Tag: South Africa

Children of God Storybook Bible

A couple years ago I bought Children of God Storybook Bible at the annual Hospital Auxiliary book sale in Northfield. The two-piece set included a book that was beautifully illustrated, plus the complete book on two Audio CD’s. I also liked the fact that Jesus was not “white”, a feature I look for in picture book Bibles. 

This set sat on our bookshelf for a year or two. When preparing for our son’s move to Colorado, I went through our bookshelves to pass along some books and rediscovered this set. I looked it over and decided to listen to the CD’s on our drive out West. I would be driving alone in our car, the last vehicle in our three-vehicle caravan. It was a great way to start each day.

The author of this children’s Bible is the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Desmond Tutu also narrated his book on the CD’s. It was wonderful to hear his voice reading his beloved stories. I felt the love of God through his words, and could only image his simple stories appealing to children all the while bringing the good news about God’s love. And, each story ends with a simple question. I was really impressed.

I left the wonderfully illustrated book in Colorado with our grandchildren, but I brought the CD’s home with me.

A partial quote about the author off the information sheet in the set reads: “Archbishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his lifelong struggle to bring equality, justice, and peace to his native country of South Africa. In 1986, he was elected Archbishop of Cape Town the highest position in the Anglican Church in South Africa…… He is known for his great love for children, as well as his powerful and profound understanding of the message of Jesus Christ…….”

The book was published in 2010.

Memorable Hikes – Cape Town, South Africa 2015

Continuing my Friday series on memorable hikes…

Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa

After spending Christmas and starting the New Year (2015) with our son and his family in Mozambique, my husband and I flew to Cape Town, South Africa. It was great to see another country on the African continent. Cape Town is a more progressive city and we were excited to see it and the surrounding area, including the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, at the southern most tip of Africa.

Table Mountain is in the center of Cape Town and is visible from anywhere in the city.  It’s flat top makes it looks like a table, hence the name. We decided to hike to the top of Table Mountain.

Getting closer to the top…deceiving photo though – you cannot see the people in it.

It was going to be another beautiful, sunny day in Cape Town so we started hiking up the mountain in the morning with much anticipation and energy. The climb soon became difficult: it was steep, rocky, hot and slow going. But we made it to the top and we were glad when we did.

As we were hiking two people stopped to ask me if I had enough water. I did. We are always careful a about carrying enough water with us when we hike. As people passed us up I noticed a lot of them were younger than we were. About two thirds of the way up we stopped to rest under a rock overhang, to stand in shade for a minute because we were so warm. A young man came up to me and asked if I had enough water. I said yes, and then he asked me to hold out my hat…when I did he poured his water into my hat and told me to pour it over my head. I did and it felt so good. I said thank you and he took off and continued on his way and I never saw him again. I was impressed with such a random act of kindness.

A beautiful view of Cape Town off to one side of Table Mountain.

The views at the top were fantastic and we spent a fair amount of time up there. When it was time to head down we took a cable car instead of hiking. The cable car is continually taking folks up to the top of the mountain and back down again. Usually hiking down is harder than hiking up, so I was grateful for the option to ride down the mountain.

From the window of the cable car.

A funny story about the cable car is we happened to be first in line for the next ride down. When we stepped into the cable car we were excited to get a front row view out the window. Once the cable car filled up and started descending, the floor of the cable car started rotating so everyone was able to have a chance to have that front row view. It was surprising, but what a great idea.

A cable car coming down from the top of Table Mountain.

Even though the hike up Table Mountain was a difficult one, we are happy we did it!