From my heart

I had an interesting conversation last Saturday morning with someone that crossed my path. During our chat, it turned out that he is an undertaker, and he is a deeply spiritual person. He told me that every time he conducts a funeral he is reminded of his destination as a human (body).  He does not know where he is on the road, but he (all of us) are getting closer. When old people die, we sort of know that they have reached the end of their road, we are shocked and mourn them, but we expect it. When someone young dies, it comes as a shock, especially when they are about 20 years younger than you. It is more of a shock when you have worked with the person and have seen him every day. When it is a person from the office, you realize that his chair will fore-ever be empty, he will not be there to joke around. Seeing him, huddled over his laptop churning out reports for management and clients, no more. When it is a car-accident, it is sort of acceptable, it happens, there ar...

We went fishing again ... and learnt some life lessons. Easter Weekend my wife and one son went to a training camp, so my other boys and I went fishing on Saturday. Being Easter Weekend we got shown away at a resort because it was full and at the next resort we got place in the bundu (bush). It really was not a good spot to fish because of the tall grass on the riverbank, water hyacinths drifting over the lines and the build up of algae (like pea soup).  We brought several kinds of bait and flavourants and were sure that we are going to catch something. Diagonally across from us there were some fishermen camping. Obviously they were there for the weekend. And they were striking and pulling out fish regularly. They were casting towards our side of the riverbank, about 30m from where we were. So we were hopeful. But we caught nothing, some good bites, lots of bait lost, one line lost when Hedrik cast right across the river and ran out of line unexpectedly. Quite frustr...

Maputo 6/1/2014 Temperatures were in the high 30s when I went for lunch, I guess about 37C. Even walking from the office to the restaurant was torture. Sprawled between two parked vehicles, his head barely in the shade I saw him. He could not have been there last night, otherwise the vehicles would not have parked the way they did. He was laying in an awkward position, somewhat on his back, with his upper body resting on his left side, left arm slung out and the other resting on his body. He is very still, and from where I am walking I cannot see whether he is breathing or not. In the full sun, head barely in the shade.  Locals were passing by, as I was, on all side, perhaps casting a cursory glance in his direction. A traffic policeman merely 20m away from him, surely he must have seen him, someone must have told him. And I felt just like one of the travelers passing by the injured man on the road to Jerusalem. Who is going to be his Samaritan? He is laying ...

Last Sunday we went fishing with the boys. It was a quiet place with a lot of fish. Our neighbor caught a couple whilst we were there and we could see them jumping.   But obviously the fish were not hungry as we were trying all the different baits and techniques we could muster. In order to get some quiet time, I moved a bit away from the rest and just sat there contemplating nature and allowing the Lord to speak to me. I sat next to the long grass and the birds were flitting about 2 meters from me. Then I asked the Lord: "It is obvious that there are fish, big fish in this bond, why are not event getting a single bite?" And after a while the answer came: "I AM still in control, trust Me, you are trying too hard, I have not yet released the fish to you" So what now, do I keep on fishing? Do I go to another pond or dam? Do I change the bait, or do I stop fishing altogether? These are the questions that kept me busy this week, and every time I get th...

I have been involved in Taekwondo for more than a year now as a father and husband. Two of my boys and my wife are attending the Traditional Taekwondo Academy in Pretoria, South Africa. I watched from the sidelines and saw the changes in them. Changes in their attitude, motor skills, patience and fitness (and much more). You see, we are a family on the autism spectrum, therefore noise, randomness and change is not well received. But they are growing and doing well, actually,  Hanlie  (my wife) is doing extremely well. She is putting in extra hours of practicing and at the SA Nationals 2014 she won her division and so far this year she has not lost a competition yet. I started taking a closer look at Taekwondo, its moves and principles. I also compared that with the 'requirements' of people on the Autism Spectrum and it is a great fit. Taekwondo allows for one-on-one training, it has repetitive movements or forms, it is taught by example (visual inp...

Every sport has its own story or stories. For some people the story is an easy one, for others the story is one of struggle. Not every student that start out with Martial Arts (whatever discipline) advances to Black Belt level. In fact, according to the Instructors, a lot are starting off, but very few finish, or carry on after they achieved Black Belt status. Hanlie started with Taekwondo in June 2013 and at first did it just to get fit and hopefully loose some weight. In October 2013 their Instructor enrolled them into a competition just to get some competition experience. Needless to say, although Hanlie did won some medals, she did not do well. The next year she decided to take some extra Taekwondo training sessions and at the end of 2014 Hanlie became the South African Ladies 40+ Colourbelt champion. (that was despite tearing a calf muscle 8 weeks before the South African Championships) Sounds like she is doing well and everything is her way.  Hanlie's performance and...

Our minds do weird things when we are confronted the the possibility of impending death or suffering.  Technically I was not in that situation, but the doctor gently urged me to do an abdominal sonar. And there was some concern in his voice. Why? Because the hepatitis tests proved to be negative, I did not squirm with pain when he did a pressure test on my gall bladder, and we have a family history of pancreas cancer. So until I had the scan done my mind went on weird and long overgrown paths. I contemplated life, and death, and what lies in between. I made sure that I had the contact details of my life insurance agents at hand in order to contact them if necessary. Late one night, when I could not sleep, due to discomfort and worry, I thought about my epitaph.  What would it be? And the words came to me...  "He worked himself to death".  Thinking about that, it shocked me, but I know it is true! He worked himself to death. I allowed work to consu...