Midnight meanderings…#2
Driving everyday to LCC along the r27, I am still getting a massive kick out of catching my morning’s initial glimpse of Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain. I’m not 100% sure if “glimpse” is the correct word in attempting to describe something as large and over-bearing as our city’s “defender”, but it is almost an impossible feat to find the adequate terminology which would convey it’s impressiveness…so I’ll stick with “glimpse” out of sheer laziness if you don’t mind. Anyway, I digress. What I am trying to get at is that the mother city is quickly growing on me. I’m not sure if it’s in the fact that the mountain frames nearly every aspect of city life, whether it’s the extreme friendliness of the Life Changers people or if it’s just in that I can drive recklessly in traffic and just shrug my shoulders and point to my Durban number plate when anyone hoots angrily at me! But whatever it is, I’m already finding Cape Town to be a pretty pleasant place to live.
However, being a relative new-comer, I have found there has been a few hiccups in my translating of the Cape Tonian dialect, so in order to save anyone else any miscommunication blushes, I felt compelled to share a couple of my discoveries on a few very common words and phrases that one new to this city may not understand straight away:
“Lank” =adjective describing any situation or circumstance that is in extreme in quantity or nature *use in a sentence= “it is lank hot today”
“Decent”=word used to give your agreement when involved in a one-sided conversation (often accompanied by vigorous nodding)
“You want to go for coffee?”= sentence loosely translated as, “I have something serious to talk to you about”
“Please come to our house for a meal (steak, pork chops, prawns)”= sentence not heard nearly enough
While, the new “language” barrier may be providing some confusion to me, the Lord’s voice is still very clear. Life Changers Church is at a pivotal place in its history, and I (among alot of others) am becoming more and more convinced that we as a church have a massive role to play in determining our city’s future. As the calendar flips over onto the final week of January in a couple days time, we are embarking on a church fast. My desire is that during this time, God’s voice would be heard louder and clearer than ever before as we put our ears close to his chest, to hear his heart beat. As someone famous once said (I forget who at the moment), “I want to hear him when he shouts…I want to hear him when he speaks…I want to hear him when he whispers…but most of all, I want to hear his heart beat”.
This next week you won’t need a dictionary or thesaurus to understand what God’s saying to you…all you need is an empty stomach, an open heart and a listening ear.
“Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” (1.Samuel.3)
Gabe Phillips
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Comments
“Jallaps” …a word used to describe a person or friend with hair and personality similar to the characters of a chilli…
You always loved you pork chops
Also frequently heard , especially on Sunday mornings:
“irregardless” – meaning ‘for sure’. Keep ears peeled for other ‘wallyisms’
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