From my heart

It is easy to become discouraged and depressed, when we look at the recent shootings in France, the State Capture in Southern Africa, the seemingly carefree spending and corruption of governments, Europe being over-run by demanding asylum seekers. Where is this going to end? Is it ever going to end or are we hurtling towards another war? Many doomsday preachers say that the end of the world is close. I do not know if it is, too many people have said it is through the ages. However, when we look at certain scriptures it certainly does look like it: Matthew 24   6"You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened,    for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.    7"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in  various places there will be famines and earthquakes.… It also said in this chapter that the end will not come until the Good News has been preached...

The heresy of worshiptainment | Mike Livingstone : "More recently, David Platt has asked: “What if we take away the cool music and the cushioned chairs? What if the screens are gone and the stage is no longer decorated? What if the air conditioning is off and the comforts are removed? Would His Word still be enough for his people to come together?” (Radical)"

Christmas is the time of year when families get together and have fun. It is the time when billions are spent by consumers, succumbing to the perfect marketing strategies of the chain stores, just to bring 'joy' to the world!  Christmas is also the most lonely time for the elderly, homeless and orphaned. While we enjoy our meals and presents, please remember those that have not, and remember what the "Joy to the world" actually means.

We went fishing again ... and learnt some life lessons. Easter Weekend my wife and one son went to a training camp, so my other boys and I went fishing on Saturday. Being Easter Weekend we got shown away at a resort because it was full and at the next resort we got place in the bundu (bush). It really was not a good spot to fish because of the tall grass on the riverbank, water hyacinths drifting over the lines and the build up of algae (like pea soup).  We brought several kinds of bait and flavourants and were sure that we are going to catch something. Diagonally across from us there were some fishermen camping. Obviously they were there for the weekend. And they were striking and pulling out fish regularly. They were casting towards our side of the riverbank, about 30m from where we were. So we were hopeful. But we caught nothing, some good bites, lots of bait lost, one line lost when Hedrik cast right across the river and ran out of line unexpectedly. Quite frustr...

Maputo 6/1/2014 Temperatures were in the high 30s when I went for lunch, I guess about 37C. Even walking from the office to the restaurant was torture. Sprawled between two parked vehicles, his head barely in the shade I saw him. He could not have been there last night, otherwise the vehicles would not have parked the way they did. He was laying in an awkward position, somewhat on his back, with his upper body resting on his left side, left arm slung out and the other resting on his body. He is very still, and from where I am walking I cannot see whether he is breathing or not. In the full sun, head barely in the shade.  Locals were passing by, as I was, on all side, perhaps casting a cursory glance in his direction. A traffic policeman merely 20m away from him, surely he must have seen him, someone must have told him. And I felt just like one of the travelers passing by the injured man on the road to Jerusalem. Who is going to be his Samaritan? He is laying ...

Last Sunday we went fishing with the boys. It was a quiet place with a lot of fish. Our neighbor caught a couple whilst we were there and we could see them jumping.   But obviously the fish were not hungry as we were trying all the different baits and techniques we could muster. In order to get some quiet time, I moved a bit away from the rest and just sat there contemplating nature and allowing the Lord to speak to me. I sat next to the long grass and the birds were flitting about 2 meters from me. Then I asked the Lord: "It is obvious that there are fish, big fish in this bond, why are not event getting a single bite?" And after a while the answer came: "I AM still in control, trust Me, you are trying too hard, I have not yet released the fish to you" So what now, do I keep on fishing? Do I go to another pond or dam? Do I change the bait, or do I stop fishing altogether? These are the questions that kept me busy this week, and every time I get th...

Our minds do weird things when we are confronted the the possibility of impending death or suffering.  Technically I was not in that situation, but the doctor gently urged me to do an abdominal sonar. And there was some concern in his voice. Why? Because the hepatitis tests proved to be negative, I did not squirm with pain when he did a pressure test on my gall bladder, and we have a family history of pancreas cancer. So until I had the scan done my mind went on weird and long overgrown paths. I contemplated life, and death, and what lies in between. I made sure that I had the contact details of my life insurance agents at hand in order to contact them if necessary. Late one night, when I could not sleep, due to discomfort and worry, I thought about my epitaph.  What would it be? And the words came to me...  "He worked himself to death".  Thinking about that, it shocked me, but I know it is true! He worked himself to death. I allowed work to consu...

This week I am thinking a lot about family. All of us are born to a biological family, but not all of us belong to our biological families. Some of us grew up with our biological families, but never became friends, some of us grew up with adopted families, some of us never had families to call our own. Families are also not always a safe place, look at Cain killed Abel, Jacob stole from Esau.   But it is not always blood and DNA that makes us family.  Family are those that accepts you, that want you in their lives, that love you, that support you. Take care of your family!

Some time ago I wrote a post about   Being Real  and this is sort of a continuation of that. Recently I wrote a post about why we should not celebrate Christmas.. And along the same lines there are arguments about having Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday, and keeping the Jewish feasts, and only eating certain foods or discounting certain parts of the Bible, or having scientific proof that God exists. But does all of this really matter? Really? Why should we care about celebrating Christmas of not? Or on what day we rest? Or what we eat? Is it that important that we start fights about it, even wars! No wonder that non-Christians look at us with skepticism. Christians are the most flaky, hypocritical and indecisive people I have come across. We judge each other, we kill each other, we steal and slander. And all that because we have forgotten what is important! We have forgotten why we call ourselves Christian (recently I choose not to call myself Christian ...

In recent years I have been becoming alarmed at the increasing commercialization of Christmas and the exploitation of the event. I have known for years that 25th December is not the day on which Jesus was born. So why are we celebrating it? For me as a child and somewhat through my adult life, Christmas was a day of expectation, presents, feasting on special food and family. I accepted presents as part of the feast, and the decorated tree, and Christmas carols, and festive decorations in the house. But the Jews do not have a feast for birthdays, neither the Romans of the time. However, around December 17-25 (Julian calendar) there was a feast of  Saturnalia  in honor of the deity Saturn. The feast included the leveling of social custom and hierarchy, feasting, gift giving and sacrifice. Around the 4th century CE the Christians of the time incorporated the feast and especially 25th December  into the calendar hoping to attract 'pagans' to Christianity if they...

Bearing false witness, lies, slander and gossiping .... In South Africa we are having our fair share of high profile court cases, in fact the Oscar Pretorius media circus just ended, and there are a couple more on the way. And in a couple of them the judge questioned the integrity of some of the witnesses, meaning that he thinks they are lying.  And who does not like a juicy story, right from the source who  heard it from a friend's cousin, twice removed on her mother's side that works close to the source's secretary. And the embellishment when we spread that story as the truth! Or we are telling the truth, as we see it, to someone not entitled to the information. Our viewpoint, our interpretation told to eager ears. False witness started wars (the Gulf War?), got people killed, burned at the stake, caused people to loose their jobs, loose their integrity, loose their trust, or cause family break-ups. And why is it happening? Because you want to satisfy your...

Gauteng is one of the most populous and industrious provinces in South Africa, and I suppose it also has the highest incidence of industrial water pollution and wastage. It is therefore not surprising that parts of Johannesburg are without water for two (2) weeks or more now. Because of ...? drought, wastage, mismanagement of infrastructure, lack of maintenance, who knows? And the people are struggling! Those with swimming pools and bore-holes can still manage somewhat, but what about those that do not have the resources like swimming pools, boreholes, money to buy water, what are they to do? Steal water from the church? Yes, with all the wastage and pollution it might as well be a Finger-pointing from God!  But really Pastor, turning wine into water? I have no doubt that Jesus performed miracles, and that miracles are still being performed today ... but only to the glory of God.  But to have people arrested because they were making tea with 'holy water...

Being real! I just love this video! It is real on so many levels! The world expects of us as Christians to act like monks and nuns. Cloistered away, no use to the world. But this nun surprised the judges (world)! As Christians we should be the salt of the earth, not hidden away, living among the people, showing them that we are real, that we are not holier-than-thou, that we are still human. However, we have one difference, we know God.

67 South Africans killed at T.B. Joshua's building collapse First of all my condolences to all the families that lost family members in the building collapse. But like the rest of the world, I would like to ask what happened there? TB Joshua under pressure over fatal church collapse Just what happened there whilst people were praying? Is there any truth in the claims of a plane crashing into the building? Or is the most likely explanation the collapse of the building due to unauthorized building alterations? Image from http://www.sundayworld.co.za/ So let us look at what happened and what is the impact. On a material level the building collapsed, it is a fact. Apparently it was the multi-story hostel that collapsed. This can be due to structural weakening (plane crash of unauthorized extensions to the building or inferior materials used by the builder) On a spiritual level this is fuzzy/confusing. Why would God allow this? Why ...

Don't you think that pop idols / musicians sometimes think too much of themselves. They start to sing, obtain some kind of following (sometimes thousands of supporters), and then they start to think that they can command and rule. But this stunt of Kanye West wanting everybody to stand before he sings a song is bizarre, he even sent his bodyguards to see why the people in wheelchairs are not standing! Come on, Kanye ,  you are not God,  you can loose your talent! http://www.channel24.co.za/Gossip/News/Kanye-West-tells-fans-in-wheelchairs-to-stand-up-20140915 But South Africa also have its own bevy of divas in the music world. There are those that question certain songs on a CD during a joint project, and those that drop songs from CDs because the inclusion of certain songs are questioned. Then we have a couple that think that they are above the law. Come back to earth, your head is going to explode (maybe it should, then you are normal sized again). But the worst...

Myth: God will not give us more than we can handle... It is on my mind this morning. Something that has been imprinted on our minds ... God will not give us more than we can handle. People say it to one another when others are struggling, when they try to encourage others. But is it really true? Try encouraging the parents of a severely autistic child, or the parents who locked their autistic twins in the basement, or the mom that tried to kill her autistic daughter.  What about the autistic people themselves? Some know that they are hurting, that they are different, that they are being mistreated, but they cannot express themselves, those that do are being ignored.  God will not give us more  than we can handle... Where does that come from? Why are we still spreading this nonsense? 1 Corinthians 10:13  talks about being tempted or tested and with every test God is give a way out. But it does not say the God will n...

So, we were created in God's own image, but what are we doing about it?

There was no wind blowing when I stood on the balcony this morning. Everything was quiet! The view towards the mountain was crisp and clear. I did not hear a thing. It was like the whole city and nature was pausing, waiting. The I remembered the bit I read earlier this week; He says, " Be still, and know that I am God ; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10 And in that moment I wished that I was on that mountain, just me and God, looking out over the city, spending time with Him. I am too busy, I rush from home to work and back, keeping myself busy, not really making time to be quiet. Thinking about it, the only time I can really get quiet and spend time with God, is when I am in nature. So what am I to do? So how can I be still with noise around me? Sometimes I just crave a little bit of quietness in a rushed day, and God says "Be still, and know that I am God".  It just struck me, He did not say "seek sile...

In South Africa and world-wide I believe there is a decline in active church membership. (I read an article about it and quite often there are newspaper headlines to the affect).  For some churches it is obvious why the members are leaving, others are less obvious. So I started looking for the reasons (what applies to me as well to others) People leave church when they can’t find community. Finding a new community to fit into can be a frustrating experience. Staying in a place where you do not feel part of the community is deadening. Even if the sermons are Spirit filled and Godly, a church without community will not keep people. It is like going to a show every Sunday, nodding to the people around you and leaving as soon as it is over. Community tends to draw people in, to get them involved, to make them feel wanted. People leave church because they need less drama in their lives. Believe it or not, but churches are full of drama, church members fight with each oth...

During the time that Jesus spent on earth, He healed a lot of people, and he healed them mostly, because of their faith, and to glorify God. Matthew 8:5-17 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.  "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."  Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."  The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at...