New Beginnings

I spoke on Sunday about new beginnings, but how sometimes we have to go through storms before those new beginnings, and looked at Jeremiah 29:10-12, Matthew 14:22-33 and John 16:33 (If you want to know how I used those scriptures you can watch my message in yesterday's post). The great thing about these examples of storms is that they all contained promises of God and in each of them God is with his people. So now we're having to get through a storm but when the storm is over we will be in an amazing time and place of new beginnings.  We truly serve an awesome God!

This got me to thinking about how church is being conducted on Sundays around the world...

Easter Sunday

Just like every other church The Gathering had to be creative in how celebrated Easter together and how we celebrated communion on this most special of all days in the Christian calendar.

Once again we took to WhatsApp and once again it was such a joy to be able to Gather knowing we were united in God's presence, whether we were in Firgrove, Macassar, Somerset West or the Eastern Cape.

Familiar Face

This warmed my heart today.

I've been wondering where some of our Soup Kitchen regulars are and how they're coping during this time when life for those living hand to mouth is almost impossible. So to see Roderick's picture suddenly pop up on the Facebook page of our local homeless shelter was brilliant.

This also means that if Roderick is in there safely until the lockdown is over, then at least a few others of our Soup Kitchen regulars are too, because he always travels around with the same small crew, so whilst we can't see them, we know that at least a few are safe.

If for nothing else, I'm truly thankful for this piece of great news!

Lull Before The Tsunami?

BBC News are running an interesting piece on South Africa's Covid-19 outbreak and why our numbers are so low in comparison with other nations, particularly more developed nations with superior healthcare systems.

I think many of us on the ground know full well why our numbers are low and it's because the government took decisive action very early. South Africa's lockdown was one of the earliest to be implemented in terms of the numbers of coronavirus infections and it's one of the most draconian lockdowns outside of China.

Lockdown Extension

So there we have it, 14 days in and we've just been given another 14 days taking us neatly to the end of April.

May promises to be a month of celebration, but before we get there you have to wonder just how many of the most vulnerable people are going to struggle through starvation, lack of income and no prospects of anything good on the horizon.

Essential Service

I was so happy this morning to be able to pop in to Firgrove. I managed to issue myself with an Essential Services permit and then go and deliver some grocery gift cards to our more vulnerable church members.

It was also a great joy to bless them with the gifts but an even bigger joy to actually see some of our guys, even if it was just for a few moments to hand over the cards and say "Hi' through their gates.  Having seen no one from The Gathering for a while it really blessed my soul to have just the briefest of contact with a few.

Hopefully the cards will help them all get through this week and then we can think about how we can help again next week.  For those that we gave the cards to today they have no income or received the paltry grant just over a week ago and are struggling financially.

Please pray for The Gathering's more vulnerable members who struggle at the best of times.

What Is Normal Anymore?

I guess none of us are living what we might like to think of as normal lives, even if you're classified as an essential worker, life will still be far from what was once normal.

Things are far from any semblance of normality here and we can only look on from a distance as family and friends in Blighty keep posting pics of a trip out or a walk they had in the park, at least y'all still have those privileges.

Whilst we're cooped up we've been a bit more in demand than we might normally be, and have been asked to contribute to a few ongoing video projects as well as attempting to prepare the odd bit of video for use with The Gathering over the Easter weekend.

It's all good fun and I have to admit to enjoying being a bit nerdy when it comes to playing around with various bits of digital media, it may well be my way of staying on the correct side of the camera.

Exciting Times

Until this afternoon I had only been out once during our lockdown and wasn't expecting to go out this afternoon, but I'm so glad that I did!

It all began earlier today as I was praying and lamenting the closure of The Gathering's Soup Kitchen. I suddenly had the thought to approach a friend of Paula's whose husband is an MP and ask for his help in registering to be one of the NPOs that would distribute the Government's pledged R50m of food parcels to the neediest during the lockdown.

Thought For The Day 2

Following on from Paula's Thought For The Day on Thursday, I shared a thought about life under lockdown from a local perspective.

ParkRun (unofficially)

Today saw the inaugural Bizweni ParkRun under a magnificent clear blue South African sky. The crowds (two dogs) were full of excitement and expectation for this new event.

We should at this point thank our unofficial sponsor Covid-19 without whom this event would not have been possible.

Thought For The Day 1

Thought For The Day for St. George's Weald