32

Seeing as I turn 32 today I thought I would write a post of the 32 highlights of my life. one highlight for every year. The scary part was that I realized that there were quite a number of years that I would not be able to list highlights for.

Make no mistake - there were some .

• Like the day I met my wife.
• The day we got married.
• The day she was accepted as a probationary Methodist minister.
• The day I got my first digital SLR camera.

But surely not enough to make up 32. Especially not if I had to limit them to one per year.

So I decided that I would rather make another list. and even this one may take some thinking. So here we go :

32 things you may not have known about me :

1. Although ,by all accounts, I look mean , I have a very small heart.
2. I do not see myself as a particularly good photographer
3. I am always surprised to see myself in a photo ( I never think of myself as so much bigger than most other people)
4. I was the nerd at school (not the smart geek type, just the guy that everyone bullied)
5. I studied computer-systems-engineering for a year and then quit.
6. In Matric I wanted to be an air force fighter pilot
7. I was Youth Pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church for a year
8. I met my wife when she was dating my best friend
9. I struggle to see God as a loving Father
10. I do not have a very good relationship with my own father.
11. I would love to own a motorbike. I have a softspot for the Honda Transalp 700
    
12. I would love to have a go at being a rally driver
13. I love Christian music.
14. I love Abba and classical music.
15. Sometimes I will listen to heavy metal (though still Christian Metal)
16. I google my name sometimes
17. I like to cook
18. At one stage after school I was super fit and won 32km cycle race against pros. I was on a borrowed mountain bike.
19. I would like to start cycling again.
20. I hate running (it hurts my back)
21. I am very practically minded
22. My first computer was a Commodore Vic 20. I was 8.
23. I have designed at least 12 websites.
24. If I could do any job in the world , I would like to be a Helicopter Pilot.
25. I like to read Terry Pratchett's Discworld books
26. I like to sing
27. I like new challenges but get bored once I have mastered them.
28. I have very few close friends
29. I am not very good with money (and at the moment I am paying the price for my stupidity)
30. I love gadgets.
31. I have a thing for torches and flashlights. I have to really restrain myself from buying new ones when I see them in a store.
32. I would like to learn to drive big interlink trucks.

Today

A word of thanks.

Thank you for taking the time to meet with us. Thank you for spending time to set our minds at peace and calm some fears.

Thank you for being 'real' where so many people and Christians are fake.

Thank you that I know that Alet will be in safe hands.

Thank you for your friendship, compassion and care.

And thank you for the cap. I will wear it with pride , knowing that a good friend gave it to me.

Thank you!.

May God bless you and guide you in this time ahead. May His will be done in the days and decisions that follow.

It is a privilege to call you my friend.

The Shack

I have recently read , as I am sure have many others, a book called 'The Shack' by William P Young.

To be honest , I read it in one day. Then cried my eyes out. Then started reading it again two days later.

I can not recommend this book enough. I do think that it is necessary to point out that the word 'shack' in a South African context has a negative connotation to it and that this 'shack' is not the shack that South Africans have in mind.
Whilst I am surely no great theologian , I will say that this book resonated with my soul and that I have read nothing in this book that I felt was ,if not biblically true then , not spiritually true.

All I can say is: Leave your prejudice behind and read the book from beginning to end. It is awesome. I am sure that you will meet and experience , and maybe catch a glimpse into, the heart of God like never before.

I wish...

When I was young my dad owned a Honda CX500 like this one. His was blue.

Specs : 500cc V-Twin
Liquid cooled
Shaft Drive
manufactured : '78 to '83

What a nice old bike. Lots of torque.Very forgiving. My dad sold his bike for R2500 and I was mad at him for months. I learned to ride on that bike. And ever since I had a thing for the CX's. I have always wanted to own one.

A while back I discovered one standing at an Engineering works here Uitenhage. Same colour and design as the one in the pic. It needs some work, and exhausts , but the otherwise it is not in bad shape.

And I have been dreaming and scheming and raking my brains for ways to acquire this bike. And slowly I have come to the realization that I will not own this bike. There is just no way that I will be able to scrape together the money.

And so I will keep on dreaming. Maybe one day.....

Today

1. gone fishing
2. Earned some money (thank you Father)
3. had nice food to eat
4..
5..

This is so much harder than I thought it would be.

And yet I know that I have so much to be thankful for.

aha wait.

4. Alet
5. Jaco

I understand.

Thank you.

5 things a day

I have a little plug in on my web browser(Firefox) called "Stumble". Stumble allows me to specify things that interest me , and then by clicking on the stumble button it would direct me to random websites that deal with one of those interests . Very addictive to be honest.

But any way .. This evening I stumbled onto this site , with a very long story about the jewish feast of tabernacles. At the end of this post the author mentions how (s)he found that writing down 5 good things that (s)he expereienced per day , helped to keep him/her from depression.

And I thought that this was a good idea. And so I will also try to do two things.

1. blog more regularly
2. post 5 good things per day ( when I blog)

So here goes .

Today I experienced God thru the following 5 things.

1. I watched a movie with my wife called " Ouma se slim kind"
2. I had coffee with my friend Neville and his wife.
3. I listened to a couple of worship songs on my pc.
4. I had coffee with my wife in a coffee shop.
5. Alet took Jaco to school this morning and I could stay in bed till late.

It is amazing to note how hard I had to think to find these 5 things. Yet I realize that God blessed me with so much more.

I pray that my eyes will open and that I will see all the things I have to be thankfull for every day.