Hello, Fish Hoek!

There’s a God. He’s there. I Am. He’s there. There’s no way any part of our lives, all of nature, all the universe, every circumstance, element, event, and thought could just “coincide” so perfectly: the whole complex magnitude of every happening and occurrence of this world couldn’t possibly be if there wasn’t a God. Think about it, could all the details and little things, all the improbable huge events of the world that come together to make your life happen the way it does, could every encounter between every person you meet on the street happen by chance? The complexity of life, everything it contains: emotionally, physically, psychologically, biologically, and every other –ally there is; does life and the happenings therein really occur by coincidence? Think about it, does the mere whim of Random Chance orchestrate the diverse and incredible courses of every single human life on the planet, every interaction between man and man, and does fortune and purposeless accidents manage this all simultaneously? A little far-fetched, maybe? Perhaps.

Still, I’m mentioning this because really, hey, only God could’ve brought all the scattered, fragmented ideas of our whole move down to Fish Hoek, Cape Town together. A few months ago I mentioned to a couple of friends that I couldn’t wait to see how God was going to work it all out. He did, by the way; He worked out every detail of the move perfectly. I don’t know why I’m surprised that He did; I mean, He always does! It’s incredible that He’s so powerful, mightier than our thoughts can begin to perceive.

Our house (in December, of all months) was sold for the asking price after being on the market for one week, we found a rental house in Fish Hoek a day later, a convenient and not-overly-expensive moving company was contracted to move our things, and after some last minute frenzied taping, bubble-wrapping, bottom-of-the-fridge-eating, and boxing, somewhat of an astronomically massive double-trailer moving truck arrived at our gate. The movers piled out and along with some of our friends, we all proceeded to cram 400+ boxes and bags and an inordinate amount of furniture into the aforesaid vehicle. The intricacies of balancing a rocking chair between eleven boxes, a piano, and an assortment of dismembered bunk-beds… delicate, crazy stuff. We did manage to get it all in at the end of the day, though, and it all worked out. The next day, Thursday the 29^th of December 2011, Anno Domini, we bid farewell to Barberton—the town of gold mines, jacaranda-lined avenues, quiet walks, good friends, and magnificent mountains—and set off on the three-day trip to the southernmost tip of Africa.

It was a great drive down. South Africa has some of the most diverse scenery you can imagine, and we saw a good deal of it. Driving past endless fields of tobacco, cacti, fruit orchards, melons, and hay; winding through the bleak, brown-grass hillocks of the Karoo Desert, meandering amongst huge masses of shale and granite mountains, brushed with wildflowers; flying across the country beneath the stretching, high dome of a huge blue, cloud-smeared sky… it was breathtaking.

We rolled into Fish Hoek (a suburb south of the actual city of Cape Town, on the southern peninsula) on Saturday afternoon, the 31^st of December 2011. One of our good friends from our Mozambique years, Mrs. Christine Hallet, very hospitably and graciously let us invade her flat for the weekend until the truck with our things arrived. We spent New Year’s Eve on the beach.

Sunday, January 1^st (Happy New Year, everyone!), came with a glorious sunrise and a view of the two craggy peaks between which Fish Hoek is nestled. A stirring sermon by Mr. Eric McCochran, great fellowship at Medway Community Church, lunch with new friends, a little more touring of Fish Hoek, and a windswept beach completed the day.

Monday the 2^nd brought the general upheaval of the arrival of the first part of the moving truck, its gush of boxes and furniture into our rental house (a small, airy affair with open rooms and an array of live snails patrolling the garden), and surprisingly quick organization of belongings and beds into their proper places. Tuesday was general finding-our-feet and walking around town to acquaint ourselves with strategically-placed coffee shops, banks, little kiosks and stores, and supermarkets, not to mention testing the death-tempting intersections of traffic that were nearly comparable with downtown Maputo in non-rush hour. Tons of fun. On Wednesday the 4^th, the second half of our furniture and boxes arrived, more sorting and unpacking followed, and everyone had a bed of their own that night; a blessing in itself.

Day followed day pretty swiftly after that, and before we knew it, my siblings were about to start school. My mom marched off determinedly to a dozen stationery stores and three malls with five school supply lists, and came back with thirty-plus bags of every possible school-related material known to humankind. My brothers and sisters were taken over to the uniform shop, and the two assistants (poor creatures) were run off their feet for three hours while my siblings were kitted out in regulation apparel. The result was five white-and-red-clad students with drastically-loaded schoolbags. The first day of school was a success with nervous faces entering the school building and exuberant ones coming out, yelling "It's so much fun! We love it!"

And so, for now, although the house is still a little messy with several almost-empty boxes, almost-tidy closets, and electricians and uniform/swimsuit-clad siblings running about; quite frankly, it’s beginning to feel like home. Isn’t God awesome? Looking out now at the cloud-and-mountain-fringed horizon, one realizes anew just how present He is in our lives, just how wonderful, powerful, and faithful He is. “Oh, taste and see that God is good!” Oh, He is so good. “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” He is! He is a refuge for us. He’s provided us a home here in Fish Hoek, He’s blessed us with friends already, He’s given us better schooling opportunities for my siblings, a new ministry position for my dad, a better climate and a much-needed change of setting for my mom; He has indeed given us “a future and a hope.”

So, to conclude, I’m very thankful to announce that, by God’s grace, Fish Hoek, Cape Town is house and home to the Petersons. You’re more than welcome to visit any time.