Staff Retreat At Cape Agulhas

A couple weeks ago we went to Cape Agulhas (a-gull-us) for a 4-day staff retreat. We stayed in a sweet home right on the beach on the southernmost tip of this massive continent. The first morning there I woke up and stared out at the surf only to spot a massive Southern Right Whale lazily blowing and bobbing by. As far as entertainment, the place was barren (there was only one real restaurant in town)—but the ocean, tidal pools, beaches, and massive washed-up kelp bulbs were fantastic. We spent the majority of our time curled up under blankets sharing our personalities, temperaments, and testimonies. We went over and refined Bridges of Hope’s vision and how we can best be working towards that now. We had sweet times of prayer and re-visiting the gospel. Have you read “True-Faced”…? We listened (via DVD) to a sermon/seminar given by Lynch, one of the authors. That was fantastic—I highly recommend the book. (OK, in sum, he talks about the differences between living in the room of “Striving To Be All God Wants Me To Be”—with the motto, “Working on my sin to achieve an intimate relationship with God.” versus the room of “Living Out Of Who God Says I Am”—with the motto, “Standing with God with my sin in front of my—working on it together.” Neil Anderson’s “who I am in Christ” statements are well applied here.)
At the risk of sounding cliché or trite, I have to say that we came away from the week really stoaked about the staff that we get to work with. To be honest, we’re sincerely grateful that we have the privilege to be here. Massive change is coming to South Africa in the next 20 years as a result of this next generation growing up without parents. We get to be a part of history here—we have the opportunity to change history here. I know it sounds grand—but it’s the truth. There’s a unique window of opportunity that’s presenting itself: will this generation produce massive civil chaos (a nonsequitor, oxymoron) or can we aid in the rising up of educated, Christian leaders? This is the question that drives us and the Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) arm of Bridges of Hope. [more on our vision: “Bridges Academy” later]

So our retreat was a blast, and Matthew is almost fully recovered from his leg-replacement surgery—the sharks off the southern tip are aggressive against surfers. We’re so glad how the leg has taken—it was a donation from a less-fortunate victim of a car-wreck. It’ll be interesting having one black and one white leg.