EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption! Sign the Global Call

EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption has launched their 'Global Call Action tool'.

If you follow me on this blog PLEASE add your name to the Global Call!

What is the Global Call?

The Global Call is an appeal from Christians around the world who represent ordinary citizens to leaders of the most economically powerful nations in the world (the G20). You can find out more about the G20 nations at www.g20.org

Signing the Call is easy but we need millions of names to make a powerful impact, so once you’ve signed, personally ask 5 more people to sign as well and spread the word at school or work or college. 

You can do it online or sign a hardcopy version, or use the mobile phone text option if it is available in your country. 

What does the Global Call Say?

It asks decision makers from the G20 to take definite steps towards openness in financial transactions. This will help to stop bribery and tax avoidance. 

We call on you, as leaders of the world’s largest economies, to take practical steps that promote greater transparency in the financial affairs of business, government and individuals.

We are concerned that the tax evasion activities of some multinational companies and individuals as well as the corrupt use of funds by government officials, are having adverse effects on the world’s poorest people.

Please increase the ability of citizens worldwide to hold their own governments to account for the revenue they receive from taxes and all other payments, helping to ensure that resources are shared fairly and all people have the opportunity to flourish. 

In the months leading up to EXPOSED in October, please encourage friends, family, people at work or college and everyone at church to sign. 

The 2013 Cape Argus Cycle Tour (with Megan and my Brompton M6L)!

Yesterday my darling Megan and I rode the Cape Argus Cycle tour.  The weather was just perfect (perhaps a little hot, but beautiful!) the secenery was awesome, and it was just fantastic to spend the time with her!

My seeded start time was 6.48 (K group), however, I started with her and a friend from Church in PA group at 9.28.  We got lots of comments on the Brompton as we rode - it was an absolute star.  Not a single hickup, small wheels around the coast! 110km of pure bicycling fun.  

Here's a picture of us at the start of the race.

The hills were not too bad - although I do realise that I am a little fitter than many other riders. The lowest gear was not quite low enough for an easy spin up Edinburgh Drive or Smitswinkel, and since I was giving my darling wife a 'little push' it took a little more energy.  By the time I reached Suikerbossie I was having to dig a little deeper!  Ha ha! But, we passed lots of riders with BIG wheels and LOTS of gears!

Here's a picture of me with the folded Brompton standing on the side wall about 3/4 way up Chapmans Peak. I had been poking fun at the other riders for 'cheating' with too many gears and wheels that were too large!

I am so proud of my darling wife! She rode very well.  This is her second Argus (she last rode almost a decade ago).  It was my 11th ride. Megan was strong and didn't complain at all. It was so special to share this time with her, both the training and the actual race itself.

We both commented that we just don't spend enough time enjoying the beauty around Cape Town! We live here! But, we tend to get busy with everything else.

You can check out the race route and a few other details on my Endomondo data below.

The first principle and foundation

This weekend I had the joy of spending some time with the men in my Christian forum group. This is a group that offers both care for the journey, as well as support and accountability along the way. You can find out more about The Network of Christian Forums here.

To structure our retreat together I introduced my friends to St Ignatius' First Principle and Foundation. It is a powerful reminder to keep one's spiritual life centered on what matters most, and out of that to bless God and the world. Perhaps it could encourage you?

The Goal of our life is to live with God forever.

God, who loves us, gave us life.
Our own response of love allows God's life to flow into us without limit.

All the things in this world are gifts from God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.

As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us to develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal.

In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation.

We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.

For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our one choice should be this:

I want and I choose what better leads to God's deepening his life in me.

Franco and Sophie - a story of grace

God gave me a wonderful gift this week. It has been an exceptionally busy couple of months with my work at 'EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption', Unashamedly Ethical and the University. Between travel, meetings, conference calls, speaking engagements, writing and supervision I hardly felt like I was touching sides.

The busyness of life has a way of drawing me away from what matters most. I begin to adopt a functional, rather than a reflective, orientation towards life. My days are spent on tasks rather than prayer and people. This can quickly lead to disconnection from God and God's wonderful world, and the people in it.

Last week was no different. We had a great contact week with our Master of Theology students who are doing the course in missional spirituality. Rev Trevor Hudson and Prof Robert Vosloo came and did the input sessions with our students. I sat in on most of the lectures, and also spent time with the individual students and the group helping them to work towards their research tasks and assignments. At the end of the week the examinations began for the group of students from last year's MTh course. In all 12 students had an opportunity to give a defence of their Masters research projects. This is an exciting time where the students present their ideas and the faculty (lecturers) get to engage with them. Whilst it is an exam, it is also a great time of learning and sharing.

On Monday afternoon one of my Masters students did his defence and did a great job. He has passed and will get his degree. It felt good to celebrate this significant milestone with him! However, as I left the University to rush home in order to go onto a conference call with colleagues in the UK for EXPOSED my mind was already focussed on tasks.

I drove out of Stellenbosch and as I passed Stellenbosch square I saw two people on the side of the road, a young boy and his mother. The mother was clearly very drunk. In fact, she was so drunk that she could not stand or walk without stumbling. She was dangerously close to the moving cars and her little son was applying all of his weight to try and pull her out of the road. My heart was touched. Seeing a little 6 year old boy struggling to help his mother in this situation left me very bruised. So, I turned my car around to the other side of the road and stopped to pick them up.

God had given me the gift of Franco and Sophie. Franco is six years old and has just started school. Sophie is his mother. Her husband died of HIV/AIDS a while ago and she has a drinking problem. Franco was trying to help his mother home.

After I had put Sophie in the front seat of the car, and get Franco securely fastened in the back (in Liam's 'booster seat') I took them home. I discovered that Franco has a brother - he is 9 years old. How sad it is that these two boys bear the responsibility of caring for themselves and their mother. Of course this event touched a very tender part of my own life and brought back memories from my early childhood.

I couldn't do too much for them. After getting Sophie and Franco safely home we talked for a while. I first spoke with Sophie about her life and her struggles. I encouraged her to seek help and prayed with her. It was a hopelessly inadequate response to this very serious situation. I then spent some time with Franco. I told him how beautiful and brave he is. I reminded him that God had made him a very special boy and that God has a wonderful plan for his life! I reminded him that he is loved and that God had sent me to collect him and his mom that afternoon. All that I had in the car to give him was an apple, a banana and one of Liam's story books. He was over the moon with the book.

Franco and Sophie have been living in my heart and mind all of this week. As I go to meetings, as I meet people, as I speak at events, as I plan, as I write, as I pray... God has given me a gift. It is a sad gift, but it is important.

The Bible says "Learn to do what is right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow" (Isaiah 1.17)

Please can I ask you to pray for Franco, Sophie and Franco's little brother? Please ask God to care for them. Please pray that Sophie will find the help that she needs, and the Franco and his brother will be spared from neglect or abuse. Please pray that they may reach the beauty of potential that God has placed in them. Please don't make the mistake that I make and get so busy that you neglect the opportunity to be wounded by suffering.

There are changes afoot in my life

The last few weeks have been a time intense discernment. I have a desire only to do that which is most honoring God and most profitable for God's Kingdom. However, my perspective of what I and my family need, my own struggle with the desire to be of some significance, and the buzz of attention around me makes hearing the voice of God rather difficult. But, I try.

This quote inspires me:

There was no answer, except life’s usual answer to the most complex and insoluble questions. The answer is this: live from day to day; in other words, forget.

Leo Tolstoy; Anna Karenina

What a wonderful blessing it is to be loved by my darling wife and precious children, to be cared for and encouraged by family and friends, to belong to the body of Christ, and to know that all of my life is shielded in God's grace.

A great 70km ride with my wife!

So my wife Megan and I went for our 70km ride this morning.  It was pouring with rain, but since we get so few opportunities to ride together we decided that we would ride regardless.  It was wonderful! I am so proud of Megan - she rode very strong for the whole 70km!  I think she is going to have a very comfortable 110km Argus ride in a few weeks time.

Today I decided to ride with her on Darth (Vader!) my Black M6L Brompton.  It was great to have 6 gears instead of just the 3 gears on Doris.  The bike was so comfortable.  I realise that I am a little fitter than some riders and accustomed to doing longer rides in tougher terrain (sometimes more than a hundred km on dirt on my mountainbike), but this bike is just so easy to ride! It rolled up (and down) the hills around Cape Town.  Shifting the gears does take a little getting used to.  On my old Brompton I have to pedal backwards to change gears on the 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub.  On this bike it seems that I don't need to pedal backwards, I just need to freewheel in order to change the 3 gears in the internal hub.  Then, (for those who don't know) there are two sprokets externally mounted on the hub (as opossed to 1 on the M3L).  The larger (upper) cog is naturally for higher cadence (easier gearing) while the smaller (lower) cog is for lower cadence and harder gears.

I changed gears in this way - imagine that you are riding up a steep hill (from the Lord Charles Hotel on the R44 up towards Steynsrust on the Stellenbosch road).  You start in your hardest gear (i.e., lower cadence and highest speed) = 3rd gear in the hub, smaller cog at the back.  I would call this 6th gear.  As the hill gets steeper you change from the small external cog to the large external cog (left hand shifter).  You are still in 3rd gear in the hub.  This is 5th gear.  Then to shift down you drop the internal gear from 3rd to 2nd in the hub using the right hand shifter (freewheeling), and shift from the large cog to the small cog using the left shifter (this is 4th gear)... 

The challenge is that since you have to freewheel to shift the internal hub gears, but need to pedal forward to change the external cog gears, there is always a little space between your current gear and the gear you want to be in (e.g., 6th and 5th) where you are in the wrong gear. 

Still, I got used to it quite quickly and was shifting up and down without any hassles.  The gears are wonderfully spaced! My lowest gear (1st) is fine for the hills and climbs around Cape Town, and the highest gear (6th) is OK for most descents.  If I was riding on my own I think I would have run out of top gears on my descents.

A few other things I noticed with the M6L is that the Brompton Green tires are very nice.  They roll very smoothly, and as any seasoned cyclist will know - riding in the rain most frequently results in punctures (since you cannot see glass, nails, stones and other things that can cause punctures).  These tires were bullet proof!  Super!

So, all in all a great ride with my wife! A great ride on my Brompton.

If you're interested in seeing the Garmin data from this morning's ride take a look below.

Doris the Brompton Bicycle has a brother!

Doris the (yellow) Brompton has a younger brother!

Darth (Vader!) arrived from the UK yesterday!

Darth is a near mint 2011 M6L Brompton that I bought secondhand from Richard. Darth is a black beauty! In this picture my daughter Courtney is riding Doris and my wife Megan is riding Darth!

I can’t wait to take Darth out for a nice long ride this weekend. The extra gears will certainly help on the hills around Stellenbosch and Somerset West! Darth has 6 gears, whereas Doris only has 3.

Darth also came with a Brompton C bag which is awesome! I sold my iPhone 4 to pay for Darth - a good trade in my opinion.

Why Darth!? Well a black beast like this has to have a strong name - so Darth Vader seemed fitting! Plus it starts with a ‘D’ and fits nicely alongside Doris.

Now I know of 3 Bromptons in South Africa - my two in Cape Town and one other owned by a colleague from the University of Pretoria who is living in George (I think his wife may also have one, so there could be 4!?)

This weekend my wife Megan and I will do a little bit more training for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay cycle tour which takes place on the 10th of March.  Megan's fitness is coming along very nicely! She rode an Argus about a decade ago and did nicely.

I'm fortunate to have done 11 Argus rides over the years - the 110km ride along the coastline of Cape Town is spectacular.  There are few places in the world that are as beautiful.  In addition to this, the spirit of the close to 40 thousand timed riders is magnificent!

Since Darth (my M6L Brompton folding bike) has arrived from the UK I will be doing the training ride on him tomorrow.  There are lots of hills around Cape Town, so have 6 gears on Darth (as opposed to the 3 gears or Doris) is a great blessing! Although, I will confess that the Schwalbe Kojak tires on Doris, and the 13 year old Sturmey Archer rear hub, are much smoother than the Brompton treaded tires and 6 speed Shimano hub on Darth! I also prefer my brown leather Brooks saddle on Doris for the longer rides (tomorrow we will do 70 km).  But, it is important to get some time in the saddle of the bike that I will ride on the day!

Training for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay cycle tour on a Brompton Folding Bicycle!

If you want to follow my progress towards this year's Cape Argus cycle tour on my Brompton then please see my Brompton tumblr blog for more pictures and details about my training and my gear at http://capetownbrompton.tumblr.com

I planned to join some friends for a long road ride this morning on my 'full size' steel frame bike (we planned to do 75km).  I put the new slicks onto the bike yesterday evening and got my gear ready last night.

This morning I woke at 5.30 as planned and went out to my garage to get the Diamondback only to find that I must have pinched the tube on the front wheel when I put the new tires on!  So, the front wheel was flat.

So, even though I had not intended to ride Doris my Brompton folding bike on this ride I quickly popped back inside and fetched her! 

It was a beautiful ride this morning.  I only did 60 km because I needed to be home by 8.45am so that I could take care of my kids while my wife went out to run a course with some young folks from our Church.

I rode from my home near Beaumont Primary school in Somerset West up Old Stellenbosch road (it is not quite as steep as Irene, and only have 3 gears is a bit of a handicap on the Cape Town hills!) I met the other guys, Graham Power and Graham Vermooten, at the Steynsrust bridge.  Both of them have beautiful full carbon road bikes. We then went on to the R44.  It quickly became clear that my gearing and little wheels simply would not match their gears and super light bikes!  I couldn't get low enough gears on the hills to climb comfortably, and ran out of gears on the downhills.

Along the way to Stellenbosch the Wannabees road group caught us.  You should have heard the comments from the seriously kitted out, and seriously fit riders! "Hey, you've lost half your bike", "Is that a toy?", "Did you loose a bet or something?"

Still, I managed to stick with the group up to the Stellenbosch airfield.  When we got to De Kleine Zalze I said to Graham P and Graham V that they should go ahead and not hang about for me.  I think they went out to Klapmuts.  I would have loved to stay with them but knew I couldn't keep up!

So, I turned at Dorp Street and headed out towards Polkadraai, and then turned towards Spier Wine Estate (this photo was taken at that turn).  From there I rode to Zetler road past the Strawberry farm, back onto the R44, over the top of Steynsrust to the beach and back home to Somerset West.  The climb up towards Bredell road on the R44 was not too bad at all.  I dropped to my lowest gear and just turned the pedals.  It did mean that I passed quite a few less fit riders (I'm sure seeing a Brompton pass you is not all that much fun!)  But, I have to keep my cadence up to keep moving forward!  The ride past the beach was beautiful, but very windy! 

The Southeaster pumps in Strand at this time of the year - good training for the Argus.  A few years ago I rode in the 'Cape of Storms' Argus (that was the year I met Matt Damon (him on the right and me on the left of this picture - he was in South Africa for the filming of the movie Invictus and rode the Cape Argus Cycle tour for the MAD (Make A Difference) charity).  The wind was so strong that many people never completed the ride that year.  So a bit of headwind training is always welcome!

I am constantly amazed at how well this little bike handles the long distances and the steep climbs!

But, if the truth be told, I will probably ride my mountainbike or my old steel frame Diamondback with slicks if I am going to ride in a group.  No matter how fit you are you will struggle to keep up with other strong riders on their full carbon, super light, 20 plus speed road bikes!

digitaldion:

An early morning ride. Such beauty! Such fun! #brompton #brooks #cows #Stellenbosch - (at Vredenheim Wine Farm)

FNB #littlehelps - you can help! South Africa needs you

This morning I heard that the African National Congress was having an urgent meeting with First National Bank because of their advert 'You can help'.  

Their press statement expressed dismay that the Bank would put together an advert of this nature, and in true political heavy-handedness they are seeking to 'engage' the bank.  I wish it was to engage the bank to hear how they can improve governance, how they clean up their public image, and how they can better serve the nation.  But, sadly it is not.  The press points out that they are meeting with FNB to chastize them for expressing their concern about what is happening in our nation and asking the citizens of the nation to stand up and make a difference, in spite of the governing party and the government.

I think it is great that citizens and big business are taking a stand! This is our nation, as well as theirs, together we can make a difference!

Here's the advert - you can help!

#littlehelps What a powerful video! I also believe that we can make this nation great again, in spite of greed, corruption and power hungry politicians and citizens. I want to help! If you do to, then see youcanhelp.co.za

As for me, I am not going to sit back.  I want to help.  I hope you'll join me! Below are two more movements that I am part of that I believe can make a difference:

• Unashamedly Ethical - http://www.unashamedlyethical.com
• EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption http://www.exposed2013.com

It is time to wake up to the cost of corruption!

Corruption has a name, poverty has a face, and we have a voice! This is the slogan for our anti-corruption campaign, EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption.

Transparency International has just release this very powerful video that illustrates the cost of corruption for both the perpetrator and the victim.  It is very powerful, and only 1 minute long!

I want to urge you not to be silent about corruption! The Prophet Isaiah reminds us to:

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. (Isaiah 1.17 NLT)

Please join us by signing up for EXPOSED - add your voice, don't be silent!

We have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we...

There is so much to love about this quote!

Grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

~ G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy via invisibleforeigner.

Converting a regular sim card to a micro sim or nano sim for the iPad mini or iPhone 5

Some time ago I put a post on my blog showing how one can convert a regular sim card into a Micro Sim for use in an iPad or iPhone 4 (then the iPad 2 or iPhone 4) - you can read that original post here.

Since then Apple has released the lovely little iPad Mini and the brand new iPhone 5.  Recently when I was in New York for business I played with the iPad mini - it is a lovely device, however, I will sticking to my 'regular sized' iPad for the next while.  The screen size works for me and the kinds of things I need to do with my iPad (it is often my only 'travel' computer for email, creating documents, doing presentations, surfing the web, reading etc.)

However, I decide to upgrade my trusty old iPhone 4 to a new 'white' iPhone 5.  I have been using my iPhone 4 for over two years now and the 'home button' was no longer working as it should.

I bought my iPhone at the 5th Avenue Apple Store just near Central Park and headed back to where I was staying at Alma Matthews House to figure out if I could convert my Micro sim (that used to be a regular sim!) into the new smaller Nano Sim that the iPhone 5 requires.

The good news is that it is easily done!  Of course the standard disclaimer applies - if you mess up your sim card (which is very possible) that is your own doing I'm afraid and I won't be able to help you.  You will have to go to your cellphone carrier and do a sim swap to a new sim card and pay what is required.

Here's what you'll need:

• A computer with an internet connection to download the PDF document from Point 1 below (that shouldn't be a problem if you are reading this post ;-)
• A printer and A4 paper to print the PDF guidelines you will use to measure and cut your sim card (see point 1 below if you don't have a printer or A4 paper).
• A rule with a straight hard edge.
• A pair of scissors or a sharp knife. Handle with care! Fingers are more precious than sim cards!
• A marker or even a pencil to mark the lines along which you will cut.

So, here are the steps that I followed.

1.  Download this PDF document and print it at 100% size on an A4 page.  That is important! It must be printed at 100% since the measuring that you will do is to scale, if you print it larger or smaller your cut will not be accurate and you could damage your sim card.

Just a little note - I did not have a printer or A4 paper while I was in New York (my printer and paper were back in Cape Town...) So, all that I did was to open the PDF on my laptop screen, made sure that the PDF was displayed at 100% in the PDF viewer (I use Apple Preview, but you can also use Adobe - just make sure that it is displaying the PDF at 100%). I held my Sim card against the screen (actually I turned my laptop so that the screen was on the carpet and the 'bottom (keyboard etc.)' was against the wall, and put the sim on the measurements on the screen, marked it with a pencil (since I also did not have a marker pen) and then cut it!)  I am a little braver than most!

2.  If you have downloaded the PDF and printed it on an A4 page at 100% simply follow the steps for converting your regular sim card, or micro sim card to a nano sim card.  Remember to measure twice and cut once! It pays in the long run!

3.  The nano sim is actually a little thinner (not only smaller) than a regular sim card.  Most people have been able to simply cut their sim card and insert it.  I did, however, use the sharp edge of my pair of scissors to 'shave' the pain off the top of my newly cut sim card to make it thinner.  Of course if you could get some fine sandpaper that would work much better.  Just be extremely careful not to shave through the back of your sim card and damage the electronics on the other side!  So, just take off very little at a time, test it, and then redo if it still does not fit.

I went from New York to Paris, and then on to London.  In all locations I bought prepaid 'Vodafone' regular sized sim cards, cut and 'shaved' them and put them into my iPhone 5 to use for email, phone calls, texts, skype and of course the most important of all - google maps!

I hope this helps you! Enjoy your new iPad Mini or iPhone 5 and let me know how it goes!