Food for thought...

Just a little excerpt from a book called "Run with the Horses" by Eugene Peterson...

"Nearly everyone believes in God and throws casual offhand remarks in his general direction from time to time. But prayer is something quite different. Suppose yourself at dinner with a person you very much want to be with - a friend, a lover, a person important to you The dinner is in a fine restaurant where everything is arranged to give you a sense of privacy. There is adequate illumination at your table with everything else in shadow. You are aware of other persons and other activity in the room, but they do not intrude on your intimacy. There is talking and listening. There are moments of silence, full of meaning. From time to time a waiter comes to your table. You ask questions of him; you ask to have your glass refilled; you send the broccoli back because it arrived cold; you thank him for his attentive service and leave a tip. You depart, still in companionship with the person with who you dined, but on the street conversation is less personal, more casual.

This is a picture of prayer. The person with whom we set aside time for intimacy, for this deepest and most personal conversation, is God. At such times the world is not banished, but it is in the shadows, on the periphery. Prayer is never complete and unrelieved solitude; it is, though, carefully protected and skillfully supported intimacy. Prayer is the desire to listen to God firsthand, to speak to God firsthand, and then setting time aside and making arrangements to do it. It issues from the conviction that the living God is immensely important to me and that what goes on between us demands my exclusive attention.

But there is a parody of prayer that we engage in all too often. The details are the same but with two differences: the person across the table is Self and the waiter is God. The waiter - God - is essential but peripheral. You can't have the dinner without Him, but He is not an intimate participant in it. He is someone to whom you give orders, make complaints, and maybe, at the end, give thanks. The person you are absorbed in is Self - your moods, your ideas, your interests, your satisfactions or lack of them. When you leave the restaurant you forget the waiter until the next time. If it is a place to which you go regularly, you might even remember His name."

Killball: a short, abridged history

Invented: 1998 (Messers.Jon Cilliers and Sven Axelrad)

1999: First outdoor game conducted…two on two match between Cilliers, Halgreen, Chang and (result=an epic fail…from then on the sport returned indoors)

2003: arrival of the young Gabriel Phillips. No one knew at this stage what a profound impact upon the sport he would have in later years

Mid 2004: Killball went into what seemed to be it’s final hour as founding father Jon Cilliers abandoned it’s calling to pursue the secret training of his own team…young warriors Zac, Ben and Nathan (rumour has it that Zac’s first word was “Killball”)

2004-2006: No matches were played…the ancient art of Killball was neglected and the passion grew cold

2007: a young, red headed warrior, filled with fire and the stories of past victories, began searching out men with the necessary skills as he began crafting together a side that would become known as the “unbeatables”.

2007-2008: strict weekly training regiment…slight alterations of the 1998 Battle Code was enforced as the old slow and at times cumbersome version of the sport gave way to a much more aggressive, quick and spectator friendly game.

End of 2008: First player of the year (Mike Alexander) announced as Killball becomes a recognized COGS youth sport

2009: Captaincy handed over to Mike Alexander, and vice captain is Ryan Dinkele (a gifted defender, with the speed of a mongoose and the tenacity of a duiker…basically the vice captains role is to hide the ball after each week’s game from the Sunday school 5 year olds)

2010: Brad King takes over the chairmenship role of guarding the game’s foundational integrity and values

OLD SCHOOL!!!

From Left to right: Paul Edy, Ryan Masson (played wing for Northwood 2004 opposite famous COGS speedster Dumile!), Graeme Smith (Bushknife's oder brother),young Joshua Klynsmith (still aged 12), somone we don't know (I hope he doesn't read this blog), Jono "still freaking cool" Rich, and front and centre is Rich Gordon (pre-dreads, pre-libby, pre-checking things).

Thank goodness people grow up!