The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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
Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng
Thankful Thursdays.JPG)
HOPE Home Based Care Team
Gathering Ground
Staying fit as a family
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
South Africa has this ridiculous system called loadshedding in which the state monopoly power provider switches the electricity off at various points around the country for 2 hours at a time. Somehow they think it's all made more acceptable and manageable by having an actual schedule for this nonsense, but this schedule is adaptive depending on which particular stage of loadshedding we happen to be enjoying.
In my first Challenge (and last year's) I couldn't think of a theme so decided to keep things random, but this year, as in 2013 I have a theme. Hooray!
It was great to be able to spar at Boxing again this morning. It's been a long time since we've been able to do this, so it was good to be at it again.
It might seem like an odd thing to be doing and enjoying (especially at my age), but there is something very satisfying, I guess almost cathartic, in stepping in to the ring to hit (and be hit) by someone else, but it really is a lot of fun, especially knowing that you both chose to be there and are keeping things under control.
I will never tire of the joy of delivering blessings to others, especially the joy of delivering food to the two Soup Kitchens in Macassar which The Gathering supports.
This month we were able to give them a few boxes of peanut pastes, rice, soya mince, jam and washing up liquid each, plus an ice cream tub full of sweets for the kids which were left over from The Gathering's Soup Kitchen lunch back in January.
It was good to finally install some industrial quality fans in The Gathering's premises this morning.
Previously we had two domestic quality fans in the front and one at the back, and to be honest they were a bit rubbish.
So it was a blessing to be able to use some of the money left over from the Soup Kitchen Christmas Lunch to buy five new good quality fans that will do a great job at cooling us all down. It's just a shame I only got to install them at the end of summer.
I always get ridiculously overexcited by our annual delivery of firewood, especially when it arrives in the middle of our hottest month and it seems impossible to think that we'll actually need the heating.
I think one of the things I like best about the wood delivery is that the garage smells heavenly for a few weeks after as the wood continues to season, though this year's lot is already incredibly dry.
Pastoring a church is never easy and it comes with a lot of challenges, but it also comes with a lot of joy and blessings.
One of those blessings is the joy of getting to deliver boxes of food to four of our local primary schools, knowing that the most vulnerable children at each one will be taken care of with a meal before lessons each day.
Life really doesn't get much better than that!
We are so thankful for life at The Gathering at present.
As a church we've been praying for the spiritual growth of our members for a long time and we've seen these prayers answered spectacularly. Just this morning Errol shared a word rich in scripture, passion and practical application which greatly encouraged the membership. Seeing someone raised up in to leadership and ministry and then flying in these areas is a joy to watch.
So, here's the question: Why do you persist with church?
It was gutting to get a phone call late in the afternoon yesterday informing us that the home of some of our Soup Kitchen regulars had been on fire, with the household losing everything they had.
But it was also a blessing as the community knows that in such circumstances they can turn to the church for some genuine relief and assistance.
Once again we're thankful to Jehovah Jireh, the LORD our provider for the abundance with which The Gathering has once again been blessed with.
This morning we received two pallets (150 boxes) of the much treasured peanut pastes that our Soup Kitchen regulars love so much.
Thanks also go to our dear friend Shaddie at My Father's House for sharing their blessings with The Gathering.
Our much anticipated, prayed for and planned ''Welcome to 2022" Soup Kitchen lunch was a roaring success on Sunday, and we give God all the glory for this!
As we watched the advance weather reports in disbelief, stating that Sunday was going to be the hottest day on record, we gathered people to ask God to bring the temperature down, and to specifically cover the sun with cloud from 12-3 pm, or the event would simply be unbearable for us all.
Printing is done, stickers are ready, goody bags have been lovingly decorated by hand and are ready to be stuffed to the top with some delicious sweets . The food is prepped and ready, so now there are just a few last minute jobs to be done as we pull it all together in the morning ready for service at 1pm.
It's a joy to be in the latter stages of getting things together for The Gathering's fourth annual Soup Kitchen Christmas Lunch, though this year it's a Welcome to 2022 Lunch.
The goody bags are shaping up very nicely and we hope they will be a real blessing to each person we serve at the lunch on Sunday 23rd.
Thanks to some incredibly generous donations we're able to go even further this year in blessing our Soup Kitchen regulars, and that is really exciting us even before the lunch itself!
We've been thoroughly blessed with an amazing family Christmas (our first in 11 years) and New Year and this morning, after worshiping with the community of St George's in Weald we interred Paula's Dad's ashes in the graveyard.
This was a special time with family and was great to share with Paula's remaining Uncles & Aunts on her Dad's side. We were also thrilled to learn that his ashes were to be interred in the same place as her Mum's ashes. This truly blessed the family.
So, Christmas is done and we're entering an interesting year...
Eli enters his Matric year and is very keen to enlist in the British Army as soon as he can once his exams are over. Joel has applied for an internship and is hoping and praying he's successful. Please stand with him & us in praying for this.
Anyone who knows us well knows that books are a passion we share, so much so that when you enter our house you're greeted by two packed book cases, not to mention the others scattered around the house.
However, we tend to read very different kinds of literature. Whilst we both enjoy contemporary fiction and a little classic fiction, my personal preference leans towards non-fiction, in particular history and autobiography.
One of the joys of what we do is getting to spend time in places like Chris Nissen Park and Broadlands visiting our many friends there. It's especially fun and joyous at this time of year as we get to take some amazing blessings in to them, particularly our HOPE ladies, who have been blessed by so many friends in Blighty.
However we were shocked by L's living situation. L is an amazing lady who never grumbles and is always a genuine ray of sunshine despite the seemingly continual knock-backs she takes.
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.
Since we've taken the Soup Kitchen up to a minimum of 100 litres each week our consumption of the basics has rocketed meaning that keeping on top of it all and ensuring we have enough to prepare and serve the soup each Thursday has become a bit of a mission in itself.
We are so happy that Joel is being discipled by some quality folk at The Bay Christian Family Church here in Somerset West, and it truly warmed our hearts that he chose to get baptized with them today. It's been a joy to watch him plug in to a local church and explore his faith on his own with a church he feels safe in.
I love coming through in the morning to make a pot of tea only to discover that one, or both of my boys have been playing their instruments late in to the night and maybe even had a jamming session together.
This pic is of Joel's personal pride & joy; his PRS, and what really blesses and excites me about knowing he's once again picking up his guitar to play is that his desire to play is born out of his time spent at church and with his youth group. We just know that in that environment he is being constantly encouraged and it warms one's heart.
"Is your unicycle on Gumtree yet?"
This seems to be a common question amongst those that I've seen since breaking my arm just over a week ago, and the answer is very simple: "No they are not!" (yes I have seven unicycles) and nor will they be until such time as I'm physically unable to ride, and even then I'd be reluctant to get rid of them.
Someone even gave me a small lecture on extreme sports and how they're not of a very healthy mindset, and how at my age I don't need to prove anything anyway.
The thing is, the question and the mini lecture both miss something crucial, which is why I unicycle and why in the last 18 months I've become a lot more intentional in my unicycling, often taking my 36er out for 2+hour rides.
I'm feeling a lot happier since speaking with the Surgeon over the phone about my cast and removing it.
The cast (if you could call it that) was a bit Heath Robinson in its construction and felt very loose on my arm leaving me feeling quite vulnerable, so after chatting with the Surgeon about the wrist support I still have from when I shattered my wrist 10 years ago, he agreed I could remove the cast and use the wrist support instead, especially as it has a metal insert the full length of it for protection. This is far more comfortable and feels a whole lot more secure.
Firstly, thank you for all your prayers and kind wishes, they're much appreciated!
So there's good news and there's bad news...
The first bit of good news is that the Muni ride (Mountain Unicycling) on Saturday was a lot of fun with a great crowd of people who were also a massive help in sorting me out once I'd broken my arm.
Today is our 30th wedding anniversary which traditionally is Pearl. Now I can't afford to give Paula a pearl necklace and she wouldn't want one anyway, but what I can do is share a pearl of wisdom...
Paula has already written the most beautiful post over on Facebook, so there's not a huge amount left for me to say, but if I could offer one tip for longevity in marriage it would be this: keep God at the centre of it!
Given how wet and cold it was, it was even more of a blessing knowing the The Gathering's Soup Kitchen had more than enough to make sure that no one went hungry, and everyone could have as much as they needed.
The 140 litres certainly went a long way and it was one of the few Soup Kitchen's in recent times in which we've not had to turn anyone away because the soup was finished.
Our Soup Kitchen is always a chilled and laid back affair, but everyone seemed to know there was more soup than usual and so our regulars were more than happy to take their time over being served, even if it meant standing out in the wet and cold for a bit longer than usual.
This morning I drove through to Cape Town to pick up a second 70lt pot for The Gathering.
So this Thursday will be quite a monumental one as our Soup Kitchen moves beyond our dream of serving 100 litres of soup each week to serving 140 litres.
It feels so right to be expanding in this way to help meet some of the need amongst the more vulnerable members of our community and we hope & pray that this is a real blessing to those that come for soup on Thursday.
I've been battling to get a small bag to fit on my unicycle for a while now. I used to have one mounted on the handlebar but it broke and they don't make it anymore. So I was pleased to find a thread in the unicyclist.com forum (yes there really is such a thing) on the topic of saddlebags and unicycles.
I've wanted to try Uni-Hockey for a long time so it was cool to finally get a game yesterday with some fellow unicyclists in the Cape Town area.
It was fast, hectic, just a little chaotic and I was rubbish at the hockey part of it, but it was great fun and I really want to do it again!
Massive thanks to Donna at Oddwheel for organizing these monthly unicycling events.
Last night at The Gathering's weekly Soup Kitchen I think we might just have found a way to communicate the levels of hunger...
For some time now it has been a dream of mine to increase The Gathering's weekly Soup Kitchen to 100 litres so that we can be even more generous with our soup than we currently are. Most weeks we have been serving 70lts and sometimes just 50lts depending on how close we are to the social grants having been paid.
Over the last few weeks we've just been using our 70lt pot and a couple of times we've had to turn folk away because we had run out, and that never feels good.
So it was great to be able to be our usual generous selves and then some, as we had plenty to go around tonight and by the time the queue had fizzled out we had just a single one litre pot and a cup left.
Firstly, for me the the Sani Pass was the highlight of our recent roadtrip around SA. Sure game viewing in the Kruger & Kgalagadi were amazing experiences, but the magic and beauty of the Sani were something I had never experienced in quite the same way on a drive before. As such, I would wholeheartedly recommend you do it at least once before they have finally paved the entire thing.
We covered 7710.6 kilometres (almost 4820 miles) in twenty days and drove through eight of South Africa's nine provinces. We camped for 10 nights and stayed in accommodation for 9 nights. We wild-camped twice, both in the Eastern Cape where it was very cold. Our coldest night was -4C in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, our warmest night was 14C in the Kruger National Park.
One of the unintended consequences of the pandemic and lockdown is our involvement with other local Soup Kitchens.
We never intended to get involved with any others as we were quite happy focusing on The Gathering's own outreach.
However it has been a joy and a privilege to be able to serve and build a relationship with two local Soup Kitchens being run by two amazing ladies in Macassar.
Three years ago today I had the privilege and honour of attending Linda's graduation ceremony. It truly was an honour and a privilege to be invited knowing just how hard she worked for this and how hard life was for the seven years in which she sacrificed so much to pursue the dream God had given her.
Next month I will have the absolute pleasure, privilege, honour and joy of walking Linda down the aisle as she marries Mongezi (a great guy!) and begins a whole new chapter in her journey of faith.
I truly am blessed beyond measure!
That was a morning well spent as I picked up a trailer early before going to get Errol so we could go through to some friends in Gordon's Bay to collect some old furniture and household bits that they no longer need.
Amongst everything, there was a really nice DVD player which I just had to drop off at Michael's in Chris Nissen on the way back to Firgrove. Michael has been asking for a DVD player for ages so it was great to be able to bless him.
This is a little mentioned part of The Gathering's ministry to the neediest women & girls in our community.
For a few years now we have regularly been collecting sanitary pads and other sanitary products to give to the neediest and most vulnerable women in the community.
Initially this was aimed at the older girls attending our Homework Club because so many teenage girls simply miss school when they're menstruating because they have little or no access to the necessary products to help.
I'm really enjoying my unicycling and loving going for longer rides over 10ks, especially since I've had to stop running due to my back.
Yesterday morning's ride was just over 16ks and I got to enjoy seeing the sunrise reflecting on Table Mountain which is always a treat. It's nice to be riding so early too because it means there are few people out and about so I don't have to dodge so many pedestrians.
Ever since the beginning of lockdown well over a year ago, and then particularly when I herniated a disc in my spine, I've been battling to get back down to my pre-lockdown weight.
During the lockdown I hit a high of 95kgs (15 stone), but I know this was a result of depression connected directly to my back and the fact that I couldn't run or box. It was a deeply frustrating time and one I have no wish to repeat.
Firstly, it's eight years since I last participated in the Challenge. Quite why left it so long I'm not really sure, though some of those years were quite lean in terms of blogging. Sadly Facebook became my main thing followed by Instagram. Things came to a head in 2019 with a record low of just 13 posts for the whole year. At that point I seriously thought about giving up on the blog.
I could have painted some black stripes on my car to make it look like a Zebra, but actually, this post is not about Zebras at all.
Truth be told I couldn't think of anything better and it seemed like a good way to say a bit about my upcoming adventure with my oldest son...
Joel turned 18 in March and as part of the celebrations of this event, we (he & I) will be going off on a three week off-road wild camping trip right around South Africa.
Really, this should be W is for worship, but I only thought of that after the event, so here we are with Y for YouTube.
At The Gathering we're not blessed with any musicians that can lead us in our worship, so we use worship videos downloaded from YouTube, and then we sing along to them on Sundays and any other event where we would like a time of worship.
In early January 2019 I made a life changing decision to get fit and healthy and had no idea just how timely and beneficial that decision would turn out to be. In fact, without meaning to be melodramatic, I'd go so far as to say that decision saved my life.
I had stopped all forms of exercise several years earlier, I used to cycle a lot and do a few other bits, but for a number of lame excuses gave it all up and became a couch potato piling on the weight. Because I'm quite tall I appeared to carry the weight well and no one ever said anything about my expanding beer gut.
