Blessing Upon Blessing

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This scripture is the guiding principle of The Gathering's Thankful Thursdays, and sometimes it's easy to forget about it, so it was good to be reminded of it so starkly yesterday, a day of phenomenal blessings and heartbreak.

The blessings had begun on Wednesday when I drove over to My Father's House in Simon's Town to collect a very generous food donation from them.

Day 365 & Counting...

South Africa's 21 day lock down was announced by the govt on March 23rd last year giving us all just four days to prepare for the coming few weeks.

Life got a little hectic as we knew certain items would be banned from sale for the duration, and so many people went crazy with hoarding, and it wasn't just loo rolls!

Rejected & Gratefully Received

Further to my post a couple of days ago on Rejects Become Blessings, I've uncovered a little bit more of the story and I find it quite perplexing.

As I said in that post, some of the boxes we received were indeed rejected due to the odd leaky sachet, but the bulk of the boxes we received on Friday have been rejected for far stranger reasons.

Miracle On Baden Powell Drive

I have to testify to the goodness of God and his traveling mercies yesterday.

I was on my second trip collecting the peanut paste sachets and pootling along with a loaded trailer at 75kph (a little under 50mph) when the trailer started snaking. I think it was a combination of the wind, the weight, and a poorly serviced trailer that caused the snaking. 

Rejects Become Blessings

What a contrast two consecutive days can be!

Yesterday afternoon I was left feeling very deflated after once again running in to an unhelpful & unyielding branch of South African bureaucracy.

This morning I was blessed by the joy of borrowing a friends trailer and driving out to Muizenberg to collect 47 boxes of the peanut paste sachets that are so popular amongst our Soup Kitchen regulars.

A Morning With My Father's House

It was pure joy and a real privilege to spend a few hours with my mate Shaddie this morning serving My Father's House as they prepare the food for their daily feeding programme providing for the most vulnerable members of the Simon's Town community and beyond.

I love what My Father's House are doing and their vision and motivation behind it all, so it's probably a good thing that we don't live any closer because I would invest more of my time in to their vision and work to the detriment of my main focus.

Face Masks

Yesterday was a day of blessing as we finally took delivery of a small consignment of branded face masks for The Gathering and some sweatshirts for Paula & I, all of which was very nice.

Whilst we were blessed with these, we were able to bless the community Neighbourhood Watch with some more boxes of the peanut paste sachets (see our posts: Blessings & Sunset & Blessings).

We know the Neighbourhood Watch will make sure the sachets are distributed to the neediest and it's great to continue working in partnership with them.

I also got to chat with one of the other pastors in the community about what they're doing for church, they're still meeting on Zoom  and it appears that most local churches are continuing to meet online. It's good to know that we're not the only ones not yet gathering in person, though we long to.