Faith Like Potatoes

Well, it has been a while since my last update, and so much has been happening lately!

Firstly, today was a special day at church- it was our official acceptance into the His People family. We got certificates to say that we are now covenant members and it was so special. They called all the new members up on stage to introduce them to the family and to have all the pastors pray over us. It is beautiful to see how much they value and cherish the new family members.

The sermon today was about love. What love is biblically and what love is not. It was really challenging. The pastor made a very interesting comment though, he said that there is a common misconception that the opposite of love is hate when in fact, the opposite of love is selfishness. Love is therefore a motive- the motive that drives us to do what we do. If our motive is self, it cannot be love, but if it is others, it flows from love. That’s one to think about.

I went to see a newly released film called Faith Like Potatoes last night. It is the true life story of a farmer in Kwazulu Natal called Angus Buchan. It is a story that inspired me more than any other has in a very long time! Check out the link for more info: http://www.faithlikepotatoes.com/inspire.html

On Friday passed I took the expression ‘a tourist in your own country’ to a whole new level! My uncle is a tour guide and he mostly has groups from countries like Belgium, Holland and the like. He has been on tour with a Flemish language group for the last few weeks and on Friday they were headed out to Hermanus for some Whale watching. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hermanus, let me fill you in. Every year there is an influx of Southern Right Whales into the bay of Hermanus. It is usually around the end of winter/early spring. The cows come into the bay to calf and they usually remain until the calves are big enough to take on the trip to the other side of the ocean. On a good day you can usually see at least four to six whales in the bay- mothers and calves. Well, seeing as I was off work on Friday, my mum and I decided to join up with my uncle and his tour group on their tour bus and go whale watching as well. What a day! The group were a lively bunch and the language barrier was minute since Flemish and Afrikaans are so similar. We had a great day! We got take away fish & chips and sat on a bench overlooking the bay where we watched the mothers and calves having a grand old time. They are such playful animals! They were splashing their tails and fins and once or twice they even ‘breached’ or jumped out of the water with a tremendous splash. The best part about it is that the are so close to you. Usually you don’t see them close to the shore as the water is too shallow for them, but the bay allows them to sometimes be as close as 20 metres from the shore. Then, later in the afternoon the Whales were joined by a school of about 60-70 dolphins. You should have seen the calves go mad! They were jumping out of the water with the dolphins and basically just behaving like adolescent children- they were delightful! One of the most fascinating things is a guy who walks along the shore called the ‘whale-crier’. He walks with a long horn and whenever a whale is visible he lines himself up with it and blows his horn so people know where to look. Imagine that as a full time job!

Today after church we also went to a place in Stellenbosch called the Hillcrest Berry farm. It is true to its name in that it actually is a farm for berries. All sorts of berries. And they make jams from all these berries, and tea and honey and almost anything else you can think of making from berries. They have a café where you can have a light lunch, or the famous tea and scones. You get 2 scones and 2 little jams of your choice. There are jams you have never even heard of like Tayberry, Blackcurrant, Fig and Walnut, 4 Berry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Rasberry, Gooseberry, Pineapple and then list of blended jams. Choosing just 2 is almost impossible! The scones arrive warm and fresh out of the oven so that your butter still melts on them… Sigh… it is a little slice of heaven! Especially when you are sitting at a table surrounded by fragrant roses, with birds twittering all around and magnificent mountains towering all around you.

I have been working through Lisa Bevere’s Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry the last few weeks, and I highly recommend it! I was a bit skeptical at first since it sounded like it was going to be a bit ‘mushy’ for my liking, but I tell you that it gets into the nitty gritty’s of your life and it truly does make you realize how in love Jesus is with you and how much he desires to be loved back. I seriously challenge you to read it and not shed a tear- it is not a challenge I anticipate that you will be able to succeed at if you are honest in with yourself whilst reading it.

Anyhow, as you can see, life is on the go and I’m loving it. Hoping that I get some news from the north and the east pretty soon… :)