Month: December 2020

Fall on your knees.

I’m not much in the Christmas mood lately.  I guess when you get older, and you don’t have kids around you to make memories with it kind of loses it’s magic.  I have a Christmas tree and ornaments in my garage but honestly? It’s just another thing to clean, and maybe if I was hosting a Christmas party or people over I’d make the effort but to put it up just for me seems like an awful waste of time. Sometimes I’m just so darn practical.  I’m not in a faith community that is celebrating together and I’m avoiding the shopping malls with all their tinsel and decorated trees and Christmas music piped through every speaker.  I started listening to Christmas music a few weeks ago but switched it back over to my “all out 90’s” and “2000’s pop hits” playlists that I’ve been rotating lately after just a few stanzas of the first song. Just call me the grinch, I guess.

But I got a package in the mail a few days ago that had a Christmas CD in it, and the only CD player I have in my life anymore is in my car. So I put it in, thinking I owe the person who sent it to me at least a listen.  The first song irritated me, but the second…. The second one, Oh Holy Night, is one I’ve written about many a Christmas night and has meant so much to me in past years.  And once again it had me in tears, for much different reasons.

The weary world rejoices.

I don’t know how a world could me more weary than ours is right is this moment. Death, long term disability, grief, fear, anger, joblessness, hunger, anxiety, loneliness, division, hurt, the list of things we are all feeling in various degrees is long and depressing.  How I long to feel joy, to rejoice over something.  I had to stop the song and revisit what it is we have to rejoice about…

He appeared, and the soul felt it’s worth.

He appeared, the savior, the one who can defeat death and despair and all the other darkness that threatens to overwhelm us. A human baby with brown skin, born to an unwed mother, in a family of refugees forced to flee their home in fear for his life. This person who was also God who called us to love and give up ourselves for each other, blessed the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and who came that we might have life to the full. Oh yeah. That is worth rejoicing.  That’s something I can get behind.

He taught us to love one another.

Love is something I can really get behind too. But it’s something I haven’t seen much of lately, especially in America. The division, the blatant disregard for human life, for truth, for decency and collaboration and love above all, is truly both disgusting and deeply painful.  I’m struggling to hold on to the faith and the practices that were once dear to me as my eyes are opened to the realities of the hateful and hurtful actions perpetuated in those same communities, by leaders I once trusted. I’m really struggling to navigate friendships that are crumbling because I look at things being said and posted that make me realize that person is truly a stranger to me… one I don’t think I can have anything to do with.  We can agree to disagree on how we take our coffee or on whether a hot dog is in fact a sandwich or not, but I can’t agree to disagree when we’re discussing things like loving others and treating others with kindness and respect. All I can think as I hear this line in the song, over and over, is where is the love???

Fall on your knees.

This feels more like a command this year than an invitation.  Yes, friends, we do need to fall on our knees, and acknowledge we cannot stand without love, without each other, without unity in the pursuit of that which is good, of peace, of gratitude, and hope.

Long ago I decided I would be someone who will be the change I want to see in the world, so I will keep loving, and pursuing peace, and being grateful, and hoping my way through this weary world. May we experience the fullness of this season regardless of where we find ourselves, may we throw kindness around like tinsel, may we rejoice even in our weariness, may we be grateful for extravagant gifts we each have been given as we open our eyes to see them, and may we love freely and abundantly now and for always.

On road tripping in Africa

I wrote a blog post last week from the beach, and I’ve received many questions about what it’s like to road trip in Africa. I’ve posted in previous blogs what it’s like to drive in other countries; land rovers buried up to their axles in mud, terrible roads, horrible traffic. I think many people (rightfully so) assume it’s the same here in South Africa but it can’t be further from reality. So when I was driving home last weekend, I managed to snap some photos so you can join me in the journey! Note, some of the photos are not great, but my priority was driving safely, not getting good photos!! So, all that said, welcome to my road trip! The whole trip is about 7 hours plus time for fueling and bathroom stops.

We start on the Dolphin Coast, or North Coast, the space of coast between Durban and Jeffrey’s Bay. First you have to drive about an hour in a southwesterly direction towards Durban, where you then catch the main highway to Johannesburg/Pretoria.

This area is very humid, lush, green, mostly rolling hills of sugar cane broken up by orchards of what I would guess is some kind of citrus.

As you can see the road is in good shape but there is some road construction in some areas. In this particular spot they are replacing a bridge on the other side of the highway.

This is the view around Durban, as you can see it’s pretty much just like an interstate highway in the United States. The speed limit is mostly 120km/hr, with a chunk in the middle of 100/hr – there are are about a dozen speed cameras along the way which WILL nail you if you’re speeding.

There are a few toll plazas along the way. Pro tip – pay attention so you don’t end up in the credit card only line, as they only take RSA credit cards, not US credit cards. And stay away from this lane, the one right next to the credit card only lane, because when someone gets into that lane by accident, they actually have to back everyone out to let that person move to another lane and they all end up in this lane, the one I was sitting in when I snapped this photo. And also of note, yes, the vast majority of cars in SA are white. Mine is red, of course.

The first time I drove down here (this is the second) Jay was a bit anxious, kind of whiney, never really relaxed in the car, but wasn’t sick or anything. But by the second drive, he relaxed, and now he basically sleeps the whole way.

He pops his head up at the toll plazas.

Once you’re on the N3 heading northwest towards Johannesburg/Pretoria, you go through an area that feels more like a tropical forest.

I don’t know if you can tell in the photo above, but it’s a stretch of road bordered with rows and rows of some kind of tree that is farmed for harvesting.

Oh, I forgot to mention – Pretoria sits at 4,339 feet above sea level, high enough to need high altitude baking adjustments – and of course the coast is at sea level. So most of the drive to Pretoria is uphill. Your gas mileage is much better going the opposite direction.

Anyway, you’re driving through these fields of trees, and then suddenly they’re all gone.

A bit further along and you can start to see the foothills of the Drakensberg mountain range. If it was a clearer day you’d see more peaks in the distance. This is a really beautiful part of the drive. And the sun is more prevalent here as we put more distance between us and the sea.

Just a little sprinkle.

As we get closer to Johannesburg, the rolling green hills give way to relatively flat farmland.

Johannesburg became a city because of gold mining – much of the city and it’s surrounds are built on or around the piles of earth that were moved for mining.

Jay is fine, thanks.

Finally you can see the skyline of Johannesburg in the distance, and you know you’re almost home!

From there it’s mostly like driving interstate through any big city and the suburbs around it. The freeway gets up to six lanes wide in some places and is very well maintained.

The space between Johannesburg and Pretoria is hilly and brown in the winter, green in the summer. After almost eight hours on the road, I’m so happy to be almost home!

That cell tower is near my house – I’m almost home!!

The final exit from the freeway into Pretoria is called Fountains and it’s a pretty one.

And then we got home! I hope you enjoyed roadtripping with me!