I have been busy

In the recent time since my last blog things have been happening rather quickly.

The Photography club that I started in Uitenhage was a huge success.

Some of the clubmembers started posting on the Cameraschool forum that I had on my website

This has since grown and moved to its own website called www.cameraforum.co.za

This means that I have had to start yet another website of my own.

I now manage 5 of my own excluding the blogs.

I must be a sucker for punishment.

I started a blog for my son

My son turned 7 this weekend and I started a blog to post the pictures to.

You can view the blog here

The Methodist church of SA

In a TV commercial for a Audi A3 Sportback the voice over states "I live by Ghandi and Learn by google".

Now while I personally would rather live by Jesus, I do agree that my generation certainly learns by Google. If there is any piece of information that I am looking for, my first attempt to find the info I need is by Google.

And so, wanting to post about the Methodist Church of SA and it's newspaper (the New Dimension) I decided to try and do some research before I open my big mouth. Imagine my surprise at not being able to find one half decent website with some info I can use.

Let us list my searches quickly.

• Save one PDF document about the state of the 'New Dimension', I could find nothing about the New Dimension. No Website. No Email address or contact details. nada. zip. I did find a 2006 post by Digital Dion wanting to post cartoons in the New dimension. And that was still on page one of Google.

• The official MCSA website has buggerall relevant or new on it's site. It has no links to New Dimension.
  

Ok, So what is the bee in my bonnet about the MCSA and New Dimension?

MCSA first :

I am really worried about the state of my Church (the Methodist Church of SA). I am really worried about the fact that a lot of the 'good' white ministers are leaving, the church and or the ministry.

I am really worried about the leadership of my church. I am worried about the fact that the top structure seems to be getting heavier. And that the church seems to be forever looking for new ways to fund this heavy top structure.

I am worried about the strugles for power and the corruption within my church. What ??? Corruption ?? In the Church ??? Please don't insult me by saying that there is no corruption in the church. We all know it is there. Ministers who supposedly don't get stipends, but drive around in fancy German cars. Societies who can not pay their assesments , but whose ministers get R40 000 going away gifts.

I am worried about the fact that white student ministers get suspended or discontinued for trivial matters while black ministers who are not nearly of the same caliber get pushed through the system. In fact , I am worried about the training of our ministers.

And this is where I feel The New Dimension should have come into play.

As a newspaper I feel that the Dimension should have been there to expose the corruption and power struggles. The Dimension should have been there to ask questions about training and ask questions as to why some very good ministers are leaving the church. But alas... "He who pays the piper , calls the tune."

Maybe mr, Stone (editor New Dimension) there is a reason why your reader numbers have fallen from 26000 to 11000. Maybe it is because people don't believe what you are telling them. Maybe it is because your reporting is so obviously biased.

And so , after this long rant , I am still worried about my church. And I wonder when the church is going to split. I wonder when the 'alternate Methodist church' will break away from the mainstream power and money hungry church.

If the alternate Methodist church breaks away , I will be among the first to approve. I suspect that most of the ministers will be white. Ministers who care for the people and who want to get the work done. I suspect that most of the members will be of all races. And please.... This is not a race thing. But it will separate those who are in the ministry because of the calling to care for the people from those who are in the ministry because of the calling of power and status and money.

Please pray for my church. And pray for the ministers who are trying desperately to do God's work in a structure that has long ago missed the true calling of church.

Windows ME

Are you a Pharisee ?

I recieved this in my email this morning from aDevotion.org and I thought it tied in a bit with what Pete said on his blog recently. Although , I disagree with Pete on his view of the passage he used, I do agree that God is a God of grace and that all men will be judged fairly.

This is not my writing , but I share the idea :

" MATTHEW 16:6,12 NKJ
6 Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."
12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Why did Jesus warn His disciples to beware of the Pharisees?
What did they do wrong?

(An entire chapter of the Bible (Matthew 23) is Jesus' teaching against the Pharisees.)

The Pharisees were conservative, faithful "church" members.
They accepted the Bible as the written Word of God. They paid tithes. They believed in miracles (at least in days past). They wouldn't dream of stealing, committing adultery, or such things. You would like living next to a Pharisee as they were model citizens.

But instead of having a living relationship with God, the Pharisees took the Word of God and made just another dead religion out of it.

The Pharisee way of thinking is: keep up appearances. "It doesn't matter so much what you are on the inside, as long as you keep the rules (at least publicly)."

Notice that Jesus likened their teaching to leaven, or yeast.
Why? Yeast spreads easily and rapidly. Humans are very susceptible to approaching God in this manner, "Keep the rules.
Just do these 10 things and you are OK."

Different groups may have different rules, but we all accumulate them. It may be how many times each week you must attend church meetings, or what kind of clothes you must wear, or how you must wear your hair. Or, it may be a list of things you cannot do. But, as long as you meet these requirements, you are in good standing with your group (or denomination).

But, good standing with God is based on only one thing according to the New Testament: faith in what Jesus did for us.
That alone is what makes us right with God. Not our works, but Jesus' work.

LUKE 12:1 NKJ
1 ... He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

The Pharisees were hypocrites. That is, they put on an act.
What they pretended to be in public was not really what they were like in private. They claimed to be perfect in keeping God's law, but as humans they were all sinners, just like the rest of the people were. Yet, in public, they insisted that others keep the Law perfectly, or be condemned.

They were quick to pass judgment on others, and slow to extend mercy or help. The Pharisees had a legalistic view of God's Word and did not realize that God was merciful and wanted to help people.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:6 NKJ
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Using God's Word to "kill" instead of using it to minister life is wrong. God's Word is meant to help people and lift them up, not place such hard demands on them that they cannot ever measure up. When we load people down with heavy loads of rules to keep in order to be right with God, we are ministers of death.

MATTHEW 23:1-5 NLT
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.
3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach.
4 They crush people with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
5 "Everything they do is for show. . . .

If your "Christianity" is nothing more than a list of "do's and don't's" then you are missing real Christianity, which is a living relationship with Jesus Christ. "

a little plagiarism

I couldn't resist copying this.

comes from a website called www.craigslist.org

;o)

In the wide world of dating, there are many options. Do you go for the
flashy guy with the smooth smile, or the dude in the corner typing away
on his laptop? The following are reasons why I think my fellow females
should pay more attention to the quiet geeks and nerds, and less
attention to the flashy boys.



1.) While geeks and nerds may be awkward, they’re well-meaning 9 out of
10 times. That smooth dude with the sly grin and the spider hands?
Wonder what HIS intentions are... plus, I’ve never had a geek guy not
call me when he said he would. Score major points THERE.



2.) They’re useful. In this tech-savvy world, it’s great to have a b/f
who can make your laptop, desktop, and just about anything else that
plugs into a wall behave itself.



3.) They’re more romantic than they’re given credit for. Ok true, their
idea of romance might be to make up a spiffy web-page with all the
reasons why they love you, with links to pics of you and sonnets and
such... but hey. It lasts longer than flowers, plus you can show your
friends.



4.) Due to their neglected status, there are plenty to choose from.
You like ‘em tall and slender? There are plenty of geeks/nerds who are.
You like ‘em smaller with more meat on their bones? Got that too.



5.) They’ve got brains. Come on now, how can intelligence be a bad thing?




6.) Most are quite good at remembering dates. Like birthdates and such,
especially if they know it’ll make you happy. Due again to their
neglected status, they’re more attentive than guys who “have more
options”. Plus, with all that down time without a steady girlfriend,
they’ll likely have mental lists of all the things they’d love to do
once they GOT a girlfriend.



7.) Sex. Yep. Sex. I’m not really familiar with this myself, but I’ve
friends who’ve been intimate with geek guys and it’s raves all around.
They say a virgin wrote the Kama Sutra... all that time thinking about
sex, imagining sex, dreaming about sex, (they are male after all)
coupled with a desire to make you happy? Use your imagination.



8.) They’re relatively low-maintenance. Most can be fueled on
pizza, Twinkies and Mt Dew. No complicated dinners needed here, so if
you’re not the best cook, eh. Can you order a pizza?



9.) Most frequent bars as often as slugs frequent salt mines. You
won’t have to worry much about your geek guy getting his “groove” on
with club hotties because, frankly, he’ll be too busy rooting around
under his computer wondering where that spare cable went. You won’t
have to worry about him flirting with other women because, 9 out of 10
times, he’ll zip right by them in a perfect b-line towards the nearest
electronics store. I’ve seen this happen.

Me: “Eww. Victoria Secret’s Models... They’re so skinny. How is that feminine? You can see her ribs!”


Geek Guy: “ooooooo...”


Me: “Hey!” *notices he is staring lustfully towards the computer store*


Geek Guy: “What?”


Me: “Never mind...”




10.) Although he may not want to go to every outing with you, you can
arrange swaps, as in, you’ll go to his Gamer Con dressed as an elf
princess if he’ll take you to the ballet. Plus, if he doesn’t want to
go someplace with you, you won’t have to worry much about what he’s up
to. You’ll probably come home to find him asleep on his keyboard in a
sea of Mt. Dew cans with code blinking from the screen. It’s ok. He’s
used to this. Just toss a blanket over him and turn out the light.



11.) His friends aren’t jerks. I can’t stress this enough. You’ll more
likely get “Omg! A GIRL!! Can I see?!” than “Hey hot stuff back that
ass up here and let me get some grub on...” They’re awkward geeks too
and will, 9 times out of 10, treat you with the utmost respect and,
more than likely, a note of awe. A cute girl picked one of their clan
to date? It could happen to them! Hope! Drag some of your single
girlfriends over, open up a pack of Mt. Dew, crack open the DnD set and
get working. Nothing impresses geek guys more than a girl who can
hack-n-slash (well ok maybe if she can code... a geek can dream).



12.) They’re rarely if ever possessive. They trust you, so you can be
yourself around them. You like to walk around the house in a ratty
t-shirt for comfort? He won’t care. He does too! They won’t get pissy
if you don’t wear make-up or don’t want to bother primping your hair.
If you gain a few pounds, they won’t try their best to make you feel
like crap.



13.) They’re usually very well educated. Physics majors and the like.
See #5. You won’t have to listen to him blathering on about his car (ok
maybe a little), he’ll have loads of other interesting things to talk
about. Politics, world events, how much the chicken burgers down at the
local place rock, so long as you douse them in hot sauce...



14.) You’ll almost never have to hear, “Yaw dawg whazzap!!” plop
out of their mouths. Unless it’s in jest. They spell properly, use
correct punctuation, and are able to tell the difference between the
toilet and the floor. They almost never get “wasted”, so you won’t have
to worry about coming home to find him and his friends passed out on
the floor amidst a pile of beer bottles. Mt. Dew cans, perhaps...



15.) And the final reason why geeks and nerds make great
boyfriends: They actually give a damn about you. Not how you look
(though that’s a plus), not how skinny you are, not how much make-up
you primp yourself up with, but they like you for you. That kind of
thing lasts longer than “DaMN baby you got a fine ass!!!” Believe me.

I am doing webdesign now

That's right .On top of teaching Photography and being a photographer I also do webdesign now.

I have started another website where I advertise myself as a webdesigner. This came after I found a very nice piece of webdesign software and designed 3 sites for myself and one for a friend.

Please go and check out the website www.perfectsolutions.co.za and punt me to everyone you know that may need a website.

I found another SA company who does the same thing as me and they charge R1250 per month for 12 months.

So I do think that my prices are more than reasonable.

;o)

I am chuffed

In the past two weeks I have been learning a new 'skill' .And what an incredibly steep learning curve it has been.

I have really spent time and effort in learning how to manage a new website Content management system called Joomla.

You can view the fruit's of my labours here and here

I am also setting up my fourth website called perfectsolutions.co.za that will advertise myself as a website construction agent.

;o)

The things I Believe

In the past weeks or so , I battled with prayer , and what I can and can not pray for. And I came to realize that I can only pray for the things that I believe .

Things that I believe to be true of God. And things that I believe about the nature of God. And so I want to list them here. This will however not be an exhaustive list of all the things I believe , but of the things I can think of right now. I will also add to this list as time progresses and I learn more about God.

so here we go.

I believe that :

• God loves me
• Jesus died on the cross and was raised again.
• Jesus' death and resurrection was necessary to redeem me from my sins
• God knows me better than I know myself and that He only wants what is best for me
  
• living in God's will and in His plan is the only way to be truly happy.
• God wants me to have a happy and fulfilled marriage.
• as the Author and designer of sex , God wants me to have a happy and fulfilled sex life
• God wants to meet my needs and care for me , also wen it comes to earning a living.

There are many more things , but these are the things that I can think of now, and these are the things that I can pray for and from God.

• 
  

One more

And so with the previous post still fresh in my mind I received this email from the same people today. One would think that God is trying to drive home a point.

It is just SO DIFFICULT not to worry.



Cast Your Cares

1 PETER 5:7 Amplified
7 Casting the whole of your care -- all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all -- on Him; for He cares for you affectionately, and cares about you watchfully.

God is not just mildly interested in you. He cares for you just as a good mother cares for her infant child -- affectionately and watchfully.

Would it be reasonable for a well-loved infant to worry?
Neither is it reasonable for you to worry when God loves you and has promised to take care of you.

To worry you must believe one of two lies: God can't take care of you, or God won't take care of you.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6 NRSV
6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Worry is not appropriate for a child of God.

SAY THIS: I throw all my cares on God because He cares for me.