Protests, Soccer Bosses and Nav Community.

South African President Jacob Zumu had struck fear into the hearts of many South Africans before he became president.  Now, six months later we find ourselves in a very anticlimactic state.  He's doing his best and it's not that bad at all!  I hear all sorts of people complaining and/or praising Obama, but with Zuma there just isn't a lot to talk about.  So that leaves me with the protests.

Poor service delivery is the problem of the day.  The ANC (leading SA gov. party) has not followed through on some promises and people are up in arms, burning tyres and demanding.... Jacob Zuma help them.

Second most important on peoples minds, just 230 days before the 2010 Soccer World Cup comes to SA... We have fired our countries head coach.  So maybe my decision of when to go back for our next USA visit is set.  If Bafana Bafana can't get their act together then why be here?

Last but not least is the growing Nav community in Durban.  We keep seeing God work, relationships grow and our community naturally growing and developing.

What's next?  Zuma quits singing Umshini Wami (Bring me my machine-gun), Bafana Bafana hires back our last Brazilian Coach for R7 million a month, and we light a braai (BBQ) for our growing community.

What's happening in the Cape Town Nav ministry?

I thought you would love to hear what our good friend and fellow Navigator Archie just wrote.

Hello hello,

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our Bible Marathon. It was such a meaningful time! This wasn't a fund-raiser or anything like that; we simply did it because of our desire to get a better grip on the Big Picture of the New Testament.

Below is the response of some of the 'athletes':

Bruce Nygaard (who initially proposed the idea):
___25 books___   
_____23 people_____
_______13 hours_______
___________1 great time__________

If anyone thought it might be boring to read the Bible for 13 hours with only short breaks and no discussion, our Bible Marathon on a Friday-Saturday proved the opposite! The more we read, the more we found ourselves energized as book flowed into book and morning flowed into afternoon. The best part for me was reading IN COMMUNITY. For example, whenever the Pharisees said something daft (which was always), we laughed. And whenever Jesus said something so brilliant that only Jesus could have said it, our exclamations punctuated it. It was nice not to have anyone putting their own spin on the message. And reading together as a group kept us on pace with God’s train of thought, rather than getting snagged by thorny details. We could better see what’s gloriously important (and what isn’t).

Zethu: God's word unedited, no one's opinion, no additions. Just His voice!  I described the marathon to a friend as being like standing under a waterfall and feeling the water gushing over you. You do not feel the [individual] droplets, you feel the goodness of the whole. You are cleansed, not only because you realize your faults, but because you’re reminded of the beautiful bigger picture…

Takadzani: Most of the time I read the New Testament with a very inquisitive mind, asking trivial questions, thus losing the central message-- the message of the cross and it's power! Reading the Bible in this manner helped me see the simplicity that we often complicate.

Thato: Everything came together for me. I get it now!

Felix: Doing this Bible marathon helped me see more clearly the simple fact that Jesus is being preached… It really is all about Him!

Mercy: Reading through the book of Hebrews in one sitting was just simply wow! It hit me again as to what Jesus actually came and did. And it was really great to feel part of a family. I feel encouraged to continue reading the Bible…