Prophetic Intelligence for Apostolic Architecture

I’ve just finished proof-reading Wolfgang Simson’s coming book “Prophetic Intelligence for Apostolic Architecture”. True to form, Wolfgang is critical of many things happening in today’s churches, but also provides perspective, challenges us to think, listen to God, and act.
Wolfgang is still working on it, so I won’t jump the gun by reviewing it in detail or publishing quotes… OK, just one quote:

We don’t need a ninth prophetic and a tenth apostolic floor in a building that has a teacher’s foundation and eight consecutive evangelistic floors.

(And no, he doesn’t write that as a criticism of teachers and evangelists.)

I think it’s his best book yet (particularly since I proof-read it ;-)), and look forward to seeing others’ reactions. It has the potential to stir things up, as did Houses that change the world.

Frosen

A rose bloomed in our garden this week. The temperature has now dropped; we had frost last night, so I suppose it’s now frosen.

Frosen

Global warming

The weather here is crazy. It’s mid-November, and still mostly around 15°C. There was a short cold spell a few weeks ago, and the renewed mild temperatures are playing havoc with plants. To show how crazy it is, I first wanted to show the new growth on our roses. Next to them, the lavender is blossoming again. But then I saw our neighbours’ tree.

New leaves on the roses in November Lavender blossom in November Blossom and falling leaves

At least some trees are keeping to the normal rhythm, even if somewhat later than normal:

Autumn colours

In memory of Jim Montgomery

Jim Montgomery, the founder of Dawn Ministries, died recently. Others knew him better, and are more qualified to write about the effects of his life and works, so I won’t comment on that here. I met him briefly in the Dawn offices in Colorado Springs in 2004, and was touched by his friendliness and humility. “To live is Christ, to die is gain”, as Paul writes. He has gained, we have lost.

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What the eye does not see

2006/11/05I’m working on a series of photos of the moon, one each day for a complete cycle. Last Saturday, I was surprised by the difficulty I had in taking a sharp photo; I could see the moon clearly, and everything looked sharp in the camera viewfinder, but the photos were all blurred. I tried manual and automatic focus, turning image stabilisation on and off, different apertures and shutter speeds, but nothing made any difference. I’ve posted the clearest photo in the gallery, but the contrast to the other photos is clear. Something in the atmosphere, perhaps high cloud or ice crystals, was apparently obscuring the moon just enough to make the photos unsharp, but not enough to be visible to the naked eye. That reminded me of the words in 1 Corinthians 2:9 (even if their meaning is the reverse of what I experienced):

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him– but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit

Moon photos

I’ve just taken some photos of the moon which turned out very well. I had to use manual exposure, because even with spot metering, the moon was overexposed.
The moon The moon The moon

Comparison photos

I’ve just taken some photos to compare our digicams: the 2 megapixel Olympus I used in the USA last year (our first digicam), Mary-Annes 6 megapixel Panasonic FX-01, and my Alpha 100. The winner? The Alpha – happily, because it cost much more than the FX-01, weighs much more and is much larger. Back in 1999, the Olympus cost exactly the same as the Alpha did yesterday!
Autumn leaves in the garden, SonyAutumn leaves in the garden, Panansonic FX-01 Autumn leaves in the garden, Olympus C2000Z
(Of course, the thumbnail images don’t show the difference. Take a look at the full-size images by clicking the icon above the photo in the gallery.)

I took some great photos with the Olympus during my break last year, but looking at the difference, I should have bought a DSLR before my trip. Live and learn…

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