Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and
a blessed New Year.
From all at The Gathering.
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The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together -
The Gathering -
Baptisms at The Gathering -
Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
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HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
Staying fit as a family -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Following Joel's school speech on homelessness and his challenge to his fellow learners to contribute deodorants for the homeless (See Local News), tonight was the night for Joel to go to Busy Corner and give them away.
Recently our blog was criticised by some So here's a snippet from our local rag about Joel and his school appeal in which he encouraged his fellow learners to bring in deodorants for the homeless which he's planning to give out over Christmas.
So proud of you Joel!
So last night we gathered for an amazing time of praise and worship and then we launched our Thankful Thursdays Challenge.
Ask for nothing,
Give thanks for everything!
Give thanks for everything!
I miss my dad!My dad died 30 years ago today when I was all of 18. He was only 55 but looked much older as he'd been battling MS for twelve years.
They say it gets easier over time but it doesn't. All you do is put your loved ones out of your mind as much as possible. The hole left in your heart after they depart is never really filled!
How many conversations do I wish I could have had with him. How much advice would I like to have asked of him. But more than anything, I wish he'd met Paula and my boys.
I don't have any decent pics of my dad but this is one of my favourites amongst the few that I do have. This was taken in 1952 whilst he was doing his National Service with the RAF at Biggin Hill.
I wasn't going to share this testimony but then I felt God speak to me on Sunday about not denying him, so here goes...
Almost two weeks ago we gave away one of our couches to some friends who were experiencing some difficulties. We had two couches and could survive on one so we were very happy to bless our friends. It was amusing when the boys got home from school and noticed the gap where the couch had been. Eli said in a sullen tone: "I suppose you gave it away.", we could see his little brain thinking about how much we could have sold it for.
Almost two weeks ago we gave away one of our couches to some friends who were experiencing some difficulties. We had two couches and could survive on one so we were very happy to bless our friends. It was amusing when the boys got home from school and noticed the gap where the couch had been. Eli said in a sullen tone: "I suppose you gave it away.", we could see his little brain thinking about how much we could have sold it for.
I had the joy and privilege of going to Belville to pick Ziggy & Mercy up this morning after their eipc bus ride home from Harare. They set off on Tuesday!It's great to have them back and we're grateful to our awesome God for making straight paths for them. They belong to us (Tree of Life) and we're delighted to have them home!
Despite having been gone for just a few weeks I had forgotten what it's like chatting to good friends who are grounded in scripture, they truly are a breath of fresh air.
We're not sure how but somehow we missed the 10th birthday of our blog, though according to blogoversary.com the anniversary isn't for another 37 days!We've been a bit lax with the blog over the last few years and we'll make no promise to be better at it because that would most likely be a lie. We do love the blog and enjoy it but sadly facebook has largely taken over.
We are so proud of Joel who participated in the Helderberg Eisteddfod yesterday afternoon. He was awarded Gold for his poetry recital and Gold Plus for his prepared reading.Truth be told Joel's a little disappointed in himself because it's the first year he's not got a Cum Laude, but the judge was very clear that the bar was set a lot higher this year and she was marking them accordingly.
Regardless, we're very very proud of Joel!
Next stop the Music Eisteddfod on Friday in which he'll be playing his own interpretation of Stairway To Heaven by Led Zep. He's going to be amazing!
The non-return valve has been fitted. Hooray!In fairness, once the municipality had been convinced that our sewage problem was of their making they acted well and reasonably swiftly to install the valve.
Hopefully this will be the end of sanitary products etc. winding up in our garden when the storm drains burst and flood the sewers.
I loved every minute of being back in Zim, despite the constant power cuts, water shortages and shocking roads. I loved how the locals don't waste their time complaining and moaning about how bad it is but rather get on with life. I loved every minute of being back there because it made me realise just how much of my heart I left there when we were thrown out in 2003.
For most of our time in mission we've been involved in sowing seeds and rarely got to see the fruits of our labours. This is why I'm so thrilled by what I'm seeing in Zimbabwe.This morning I went to River of Life Westgate, the church we were instrumental in planting back in 2002 with a team from River of Life Mount Pleasant.
Those were exciting times as we gathered at Westgate as a small team with a giant vision to see a church planted and a variety of social outreach projects established.
When asked how today went I simply replied: "Today was one of the happiest days of my life!"Ever since we left Zimbabwe so abruptly in 2003 I've longed to return to see our many friends that we never got to say goodbye to.
So to be here for the wedding of our dear friends Ziggy & Mercy and to get to meet up with Linus, Emilia and Shepherd was a real privilege.
We heard on Sunday lunchtime that our 'dad' had died. Uncle Paul was a giant in the faith and a man we had grown to love very dearly.I never had the privilege of meeting Nelson Mandela, but I did have the awesome privilege of knowing Uncle Paul and I now treasure the few occasions I got to sit with him and listen to his stories about his life and growing up in this amazing but divided country.
Recently I posted "Love Your Neighbour?" about some evictions in a local township and our attitudes surrounding the whole debacle.Well for the folks in Macassar the issues just got very real and tensions will only rise in the coming months.
SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency Limited) had obtained a court order to remove squatters from some land in Lwandle but they had no plan in place as to what to do with those displaced by this action.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words and this picture doesn't disappoint.
This picture looks like a scene from the dark days of the apartheid era, but sadly it's not. This was taken yesterday right here in the Helderberg Basin as some squatters were evicted from private land.
The tragedy is that the private land is owned by SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency Limited) which is in fact a govt owned public company) and so the govt and law enforcement agencies refuse to get involved hiding behind civil law and neglecting their duties.
Some of my highlights of being a dad have to be sharing a love of quality rock music with my boys, teaching them to ride their bikes and with Eli, teaching him to ride a unicycle.Today my joy went a bit further with my boyjie as we went unicycling together on the road and then turned off to ride around the disused farm dam near our house.
It's Book Week at the International School again and once again Joel has gone dressed brilliantly and is very excited to see how all his friends have chosen to dress too.Joel chose to go as Mr Stink from the book of the same name by David Walliams. We had so much fun making him and his clothes dirty, cutting his shoes open and generally just making it up as we went along.
The biggest problem we had was finding rabbit droppings that Joel could use as ear plugs.
David Walliams has definitely been a big hit in our house having helped Joel to a few Cum Laude at Eisteddfod and now helping with Book Week.
Read more about World Book Day here.
Paula posted this on Facebook but it totally deserves a blog post.Totally inspirational special school assembly at Helderberg International School led by Braam Malherbe to motivate the students to raise all they can at their Operation Smile sponsored event next week.
Amongst the many blessings we've received over the last couple of months it would be rude not to mention the photo shoot we had at home.One of our church members is doing a photography degree and for one of his assignments he asked if he could photograph us in the garden.
We were well chuffed to be asked and well pleased with the results!
You can see more of Chadlee's photos and designs on his blog.
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2014 has been the best start to a year that I can ever remember.That's not to say it's been perfect or without it's issues and problems, there have been plenty of those. No, it's been the best start ever because when I step back and look at the bigger picture so many amazing and wonderful things have happened that I feel incredibly blessed.
After a couple of false starts the man from the municipality finally came to inspect the sewer pipe and concluded that they need to install a non-return valve on the street-side of the property. Sadly due to the extensive damage done by the floods last year the emergency budget is exhausted so he could give me no idea of when they will get around to doing the work.Still, we've had a man out to inspect it and that alone feels like progress. It only took two years of trying to get this issue sorted, and we've only got this far after getting in touch with our local Councillor who put us in touch with the right person at the municipality.
This morning saw the boys returning to school to commence Years 6 and 4 respectively and they do so with huge faith, hope and confidence. The holidays for them have been a time not only to rest and relax but also to do some thinking about this big year. We were quite surprised to find that both had set themselves goals for the year and for the first time ever both boys were looking forward to the return to school, albeit it for different reasons!
Having read my mate Hazel's Christmas 2013 blog post I was inspired and encouraged to confess to my own shortcomings in the Christmas cake department.Like Hazel I made two cakes, one came out very well (see left) and once it was iced etc. it went down a storm.
Sadly that's not the whole story though...
It's exactly six years since I've been to a Palace game (see Palace Result - With A Difference) but what an occasion it was. I got to take Joel to his first ever match and he absolutely loved it! As a dad and a Palace fan it made for a very special afternoon for me and one I'll never forget
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