Were they black?

That is the most common question you will be asked if you are a victim of crime in this country.

On the 22 November Katherine and I were hijacked. Since then I have once again been disgusted at peoples racism and prejudice.

Ok... so I had someone hold a gun to my head, pull the ring off my finger and rob me of an mp3 player, cellphone, keys and wallet containing R800 in cash, bank cards, id book and drivers license. And then Katherines car was taken (which had her bag, sunglasses and some cd's).

Why is everyone's first question (after a gasp of surprise and horror), "were they black?".

In this case one of them was... the second probably as well. But so what. What has that got to do with anything.

Here I write as a white male I have been done more harm and wrong by other white males than any other people group. And I'm pretty sure that so has every single other white person in this country.

Well now I think as someone that has been through a hijacking I can share the following:

Within 3 hours after the hijacking (that is after all the police statements etc...), Katherine and I proceeded to forgive the hijackers and pray that they would come to know God. We asked God to counsel us and release us from any bitterness.

And guess what.

It worked. I am not a bitter twisted cynical South African. I am not paranoid. I am not scared of townships... and I still have the greatest respect for my pastor (who is black).

If you are bitter and twisted and fearful because of being victim of crime and call yourself a Christian then I have a rebuke for you.

Take your eyes off yourself. Live like a Christian. Live like one who knows and is concerned about eternity. I know what it is like to have a gun pointed in my face while thinking "Could this be it... do I get to finally go be with God... or is something cool about to happen like him pulling the trigger and the bullet bouncing off my face".

God says in the bible "I have not giving you a spirit of fear but of love, power and sound mind".

I will not fear my hijackers... I will love them. Don't get me wrong... loving doesn't mean I don't want to see justice. Their act deserves punishment... but should they ever get caught they can know they are forgiven and loved... plus I have the added benefit of not allowing bitterness to ruin my life, my sleep and the awesome relationships I have with people from other cultures.

2005 Highlights

If you aren't in the loop then you need to know that my greatest highlight of 2005 was to finally start courting Katherine.

Katherine and I have known each other a couple of years. It was only last year though that I felt a go ahead from God to start courting. I don't know if I've ever posted on my blog my views on dating.

Anyway... after been single for 5 years I can honestly say that it was completely worth it. I am now even more convinced that dating causes issues and builds a relationship on shaky ground.



Other highlight is this:



Yes thats right... I am the proud owner of 228 cubic metres of air. Hopefully by the end of the year this currently empty field will look something like this:



2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, open plan lounge and kitchen with a braai/balcony area. (Mine will be on the second floor). In fact the dude standing on the balcony with no shirt on would be me.

Then of course there was the Transforming Africa conference on Cape Town last year october.



This picture was taken during worship. The conference was well attended with some excellent speakers and workshops.

There are a lot of things that will stay with me from the conference.

More higlights another time.

7 months

Ok I realise it has been almost 7 months (in fact tomorrow will be seven months) since I last posted.

Hope no-one was holding the breathe.

Blogging just isn't such a natural thing when you don't have a connection at home.

Perhaps I could justify blogging at work as a "blog-break". After all my colleagues get a smoke break.... what if I blogged every time they went for a smoke break.

Wow.... that would give me about an hour or more of blog time a day... (and that's just for the 2 guys in my office who smoke... and they always smoke together at the same time.)

I wonder... with everything causing cancer these days... "Warning: Blogging during pregnancy could harm your unborn baby" or "Warning: Blogging causes retina cancer".

Oh and BTW... It doesn't matter how many times you post the same "I found your blog interesting... perhaps you will like my blog on tents"... I'm really not interested in your spam comments.

If you really find my site interesting then leave a comment about what you found interesting.

Ok... so I've now enabled word authentication in comment posting to prevent those wonderful blog bots.

--->Still Ablaze

Jo jo jo jo

Mmmm.... So I recently discovered from one of my band members that

Jonana Jo.... is an "expression of amazement".

Better expressed as "Jo jo jo jo"..... now if you're from Africa you'll know how to pronounce that... if you're from Europe or America and english speaking... then I imagine you're pronouncing it as Joe Joe Joe.

I don't know how to spell phoenetically (or spell phoenetics for that matter) ... but I imagine it would be more like... ummm... oh forget it.