Back from the Mountain Kingdom

Hello Friends!

So I am back safely and slowly recovering from my trip to the Mountain Kingdom. As I get my pictures edited and prepped they will get onto my flickr, so please do be patient with me. Also stories will slowly be coming onto this Blog, but for right now just know that I am back safe and sound, and there were adventures with stories. I didn't get to do any of the highest things (like the Abseil, nor the pub) but they were replaced with just as good of adventures and reasons why it didn't quite work out. Anyways it was totally epic and cool, a wonderful trip and we did get around the whole country. For those of you not following on Facebook as well, I also might have won transportation method Bingo, as I have now bumped around a country in many different and wonderful ways. (I may have to come up with official rules to play it by but we will see).

Anyways this is just a really quick post to let you know about some happenings this past week. Tuesday afternoon I attended a seminar by John De Grunchy (a brilliant South African Theologian) on the ecumenical movement (if you don't know what that is please do look it up) He discussed how instead of it being a sole institutional push that we need to have we need to have people who live ecumenically. That being said it needs to create a community of believers from diverse backgrounds that together unify and seek out the lifegiving new humanity that is coming in the Kingdom of God. Long and complicated story made short, It makes me want to do more readings on both John De Grunchy and Steve de Gruchy and see how and why they did theology (just so brilliant!). Also it was just a mind blowing experience to realize that I already am engaging in that manner (just so cool!).

Unfortunately I am losing concentration as I am sick, I picked up some sort of headcold while travelling, so I am currently fighting it off. so I am off! Keep your eyes peeled for more stories about me bumping around Lesotho shortly (Maybe tonight I will just work on my Laptop and write another post...).

Peace and Blessings!

Out of the country yet in the country

Hey friends so as promised here is the travelling details for the next week. So firstly I need to clarify that I am travelling with a friend who is also a girl. Her name is Kate. So I am putting it out so that I can clarify several key details. Firstly I have been talking with Emily, my girlfriend, about this in great detail and in great length. Emily is aware that Kate and I are just friends but even still while travelling we together decided that it was good to be upfront and clear about several things to help put any fears at rest. So firstly I talked to Kate about these things (relatively early on in the planning process) and made the nature of our friendship nice and clear. I emphasized to her that I am in a wonderful dating relationship and that I would not want to do anything at all to cause any harm to Emily. I also explained to her that I am not looking for a dating relationship with her and that I only perceive and see her as a friend. Equally she wanted to clear that up (luckily) before we started backpacking (as I had mentioned Emily early on in my friendship, as I do with most women so that they are clear in understanding that I am not looking for love). So we then went through the practical aspects of what that looks like while travelling. Firstly if we arrive at a hotel and they make an assumption that we are sharing a room then we politely make it clear that we are looking for two single rooms not one double room. Also we are going to prefer dorm rooms where we can stay with other backpackers and travellers so that we can meet other people. If people make any insinuations, or assumptions about the two of us we are going to be quick to answer and respond that we are just friends, and that I am in a dating relationship with Emily (which has been wonderful as we have learned how to grow together over a distance!). Also if there is no other option in a certain town for picking out where to stay and there is only one room available then one of us is going to be sleeping on the floor (I probably will end up there, but I don’t mind). All of this I have discussed with Emily and I have also left myself open to her saying no at any point including and up until this evening if she doesn’t want me to travel with Kate. Yet Emily has remained very positive and open minded about it, especially after discussing with her all of these provisions and clarification.
Equally I would like to note that this style of relationship is often times very counter cultural. In spite of our modern culture allowing for romantic relationships to form between any combination of genders, close friendships that are between the two sexes are automatically lumped into a heterosexual romantic relationship. Honestly, I believe that Men and Women should be able to have deep and meaningful relationships with each other that are not necessarily romantic. And these sorts of friendships should be allowed to flourish and grow even when a person is in an exclusive dating relationship that is romantic. In fact many men could really benefit from several women’s perspectives in how they live their lives. Equally (I would have to guess) that women could use men’s perspectives and opinions in their lives as well. These relationships are good, and can remain in the realm of friendship, rather than turning to romantic ends.
Anyways enough ranting about cross gendered relationships, you are probably more interested in my travel plans. Here is the rough outline with a couple of highlights:
Monday: Pietermaritzburg to Lesotho! The hope is to get in as far as possible into Lesotho yet we are going to be trying our best to get in through a border crossing that is not explicitly mentioned in my Lonely planet Guide book. (It is a border crossing just South African Access via Mini-bus taxis is not mentioned) The hope is to cross into Lesotho at Qacha’s Nek. (which is pronounced !acha’s Nek) to get there the plan is to take mini bus taxis from here to (Durban to) Kokstad to Matatiele to Qacha’s Nek. (Durban is uncertain as we might be able to go straight to Kokstad or elsewhere from PMB). The hope is to roll into Qacha’s Nek at around noon, (with any luck) and then from there hop on a mini-bus taxi and go to Quthing (pronounced: !uthing). Then we will crash for our first evening after trying to seek out the Dinosaur Footprints in the area!
Tuesday: Quthing- Maseru, We will hopefully arrive late morning into Maseru from which we will be heading to a Hostel, and dropping off our backpacks and heading out on a Mini-bus taxi to go and do some Crafts shopping. I am hoping to get a Basotho Wool Blanket (so I can blend in a bit). And whatever else we may encounter that day.
Wednesday: Maseru- Semonkong, this is unfortunately a short distance on the map but apparently it takes a long time to get there by transit. We are going to leave in the morning and arrive late afternoon in Semonkong. Where we will settle into a hostel like lodge for the next two nights!
Thursday: Semonkong: The world’s highest commercial Abseiling (I can’t believe I am going to do this. To be honest I am scared, but I am going to do it anyways), basically it is repelling down a 204m high waterfall but with one really large and long leap. Kind of crazy if you ask me, but apparently it is incredible. (Plus I will be doing one of the World’s Highest...s).
Friday: Semonkong to Maseru, bumping back to get around the rest of the country!
Saturday: Maseru to Sani Top (hopefully) or to Mokhotlong, depending on how long it takes to get there. The plans are a bit looser at this point. But the basics is that we are going to be heading to Sani Top for a pint at the Highest pub in Africa!
Sunday: Sani Top to Pietermaritzburg (via the Underberg,) We get to see the Drakensburg mountains and return the short route. If we didn’t get the pint the night before then we are going to stop for a lunch hour pint and then down the pass we go.
If you are feeling lost then probably I am doing all right because I am slowly getting down the names and rough geographic area. If you are like a certain anonymous friend who thought that Lesotho was a seaside town (This friend I appreciate and love deeply!) you will be surprised that Lesotho is about the exact opposite. (I was confused at the language Guidebook that talked about beaches, snorkling, and scuba clearly they have never been to Lesotho...). It is roughly reminiscent of Tibet, except in Africa. Mountainous, free and beautiful, except that Tibet is no longer free is it... I had better work on a better comparison. It is deeply underdeveloped so Kate and I invested in water purification tablets, and we guessed that we would be getting well off of the beaten path (which is where you find the best stories).
If we get lost, hopefully we will find ourselves. That is my perspective of travelling is that when we get lost we will hopefully find ourselves.
My laptop is coming and so is my camera! I am super excited to share good and solid stories with you folks as soon as I can!
Peace and Take care!
Andrew

More Stories (Finally up to date (J'espere))

Hey friends!
So hopefully with this blog post you will get fully up to date before I leave the country yet stay in the country. So I hope this blog post gets to you wonderful people and finds you well!

By the by, I hear that some friends of mine have had an epic feast and I would love to hear stories about people’s perspectives and how they found eating and feasting with some 80 people either facebook message me, or send me an e-mail and tell me a story about that wonderful evening.

Anyways, cool and exciting stories here from PMB, I guess I should explain the photos that got up onto the flickr page, because contrary to some people’s beliefs zebras don’t just wander around PMB. So I went on a game drive with some friends a couple of weeks back, I had a blast and a half. Incredible time. So we as a group (about 9 of us) piled into a large Convi sized van and went off to Howick to go for a game drive with a member from NCF church who manages the game reserve. Hilarious side note for you, as we were driving we let somebody off on the way, and we picked up a guy who was waiting for a minibus taxi and drove him to Howick with us. It was so odd but so very good of us to do as well. Anyways back to the main story, we went for a game drive so myself, and two others went in the back of one truck and the rest of them in the other truck. We drove into the bush and saw a variety of animals, including Boks (deer equivalent, think Springboks, except these were bush boks), Impala, wildebeests, zebras and several giraffes, as well as enjoying the stunning African landscape. Truly amazing scenery and sights. Giraffes are really tall in real life, and absolutely stunning. I always thought that the colouring was a bit odd, (Yellow with brown spots), but now I can see how effective it is during winter and fall when everything gets dry. Beautiful creatures just take a look at the pictures on flickr. Anyways after the game drive we had a braai and watched the rugby game (where South Africa lost to Australia by one kick. Terribly exciting way to lose). Then after that we got the meat on the braai and spent some time chilling out and chatting around the braai. We then ate together and had a wonderful evening getting to know people on a closer level. It was amazing afterwards to be able to watch Bafana Bafana play soccer with all of the guys and it gave me a solid opportunity to get to know them better.

Hmmm other good stories from my weeks... Well I have been playing more Touch Rugby and I am slowly getting better (it is starting to make much more sense and I am getting better each time I play). Also I got a pool pass so that I can stay in good swimming shape. So far I have only been twice. The first time I went it was on a very cool day, the sun had just come out but the temperature outside was in the cool twenties, and the pool was freezing. I swam about 200m before my arms were just not willing to work anymore. The other time that I went swimming I went about double that before I realized that I was really tired. That was on the hottest day this past week. I went back to my room utterly exhausted, and downed about 1.5L of water right afterwards. After that I napped for 45 min but still I was really out of it. But still the weather here is right hectic. So that same day (It was Wednesday this past week) I went to chat with Emily (which was a wonderful chat in spite of my being exhausted from the heat). But by the time we finished (Less than 2 hours later) it had rained briefly and the temperature had dropped by like 10 degrees or more! Just amazing! I walked back to my dorm room a bit chilled but smiling in disbelief. For a day that was like 35-36 degrees Celsius with no wind to drop to low 20s in the course of like an hour and a half was just incredible. (I was complaining about it to Emily during our conversation but I got proved wrong). Then Thursday this week was just miserable and Cold, but John came over and we chatted for a bit and he drove me to the mall so I could get a hat and he could get some things for his family back in Zimbabwe. So we went to the mall and I got a wonderful hat (for 30$ or so, which is a steal when you see my hat that I got).

Other than that this past week has been really quiet, I didn’t have class this past week on Thursday, and My Friday class was also cancelled so I have had three days of no classes in a row (right before a Vacation as well).

Oh and two more stories for you before I am done writing this blog post (I was just checking to make sure I don’t double up on stories).

Firstly A couple of weeks back I took a very important test. So the Theology department (led by a class dealing with HIV/AIDs and theology) organized a testing campaign on our campus. It was an excellent event (though possibly one of the scariest things I have ever done). So on Wednesday (several weeks back now... crazy) I went out to go to the clinic to get a VCT test done, at first I walked past. I was totally freaking out, I was nervous, and not sure if I wanted to hear my results even if I did get tested. So I walked past and went to the LAN (though it was closed and locked up because of the Strike on Campus that day). So I went back in the direction of the clinic. And After almost walking past I convinced myself to do it. Really I need to convince myself. It was scary to think that if I get tested I could test either HIV positive or HIV Negative. But the thing that made me decide was that it is more dangerous to keep living HIV ignorant in our world of vulnerability today. So I went and got tested. They did a tremendous job and spent between 45min to an hour with each of the people who were going to get tested. They started with a counselling session to discuss and talk about HIV. Talk about the fears, and what happens either way, prevention, and what HIV actually is. Which put me much more at ease to hear either result from the test. So I went and they took a blood sample from me (using a spring loaded needle much like how a diabetic would test for blood sugar levels), and then put it to the test. They took two samples in case the first sample came back positive they could do a second test to be sure. If the two tests were in disagreement they would do a third test and that would be the deciding vote. After then sitting for 15 min to wait for the results (which was extremely nerve racking). I got called back to the tent for a consultation about what the results were and what that meant for me. So now officially I am no longer the most dangerous status of HIV-Ignorant.
(by the way if you are wondering what my status is that is really none of your business, if you need to know it I would tell you, the truth about it is that HIV is just a disease with many ways to contract it, in fact most people should be testing yearly. Even in monogamous relationships, if you get an injection, get surgery, have a tattoo, or get a piercing you put yourself just as much as at risk as if you are engaged in promiscuous sexual activity as an uncircumcised male. HIV means the HUMAN Immuno-deficiency Virus, if you are HUMAN you are susceptible to the virus so everyone is vulnerable). So my status is HIV-Aware, and as such I am able to know how to protect myself and other people, and I can start eradicating the stigma that is around the disease. Like Jesus in John chapter 9 the question isn’t who sinned, or what sin, but How can the Glory of God be displayed. (I tell you these Christians all ways looking to accuse... just kidding, but seriously) Cheers eh!)

The other story is about a church that I went to this past week. It will remain anonymous as I am going to be critical of certain aspects about it. Firstly it is definitely a neo-charismatic church (not that all neo-charismatic churches are like this but that is probably the quickest and most easy definition of this church). I went on a Sunday with a friend from here at the Varsity, and it was an interesting experience to say the least. Firstly the Pastor of the church came to the front and announced this church’s vision for the next couple of months that it was going to be a period of harvest and growth for this church. They were hoping to have 4000 added to their church before the end of the year and to do this they would have at least 300 committed evangelists stepping up and reaching out to friends that were not yet ‘saved’. (I do need to interject to say that I am not a person who believes that this is out of line, I think big vision for growth is a good thing, but the processes and the means are important, yet again I think as a Christian if I had two people who came to know who God is in a deep and meaningful way than 4000 people who just become another face in the crowd I would be twice as overjoyed. I have fears about things trying to get that big that fast as when things are that big there is always a big back door, and people disappear more easily.) The biggest problem that I had with it was that they were going to keep a tally of the number of each person saved next to the name of the evangelist. It just sat really funny with me. Next the sermon was just very hard to deal with. Though it had some valid points just it was not absolute on the subject. The pastor was starting a sermon series on “Taming the Mind”. He was making links between being in control of your inner being making you healthy. I will give him the fact that certain emotions are related to certain health problems but they are only one factor of many factors for many of the problems. His theology left a very slippery slope by which he could easily lead people to believe that if they are in control of their mind then they will never get sick. (Which can lead to all sorts of problems as people then might believe that they don’t need hospitals or medicine for certain disorders, or that they don’t actually have those disorders.) Ughh just a very odd experience. Another odd point in his preaching was that he was suggesting that we as believers need to be colonizing our own minds. Honestly, we as believers need to accept and allow Jesus to be king in fullness (not us claiming our own selves as Jesus’ own...). The action of being transformed comes from God’s action not from our own listening to and filling up our mind with Christian materials. Again it leads itself into a very dangerous realm of an ‘I’ centered Christianity. So it begins to look more like chrIstIanIty rather that CHRISTianity. (I hope that you get what I am saying. Individualism is problematic for Christianity, as it puts too much importance on the one and not upon the One who is actually important in our communities.).

Anyways, sorry for the lengthy rant about a bad experience in a church, there were positives like hanging out with my friend that I haven’t had a chance to hang out with, and I can identify more clearly problematic dimensions in certain theologies. But I am super excited for tomorrow, as I get to pack. I did laundry today so my room smells of the detergent and fabric softener. So keep your eyes open for the next blog post going up by tomorrow night: Andrew is out of the Country yet in the Country... (Just think about it). And I will tell you all about my travel plans.

Peace and Blessings!

(PS thanks to those of you who sent me emails and stories, I love and appreciate getting stories, and It may be then that I will even tell you and extra story! I hope you guys are all doing well!)

Hello friends I am going to suggest you grab your favourite type of tea/coffee (I would recommend, Green, Redbush (Roibos if you prefer the Afrikaans name), Black, Hot toddy Tea, or Coffee) and join me for some stories. I know that I have failed to update you guys for a couple of weeks on direct stories in my life. So here it goes:

Generally my life is pretty normal, Classes, lectures, readings and that sort of deal. Basic student living which makes me very happy is the norm of my days. This past week has been hard hitting for work and lectures as next week is the Mid-Term Vacation. This past weekend I had to write two papers, and I have been pretty entrenched in readings for the last couple of weeks. But I have loved the readings.

The readings have been relatively emotionally laden. That probably requires some unpacking. The courses that I am taking here are all deeply involved in the realities of the world. That being said the readings can be heart breaking and yet at the same time leave me feeling with a great deal of longing for better things. It leaves me with the deepest sense of hope. Not just that fluffy light sort of hope, but the real hard-core deep hope that mourns, and is angry, and frustrated. The hope that something better can be found. Most recently the hardest class in that regard is my Biblical Theology 310 class. We have been deeply wrestling with the issues that surround HIV/AIDS and the Church. During the course of one week, I read 4 articles and went to one theological café where we learned about different problems that the church was facing in regards to that. The same week in Industrial Mission we started looking at issues of the Politics of Food, and focusing on why there is hunger in our world. The more I start looking at these issues the more the realities and the possibilities set in for how to do theology in a productive and world shaking sort of way. Wednesday morning of that week I was busy reading some scripture and I opened up to Ecclesiastes, and as I was reading the first chapter verse 18 leapt out at me and hit me over the head. It reads as follows:

For in much wisdom is much vexation,

And those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.

That is extremely true. Sometimes things like that pop out, and stop you in your tracks, and that is incredible. For me especially I was just so exhausted from reading about how many communities of Christians struggle against the Church claiming that HIV/AIDS is a punishment, or is a retribution for their sexual lifestyle, or more over their sins. Even in a nation like South Africa Theologians are struggling to disconnect the notion of HIV/AIDS from Sin. Especially as the most at risk group currently here in South Africa are Heterosexual married women.

Beyond the depth of longing and pain that my studies are bringing (though very healthy life altering pain) it is presenting me with a model of theology that instead of being from a White Ivory Tower, where the knowledge and the discourses only serve to build the tower higher and higher, I am able to view a theology that hits the streets. Yes when the tires hit the pavement the tires may feel some pain, but it gets the theology moving and helping. Theology becomes a force of liberation, healing, and restoration. Not the thing which is used to oppress and keep people away from life.

I guess though that hasn’t been all of my experiences though, throughout the weeks of studying I have many wonderful beautiful things which punctuate my experiences. I think a couple of weeks back now to where I spent time at a conference here on campus called Press Play. The thing that was most amazing was what happened after the conference was done. So it was a weekend conference that went from a Friday Night to Saturday Night. I went down the first night with Kate (from St. Mary’s) and we had a wonderful time, got to chill and hangout with so many wonderful people. They spent some time leading worship and praise songs prior to a speaker, and that was an odd experience. They were worshipping to House music (for my Canadian non-music cultured friends, think electronic club beats...) which was not easy for me to worship to, yes it was fun to dance to and move to, but perhaps not quite my style of worship. We also had a speaker that night, who preached on the Older brother in the parable of the two brothers (For those of you from more classical approaches to the scripture it is also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but the parable has more to it than just the one brother, there is the second one who is given considerable focus check it out in Luke 15:11-32). The preaching was pretty solid, though a bit individualistic focused. Basically the key point was that if we are being the Older brother (acting religious, actively serving God but not actually spending time with him and knowing him as our father but as our Task-master) then we need to repent and come to the Father through the Son. Yet somehow it had very individualistic overtones which were a bit off putting for me (probably it came more from the parts that the worship was very ‘I’ focussed). Especially when it comes down to salvation, it isn’t about our choosing, but our submission to God’s grace. Not us choosing God’s grace in our lives, (or hopping on to the back of Jesus to get into heaven) but to allow the overwhelming flood of God’s grace poured out for us by Jesus on the Cross, and mediated to us through both Baptism, and Holy Communion, as well as freely flowing out from God, that is what saves us. Not through our choosing, but allowing it to overcome our choosing. (I also hold that in debate and tension, to some degree we can resist God, and try to swim in his flood of free grace, and as such we do have freedom to choose the alternative, but at the same time, God is the one who does all the acting, he leads the dance, not us leading the dance, difficult to hold in tension, but good to pull things back and forward). The second night (I slept through the morning session) it was much more of the same style of worship which was enjoyable but not really close and intimate worship with God. Again there was a sermon preached on right Christian living, the practical application points about what a Christian life should look like. It was a pretty solid preaching but I struggled with a couple of points. For the most part I really struggled with the theology of Sin that was extremely shallow. Consider the following question, why is sex before marriage sinful? If your only answer is that the Bible says so, you are probably not able to convince a friend that is non-Christian, or currently engaging in sexual activities to stop doing it. Really the reason is that Sin is evil and that evil is able to be seen as it changes who we are and how we view ourselves, other people, and God. With sex prior to marriage it is wrong because it is objectifying the people who are involved and even other women. Because there is not a covenantal relationship that guarantees the longevity and the exclusivity of the relationship sex before marriage opens up lustious desires, and at its core is a misconception of God, because it believes him to be in capable of satisfying your desires for you. (Just my brief thoughts on the matter, I could probably write an essay examining sin and sex but you know, I am a theologian).

The best part of the conference for me was actually after the conference in the evenings. On Friday night Kate and I spent until late (like 2am) chatting about faith stuff and life stuff in reflection on the first night of press play. On the second night we got hanging out with a wonderful girl from the Wine Lands (our part of the Denison residence) Nonto and she helped to illuminate the political dimensions of how this campus is functioning sort of. It was incredible and just wonderful to chill out with people. Drink tea, eat rusks, and just chat.

Other really cool things that I have gotten up to, one Sunday last weekend I think (not this past one but the one prior), I went again to Church on the Ridge and I got hanging out with people afterwards, It seems to happen quite frequently (I don’t know If I talked about the first time but it has happened twice now. Which is just wonderful). So after church I got hanging out with Nonto and Kate, and Margaux, and her sister Milly and Hillary (man I am such a great feminist I really get along well with Women... I need to find some gender balance eh?) which was wonderful. Nonto and I went over to Margaux’s house (John’s Diggs), to hangout for the evening, and when we got there we were the only ones up and about, so Nonto and I just chilled out in the Kitchen and chatted, Eventually Milly came and joined us so that she could do some school work, but she got dragged into our conversation eventually, which was really cool. Nonto and I share very similar views on theology (relatively progressive and liberal rather than legalistic and orthodoxical) as she comes from an Anglican Background (with probably a good healthy dosage of evangelical spirituality), and I am from an Anglican College, Lutheran Background, and a healthy dosage of evangelical spirituality mixed in. Yet Milly had some views that were relatively divergent in particular around the issue of Women in positions of leadership over men, in a Church based setting. But that is healthy to disagree over as when we disagree we can seek to understand better each other’s view points. That evening we went out and picked up Nono (a friend of Margaux from work and school) and we went out and got a movie (Trevor Noah, a South African Comedian) and Chinese food. We were being goofy and perhaps a wee bit loud, but in the Chinese Restaurant there was an older couple. We were waiting maybe 10-15 minutes for our food, so we sat at a table and just chatted around the table. On our way out the door, (as I found out later from Margaux) that older couple said something that sounded like “thank the lord” which is just so hilarious. That we, a group of intermingled 20 some-things could really offend a couple that much by just hanging out and chilling with each other. So we joked around about them in a very loving way for a bit as we ate our Chinese food back at the Diggs.

Other Crazy conversations that I have had have ranged from deeply passionate debates that perhaps were a bit too argumentative. Good chill chats with a fellow theology student about certain trends that she has noticed within her friends and their involvement with certain churches. Having lunch with another theology student and just having a wonderful time hanging out and talking about theology, and life (it is really refreshing to be able to talk theology with people who actually understand what you mean by realized eschatology, or who you mean when you start discussing the practical application of Bultmann’s eschatology, or how his eschatology impacted upon liberationist theology, while remaining deeply existentialist in its outlook as the particular draw back. If I lost you don’t worry send me an e-mail and I might be able to explain it better). Other really cool conversations have been about diverse and cool topics like the role that the church has to play in justice. Or hanging out in the kitchen discussing what the top young minds in South Africa picture as being the best solutions to Inequality in South Africa.

Cool and crazy random story from this past week. Tuesday Night it must have been (crazy good night I tell you), and I was walking back to my dorm block and on the way I passed by a group of women busy discussing over something. I was only catching glimpses of what they were talking about but as I was walking by they stopped me and asked if I was a theology student (I figure I must have met one of them before but not by name, or they could easily Identify men, White guy long hair beard, and he does theology) So I stopped by to chat with them. They were busy trying to figure out whether or not Judas was going to betray Jesus regardless of his own desires (Predestination vs. Free will) or if Judas did not betray Jesus then if anyone would have. Just big questions like that. I can’t remember exactly what I said, other than that understanding our freewill is very important (as it keeps us responsible for sin, or at least it seems to be a Good part of God’s creation, as the Groundling and the Woman were created to be Good, not to be perfect, and the goodness of it included the ability to choose their own direction, Therefore they were not to be robotic creations). But what they said after the fact was really cool once I was done expressing my thoughts, they said something along the lines of, “It is amazing how God sends people in to help answer our questions and struggles.”

Mind blowing. I guess that leaves me with a question for you guys: Are you willing to be used by God in your day to day life to step in and help? Or equally are you open to receive a stranger or a person you sort of know to speak some truth into a situation?

You never know, perhaps like the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus you might start chatting with someone as you are travelling, or when you are entertaining them in your home, or when breaking bread with someone in communion, or sharing the cup, you might discover that really you are doing it with Jesus there. (More accurately you often find Christ in other people by spending time with them),

Well more later on this week, I am hoping to get you all up to date by next Sunday before I leave to backpack around Lesotho for a week (hooray for the ten day Vacation!)

By the way I hope that your Cup of tea lasted for the full length of this blog post my cup of Red Bush tea just emptied out a while back, but I am glad to sit and share stories, but it should be a two way street, Please forgive me when I don’t respond quick to e-mails I love you guys for sending them so please do keep on sending me stories and telling tales if you want to do so please send them my way to andrewkuhl1@gmail.com

More to come this week!

Peace and God Bless!