Firewood

It's always an oddly exciting and satisfying event when our firewood is delivered each year. 

We only get our wood once a year, and it supplies our wood burner in winter, which is our only source of heating in our house.

Fuad

Last night's Soup Kitchen was as chilled as ever, especially as Remi was once again with us offering free haircuts to those that wanted one.

The evening was also brightened up by the visit of Fuad!

We've not seen Fuad for quite a while, so it was great to catch up with him again, and it was a joy to be able to bless him with a haircut as well as soup.

Whilst we were away over Christmas we got to spend a very happy hour with some good friends, chatting about life and having a laugh. I was struck by their new dog, a rescue from the local animal shelter. She's called Rosie and apparently has bitten everyone who has attempted to stroke her, including the local policeman.

Having recently moved to Strictly Fighters Inc boxing gym, I've had the joy of getting to know some of the team running it, and it's been great to hear about their involvement with Khayelitsha Boxing Academy, a local NPO doing some great work in helping youngsters off the streets and distracting them from the life the street can offer. 

Last night we took time out to enjoy each other's company and to thank our leadership team for serving so faithfully this year.

It is a joy and a privilege to lead The Gathering with this remarkable group of people, and I love how in the Kingdom of God such a diverse bunch can come together in spirit, heart & truth to build something truly amazing for the glory of God's name.

Today feels like a day of breakthrough and blessing.

We finally got our meeting with the man from the Dept of Social Development (DSD) and to cut a long story short, he now works for The Gathering in a consultancy capacity. This is a huge blessing.

Thank you LORD!

Who knew that there was such a thing as Fountain Pen Day?

However, having learnt of this day, I have to confess to being just a little bit chuffed about it because I've been a user and lover of fountain pens pretty much my whole life, and even to this day my preferred daily writing tool is my trusty Parker fountain pen which accompanies me pretty much everywhere I go.

I've not been riding as much as I would like lately, but there are a few reasons for that. Firstly, the wind has been terrible, and when the wind is pumping it is deeply unpleasant and borderline dangerous to ride in.

Secondly, I'm still quite a way off where I would like to be fitness wise since my operation. I had no idea quite how much it would knock me and quite how tough it would be getting back to where I was before the op'.

Thirdly...

Today was one of those days where you just want to grab the person who has shed some light on a situation, and never let them go.

Many of you know of our ongoing saga in our efforts to get The Gathering registered with SARS (SA's tax collector) as tax compliant and exempt as a charity.