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Dean and Paula in Blighty, autumn 2025 -
Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering -
Our beloved Palace - FA Cup winners 2025 -
The Gathering -
Baptising in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
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Leaders preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Xmas lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng
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Thankful Thursdays -
HOPE Home Based Care Team
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Gathering Ground
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The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
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.
Reality Bites
South Africa is a pretty lawless place at the best of times. If you don't believe me try driving in to Cape Town one afternoon or pretty much driving around any urban area and pretty soon you'll realise that red lights mean very little, Stop signs are advisory and speed limits are merely suggestions. It goes further with traffic cops regularly being seen using their cell phones whilst driving, regularly failing to obey the rules of the road and generally setting a very poor example for others to follow, and I'll not get started on the police being used by gangs to transport drugs...Back To School.... Sort Of

We have always been very clear that we would not home school whilst serving overseas. It's a common choice for many that do serve overseas but we've seen too many stressed and frazzled mothers (let's be honest it's always mum who does it!) to believe it's a good thing.
Sadly however, like much of the rest of the world this is no longer a choice but something that has been foisted upon us.
And so today is *officially* the start of Term 2 for both boys. To say that there's a degree of reluctance on their parts would be an understatement, though to be fair they have knuckled down in these first few minutes, hopefully that will continue.
WhatsApp Church

It's all too easy to be a bit negative about the current situation, and to be honest that is quite often my default position, but there is also much to be thankful for.
This Sunday was a great example of something to be thankful for!
Sundays are for church, or at least they always used to be before the lockdown, but this left The Gathering with a bit of a headache.
Most of our pastor friends and churches we know were quite excited about their online churches which would be happening in place of their regular gatherings, and I have to admit to feeling pleased for them and a touch jealous.
Stay Fit & Healthy
I said in Thursday's post that I would talk about exercise, so here it is a day later than planned...As I said on Thursday, the frustrating part of the Police Minister's statement is not so much the ban on booze sales but the ban on being able to go out for any form of exercise. I had planned to go out for a 5k run every other day, but will now have to settle for running around the house. Thankfully we're blessed with a big garden and setting out a running track around the house will be an easy pleasure.
We had planned on doing a certain amount of fitness stuff at home anyway, with Joel & me planning on boxing in the garage, so we also stocked up of a few other bits to turn our garage in to a makeshift gym which will allow all four of us to workout.
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