Movement- Daily Prompt

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/prompt-dance/

I want to do the Photographer’s Challenge for today’s Daily Prompt- Movement. The moment is my younger colleague, dancing with his bride for the first time as a married couple on their wedding day. I enjoyed it a lot, I married them!

 

I am a hopelessly lost romantic at heart, there is something so beautiful about this first dance together for me…

The First time I ever saw your face… Family- Weekly Photo Challenge

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/photo-challenge-family-2/

A scan of a very special photo in my family: the day my eldest son met his brother for the first time ever…

I know- not the best of quality, but still: a piece of history for me…  This is how they look these days, 16 years later…

 

Pumba’s Family- Weekly Photo Challenge

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/photo-challenge-family-2/

A Family of Warthogs hiding from the fierce African Sun…

 

My Reputation: Daily Prompt

Daily Prompt: Blogger of Repute

Do you have a reputation? What is it, and where did it come from? Is it accurate? What do you think about it?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us YOU.

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Oh man, this is a difficult question. How much of me is visible in my blog? How much is just a projection of who I really want to be?   

I am not so good at self knowledge, sometimes the people around me knows much more about my reputation than I do… 

My reputation: I do love motorbikes/ travel/ photography.  I don’t like to fight, or be negative on someone else’s blog. 

Maybe we should ask some regular readers: What would you think about my reputation, and would you think it is accurate?

 

Meanwhile- here  I am at a famous landmark on South Africa’s Route 62… it is actually just a very nice pub in the middle of nowhere with an awesome name… 

Windows- Weekly Photo Challenge

In Portsoy, in the north of Scotland overlooking the North Sea, stands the ruins of an old house. There is just this one wall still standing. With one window overlooking the gray sea beneath. As I stood there one November morning in 2006, I often wondered about the man who built this house. And thought of all the generations of people living in this house, overlooking the sea. I wish I could have known their stories…

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/photo-challenge-window/

Escape- Daily Prompt

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/prompt-skin/

If I were a better writer I would have attempted to write this story from the point of view of a shrimp in Durban Harbour at low tide…  How I have escaped the fisherman looking for bait. How I evaded the hungry flock of seagulls just waiting for me to show the tiniest part of my crustacian anatomy.  But I dont think the shrimp has evaded all that danger. Me thinks he got caught, put on a hook as bait, and landed in the mouth of a huge sea fish. I think the fish has fed a Zulu family of nine people in a little rondavel overlooking the Indian Ocean…

Secret- Daily Prompt

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/prompt-hear/

My secret today is: I am struggling to get into gear! I do not have anything to say today…

This secret appliance was made by Husqvarna… what could it be? It doesn’t look like a sewing machine or a Moto X bike…

I have confidence… Daily Prompt

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/daily-prompt-confident/

 

Daily Prompt: I Have Confidence in Me

by michelle w. on November 24, 2013

Are you good at what you do? What would you like to be better at.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us CONFIDENT.

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In my job as a pastor in a large rural church, this is not an easy question.  I think a lot of people wouldn’t know what we do every week, some make jokes about only working for an hour on a Sunday morning…  We are also at the receiving end of a lot of jokes, and worse, abuse.  Some pastors may deserve the bad names we are called. But most of my colleagues I know are honorable men and women who wants to live a life of love and service to their fellow human beings…

The object of this post is not to discuss the being or not of God, the sins of pastors, the huge mistakes that the Church has made over the years- I am just not interested in fighting with anyone over differing opinions. This post is just to describe what I experience and do in my daily life as a rural pastor.

There is a reason why we spend 6 years at university to be pastors in our church.  I have another 2 years of training with a Masters Degree in Practical Theology.  That is 8 years worth of my life at university! With that time spent at university I could have been a doctor, or a lawyer or somebody else rich and glamorous in our society. I chose the other way…

There is just so much to be and do for a church. I can’t think of any one person doing all the ministry tasks very good. So my answer to this question: Am I good at what I do, would be a very reserved “Sometimes…”

What do pastors do in a rural church in South Africa?

1.  The most obvious: we preach on Sundays…  Our church has three worship services on a normal Sunday.  A morning, evening and a teenager service.  To do a sermon will take me more or less 10 hours of preparation. I am supposed to be able to read the Bible in the classical Hebrew and Greek…  (that is another long story…)  I think I can sometimes deliver a good sermon, touching people’s hearts. But the translation work- well, the Bible Society did that already didn’t they?
2.  We teach. I have a weekly Bible study group, attended by about 50 people, where we study books of the Bible, verse by verse at a time. This year we have gone through the Gospel of John, and the three letters of John. I think I can do this really good.
3.  We equip. I am responsible for the church’s small group material. They gather weekly at the homes of the members, to worship, study the Word, support one another, and plan how to be a good influence in somebody else in the community’s life.  I think this I am also good at.
4.  We visit the sick, and people in crisis, to support them and pray for them.  I think I am supportive of sick people, I am not always that good with marriage counselling and especially not where people are having a hard time financially…
5. We do “House Visitation“- We are supposed to visit every person in the church once a year. But we do have 1500 people in our church, so it is nearly impossible. I am not that good at this area of our work, as I am rather an introvert…
6. We do weddings and funerals. I think I am good at both…
7.  We have a lot of committee meetings and Church Board meetings.  I am not good at meetings- there are still some ADHD left in me…
8.  We organize church functions. Here I fail miserably- I am no good at administration in any form! I run away from any church finances…
9.  We are in a work where one telephone call can change a whole week in an instant. We deal with a lot of people’s hurt, relationship issues, happiness… we are only a phone call away day or night…   I do have a psychology degree, but not far enough to go into private practice.
10.  We are supposed to be handymen– fixing everything that breaks. I am no good at fixing things, so I stay away from sharp objects…

What would I love to be better at?

1. I would love to cope better with people’s expectations. I can’t be everything for everybody. I do not have all the skills needed to do everything in church. But a lot of people expect me to know everything, with all the books in my study…
2.  I would love to be a better marriage and relationship counsellor. It really feels good when I can help people finding solutions to their relationship problems!
3. I would love to be more sensitive to people’s needs and hurt, and way less sensitive to their criticism.

But that, I think, is enough about me…

Me conducting a wedding last year- a guest’s photo…

 

Related articles

• What Your Pastor Wishes You Knew…(from one member of an oft-discredited profession) (pastoramc.wordpress.com)
• Putting Pastors In Perspective (924jeremiah.wordpress.com)
• Time Away for Pastors (blessyourpastor.wordpress.com)

Bushveld Wedding under the Marula Tree…

The Daily Prompt asked: Do you play in your daily life? I do! I take a camera along when I work. Like today…

I had the most amazing afternoon. I had to conduct a wedding at a Game Ranch this afternoon. It was an outdoor wedding, and it has rained this past week- we were rather anxious about the clouds forming.  But I did take my cameras, the 400D and the Powershot. Here is just a little view of a part of my work. If it looks like a wonderful job- just remember I stood in a graveyard conducting a funeral yesterday. We pastors must have the capacity to handle an emotional roller coaster. From a funeral to a wedding in a day!

I think it would not be good form to show the bride and groom while they are still at their wedding feast at the moment.

Maybe when they left the scene of the wedding itself would be ok…

Now-the guests…

What are you humans up to?

Not a Chev Impala- the REAL Impala- a beautiful ram

and a very young Impala ram…

So yes- some days it is so good to have my job, other days it is really, really hard…  Today was all good!

Safety First- at the Cricket Game- Daily Post

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/daily-prompt-safety-first/

Limited overs Cricket can be quite dangerous, with all the balls flying around! Here I am with my two eldest sons, at Supersport Park in Centurion (Pretoria) at a local Titans game, but wearing our national team- the Proteas- supporting gear.  This is a hard-hat area!