in the shadow of Dead Gangsters

I returned from a camp on a Villiersdorp farm yesterday and had to drop off campers in Tafelsig, Beacon Valley and Mannenberg.  None of these areas feel safe to somebody from the leafy Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, but then, none of them are safe for the people who live in them and have to strategise their movements to avoid being swept up in gang violence. 

It is a great privilege to serve people who have to struggle with life at this level, and my involvement with Discipling Nations gives me a special opportunity to make academic insights available to those who are unlikely to see academia any other way.  I really enjoyed giving lectures over the weekend on Cross Cultural Evangelism and Contextualisation in Mission.  I got a few comments that I cherish: quite a few people said that I spoke simply - which I think means clearly.  One lady told me that I spoke restfully ("I don't mean that you put us to sleep" she said!).  And another older man said that I spoke "with charm".  For all of which I am grateful to God, considering the pressure under which I had to asseble my talks! It means that I seem to have escaped the trap of academically orientated discourse (!) as well as the swamp of paternalistic dumbing down! 

 As we wound our way into Mannenberg I came across this very large iconic piece of Grafitti.  It is beautifully executed, and the wistful eyes of the young man seem to gaze Westwards with a longing for something more, something greater - something that will raise the spirit from the dark alley-ways of the soul... a call to prayer?