And now for something completely different

Okay, so we find ourselves in a position where we
have been forced to change the name of our restaurant (used to be angelo's) and I guess we were really stumped. Neither Nita or I are actually Italian and so, that Italian Place is born, go check www.thatitalianplace.co.za out and let me know what you think...

Anyway, we launched the new name today, with much discussion, and not much concern! It may be that it works out to be a good thing, and that as God always does that He uses a grim situation to our good!

Food for thought...

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20

I spent some time this morning with w good friend of mine, who (as always) made a few uncomfortable observations... Over the last year or so we have been faced with a number of really big challenges especially relating to our finances. Our faith is a really easy one as long as you ensure that you don't actually allow God too close! If you keep God securely locked in a little box shoved to the back of your cupboard (and you manage to keep Him there) you will find an easy faith. As soon as you open "Pandora's box" and allow God to work in your life then things take on a somewhat different note.

Firstly you discover that God love you without reservation or requirement from your side. Sounds good until you come to grips that God loves you (even when you are living an "upright, godly" life) no more than the local pimp or drug dealer. You are not more valuable than a wife batterer or child molester or murderer...

Then you discover that God actually expects you to relinquish control of your life and trust Him completely without reservation! This means with every aspect of your life, no matter how private or personal!

If you are prepared to BELIEVE GOD then you will realise that we are where we are because of who God is. Yes this is even (or perhaps especially) in the hard times. God is concerned primarily with who we are, and not with what we have! "but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done"

Glorious...

In the words of the David Crowder band: "You make everything glorious, I am yours, so what does that make me?" The answer (obviously) is glorious! Its not everyday that we use the word glorious in our lives so according to dictionary.com it means... "brilliantly beautiful or magnificent; splendid,delightful; wonderful; completely enjoyable" Okay so that is quite a definition, not only of what God has done, but also of what we are... I went diving this morning with Greg, the water was clear and I was struck with how beautiful everything was.. not only that but how everything changed all the time. The sand on the ocean floor creates patterns (all of them flowing and beautiful) and changes constantly... I guess a whole lot like our lives, constantly changing and flowing and becoming something new, something GLORIOUS! So take courage, we are becoming all that God has destined for us to be...

The truth especially is not always easy!

Jas 1:2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.

Okay, so we all know the scripture and can sprout it off every time we stub our toe, however how easy is it to live? When you suddenly discover that your business is failing, your marriage is broken, your kids think you suck and you have spent so much time at work that the dog barks at you when you get home, how easy is it to say, "God, You are faithful and true and I will trust in You!" Easy in theory, ne? But it practice? God has put in me a desire to lead people, to walk with His people into a real and living experience of Him, and yet every time I am faced with the hard parts of God's word (things like tried and tested), I run as hard and fast in the opposite direction as possible (like that actually helps)! Remember Jonah? He still had to go through the whole obedience to God thing (and he got there in a really uncomfortable style) despite his fear and desire to run. So I guess the moral of the story is to turn, face God and run toward His goodness and Grace and embrace what He puts before us!

On this a blustery day...

Isaiah 41:13
For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, fear not; I will help you!

Who said that we could come to Jesus, everything will be okay, easy sailing, no worries? Well they lied. Truth be told, if you want a nice easy, stress free and unchallenging, stay away from a relationship with Jesus! This way you will not be challenged not grow and not reach your full potential (you will however have a fairly easy time of it...) He did however say we would not need to do this alone! He said He will hold our hands and will help us. The challenges are therefore not too much, not more than we can bear and not going to overwhelm us (even if it feels like they will!) James says rejoice when we are faced with many trials because it is intentional (God has ensured that it will not be easy). So take heart, help is on the way... ;)

Oops, time for a rethink

Isaiah 41:13
For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, fear not; I will help you!

Okay, so last time we updated our blog we were part way through our country trip, excited on the move and about to experience a real "dark night of the soul". Having got that far all hell broke loose and all plans failed. So two options, lie down and die or do all we can to fix it, so i guess that's what we are doing. God has been very gracious and put us in a place that is full of awesome people that have been a great source of strength and encouragement (you know who you are) THANK YOU! So now we are getting back on track and running the race, striving to reach our goals and pushing to figure out our purpose!

In nitty gritty terms that boils down to finding a new house to rent, finding good school options for the children, finding a new church home and working a lot of hours in the restaurant in a bid to make it pay the bills. As you can see a lot of "finding" needs to happen but we are trusting God to hold our hand and help us through...

JHB in the cold

Okay, so we spent the day at the National Museum of Military
history and the JHB Zoo, on the coldest day in history. I can't believe that in just 14 months we have so acclimatised to a reasonable temperature that -1 seems really cold! :) Keegan and I enjoyed the Military stuff, so next time we'll leave the rest at home! Zoo was great, really worth a visit, the guys are putting a huge amount of work into getting it 5star! Now for a restful weekend and then onto Kimberly

Day 4...

Day 4 of our Great Adventure and we spent the day at the Lion and Rhino Park in Kromdraai. This is in the Cradle of Human and boasts a really interesting set of Caves… The picture is of the 130 steps (at a 45% angle) that need to be navigated to get to the lift, to get to the cave… you should have heard the bitching… Awesome site, we had an excellent tour guide who really knew his stuff!!! Then onto the Lions, Cheetahs, Rhino, Buffalo, Springbok, Gemsbok, Tigers (Not native to SA, but being bred in Kromdraai) Hippo’s (which we could hear but not see) and the children’s personal favourite, the Jumping Castles…J all in all a good day was had by all!

Day 1...

Okay, so we have finally begun the legendary trip. Left yesterday and arrived thinking that the city was probably still home. Well, having driven around a bit and looked at the changes that have been made over the last year it really is not. Asked Nita where home was, and I guess we're not really sure. Ballito is certainly more home than JHB, but I guess more just a familiar place than really home. Staying with friends for the weekend and doing our final prep for the school outings for next week so lets see how it goes. Anyone who wants to pray that the now legendary "Sale" finally gets sorted out would be encouraged to do so :)

Gonna try and set up the response stuff on this blog, so please feel free to comment when you read it...

Wednesday - 2 sleeps and counting

Hi there, its Wednesday morning and we're getting ready for the "Amazing Race" as the kids have dubbed it. So tru to form, we were having Pizza oven repaired and the whole thing collapsed! So, we've been closed for the 1st half of this week and hope to re-open tomorrow. You cannot believe the crash a amount of dust as the whole thing came tumbling down...

I am going to keep the blog updating every few days with the "detours" so you can keep pace with us. First stop JHB and Lion and Rhino park, Wonder Caves, Pretoria Zoo, SA Military Museum, Wits Observatory, Bela Bela (nothing educational about thtis...) and then on to Kimberley...

Ciao for now...

Crap day...

Okay, so today was one of those. The worst customer day ever! A total of 6 customers for the day! Ouch!!! Anyway, Nita and I spent the day planning our “educational tour” round the country and I must admit, I am getting rather excited! 41 days, 5000km! and all this on a shoe string budget… 9 more customers just walked in… yay, yay…

The next step

Okay, so we have moved out the house and are in the process of "next stepping". Now being house-free we are planning to spend the next little while travelling with the kids and exposing their minds to our awesome country. I gues we have been doing that already since Jan but we are now stepping up the pace - Starting with how to milk a cow. Both Kyal and Kael were comissioned with milking a cow yesterday and succeeded (with a fair amount of squerming...) All in all they had a great time at Flag Animal Farm on the North Coast (10 minutes up from Ballito). I must confess however that I have had about enough of petting zoo's! Brett

The weekend that would not end!

Okay, so Tuesday is over and we are terminally exhausted! Just moved out of our rental (much thanks to Linda, Wayne watched movies, we would not have gotten out without her)... Now ensconced in a miniture house with Nita's folks and planning our round the country tour with the kids. The idea with the blog is to allow them to create a journal over the next few weeks as we travel and explore South Africa North to South... Now if we could just get a few weeks sleep we should be ready to start.