Christmas update

Well Christmas dinner went superbly well!There were some minor difficulties en-route; As I walked down Manchester Rd to Christchurch to help out with the children's service Natalie took Hannah to the GP. In the surgery her ear drum burst! So much pain - she cried many nights before and last night was the first silent night since! The children's service went ok it seems - I certainly enjoyed myself, nice to work with Tom Pyke. Then Christmas eve, Lisa started throwing up! Twice in the night. By morning we were tired and I still had a turkey to roast. I woke up late - not the 7:30 begin I had hoped for and got the turkey in the oven at 8:45, didn't exactly follow Jamie or Gordon's recipes but did listen to them and stuffed the turkey breasts with butter and cranberries and the bird with a tangerine. We moved the venue from our place to Marlene's as we were worried that maybe Lisa would be infectious and our house as well - however Lisa cheered up and by 11 was fine and eating again. The meal was bring and share and Simon and Heather provided the vegetables - and they were the highlight for me - goose fat roasted potatoes and red cabbage cooked in balsamic! Lisa and Jude had a great time playing games with Ashish who had found some little plastic hopping bug toy in his cracker, Aimé joined us all about an hour later. We ate wonderfully and had left-overs to share.
Then boxing day we went to visit my Dad and his family in Surrey and the girls got suitably spoiled with gifts - we ate a tasty left-over turkey and gammon meal and finished it off with trifle, yule log, mince pies etc... 

Christmas busy-ness

December is almost gone - Christmas is two sleeps away and a lot of wonderful moments have already been had this month. We had a visit by the Koper girls (Brenda, Inge and Abi) from Secunda at the beginning of the month and Hannah and Lisa had one week of feeling like they had BIG sisters. Definitely little girls heaven.

Then we had the City of Peace Christmas service, Lisa was an angel and Hannah was Mary - she remembered her lines word for word - "I am the Lords servant, let it be as you have said." She was off school all of last week, and still is very ill with some sort of virus, has got some terrible ear ache as well as very high temperatures - divine intervention is required.



Then Sunday 23rd I was fortunate enough to be able to give the talk at Christchurch on the Isle of Dogs. It is a beautiful building - has some magnificent wooden beamed ceilings with beautiful art and carvings inside. The service is very different from our own with a sung liturgy, incense and bells ringing. I used texts from the book of common worship which was provided for me by Tom Pyke. I looked at Psalm 80 and Hebrews 10. I talked about how the psalmist looks to God enthroned for leadership and the Hebrews writer about the God who has got off the throne and descended to us to lead us. Apparently it was an excellent message and received well. On the 24th I will be helping out there again for their children's service, and on the 25th we will be having Christmas dinner with around 15 locals at our home. A really busy time, fun, but not made any easier by Hannah's illness - I really do not like to see her so sad. I pray that she will get well soon.

Things can return to normal

One of my regular visitors seems to do ok during the week and then things kind of fall apart on the weekend. It is evident that they are looking for friendship - deep meaningful friendship other than that which their current relationships are giving them. He tends to calm down after a day or two, but last monday he came in and practically begged me for my ear, we sat together and I prayed with him. Life is really tough living in council estates and I can only wish things would be easier.
Another regular visitor tells us a story of how she had been ill over the weekend (in her own words she thought she was going to die) and in her delirium Jesus came into the room and pushed a needle into her chest in her heart, whereafter she fell into a deep sleep. Next morning she said she woke up feeling fine. She is busy working through 'Christianity Explored' with Marlene and Carol. It is an amazing story, and one that requires a decision.

Lisa and Jude get Read to by Steve

Then on Friday the women from the City of Peace church group came in with their children, Natalie and Lisa included. One of the regular visitors, Steve, was sitting down having a cup of coffee, quietly by himself. My youngest daughter went over to him with a book and asked him to read it to her. It is a lovely innocent moment and I got a picture of it. It is one thing I will remember, the joy on his face and hers as they read together. It felt as if the world had returned to normal for a moment.

Fake Plastic Trees - the future

This time of year is generally exciting for everybody, pretty lights and Christmas trees tend to have a caffeine effect on children, and parents and uncles and aunties throw lots of money at their nearest shop (ASDA?) to show their little darlings how much they love them. It all disappears in some sort of 'Fake-Plastic Tree' haze (thanks Radiohead). Personally I really dislike this kind of Christmas. It is meaningless and I am sure Tom Yorke (Radiohead composer) had this in mind when he created the song. So if you feel that Christmas is all a load of hype, then don't feel alone. The thing that bothers, reallty itches, is a Fake Plastic Tree life. They smell like plastic (not fir), they look really bad, and they ... yuck.

Fairly large FPT!

Us lot at Café Forever/ City of Peace already have lots of gaudy lights and a huge FPT. The idea is that locals will bring in some decorations from their home and hang it on our FPT and so foster a sort of belonging. I told Tom (not Yorke) that I did this once and somebody made an angel out of a beer bottle and added wings, so we have to be prepared for what we'll get! We will also be putting on a small carols service outside ASDA, nothing like our past years Christmas markets. It has been put on hold this year in order that we can focus more intently on reaching supporters (it takes a huge number of man hours to put on a Christmas market).
We will also be having our service in St John's hall and hoping that lots of people who are tired of FPT come along, generally it is quite popular, though the interest in Christianity tends to disappear by New Years day- people revert to the idea that FPT's are actually quite nice. 
But for the small number who do maintain that the FPT is actually a drudgery and would like to see the real thing then they should get on down to Trafalgar Square where there is a massive Spruce from Norway that is donated each year, beneath which there will be a merry throng of singers.
A further addition to the Christmas activities is that I have a date to give a talk in Christchurch on the 23rd of December and all of City of Peace that remains for Christmas will move there for that service.

The reality of Christmas is that we should be celebrating the story of incarnation - a man begotten of God, born to woman. Excuse the strange words...begotten means basically replicated, a 1:1 CD version, with no defects, no errors. That this is an unusual event is renarkeable in that all other people who walk about on the earth are reproductions of other people, containing some of each party, with a lot of flaws, errors and scratches on the disk. As such we miss the beat, skip to other tracks when we are played, and some of us are better off as beer coasters than putting out any tune. Forgive the analogy but we started out with Tom Yorke.
If we want to hear the original, without any errors, scratches, flaws, we need to go to the master, the original. This Christmas, if you receive a DVD or a CD from somebody, will you be a little upset if it jumps about? Same with that FPT in your living room. Imagine what it would be like to walk in the forest among beautiful tall fir trees in the snow, smell the pine, hear the birds - THE REAL THING. Are you real?

Jesus is what REAL Christmas is about. The message of God, brought to life on earth, living, walking, showing how it is to live, from birth to manhood, suffering alongside us. To show what it is to be God as man. You want to show love to your children - become a duplicate of the master. Jesus is the firstborn of creation, the source, the master, and we can be reformatted. Now that's something to celebrate!

Of course some would rather stay in FPT bliss for what it's worth. In my opinion - Yuck!

BTW - here's Radiohead!

Combined service to Leipzig

14th October we had a first ever - combined church service with Quaystone church. Early in the year we had combined with them and 4 others, but on this occasion it was just City of Peace and the baptists. We shared the service because their premises were occupied for the day. It is a difficult time for them - they are facing the reality that at the end of the year they will have to be re-housed as their current premises are shared with Canary Wharf Academy, who needs the extra space. The service was tremendous, very encouraging and unifying, and afterwards we had a fantastic meal in the café courtesy of , particularly, Jolly. There was so much left over, that we were able to feed the housegroup on Tuesday evening!

Tour of Westminster

As for the housegroup a great surprise - Theo joined us! He got involved and enjoyed the closeness of it all. It is so exciting to see him in the group, I do hope that he comes again.
Later on the folowing week I had a conversation with a friend who was confessing his depression and how timely! The sunday prior to this I had given a sermon on 'Doing depression well' in the light of Psalms 42 and 43. He asked for my advice, and as always I told him, 'I don't think you are going to like what I have as an answer, but the answer is Jesus'. I told him how a new identity can free us up from past issues and future fears.
Natalie and I visited the Palace of Westminster with Bill and Anna on a tour provided by our MP, Jim Fitzpatrick. He was very knowledgeable and informative. We all got a lot out of the visit and learned a lot about English politics. There is so much history in and the building and that they re-enact as part of their ceremony, so as to remind them of their past and to help with future decision making - very encouraging.
Later in the week Andrew and I interviewed for the position to replace Sophia Cotteril on the counter, and we now have an apointment! Ruth-Anne Burgher, who will start on 8th November.
There are some people who just carry the load all the time without fuss or complaint, and they are inspiring and we have one such lady with us, Mrs B. The kids adore her and respect her, and we see somebody who is so wholeheartedly devoted to Jesus, she is a true inspiration. So grateful for her.

Scary 

For the October half-term break our little family went away to Leipzig to meet up with Lars, Virginia and Maxime. It was a lot of fun, Lisa was dressed up in Maxime's tutu all day everyday for a week! They made halloween pumpkins and visited the local zoo, and Natalie and I had some time-out to go and visit the Thomas Kirche - the home of Johan Sebastian Bach. Virginia is in what seems to be an excellent church and they have a lovely apartment quite near town centre. Leipzig is very German!

Heart Stopper

Sorry about the headline, I worked for 9 years for Rupert Murdoch, so attention grabbing headlines were the order of the day. Also if you thought it was some news about my medical condition, it's not. I am writing about a beautiful plant that was in the garden at the back of Café Forever, digitalis, otherwise know as a foxglove. I thought I'd better check up on the safety of the plants in the garden and I knew these were bad, but just how bad. The whole thing is deadly, even if you drink water from a vase which contained the plant you could suffer - as have many young children. It is dangerous to humans and animals. It works on the heart, causing arrhythmia and heart block. Throw it out. But wait, medical science has investigated, through interest in the human condition, and discovered that it's toxins can actually be utilized in curing some heart conditions and it is prescribed. So should I throw it out? Of course. I am not a doctor, medical scientist or ignoramus. It is important for the safety of our visitors. But I find it interesting how the poisonous condition of the plant has been turned around for good.

So often things that are meant to be good are turned around for bad, and tend to end up used for eiether making money or war or both. The good potential is still there.So what is the good news? Well, quite literally, the good news is that things that often look bad can be turned around for good. The local fellow who is feared by society and busy with negative behaviour can be turned around for good. The British soldiers in Iraq had a goal "changing hearts and minds". The method they used was to walk around in the streets in Iraq without full armour and no helmets and befriending locals. One thing that was a definite no-no was wearing sunglasses when trying to befriend somebody. The military had come to realise that it was important to get the support of the locals in order to bring about change in the region. It could've worked except that perhaps they expected change to happen overnight. They had committed war and were now holding out a hand of friendship. I think sometimes we don't realise how deep some wounds made in the name of Christianity have gone, nor how long they will take to repair. Here at Café Forever we are aware that the process is a very long one. Jesus though is still the only solution.

One chap who I have known for at least 4 years has visited me recently to help him out with getting a video onto youtube. It took us about two weeks, I would help him when I had some spare time. He has been very appreciative and the time I spent with him has given me an opportunity to talk about what I believe in. I spoke to him one day about the size of the universe and that all of it is in God's hand - trying to give him a perspective on the awesomeness of God (I have been reading 'You can Change' - by Tim Chester). He was very impressed and promised to come to church the following Sunday. Well, he didn't, but when he came in the next Monday morning I told him how I had been hoping to see him. We talked about the service on Sunday and I showed him the psalms which we are busy studying. He was particularly sturck by the fact that David wrote Psalm 22 about 700 years before Jesus died and was able to predict the suffering of Jesus. I think he, like most East Enders had slept in and forgotten about sunday services, but I do think I have achieved a lot in comparison to a British soldier in Iraq.

It is a long process and there are so many cultures that you have to adapt your thinking to. One chap I met on the beach the other day - his daughter is in the same class as mine, was talking about the safety of children on the Isle of Dogs and asking about schools. I told him about the church and how through close relationships we become safer. That the church is a good place to look for good influences for our children. He countered that all religions will tell you that, and maybe he has a point.

Speaking of which, there was a good discussion going on in the Café today between two people who would probably never chat to each other. They were talking about computer games and their affect on our children - how they can influence young children dramatically. There was one point of consensus, they are bad. They couldn't seem to agree how to deal with the situation. Get rid of games completely, from the whole of society? NO WAY! That would be ridiculous, right? Think of all the jobs that would be lost, think of all the spare time we'd have to do other things! There are so many places (not just computer games) where we compromise. Sometimes it takes big changes to bring about big changes. Raising children is a community issue - it takes a community to bring about changes. Winning hearts and minds is done not through mere words, but actions. But my actions will deny the truth - that is why it is Jesus' job - Christ in me, the hope of glory.

The other side of the Olympics

Deal, Kent

We have returned to London having managed to evade most of the Olympic mayhem and associated traffic congestion. It seem's as if most East-enders ran to the hills for the school holidays in preparation. We found on the few occasions that we did venture out that the transport was very calm and free moving. We we're on holiday in one of the mission's holiday homes, in Walmer - and what a provision it was! Lots of space for the girls and sunny days. We found a great paddling pool for the children in Deal and regular use of our English Heritage membership in Walmer Castle to be wonderful breaks.

In my last post I mentioned the funday that was being put on by a gathering of churches - well it was phenomenal! The attendance was estimated at 3000, and I am sure for the burger chefs it felt like it! They started at about 11am and did not stop until 5pm - this is one of the hazards of offering FREE BURGERS! Hazard it may have been but it certainly kept the crowds coming; many attended the service the following day and heard Stephanie Reid give her testimony. Stephanie was a very active ballet dancer and sprinter who lost her leg in a boating accident, she is one of the 100m medal hopefuls. It was a very encouraging story and I think she gained a number of supporters.

3 good friends

We have also said goodbye to our friend Maxime and her mum Virginia who have moved back to Leipzig, soon to be joined by Lars, Virginia's husband. They became very precious to us and God providing, we will be going to visit them in October. Virginia organised free entrance to the Olympic park for so many of our friends, it was unreal - we went in one day and managed to get tickets to watch hockey - some for just £5!

Ruth drawing a fish

We are still sharing our house with friends - since May we have been full up! It is nice to be able to be a refuge for people, we hope that they have found some sort of peace and comfort staying with us. This kind of service does bring about a certain disquiet among neighbours, hopefully they will see a light at the end of the tunnel soon. As for us all we are all back at work. Next weekend is Ruth's wedding! Ruth started working with me at Café Forever during a gap year in 2007 and has since been returning to join us and City of Peace church on many occasions. It is going to be a great wedding!

All the help of others.

This year we have been fortunate to have so many volunteers working with us. Most who come bear their own financial burden! We had a team out from City Life Presbyterian Church, Emily from Mississippi (I tried about 8 times to spell that), Izzy McCollum - a returning volunteer from 2010 (she is now studying Film production in York), Amanda McPhail, also returning from Miami, and now we have a team from the Netherlands, 'Athletes in Action' who are providing assistance in St John's park. These volunteers are so necessary to enable us to carry out the work we do on the Isle of Dogs.  They are young and fit and give the kids a great run around. They do not seem to stop despite the hot weather. We are grateful for all their help.

We also had a team of office workers come and help us through the Royal Bank of Scotland to put on a funday in St John's park! They all seemed to really enjoy giving a hand and were also very useful to us. I created a video of the day in the hope that they pass it back to their boss so that we might get more exposure. The video, I hope, shows a little of the effort that goes into setting the whole thing up.


It has been a really busy time. Natalie (my wife) has been helping out everyday with our friends daughter Maxime, she is a sweet little thing and gets on so well with Hannah and Lisa. Her mum and dad are working with the Olympic events and so they are busy all day everyday for the duration of the games. But 3 kids in the afternoon when you are tired is stretching. I too have been swapping roles this past week, Andrew was on leave in Italy and so I stepped into the Chef's shoes for a couple of days. They are BIG shoes and require a lot of energy. But we have managed to turn around a fair amount of income for the first week of the school holidays.
Next up is the Isle of Dogs BIG WEEKEND. It is an inter-church event primarily carried by Quaystone Baptist Church. Many from City of Peace will be involved too. There will be a climbing wall, bungee run, sumo wrestling, and mini-olympics to name a few of the planned events - and all for FREE.
 

Garden of the soul

On Sunday I noticed a creeper had started to encroach on one of the café windows and I got the idea that today would be the day for some gardening. In the morning I got started. There has been no gardening done here for 6 months or more and it had become really overgrown. The weeds had begun taking over, strangling some of the beautiful but fragile plants that had been planted there in the past. Everything was so entangled that it did take quite a bit of time and care to get all the weeds out. I unfortunately damaged some digitalis in the process and I do hope it manages to restore itself. It is an amazing thing to do gardening, almost as soon as I begin it is as if a doorway into my mind has opened up, a divine aural passage! I can see through this garden how when we neglect our spiritual life, and ignore sins, they grow; the sin grows on us, choking the truth from our lives, and we become bent and crippled. If it is not for the gardener coming and removing the weeds we would be soon overcome. Thanks for second etc...chances God! But seriously, if we stop looking into the garden of our soul, if we stop taking time to make sure that we are well, that there is nothing choking our spiritual life, we will eventually perish spiritually. It is so easy to become complacent.

When I was finished doing the weeding I filled 2 dustbin bags and took it to the dump. I thought it would have been a really nice lesson for the children, and I decided to proceed no further until school was out. I planned to get some of the children involved in the hope of talking to them. In the afternoon, after school, Zaina came and helped me, we purchased some discounted plants from ASDA and then planted them in the garden. She was particularly interested in bugs, and one small chrysalis that we found. Time will tell if the planting is a success and if anyone learns anything.
Another wonderful thing happened today. I could see Declan  was itching to talk to me. I spoke with him on the way to collect my car to dump the garden debris. He seemed happy. He said that he was reading the bible and that Carol had given him a commentary that was helpful. Most importantly he said that he was not reading the bible looking to prove or disprove it; that there was too much information that was unproven scientifically, but that he was finding it very helpful on a personal level. Very encouraging to hear.
Wednesday we had a team meeting to discuss the plans for the Autumn, reflect on past events etc.. It seems as if there's consensus that the 6 week events we had at Café Forever were successful and will be repeated, though we'll emphasize the parent and toddlers groups more and perhaps make some sort of accommodation for them after the 6 weeks period, particularly as the morning slots around the area are sparse.
Thursday was a busy day, the weather was fantastic and normally that indicates a drop in sales, but this day we did really well! I also got to chat with an atheist friend who agreed with me on one irrational point, that love is crucial in making the world a better place. Since then I have been thinking how rationality and love are easily opposites. When we love somebody, what matters TO THEM is important to us, but rationality is about surviving, and often then love has to take a second place. So often I find I am very rational; I order what God, and others desire at second place, indicating I am not quite as loving as I would like to be.

Today I have had the idea to work further on the garden. It is currently looking good, but we could actually make it a sales point. It is VERY secluded. The perfect place to have a quiet business lunch or children's party, so I am going to try and make the garden a safe place for children to be, and a nice pretty place for a small business lunch. Look forward to the changes and hope to be promoting them in the week!

Are you rational or relational

We have had a team of volunteers from Boston City Life Presbyterian Church this last week, and as always they have been really useful and good company for us and the locals. Their main task is to put on a fun-day in St John's park (though I did manage to use Jess as a data capturer - and I am very grateful). The fun-day looked like it was going to be a wash out from the beginning of the week (the weather reports all indicated that particularly the Friday would be about 3 inches of rain all day!) and Marlene told them that if there was rain then she knows that they haven't been praying. Though the weather reports may be useful, they are based on rational logical information that looks at historical data to project the future. The bible tells us that if we have a relationship with God we have a relationship with the author of life. The team went ahead with the fun-day (I was sceptical) but Tom and Marlene more faithful. It happened, there was no rain, and many people in the park had an amazing day!

My little Hannah has had another birthday party and it was attended by some old friends and some new one's from her school. I think they all had a wonderful time though Hannah was not feeling very well - paracetamol helped!

On Sunday we had a visiting preacher, Andrew Latimer from St Peter's Barge. Andrew is also the father of one of the girls in the same class as Hannah. These are all really important links. He gave us such a good lesson on the dysfunctional family of Jacob and how Joseph was part of God's rescue plan for his people.

I find it difficult to function effectively at Café Forever when I think of my duties as work, it is really just an extended weekend. For a start most of my 'work' is talking to people. When I talk to people I get to know them, their background, their fun. I also find in me something that makes for a common bond. It is in friendships that we are able to talk about our lives, the things that are most important to us. I would hate to be a converter of people - that makes you into somebody who is interested in targets and goals. Somebody who does the targets and goals thing is very businesslike and rational. I think perhaps the two hardest things for people to come to faith are firstly that they have to begin living relationally and not rationally, and that they will seem ridiculous when they do. This is why following Jesus is 'a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks'. I had an opportunity to share my 'Damascus moment' with a friend yesterday. I was glad of an opportunity to share my hope and what God has done in my life already. It may seem manipulative, but the truth of the matter is I was able to talk about my experience because we are friends. My start point is I need friends, I really need people to help me deal with this life, and this person is somebody who is always ready to give me useful advice and I welcome his input; friendships develop around mutual trust.

10 years!

Well the 10th Anniversary service went really well. It was a HOT day in London and about 80 people turned up, first in St John's Hall and then for a meal at Café Forever. I ate far more food than I have eaten in a long time! Henk Bouma preached on Abram's encounter with Melchiezedek, as usual an interesting angle and a good challenging teaching. Andrew Dimon and John provided us with the food, John barbequing outside burgers and hot dogs. People turned up from various places, some from next door, others from Northern Ireland (Sylvie) and Germany (Nash and Ruth). !0 years have passed and we have been really blessed. the reason I came to the Isle of Dogs was because I fell in love with this congregation. I am still sure that this is the best place for us. Here is the video we watched. Thanks to Audio Adrenaline for the wonderful tune! 

It's a jubilee year!

If you have spoken to a resident of London, or even the UK, in the last two months there are 3 topics of conversation, and in the following order. First, the weather, always an English priority - this wonderful country is obsessed with the weather, which as far as I am concerned is a good thing; there are hints of corruption and crime in the news, but nothing that compares with South Africa where I was born, where naturally the talk is politics (the weather is rarely bad but the politics always). Then there's the 2012 Olympics and how polarising the opinion is, I personally see it as a money making scam that has as the icing - or rather sugar that makes the medicine go down - the improved facilities and added layers of paint in public parks etc... And lastly the queens jubilee celebrations. Fortunately we have been given an extra day of leave to join in the 60 years celebrations of Her Majesty's reign. Of course this is also somewhat polarising. But among us here in Café Forever it is of 3 baptisms, 10 years of City of Peace, and the weekend away.

Our annual weekend away took place over the May bank holiday weekend. I have been going to them since 2007 and haven't missed one! They tend to be chaotic, crazy, and very full, but always memorable for the right reasons. This year was no exception. The bad weather did not get us down, in fact it only drizzled a little at night, though the mud did add to the difficulties of our Sunday walk in the woods. We had the obligatory bonfire, silly games, swimming sessions and walking around town that have become a tradition at this event. I used my new video camera to capture the action. With a group of about 70 people, half of whom are below the age of 20, you would expect things to get tense at times, but everyone got along very well and some new friendships were formed and older one's progressed. It was particularly nice to have Fred and Carol with us and to be encouraged by their stories of love and their support for so many years. Edward Bellinger did an amazing job helping out Andrew Dimon in the food prep they both get SO much respect from all of us - we love you chaps! What wonderful food! Háute Cuisine! And when everyone got home they were EXHAUsted! I think I remained semi-comatose for about 3 days.

Virginia and Maxime

Then last weekend we had the baptism of Baby Esmé Bedell and Maxime and Virginia Ocampo. Esmé is about 4 weeks old now and didn't put up much of a fuss, Maxime (I was given the privilege of becoming her Godfather) was a little more interesting as she began clambering around on the nearby table. Virginia we have come to know last year and have quickly fallen in love with her and her family. Her and Lars (husband) are her for the last two years as part of the Olympic preparation team. They travel around the world, Lars is involved in taking the times of the events and Virginia with the media. Maxime is their beautiful 3 year old daughter. After the service we all sat down together for a meal.

As for the 10 years anniversary, well I have been compiling a short film to music (mostly photographs) of the past 10 years of weekends away, baptisms, parties etc... We will be showing it on Sunday where Henk Bouma will be speaking; being one of the original members of City of Peace he has travelled from Holland to be with us and we are always glad to hear from him. We are expecting a lot of people to be at this service, but if you cannot make it, please remember us, and give thanks for the 10 years of grace we have had, and encourage us for the future. We continue to hope for the day the Isle of Dogs submits to Jesus. I will post up the video after the event.

Easter Tension - ripping up the place

Right now there are a team of men working hard in Café Forever replacing the floor which had become quite lumpy and bumpy. The previous floor that was laid while it looked really good at first it's seams were not sealed up and so water got in between the cracks and caused the 'marmoleum' to swell, which resulted in the surface transforming into a miniature mountain range in places. If they bloke who first did it did his job properly we'd not have to waste our money on a new one.
Last week was a very busy time. A friend who comes to visit almost daily for the past 6 months has begun a small football competition on the Bonzini with me. We are pretty evenly matched I think. He suggested I get hold of some plastic balls to increase the speed of the table. I did. It is. Wow. We are getting in around 5 matches a day, and there's a lot of  in game jibing and jesting. Our table is really good, but it has one small flaw, a slightly bent defender arm which makes the one side slightly disadvantaged, so we have to keep changing sides. I am hoping that we could one day get into the league.

Lots of fun in St John's park

On the last day of my photography course I woke up in the morning and took a shirt off a hanger to put on, I noticed it was really frayed around the collar and told Natalie that I needed to get some more shirts. At the end of our photography course as everyone left the room (I showed them a little bit of post-processing in various computer apps) one of the participants called me to the side and said she had something for me. She pulled out of a bag a beautiful brand new T.M. Lewin shirt. It is astonishing.
On Friday we had our easter egg hunt in St John's park. I shot video of the event and so was able to get a good perspective on all of it. It is always chaotic and a little tense at times but it does get the whole community together in one place. Some of the adults have such bad character! Stealing easter eggs from children. I caught one woman filling a bag and I was outraged and shouted at her, she sheepishly put them back on the grass. It is such a strange bit of behaviour, and she wasn't the only one. As a result a lot of children didn't actually get an easter egg. But I think the majority did, even if it meant that some of us had to step in. It's really sad to think that adults behave in this way, and in our community. It is another indicator of the place we are working in. The transience of London adds difficulty to our efforts, something which born-and-bred East Enders are very wary about; those who are only here for a short period aren't really accountable and have no need to show any respect. It is a product of cheap flights and global travel. Some of those who are visiting are, however, delightful; Kamrul and his little girl came along to the easter egg hunt to give his wife Nasimah who has just given birth to a second child, a break. They are such a beautiful and wonderful family, very humble, gentle and respectful.
The hunt was hard work and difficult but I believe the majority really enjoyed themselves. We had an Easter Quizz with a prize for the children. The quiz was about the meaning and origin of easter and what it means today. Some people took offence to there being an Easter quiz, particularly to the references to Jesus and went and complained to the council. We will continue with our work, but these are signs of a small group who only want easter eggs and don't want Jesus who are prepared to spoil a great event and a great bit of community work. Please think of us as we continue our work.

Living the Resurrection - Easter Egg Hunt

I am reading a book at the moment; 'Living the Resurrection' by Eugene Petersen, the chap who gave us 'The Message' translation of the bible. It is a really good read. One of the things that really rings home is how we have become fragmented more and more as community. Fragmented into little pieces based on our social status, our skin colour, our history, what we watch on TV and how we respond to that. Computers and cars and electronics and medicines all requiring experts, and if you are not an expert at one of these things you are nothing. But Jesus takes 2 fish from a small boy and feeds 5000. He goes on about how Jesus ...takes...gives thanks...breaks...gives back... I am so glad to be a follower of Him. We so often think we are inadequate, basing our judgement on ourself on the needs of this world. What can be less useful to the world than someone who prays? What a wasted past-time. But right now people around the world are praying for a footballer who collapsed on the pitch! Weird huh? Let me be honest, I find prayer quite difficult and odd. I wonder if the little boy who provided the fish prayed a lot?
The courses are coming to an end next week, and on Friday afternoon Café Forever is closing at 2pm as our annual Easter Egg Hunt taking place in St John's park.

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The photography course has been challenging for the students and for myself - I hope they have learned something, I guess at least some of them have a better understanding of what it takes to get a good picture. Every week I set them a specific task and last week was to capture a slow shutter speed image of water. Here's my attempt!
Also in the past week I have had some interesting discussions with visitors - one of whom was interested in the Church's view on homosexuality and said who is the church to speak out about homosexuality, I explained that it was not actually speaking out about it, but people with an agenda to alter law were trying to force the church to change their doctrine. I said that the issue of homosexuality wasn't really any more an issue than adultery, but you don't often find people trying to force the church to allow adultery. With another gentleman I have continued a previous debate IRO accepting personal flaws (effectively sinful nature) and rejecting them; accepting it as a character trait or rejecting it as a character trait. We have to be aware of our ability to sin, but we also must remember that we are children of God and as such that we live in the light of that truth. Without the resurrection I guess we'd all HAVE to accept our sinful nature - and just live with it!

Come and visit, we're nice!

It's been such a long while since I updated this site! We've all been quite busy really! Andrew Dimon, the chef at Café Forever went on vacation to the US to the rockies and had his first skiing experience. While he risked his life on the slopes, the café customers risked their lives with our cooking! Actually I think we did quite well really! I quite enjoyed taking on the role, donning an apron and sampling savouries. I have to admit I have an amazing job, it can be so varied - something which I need. One day I made a chicken and asparagus pie, which  went down rather well, as did the chicken fajitas, which sold out on both days we offered them! It can be a relentless job, very challenging, requiring an organised mind - something which if you know me, I have to work really hard at! AT the end of 2 weeks I was really looking forward to Andrew's return, not only because it is an intense job, but also because I had a lot of administrative duties to carry out (boring stuff like accounts) and designing flyers!

Our latest flyer!

For this school term we are offering 4 adult or adult and child courses at the café in the hopes to get new visitors in, hoping that they will become frequent visitors, since our food is so nice and we are so friendly. In the  morning on Monday, Abimaro runs 'Island Music', an opportunity for parents to get out of their house and make some music in a group with others with their babies. This is probably the second year it's been running and is always full! On Tuesdays I am taking a basic photography course; Wednesdays is a scrap-booking course with Tom's wife Ashley, and Fridays there's a craft class for parents and their toddlers. Taking a photography class is new for me, and I had to quickly asses the abilities of the attendants before the first lesson. On the first day 3 of 6 arrived, 1 of whom went home early! It was a little disconcerting. Then for the 2nd week 4 people came and they were very enthusiastic! I began by telling them I am a very poor teacher and they are going to need some help in understanding what I am about to teach and did they mind if I began with a prayer? They had no problem... It was a great class!
I found it is necessary to remove a lot of the jargon which you learn when studying at university in order to teach people, big words that make you sound important, but don't necessarily help! It is a bit like that in evangelism too, we can become so bogged down with theological concepts and terminology that the people we are hoping to educate cannot understand us because it is all gobbledygook!
Most of these events have a charge in order to guarantee participation and cover some costs. The extra income is very helpful in making the books balance.

The chap who I have spoken of before, the one who had broken shoes, received some new one's as a gift by somebody in our church! He was so surprised and they are REALLY nice, very expensive, very warm boots! What an amazing answer to prayer, what an amazing revelation of love! The same chap, D_ has been battling to hold onto his flat (view past story) has been sober for 4 months now. He still attends church but has not yet come to call himself a Christian, though his words often indicate a serious interest.
There's a gap between middle class Jo'burg boy and Isle of Dogs council tenant, a gap in experiences, a gap in understanding. The differences in experience are notable, but the mercy of God in Jesus is the great leveller. It would be wonderful if those that we are, talking to or in relationship with, understood that we are not 'good people' but that we are all a bunch of failures that are being made right, and that it is not down to hard work, something everyone so often prescribes. Instead they should get to know and embrace the reality that God really loves them.

Fun in the snow!

The snow is here at last! It is an exciting time for children and we went out at 8 am on Sunday morning with Hannah and Lisa to greet the day. The cold weather has, with the arrival of the snow, disappeared for the day. In the Sunday service at City of Peace we had a family occasion with a meal afterwards and I am feeling very satisfied. We had a choir performing 2 songs for the first time; they have been trained by Café Forever's part-time barista, resident singer Abimaro Gunnel. It is such spirit filled singing; very uplifting and penetrating. The focus of the service was about letting go in order to have everything - the story of the pearl merchant. At the end of the service we let some helium filled balloons go - the joy of the release! There were a number of new faces there, but there were also a number of regular faces who were missing, which is sad. I can only think that it was the weather. The cold is not so welcome by some of the residents, particularly those who cannot afford to pay their heating bills, or those who have to get up in the middle of the night to walk their dogs! Please pray particularly for D_ who is really finding it hard to remain encouraged at the moment.

No respect for the photographer!

Christmas in London

We decided to stay in London for Christmas again this year, we enjoyed last year so much. We were not disappointed, though this year my car has decided to play up and so we have had to stay in town. Fortunately Tom Carpenter who is away in Miami gave us his car keys before he left. My mum came to stay for the month which allowed Natalie and I to have some evenings out (watching Ghost Protocol and eating out)  - which we basically haven't done since the girls were born! She also made us some casseroles and dinners and was a great help with the cleaning.  For Christmas in the evening we attended Christ Church's service after visiting some friends and then came home and set up our nativity scene and told Hannah the story of Jesus birth. We opened presents with our little girls in the morning (there was no shortage of gifts - thanks to all who contributed) and then visited our friends Barry, Marikie and Izzy along with Bill, Anna and Angela, and of course, Granny. Barry made a wonderful meal for us with turkey and ham and roast potatoes, Anna made a special apple pie which is becoming a tradition. Later in the week we met at our house to play a game of Carcassonne which Barry won.  For New Years celebrations our old and very special friends, the Krugers, came to stay the night. In the evening we made use of the empty café to let our girls have a new years dance and then celebrated on the beach with the locals who burnt up their money on fireworks. The following day we had lunch at my dad's house and were treated like royalty - all of us getting MORE gifts. Then finally we went to Zippo's circus at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park which kept the children completely transfixed for a full 50 mins! We all really enjoyed the evening out - though it was really very cold! Tuesday my cousin Penny came to visit with her twin girls Emily and Cara. Now we are back to some from of normality, I, attending the week of Prayer at London City Mission HQ. Christmas in London, and on the Isle of Dogs, is a wonderful experience - so glad for all our wonderful friends!

Granny visited Winter Wonderland Opening Gifts Impromptu Party Zippo's Circus