Courage and integrity like this is rare...

I have been praying and thinking a great deal about the future of South Africa since the ANC elected Jacob Zuma as their new party president.

One of the most helpful and insightful aids in this journey has been reading Andrew Feinstein's book "After the party - a personal and political journey inside the ANC" - it was suggested to me by my friend Aiden Choles. Thanks Aiden.

I have not been all that shocked or surprised by the revelations of corruption, collusion, and abuse that Feinstein writes about. Perhaps this lack of surprise stems from my cynical approach to politics... I am somewhat skeptical of political motives by the powerful in times of relative peace and prosperity. Somehow being the 'underdog', the one who is fighting for justice and freedom has a different flavour than doing your best to stay in power... However, I am also not surprised since a lot of what I am reading was reported in the mainstream South African media. This encourages me! It means that at least we still have some measure of freedom within Southern African journalism to tell the truth!

There have however been a few very important quotes that have challenged me to consider my own life, my own social convictions, and of course the examine the integrity of my own faith.

The most significant of these is a quote of a statement that Nelson Mandela made to the former President of Apartheid South Africa, PW Botha (die groot krokidil!). In 1985 (5 years before he was released from Prison) PW Botha offered Nelson Mandela freedom if he was willing to give up the fight for justice and equity in South Africa. He turned down the offer with the statement below. Heck... I am just entering the 5th year of my term in my current post. It is a LONG time! But for the sake of truth and justice he said the following:

I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom... I am not less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell my birthright, nor am I prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free...

Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts... I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free...

Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.

I will return [to prison]. Nelson Mandela, 10 February 1985.

Oh for the courage to live with that kind of conviction! A great man (in fact, a great Methodist!)

Technorati tags: courage, integrity, South Africa, Zuma, Nelson Mandela

The gentle, yet clear, Gospel message in a great Church No parking sign!

This afternoon I have a meeting with Bishop Brian Jennings, whose
offices are at the Benoni Central Methodist Church.

As I arrived I saw this wonderful 'no parking' sign on the wall - like
the Gospel, it us gentle, yet very clear!

Blessings!

Technorati tags: gentle, gospel, no parking, Church, Bishop

Could Bill Gates every be cooler that Steve Jobs? Here's proof that he can!

Steve Jobs is cool! But, there is something about his cool appearance that creates a distance between him and regular 'geeks' like me! I mean, I could never pull off a Steve Jobs black turtle neck sweater!

But, here's a video that proves that Bill Gates (yes, I'm going to say it!) CAN be cooler than Steve Jobs!

This hilarious video was filmed during Bill Gates' keynote address as the CES (consumer electronics show) yesterday - it stars Bono, JayZ, Steve Balmer, John Stewart, and a whole host of other celebrities in a hilarious skit!

Good for you Bill! Geek out to the max! Now all that you need to do is start using a Mac!

Technorati tags: Bill Gates, king of the geeks, Steve Jobs, CES, funny video

What's the difference between Rob Bell (nooma) and Benny Hinn (slick guy with a Hinn doo)? About 2560 facebook group members!

Stephen Murray has done it again! Stephen, I like the way you think my friend!

Stephen did a little experiment to see which of the 'well known' Christian icons of contemporary Christianity (representing a fairly broad spectrum of the Christian faith) was the most popular on facebook.

Click here to see the results of his research! It is fascinating... I wonder where TD Jakes and Joyce Meyer would fare!? (no, that's not John Meyer, or the guy from the John Mayer 'chocolate rain' youtube viral video)... no, they have more members that all of facebook, myspace, twitter, and just about every other social networking site put together has!

Anyway, here's the video!

PS. If you don't know what chocolate rain is you're not spending enough time on the net :-)

Technorati tags: Rob Bell, Benny Hinn, facebook, popularity, TD Jakes

Hacking Church! How to attend Church for 52 weeks in a row....

I saw the link for this post on my friend Sivin Kit's blog - sivinkit.net. It comes from Lifehack.org...

It has a couple of great ideas! Sivin sent it to the members of his congregation - perhaps there is something in here that could help you to get your members to attend more regularly?

I think itss safe to say that many people have the desire to attend church more consistently and improve their spiritual life. On this date last year, I was not a member of a church and I rarely attended any church services. On February 26, 2006 I set a personal goal for myself to attend church for an entire year without missing a single week. This coming Sunday, will make it 52 weeks in a row that I attended church without skipping even once. I will give you tips on how to find a church, and how I to find the motivation to attend every week for an entire year.

Keep in mind that your church won't be perfect
The first step prior to attending church on a regular basis is to actually choose a church. When I set my goal to attend church for an entire year I was not a member of any church. In fact, I was deep in the "church-shopping" process and did not have a church I attended regularly. Finding a church was the most difficult part of my journey. I visited several (probably over 10 churches) before I came to the realization (thanks in part to the Purpose Driven Life and my girlfriend) that no church is absolutely perfect. What I mean by that is (in my opinion) no church will match your tastes on every facet. I think you could spend years visiting various churches and never be totally satisfied with any of the churches you visit. Gaining satisfaction with your church will take time. Rather, you have to find a church that will satisfy you enough to motivate you to keep coming week after week.

Get to know the members
For the past four or five years I've attended various churches (I've moved a few times) without ever being a member. I would go to church, sit quietly by myself in the back and leave immediately at the end of church. I am in the process of becoming a member of a local church and I have learned an important lesson. You cannot get to know a church without getting to know the members. This lesson took me many months, if not years, to finally figure out.

Get involved with the church
Getting involved with some facet of your church (whether volunteering, ushering, reading, or joining a committee) will increase your accountability for attendance. Besides the benefits to your community (and the spiritual gains you experience) by volunteering at your church, you inherently gain a great deal of accountability in regards to attending weekly. I had the mindset of "how can I serve on so-and-so committee and not go to service on Sunday? How would that look? What would people think of me?" I’m not advocating making a huge time commitment or attending service simply to not look bad in the eyes of your congregation, but offering to fill a position in the church will definitely motivate you to at least make a weekly appearance and keep you motivated to achieve your attendance goal.

Substitute Saturday night for Friday night
The number one barrier preventing me from reaching my goal was the desire to sleep in. Previously I posted about how I get up at 5AM Monday through Friday. By Friday night I would be pretty tired, so I would tend to stay in and go out on Saturday night. This social schedule makes getting up for church very difficult on Sunday (especially after a few too many "adult beverages" on Saturday night). This tip is more common sense than anything else, but switching Friday to my big social night allowed me to relax on Saturday night, and in turn, have no problem getting up for church on Sunday morning.

Promise someone
Whether it is yourself or a loved one, promising someone that you will attend church every Sunday will help motivate you. In my weight loss article, I made a comment about the importance of making your diet public. I think this mindset can be applied to attending church as well. Tell someone that you plan to attend every Sunday — this will increase your accountability leaps and bounds. If you would rather keep this information to yourself, write it down and put it somewhere that you will see it every day (fridge door, bathroom mirror, inside your wallet, etc.).

Go with a friend or loved one
77% of church-goers that attend service with a friend report happiness in their spiritual life. Try bringing a friend, a family member, or a significant other to church with you. Besides making the experience more enjoyable and meaningful, having confirmed plans to attend church with someone else will increase your accountability.

Rationalize the time

I gained some motivation to attend church by comparing the amount of time the church-going process takes to the length of the entire week. My church service (including travel time) is only 1.5 hours total and that is only .89% of the week (168 hours/week). I also rationalize the length of the church service as half of a movie, three sitcoms, less than two episodes of Prison Break, etc. whatever works for you.

Conclusion
At first, I was motivated by making my attendance "mandatory" and comparing the amount of time I was spending at church to other "lazy" activities I enjoyed. I was able to balance making myself accountable and not feeling pressured to attend. As time progressed and I got more comfortable attending church, the motivation to attend became inherent. I started noticing major improvements in my spiritual life. By attending church every week for 52 weeks, I was able to meet many people, strengthen my faith, improve my personality, become more involved in my community, and most importantly strengthen my relationship with God. If you think that 52 weeks seems daunting, try setting smaller goals for yourself like attending 3 out of 4 weeks per month for six months. How do you find the motivation to get to church week-in and week-out? Have any of you set similar goals? How did you fare?

Some good advice here!

Technorati tags: hacking, tips, Church, ideas, attendance

The courage to live for eternity... Because, the world is not enough!

Last night we started a new sermon series at Bryanston Methodist Church. It is a series on living for Christ, in our world, with courage!

I had a great time preaching the first sermon in the series. The title is styled on the James Bond movie 'The World is not enough'. In this series we will be examining Mark's Gospel - a direct, to the point, charge to believe in the Messiah, and then to submit to discipleship under the Lordship of the Messiah.

Mark frames this charge in the words of Jesus "The Kingdom of God is near... come and follow me" [Mk 1.15-17].

The whole of the Gospel of Mark can be divided into two sections. Everything up to Chapter 8 aims to prove that Jesus is the Messiah - a figure whose life will have consequences for social issues, religious issues, moral issues, and of course spiritual issues. From Chapter 8 to the end of the Gospel (with the inclusion of the redaction of Chapter 16) the Markan narrative aims to show what kind of Messiah Jesus is. Essential to understanding the 'secret' of the Messiah's nature and character is COURAGE and HOPE. Jesus is the kind of Messiah who enters life like most of us do. He has no privilege, no extraordinary powers, no status, no wealth. All that he has is the right to choose for God's Kingdom, in a world that chooses all sorts of other Kingdoms, and the chooses this Kingdom with Courage. Of course that is what leads both to his death, and our liberation!

It's called discipleship...!

Here is the MS Word transcript of the sermon. The courage to live for the Kingdom of God.doc

And here is an MP3 audio recording of the sermon. Courage to life for God's Kingdom.mp3 [8MB]

My we all find courage, blessing, and the hope of Jesus as we face this new year! It will take courage!

Technorati tags: James Bond, 007, podcast, the world is note enough, 2008, sermon, Kingdom of God

Hope!

"Hope is like the bird that senses dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark" - Author unknown.

Begging for a living, dignity, humour and Britney Spears' pregnant sister!

I love the narrative of Peter and John who encounter the man begging for money outside of the temple.

It arrests me! It reminds me that even when I don't have anything to give the person begging for food and money at the traffic intersection (and if the truth be told, I have SO much to give - if only I learn to live more generously!) the one thing I can do is validate the person's human dignity.

When Peter and John walk past the beggar, and he asks them for something, Luke records the following:

But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" [Acts 3.4]

This passage reminds me to look... and not just to look, but to truly see! This is a person who is asking for food, or money. He has needs, feelings, desires, hopes, aspirations, longings - and most importantly he bears the image of God!

Peter and John take it a step further, they ask the man to look back at them. Perhaps they need to have their humanity validated and recognised, even by the poorest of the poor! And so, they affirm his equality with them "don't avert your eyes - look at us. We too are as poor and needy as you are! But, we share the same stamp of God within our lives!"

Giving is a very powerful thing. Having the courage to see is the first step towards feeling. And, when we are brave enough to feel for another human person, we might just be moved to live generously - as generously as the God who looks upon us, and calls us to look upon Him in return!

This picture says it all. This man has empowered himself. He has filled his humanity with the dignity of humour. In this pithy little sign lies the truth of our equality - the beggar on the street is the same as the pregnant sister of the pop star Britney Spears!

I wonder if he takes PayPal payments? I'd be willing to throw in a few bob! He sure made me think!

Pairing your Apple iPhone with the new Apple Wireless keyboard (via bluetooth)....

I have all of the technology pictured here (i.e., an iPhone with bluetooth, the Apple bluetooth wireless keyboard, a hand and a desk...) However, what I don't have is the ability to pair the Apple wireless keyboard with the Apple iPhone! Heck I wish there was some smart programmer out there who would design an app to allow me to link these two Apple devices. This would make my iPhone infinitely more useful!

Pairing Apple's Wireless Keyboard With the iPhone

AppleInsider has a thorough review of Apple's Wireless keyboard. Toward the end of the review, the reviewer comes up with a brilliant request for Apple,

"One feature I'd like to see added requires new software support on the iPhone: the ability to pair the phone to the Bluetooth keyboard. Imagine using the duo (below) as a hyper thin traveling companion for taping out notes.

That, my friend, is a genius idea, especially if they create an attachment to perch the iPhone as shown. Make it happen Apple.

In the meantime I use my wireless keyboard with my iMac and my Sony Vaio UX 180P (a perfect pair with seamless connection every time!)

Technorati tags: iPhone, Apple wireless keyboard, connect your iPhone to the Apple wireless keyboard, come on Apple!

10 Golden lessons from Prof Albert Einstein... [Note the caption on the picture...]

This link was sent to me by a friend. I thought it was quite good. See if there is anything that this physicist can teach you about life.

Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving - Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was an amazing physicist. He figured out so many universal principles and equations that he was way ahead of his fellow scientists at any point of time. But he is also remembered for another thing; a quality which made people call him a genius: his words. Prof. Einstein was a philosopher who clearly understood the laws of success and explained them like the way he did with his equations. Here is a list of 10 things out of the numerously wonderful things he had said; 10 golden lessons that you can put to use in your everyday life.

1. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

Most people don't try new things because of their fear of failure. Failing is not something to be afraid of. It is often the losers who learn more about winning than the winners. Our mistakes always give us opportunities to learn and grow.

Continue reading '10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein'

Technorati tags: Einstein, philosophy, life, funny

I like this idea! Subversive art and culture jamming!

I thought that was such a creative cultural expression - in fact, I think it is an art form!

I love it when people find creative ways of taking the 'virtual' world of the web into 'real life' [a.k.a. webspace to meatspace]... Here's one persons attempt at taking a quirky element of Wikepedia from the internet to the streets. I think it is wonderfully subversive, twisting together two cultural icons, graffiti and the [citation required] tag!

Here's the article:

Matt says: "I recently started a culture jamming... campaign that involves recontextualizing ads and signs -- or anything that makes a dubious claim -- using stickers with the [citation needed] tag found in Wikipedia articles. This blog post describes the project and has the first few pictures."

One of my favorite quirks about [Wikipedia] are the little [citation needed] tags that users can place in an article, indicating that a dubious claim needs a reference. One day an idea struck — what statements are more dubious or outright ridiculous than those in advertisements? Thus, an OM project was born. I had 250 8×2 inch stickers printed, which I handed out to friends, who circulated them further. In true wiki fashion, the final placement of the stickers is a collaborative effort, now distributed and anonymous. If anyone sees one somewhere, please make a photo! I’ve been tagging my photoset on Flickr with citationneeded and wikiffiti.

Link

So, if you see a few [citation needed] stickers in your local mall, or on a sign near you, you might be able to guess where it comes from.

Technorati tags: [citation needed], wikipedia, subversive art, culture jamming, webspace to meatspace

Thank you. A new day is dawning.

My father's funeral went off very well this morning. The Rev Derek Wilson, a close family friend, conducted the service. He was wonderful, and the service was very meaningful - a fitting celebration of my father's life.

I am feeling quite relieved tonight. So, it is time to move towards integrating this part of life into my being. A new day dawns tomorrow. I am not sure when the empty feeling in my heart will go away. Perhaps it never will.

Thank you to all those who attended the service (and were able to do so. It was POURING with rain!), and thank you for the many kind messages, phone calls and text messages. I have passed on the greetings to my mom. She is very grateful.

Here is a prayer that I found particularly meaningful:

Lord our God, you are the source of life. In you we live and move and have our being. Keep us in life, and death, within your love. And, by you grace, lead us to your Kingdom. So, almighty God, we thank you for the life that you give us. It is full of work and of responsibility, of sorrow, yet there is much to celebrate and a good measure of joy. Today we thank you for Donald Ian Forster, for what he was given by you, and for what we received from you through him. Help us in our mourning and teach us to live for the living in the time that is still left to us. Thank you for gift of eternal life, a gift that can give light and joy to our days and years here on earth.

God, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to see that it is he who opens the gate to the life that shall never die. AMEN.