Do you think God is imaginary?

If you do then he will never become real to you... the Crux of the matter is just that... Faith that Jesus is who he said he is and did what he did for you on the Cross.
I tripped over the godisimaginary website a while back and was pondering how to answer him... but soon realized that I cannot... God only becomes real when you let him into your life.
To many that sounds so stupid... but I know it is true.
All I know is that for many years I knew the truth but had no faith... now I have faith as big as a mustard seed and my life has become Indescribable... all I can do for the author of the website is to pray that his blindness will be cured by the Holy Spirit, for he knows not whom he mocks.
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God.
Chris Tomlin "Indescribable"

Ja well, hasta la Vista baby...

This Rockwood is very funny in the light of what is happening over in Richmond at Microsoft... Sales of all their software seems not to be meeting expected targets world wide... I wonder if Ubuntu may have had a hand in that as well as the unwillingness of users to move over to Vista with the resultant hardware expenses that it entails? Sometimes it pays to listen to what the customer wants and not what you think he needs... Long live the Penguin!
I have recently bought an Asus Eee PC, running Linux on a 2 Gig solid state disk! I can surf the net, connect via Skype, get E-mail, do spreadsheets, run presentations and write letters... what more do you need if you are an Adventure junkie like me? The neat part is that the little machine weighs less than 1kg with it's mains power supply! Ideal to take on bike trips too.

Had fun using it as a digital jukebox as well, plug in my USB external drive and all my music can be played as well. Will be taking it with us on our Argentina Adventure as well... Come to think of it, this baby has more power than the first Mainframe I worked on... amazing...
"Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vaccuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons." Unknown, Popular Mechanics, March 1949

Happy Birthday Shrek

Shrek the KLR650 that is... today is the anniversary of me saying, "The Green one is mine!" and signing on the dotted line...
So around 11AM MD popped around to my office and we took a coffee break... then we decided to take Shrek for a Birthday Ride to Hoopstad to visit friends of MD's.
First thing was to but on the tankbag and pop the warm gear in the topbox and fetch MD... when I arrived she was already ATGATTed.

Did not take any pics on the way but what we did next made up for that, here we are about to go Offroad in a diffrent way!

The combine is a factory on wheels, with all the latest data gathering electronics, here we are being shown how much yield the particular stretch of maize is giving, this information is then used with soil samples to determine next seasons nutrient dose.

The business end...

First of two loads we saw ofloaded in the run across the field...

Taking a break before the next run... yeah... parts of the dirt road to the farm looked like this field track... but we beat the Sand Monster.

Off into the sunset goes the Monster...

Then we saw the momma of all tractors!

Showing MD the controls and GPS assisted computer guidance system... similar to that on a cruise missile... but being used to literaly guide the plough... all the operator has to do is drive it to a particular field, do the first row, set the system and wait for it to finish the back row to turn it around again. All this with a 10mm precision. The newer ones do the turning around as well I hear... who needs a driver!

Shrek patiently waiting for us to finish guzzling coffee, tart and flapjacks! Typical Free State Platteland hospitality!

And by the time we got to Bultfontein it was getting dark... arrived back home just after seven after a wonderful ride and visit. Nice way to celebrate 12 months with Shrek!
Wow... what an amazing twelve months this has been, not without it's sorrows but nothing unsurmountable, just like when you hid a rough spot while riding you apply some power, the same way when life had rough spots we were able to draw on God's power and make it to the other side... it would have been a much less rewarding trip without His guiding hand I believe.
"For believe me: the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and greatest enjoyment is - to live dangerously."
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)
This is my WD label... for all my future bike blogs.

The Universe is a zoo.

Today's APOD is amazing! This is now being named Hanny's Voorwerp. At the moment no one is very sure what it is, some think a cloud of energized gas, wich is of galactic proportions by the way, or a Green Dragon? It shows that there are still many things to be discovered in the Universe. Every time something like this happens I am reminded who created it all and how AWESOME God is.
If you think you have the eye and the time, register at the Galaxy Zoo and do some identification. I have...
I leave you with these thoughts on the Universe...
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what
the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be
replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another
theory which states that this has already happened.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten
counting system and likes round numbers.
Scott Adams (1957 - )

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the
universe.
Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we
can imagine.
Sir Arthur Eddington (1882 - 1944)

This way

I only have this to say...

Love be still
Love be sweet
Don't you dare
Change a thing
I want to photograph you with my mind
To feel how I feel now all the time

[CHORUS]
Say that you'll stay
Forever this way
Forever and forever
That we'll never have to change
Don't move
Don't breathe
Don't change
Don't leave
And promise me
Say you'll stay
We'll stay
This way

I get afraid
Don't think ahead
Lets just stay
This way in bed
Feels so good inside your arms
Home is everywhere you are

[CHORUS]

Don't move
Don't breathe
Don't change
Don't leave
Promise me
We'll always be
This kind, this sweet
This good to me
Promise me
We'll always be
"We try to grab pieces of our lives as they speed past us. Photographs freeze those pieces and help us remember how we were. We don't know these lost people but if you look around, you'll find someone just like them." Gene McSweeney, Grey Water Photography, 06-04-2006

In my arms

Kylie, once again making hit material. She has grown as a performer and a person over the years... one of my all time favourites and not just because of her looks either. Her fortitude shown when she was diagnosed with cancer was amazing, I believe the positive outlook she had has been inspiring for women suffering from the same illness. One tough lady!

Here are the lyrics...
Kylie Minogue - In my arms

How do you describe a feeling?
I’ve only ever dreamt of this.

DJ’s spinning up my favorite song,
Hurry up and get a grove on.
Light fantastic and it won’t be long,
Don’t let the moment slip away.

‘Cause you and I could find a pleasure, no one else has ever known.
Feels like it is now or never, don’t want to be alone

How does it feel in my arms?
How does it feel in my arms?
Do you want it?
Do you need it?
Can you feel it?
Tell me.
How does it feel in my arms?

Got a feeling this is something strong.
All I wanna do is move on.
No more wondering where I belong.
So never go away.

‘Cause you and I are guilty pleasure, no one else has ever known.
Feels like it is now or never, don’t want to be alone.

How does it feel in my arms?
How does it feel in my arms?
Do you want it?
Do you need it?
Can you feel it?
Tell me.
How does it feel in my arms?

Do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do-do
Oh yeah, yeah

Do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do-do
Oh yeah, yeah

I’m listening.
How does it feel in my arms?
(How does it feel in my arms?)
How does it feel in my arms?
Yeah, yeah.
Do you want it?
Do you need it?
Can you feel it?
Tell me.
How does it feel in my arms?

This song reminds me of MD... I am glad I could hold her in my arms today and take some of the pain away.
“Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself.”
Leo F. Buscaglia 1924-1998

Love comes back from the lost

Love comes back - Tina Cousins
Stare at me
When you look what do you see
A world full of dollar or negativity, yes
I know
There are some things we can change
But I believe that people have the power to amaze

We spend our lives looking for the answers...
To the questions in our hearts..

But can we
Spread a little love
Spread a little life
Something wonderful happens deep inside
Love comes back… to you, to you (repeat)

Just a little hope and a little trust
And who knows it might just be enough
Love comes back... to you, to you (repeat)

Some say that we are living our last days
A world with no tomorrow
Is a cold and empty place, yeah?

I know
There are some thing’s we can't change
But I believe the future has the power to amaze…

We waste our lives waiting for the right time
And all just soon has passed us by

Why don't we
Spread a little love
Spread a little life
Something wonderful happens deep inside
Love comes back… to you, to you (repeat)

Just a little hope and a little trust
And who knows it might just be enough
Love comes back.. to you, to you (repeat)

I know
There are some things we can change
But I believe that people have the power to amaze...

Spread a little love
Spread a little life
Something wonderful happens deep inside
Just a little hope and a little trust
And who knows it might just be enough

Spread a little love
Spread a little life
Something wonderful happens deep inside
Just a little hope and a little trust
And who knows it might just be enough... (to fade)
A great song that has "gone missing" due to ownership wrangles, but the words have a very deeper meaning. Love, a word that describes so much, from the Love of God to a mothers love for her children. No wonder we sometimes get confused and think we are experiencing one kind when in fact it is another. Then there are times that we can give love in a multitude of ways at the same time. The big thing I believe is that we should love others as we love ourselves... but one can only love yourself when you realize that God loves you... unconditionally and completely... so much that He was willing to take your sins and die for them. All other love pales in comparison to that indescribable Love.
"If we could raise one generation with unconditional love, there would be no Hitlers. We need to teach the next generation of children from Day One that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear."
Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Don't cry for me Argentina

Wow... our reservations have been made... My passport application has been done... Missing ones have been found...
We are on our way to Argentina!
What was an idea a few months ago is now gaining momentum.
Now we just have to figure out what to do in the week at our disposal... Patagonia is a tad far and we are thinking of the Iguassu falls... so we can also say we saw what Indiana Jones saw!
Moon Dancer is booked to deliver a talk on tick resistance when she attends the TTP6 conference... then we have a week to explore, hoping to get a bike trip into the planning as well. I will be scouting Buenos Aires while she is kept busy with ticks...
We should also remember these wise words, but I think as bikers we should be able to travel light...
Will keep everyone posted as the planning etc. progresses.
"He who would travel happily must travel light."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 - 1944)

Thank You!

Psalm 34:5-7 (New International Version)
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
Well... after a about year our trials are over... well actually the trail part never realized but it was a trail in the other sense of the word. I am thankful that common sense prevailed in the end. Lessons were learnt and as always good has come out of this. I am now able to say with conviction that God listens to prayer. The amazing part was that even though things were sometimes not looking good I never doubted what the outcome would be. I learned to trust and lay my troubles in His hands... He promised to look after them so that I would not have to.
"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done."
1 Chronicles 16:8 (New International Version)

Miracles are out there

Awesome! I am so glad something is being done to assist all those brave "rough men" that have stood in harm's way for freedom. I salute you all on Memorial day.
"We honor our heroic and patriotic dead by being true men, as true men by faithfully fighting the battles of our day as they fought the battles of their day." David Gregg