry. In the region of the world that has the highest rate of HIV infection it cannot be any different. The Gospel demands that we bring healing and transformation. Perhaps the work of the Church near Nosipho could keep her from turning to prostitution at the age of 13? All that is needed is a courageous group of caring people who will see her plight, understand what she needs, and help her to find it - food, shelter, and loving adult support. This is what Jesus would do.

[I wrote this story as a case study for a book that is in publication in the Cambridge Theological federation, UK. Please do not copy it without contacting me. I shall put you in touch with the publishers to get permission. Thank you.]

Silent reflection and prayer.

• What do you feel? What do these feelings tell you about yourself?
• What does this story tell you about the world, and others in the world?
• What do you think God feels? What would God want you, or your Church, to do?
• Knowing this, what do you need to pray to have the courage to do?
• What will you do today? What will you plan to do tomorrow? What will you want to achieve by next year this time?

A benediction for today

Almighty God, by the power of your Holy Spirit open my eyes to see the world as You see it, my ears to hear the cries that You hear, my heart to have the courage to feel what You feel, and my life to be present to You and all those whom You love this day. Give me the courage to worship and serve you in faithfulness, to be a blessed and healing reminder of Your love to all whose lives I will touch. I offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

A personal note. Liam is doing much better today. He had to go back to the doctor yesterday because his fever would not go down. However, today his lungs are starting to clear. Thank you for all the prayers.

Now, I am off to preach at the Calvary Methodist Church's 9th Anniversary celebration! This is the Church where my friend Alan Storey is a minister and resident preacher.

They have a remarkable cross in their Church yard. Here's a picture of the cross. This is truly one of the most remarkable Churches I have ever had the opportunity to worship in. I am always pleased to be blessed by them - I preach there every so often, but their community teaches me so much more than I could ever offer them.

This little excerpt from their website explains the theology of the cross with unequal arms:

This cross at Calvary is shaped to express God's loving embrace of the world in the death of Jesus. The left arm is raised higher and extends further than the right arm because it is the extension of the heart, reminding us that Jesus' heart was given in obedience to the Father in His work of boundless loving. The left arm is also the arm of the outcast, reminding us that Jesus came to raise the lowly and poor. The shortened right arm symbolises the powerful who are humbled and brought low, as prophesied by Mary in Luke 1: 51 – 53.

Technorati tags: World AIDS day, AIDS prayer, reflection on death, child headed households, The Church has AIDS, prayer for healing

Please pray for our little Liam

Please say a prayer for our little son Liam. He has developed a lung infection and is quite ill at the moment.

Thanks.

How to make a living of other people's mistakes! The Faebook scam!

This is so sleazy (and clever) that it must have taken a genius to figure it out!

Here's a brilliant way to make a fairly good income off other people's mistakes - it is the 'faebook' scam. Yup, that is facebook without the C!

This is one weird scam. Someone registered the domain Faebook.com (Facebook without a C) and redirected it, using an iframe, to Amazon - of course, with his/her own Amazon referrals. It’s the good old tactics of using misspelled domain names for profit, but it’s uncommon to see such an obvious misspelling of a site as big as Faebook used like this.

It's not Amazon's doing - it’s hard to believe that they’d try to profit from Facebook's popularity in such a sleazy way. You can see who the domain Faebook.com belongs to with the help of whois:

Domain Name: FAEBOOK.COM
Registrant [1003228]:
Moniker Privacy Services
20 SW 27th Ave.
Suite 201
Pompano Beach
FL
33069
US

Amazon’s own records look different:

Registrant:
Amazon.com, Inc
Legal Dept, P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
US
Domain Name: AMAZON.COM

What’s weird about this example is this: why on Earth would one use a misspelled Facebook domain name to link to Amazon? Are there really people out there who want to go to Facebook, misspell the name, land at an Amazon looking page and then go: oh, let's buy the new Harry Potter book? I'd say that a generic AdSense farm would work better, but then again, I’m not an expert on scams. Alexa's numbers don’t put the site in the top 100.000, but Compete begs to differ, and I really wonder how much the owner is making out of this. Perhaps I’m in the wrong business (:.

Thanks to Otis for the tip

Technorati tags: facebook scam scam, faebook, clever, passive income

Avusa (formerly Johnic Communications) is making a blunder of epic proportions!

For the first time in South African history a blogger is being prosecuted BY A MEDIA COMPANY for speaking his mind...

There goes freedom of speech! Today at 3pm Avusa (formerly Johnic Communications, the Black Empowerment company that owns many newspapers such as the Sunday Times and the Sowetan) will be having a disciplinary hearing for Llewellyn Kriel. The cause of this hearing is an honest and realistic piece that Kriel wrote about the state of morale at Avusa and its newspapers.

Click here to read the article. I am not suprised by its contents - I know MANY other corporations in South Africa where the feelings and sentiments are pretty much the same as those expressed by Kriel....

Over zealous affirmative action, loss of skills, unequal remuneration, and blatant discrimination are the order of the day in many institutions.

However, what makes this so shocking is that this is a Media company that has gone to court to protect the right to Freedom of Speech for its paper news sites. Yet, when someone speaks the truth about them on the internet they want to shut him down....

I small a rat here... Shame on you Avusa.

I for one will not be buying either the Sunday Times or the Sowetan if this is your approach to freedom of speech.

You can read a detailed report on this matter here.

Technorati tags: Freedom of speech, discrimination, Avusa, Johnic Communications

The negative side of religion... British school teacher jailed in Sudan for making an ignorant mistake...

Us religious folks tend to take our religion pretty seriously (note that I am pointing the finger at myself here!) I have often gently asked someone not to blaspheme, or to exercise a little restraint in their criticism of my faith (Christianity) or another faith (e.g., Islam)... It is all a matter of respect.

However, there are times when we take it all just too seriously! Read this story about a British school teacher in Sudan who has been jailed for her ignorance. In some societies (like that in the UK) religious education is not normative, and so persons are not raised either with an understanding of religious sensitivities, or with the knowledge to avoid upsetting overly sensitive religious individuals or cultures... Perhaps she should have known better. However, the Sudanese government should CERTAINLY know better than to JAIL someone for an issues such as this? Surely they could have found a more progressive and caring way to set this woman right?

The way of submission and peace (which is what Islam means, by the way) has just done the opposite of what it stands for! Just goes to show, one should never allow one's government to claim an exclusive religious allegiance (to any faith), they will simply represent it very poorly!

Here's the story:

Reason's Hit and Run blog reports that a British schoolteacher is will be tried for "blasphemy, inciting hatred, and insulting Islam" because she named a teddy bear Muhammad.

Contrary to reassurances from the Sudanese embassy in London, Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher in Khartoum who did not realize naming a teddy bear Muhammad was verboten, has been charged with blasphemy, inciting hatred, and insulting Islam. The possible penalties include a fine, 40 lashes, and six months in jail. The government promises a "swift and fair trial," saying, "she will be brought in front of a judge, and now she must prove her innocence"—which gives you a sense of how the court system works in Sudan. Gibbons' lawyer says the defense will be straightforward: She had "absolutely no intention to insult religion, and for blasphemy to take place there must be an insult."

Link | Time Online article

Technorati tags:religion, ignorance, Islam

Bizarre! The launch of 'satlav', just SMS to find the nearest toilet!

This is a bizarre, although very practical, news story from London...

The UK's first SMS service for finding the nearest toilet launched in London today. Just text the word "toilet" and SatLav, run by the Westminster City Council, points you the nearest public toilet. Someone should build a recommendation system on top of that and name it George, after the Seinfeld character who knew the location of every good bathroom in Manhattan. From the Associated Press:

The system, which covers 40 public toilets, pinpoints the caller's position by measuring the strength of the phone signal. The texts cost about 50 cents, and most of Westminster's toilets are free.

The council said it hopes the service will stop people from urinating in alleyways, saying some 10,000 gallons of urine ends up in Westminster streets each year.

Link

Technorati tags: satlav, toilet

Pimp my ride African style... AKA Put a HUGE stereo system onto my bicycle [Pic]!

Those of us who live in South Africa will be quite familiar with those wonderfully decorated 'dik wiel' (Afrikaans for 'thick wheels') bicycles that are pimped to the max! You don't see as many as you used to!

But, this picture from the US brought a smile to my face!

Check out the stereo on this guy's bike! Heck he even has a fold out DVD player on there!

Now that's the kind of bike you want to see someone logging over the 'ou Kaapse Weg' in an Argus cycle race!

In today's NYT, a feature (with lots of great photos) about folks who build elaborate stereo soundsystems for their bicycles. It's not a new phenomenon, but it's neat to see it treated with such formal examination. Link, and pix here shot for the Times by Tyler Hicks. (thanks, Mark Hurst)

Technorati tags: Piimp my bicycle, stereo, crazy picture,

Do you remember the excitement of the last day of school? I long for it!

Do you remember how excited you used to get on the last day of the school year.  Today is my daughter's last day of school for 2007 (next year she goes to grade 3).  She is so excited about the holiday, and all of the fun and relaxation, that lies ahead!  I rejoice with her and for her.

It got me thinking...  When last was I that excited about leave or time off?  It seems that the longer one is alive the more the pressure mounts.  I know that I will get some leave in a few weeks time.  However, like all other years I will spend my leave anticipating all that needs to take place at the start of the year.  I shall also probably spend some of my leave working (preaching, writing, with one or two meetings etc.)  Somehow leave doesn't seem quite as carefree as those school days.

However, please don't get me wrong.  I am not complaining about the tasks that lay before me.  There have been times in my life where I have not had any reason to get up, no tasks to look forward to, or plan for.  That didn't feel good either.

For me there must be a good balance of relaxation and purposeful activity.  I suppose in some ways it is not activity (or lack thereof) that creates a child's excitement for the holidays, it is innocence...  

I pray for innocence as I face the tasks of this day - today I shall spend the day in appeal hearings for students who have appealed the findings of their results....  Innocence Lord, please, Innocence!

Technorati tags: school holidays, excitement, innocence, balance

Top 10 WORST tech products rated by C-Net... Can you guess what number 1 is?

I always enjoy looking at these lists to see what the best (and worst) products are...

This is a C-Net list for the ten worst tech products. Can you guess what Number 1 is!? Yup, it's Windows Vista!!! Or should that be Windoze Vi$ta....

Click here to read the whole story.

PS. I hope that you're not running Vista... Although, I don't know many Vista boxes that actually allow their owners to connect to the internet! Ha ha! If you are running, OR HAVE TO RUN, Vista... then all I can say is sorry for you!

Technorati tags: 10 worst tech products, Windows Vista, terrible, sorry for you

Sunday school for atheists. What do you think?

One of the common misconceptions among persons without an active and lived faith community is that religion is ONLY about teaching people values and morals.

Of course morals and values are an important part of most faiths. However, Christianity would certainly say that worship, and a deepened relationship with God and the world that God loves is a central part of the Gospel (values and moral conduct are an aid in doing this effectively).

However, here's an interesting story about people in America who do not believe in God, but wanted something akin to a Christian Sunday school so that their children can learn good values and morals. I think it is a good idea (at least from that perspective, i.e., morals and values), however, I don't think that it replicates or matches what a good Sunday school should be (i.e., helping young people to learn to live with a sense of God's sacred, gracious, and loving presence in all of creation, and learning to honour and worship that God not only through moral acts but through spiritual discipline)....

That's what I think... What are your thoughts?

Sunday School for Atheists

"When you have kids," says Julie Willey, a design engineer, "you start to notice that your co-workers or friends have church groups to help teach their kids values and to be able to lean on." So every week, Willey, who was raised Buddhist and says she has never believed in God, and her husband pack their four kids into their blue minivan and head to the Humanist Community Center in Palo Alto, Calif., for atheist Sunday school.

An estimated 14% of Americans profess to have no religion, and among 18-to-25-year-olds, the proportion rises to 20%, according to the Institute for Humanist Studies. The lives of these young people would be much easier, adult nonbelievers say, if they learned at an early age how to respond to the God-fearing majority in the U.S. "It’s important for kids not to look weird," says Peter Bishop, who leads the preteen class at the Humanist center in Palo Alto. Others say the weekly instruction supports their position that it’s O.K. to not believe in God and gives them a place to reinforce the morals and values they want their children to have.

It's all in the details... Did you notice that the guy who teaches the 'humanist pre-teen' class is called Peter Bishop!? Ha ha! Quite and irony.

Technorati tags: atheist, atheist Sunday school, morals and values

Follow up on Mark Driscoll and Rob Bell - the picture becomes clearer, perhaps Mark needs to learn a little graceful restraint?

Yesterday I published the story about Mark Driscoll referring to Rob Bell as a contemporary heretic...

A reader of the blog commented on that post with two very helpful comments (thanks Ted, I have not republished your comment on the front page since I haven't been able to reach you to ask if that's OK), but if anyone would like to read Ted's comment please click on the link above.

In essence Ted's comment pointed out two things:

1. Who the heck is Phil Driscoll (I had mistakenly called Mark Driscoll Phil - thanks for pointing that out)?

2. He encouraged me to check up on Mark Driscoll, who himself seems to be a remarkable individual who is seeking to bring the Gospel of Christ to a new generation in a novel and powerful way.

I looked up a few things on Mark Driscoll. On the whole I am impressed with what I found. However, I did also find that Mark Driscoll seems to have a capacity for overstating opinions - it is not necessarily that what he says is entirely wrong, it certainly is not entirely untrue, however, it is overstated and often insensitive (I shall include an example below).

So, my beef is not with a powerful young preacher who is clearly doing incredible work - rather it is to encourage persons with the influence that he has to make clear and critical comment, yet to do so with restraint and love. It would seem to me that there is a fine line that one can cross in being critical of another without recognizing something in them that is positive, a gift from God, and even a creation in the image of God.

How do I know this? Well, as you will see from MANY posts on this blog I am guilty of doing the same myself.

Like many young men I hold to my convictions with passion, yet sometimes that passion lacks grace...

Here's my comment to Ted (if you get a chance please follow the links and do a bit of reading yourself. I don't want to press people to agree with me, and where I am wrong please set me straight!):

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the correction! Where the heck did I get Phil from? I've fixed it up.

I have had a look at their website (for anyone else who would like to check it out, it is well worth the effort - here is the link)

A brief view of his wikipedia entry shows that he is certainly unique. Although it would seem that this is not the first time that he has caused sensation with a comment?

It would certainly seem to me that he needs to cultivate some restraint and care in his caricatures of persons or groups that differ from his perspective... I quote "article on The Emergent Church, Mark Driscoll was quoted as saying, "There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity." [the emphasis is mine]

This guy sounds like a fairly typical patriarchal, testosterone driven, stereotypical "America is King and we'll fight for that right" kind of guy...

I could be very wrong, so please set me straight if I am. However, he does seem a little brash and unrestrained in his criticism of others...

I recognise this in him, because I am often the same.

Ted, thanks for the comment, and also for helping me to find out a bit more about this incident and Mark Driscoll.

Regards from a COLD (summer?) in South Africa.

What do others think? As I considered this to and fro I thought to myself "how does a Mark Driscoll's personal opinion get such coverage?" When, however, I look at the Mars Hill website it strikes me that they must have a fairly formidable press team (or at least access to the Christian press), so someone must have pushed the story out there.

Perhaps it may have been better for this prominent person to contact his equally prominent and Christian brother and first discuss things before entering into the fray?

I don't know what the answer is, but I do hope that this does not damage either of these Christian people or their effective and necessary ministries to bring the Gospel of Christ to bear on a 'fast changing and broken' world...

Technorati tags: Mars Hill, Rob Bell, Nooma, heresy, Mark Driscoll