We all need someon we can lean on

I felt I wanted to share this with you, I thought of putting it on the testimonies on the website, but couldnt find anything to select where I could write. Last week Sunday when you prayed for me, I cried, at first because of the emotions and the hurt, but afterwards it was something else, something I could not explain and didnt understand. God, being the loving God He is, later revealed it to me. For the very first time in my 38 years, I laid my head on my fathers shoulder, and sought refuge. Prophet Nola, and yourself, and my Godly parents. I have never had either a mother or a father figure in my life. God allowed me to lay my head on your shoulder, and know the love of a father, for the first time in my life. It is an experience I cannot describe. All I can say is that it was something I needed and will always be grateful for. We dont always realize what emptiness is in us, when we grow up without the love of a mother and father, and its sad that people who dont give their life to Jesus, will always unconsciously seek to fill that void with the wrong things. So I am glad that I am where I am, because here, in my church, my Harvester home, is where He fixes me bit by bit. And He fixed something in the picture I have of a father, in human form and in the form of God. Thank you Jesus for that experience.

Thank you for being a father.

This reminded me of the time in Australia when I was at my wits end as a missionary. I had no one to turn to and no one to ask for help. I was a stranger in a foreign land and I had a wife and two kids to take care of. I ddin't mind going without food or shelter, but I just couldn't bear the thought of not being able to provide for them. The offerings in Australia were so small wherever I preached that it hardly covered my petrol or hotel bill. Sometimes I drove 800 KM to a distant little town and then couldn't make it back on the offering. Sometimes I had no money left for food. It looked like the end of the road for me, a dead end.
I cried in frustration as I prayed to the Lord, telling him that missionary work was too hard and to unrewarding. In fact I took out all my frustrations in prayer. When I finished praying I thought God might desert me and never pay any attention to me ever again. Instead I clearly and distinctly heard a voice in me that said,'It's ok to cry on my shoulder. I have broad shoulders. The government of your life is on my shoulder. From now on many people will cry on your shoulder too.'

I never knew how many times this would repeat itself in my life. The above letter is simply an indication of many, many others that have said the same thing. I still need the Lord's shoulder to cry on sometimes...even after 27 years as a missionary. Nola and I have managed to raise three kids, one of them married with two kids of his own and also in the ministry with us. God is faithful. He is our Heavenly Father. But sometimes we all need someone we can lean on - down here!

Go and express yourself

Bob Woolmer, that tragically died during the world cup in India, coached South Africa and Pakistan respectively in International cricket. He coached Boland Provincial side to success which made the selectors take note of him.
One of the players of Boland, John Commins, became captain of South African A side (which really is the 'B' side to the International Protea team)and also played a game for the Proteas. When he was asked about his rise to the top he had the following to say about the Bob Woolmer: 'He picked a side and then told us, do not worry about being dropped from the side. You are picked for the next 5 games. Go out there as a batsman and express yourself. I have confidence in you, that is why I picked you!'
That approach took away the pressure of fear of failure and suddenly the Boland team became a force to be reckoned with.
Fear of failure is self-talk that minimzes potential during performance. By reducing that inner resistance one can perform at higher levels to one's full potential.
An electric train can pull a greater load than a steam engine. It makes contact with the electric wires by the two pantographs located on top of the roof of the unit and then a small lever, about six inches long, is placed in the resistor and slowly drawn backwards to break the resistance which releases the power of the electric current to move the entire train forward.
That little lever is the most important piece of equipment the train driver possess. He carries it in his pocket and never leaves it lying around. Without it the train is stuck.
There is a little lever that all of us have, but do not always use. It is called faith. It is a gift from above. We tend to use our lever of doubt more often than the lever of faith. Faith overcomes the fear of failure.
Paul gives a piece of advice in Galatians where he tells us that faith works through love. John the beloved disciples gives us a further notice that perfect love casts out all fear. Those who fear are not made perfect in love, yet.
Paul advises us in Romans 10 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So in a nutshell, if we hear what the word of God (the Bible) tells us and we believe it is God speaking to us, we will receive faith because we know our heavenly Father loves us, and we will overcome the stumbling blocks of fear that spoil our potential.
The gift of faith is a special edition that is given by the Holy Spirit at the right time. First Corinthians 12 tells us about the gifts of the spirit. As we desire these gifts the Holy Spirit distributes them to us.
Through the gift of faith the heroes of the bible have accomplished great deeds for the sake of the people of God. David slew Goliath, Moses led Israel through the Red Sea, Noah built and ark that saved his family from the flood, Samson slew 1000 Philistines. Some intellectuals propose that all these stories are mere allegories and that none ever happened...what a surprise they have waiting for them when they one day actually meet those characters who will tell them how it actually happened!
When I told the story about Bob Woolmer's advice at our annual Men's Camp in Hermanus, one of our younger brothers, a prize winning wedding photographer added the following insight which is worth sharing with others: Bob Woolmer's advice is captured in the writing of Paul when he says, we are positioned in Christ Jesus, by faith, and there is no fear of being dropped from the team, as long as we believe it him, so we can go out there today and express ourselves to the best of our ability, knowing our position is secure!

Sometimes a little bit of chaos is necessary

When galaxies collide new space is formed. It looks chaotic and it is termed a black hole but that is how creation of the universe continues.
The chaos in our lives is sometimes a necessity to open up new creativity within us or lead us onto another dimension of living. All artists require a bit of chaos to be creative. Just as need is the mother of invention, so chaos is the basis of creation.
In Genesis we read that the earth was dark and void and chaos was on the deep...and then God spoke the words of creation...let there be light! And light has continued ever since, frustrating the scientific minds of generations and baffling the intellect of atheists who want to explain creation without a creator!
Hebrews 11:3 tells us by faith we understand that the worlds were created...which worlds? The astronomers inform us that there are many worlds out there in outer space and last year the French astronomers discovered at least three new earths! Jesus made a strange prediction to his disciples before he left the earth supernaturally: I go to create a new heaven and a new earth...our minds cannot conceive it all. We have to simply believe that it is true.
But there is an angle that made sense to me some time ago: when the writer of Hebrews (whom many believe to be Apostle Paul)says by faith we understand the worlds were created by God, then in terms of our human existence we could interpret it that my world, your world, Wayne's world, all the worlds of each individual, the worlds of every family, the private and collective worlds we live in have all been created for us...
The chaos we sometimes experience in our 'world' is a necessary 'evil' to get us to see higher heights and to plunge into deeper depths of understanding. God's creative power requires a bit of chaos in order to rearrange our worlds...
Think about it: if all the chaos in the universe where stars burn out and galaxies collide is necessary to keep the centrifugal force working to make human existence possible on planet earth, then maybe the bit of chaos you and I experience from time to time is a vital ingredient to our own personal development.
It does not make much sense otherwise. The best we can do is to believe that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works before the foundation of the world so that we might walk in it. It is after all God at work within us both to will and to work according to his good pleasure.
That is why we are all so entirely different, some want to scale mountain peaks, others plunge into the bottom of the ocean, some want to go to outer space and some discover lost tribes in dense jungles...some work in banks, some collect garbage, some want to sing and dance and others want to build skyscrapers...who put the collective genius in mankind? There must be a God who masterminded it all. Yet we are not mere puppets, but we choose to co-operate with our Creator in order to access his wisdom and his divine resources.
A little bit of chaos is sometimes a good sign that it is time to move on. When we keep our faith focussed on Christ Jesus, no matter how hard it may seem, a solution arises within our hearts, like the daystar announcing the morning light, and it grows brighter and brigher until the noon day when the sun is at its zenith.

Reinhard Bonnke's Advice

Before we immigrated to Australia as missionaries, I went to see Reinhard Bonnke in his office in Witfield. I asked him for advice. How do I reach a nation? He has reached South Africa and Africa as a German missionary.
He got up from behind his desk and paced up and down with his hands behind his back - it reminded me somehow of the Fuhrer!
What shall I tell this young man? He murmered to himself.
Then he stuck his finger in the air and raised his voice and spoke to me:
' Have a fierce determination to succeed!' and then he repeated it. Then he looked at me attentively and said, 'And break the snail's shell in your thinking!'
Armed with those two words of advice, Nola, Aje and I set sail for Australia to Call a Nation!
I ended up holding 56 concert campaigns all over Australia in cities and small towns and saw thousands of souls saved. We helped to plant 4 churches and ministered in many other churches. We had two major concerts, one in Festival Hall, Brisbane and one in The Dallas Brooks Hall, Melbourne.
The bilboard outside the Festival Hall read, 'Wednesday Elton John, Saturday Andre Pelser!' Poor Elton he could only get the Wednesday slot! Almost 2000 people came to the concert. We let them in for free - all our concerts have always been free and all we relied on was an offering.
The Dallas Brooks hall saw over a thousand people attend. Some amazing things took place that night. Several people agreed that they saw a huge angel behind me. Wherever I moved it moved.
I went to small Outback towns and ministered in vacant shops in the afternoons. Sometimes we just found a dilapidated building and held the concnert in there. In Yulamambri the whole town came to the concert! It needs to be said that there were only 21 people living in the town. There were 22 in the audience. One from a neighbouring village!
We had much opposition from pastors and even experienced blackmail from spiritual leaders, but in spite of all the setbacks and rejection we kept soldiering on until we finished our mission in Aussie.
We met Reinhard Bonnke in the Melbourne Full Gospel Businessmen's World Conference and he invited Nola and I over to his breakfast table. He asked how things were going and when I shared it with him he threw his hands up into the air and said,'thank God he did not send me to Australia!'
I have kept diary of our time in Australia with all the details...some too hard to read out loud again...but Reinhard's advice stood the test of time. We are still following his advice today.

Jonny Wilkenson's lesson

That famous drop kick that helped England win the World Cup in Rugby in 2004 will remain a sporting high light forever. The Cup is named after Web Ellis, the schoolboy in the little town of Rugby in England that so desperately wanted his team to win the soccer football match, that he picked the ball up and ran through the defenders to place the ball in the back of the net! Little did he know that he had just invented a new game that would be played all over the world for a long time to come!
Back to Jonny Wilkenson. Jonny was an extrememly dedicated and committed player from an early age. He was the first out on the field to practice and the last one to leave. He would kick a thousand balls before a test match just to perfect his art of kicking with both legs. By the way the famous drop kick was done with this 'wrong' leg: he booted it with his right leg and not his usual left foot with which he broke all the records for points scoring in his era.
His mother was so nervous when he played that she used to go grocery shopping while the game was being televised. When he won the cup for England she was in the shopping mall when someone told her: your son has just kicked the winning drop kick for England!
In his book, Playing Rugby My Way, he gives some of the most expertise coaching tips to young boys (and girls) who want to improve their game. He exposes his techniques of kicking, drop-kicking, grubber-kicking and line kicking; he tells how he draws an imaginary line from a specific point on the ball through the posts to a lady sitting in the stand behind the posts and aims to put the ball in her lap!
He reveals the secret of tackling an apponent by aiming to hit him with your shoulder on a spot on his shorts or on his leg; he instructs you how to side step an attacker and how to guide the ball when you pass it to a team member, either to the left or the right. Jonny even encourages young players to eat their vegetables and fresh fruit!
He admits that he was a fanatic, a spartan as far as practicing was concerned. He never allowed himself to rest at all and tried to reach perfection in his skill. He never allowed himself the simple pleasure of wallowing in his success at any time.
But when he turned 30, after multiple serious injuries, he realized that he had not enjoyed his life at all.
Then he wrote another book to tell the young sportsmen to learn how to take time out to go to the beach or play the piano without feeling guility about not practicing...it was a bit late for Jonny whom we all admired as one of the best fly halves the world has ever seen! But it is not too late for our youngsters to take a tip from someone who has been out there and designed the T-shirt for success in sport and worn it for a long time!
The most amazing aspect of his famous drop kick is the fact that he booted it with his wrong foot! He normally kicks left footed, but when the moment came he turned to the other side and slotted it over with his right foot! He obviously practiced this for many years until the moment came to use that acquired skill.
Obviously his opponents did not expect him to kick off the wrong foot so they were compeletely taken by surprise.
There comes a moment when all the hard work and practice pays off - as in rugby, so in life.

Surfing's the key to good batting!

The Indian Professional League (IPL)T/20 competition is currently being held in South Africa due to the unrest and danger in the subcontinent since the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Pakistan by militants. International cricketers no longer felt safe in open stadiums in India and therefore the competition shifted to South Africa where it is drawing full stadiumns. As the competition enters the final few weeks the top run scorer is Matthew Hayden. He has notched up at least 100 more runs than his nearest competitor.
In an interview to ascertain the secret about his top form he mentioned two major aspects: number one: he has retired from the International Test Match scene and has no concerns about being picked or left out of the Australian test squad. Number two: he says he spends more time in the Atlantic ocean than on the cricket field during the competition.
Matthew is a surfer and his present form in surfing has overflowed into his batting. He says he is very relaxed at the crease and simply expresses himself in every innings.
In a long outdrawn series such as the IPL one can think and play cricket all the time, but one needs to have a balance, according to Hayden. Surfing takes his mind of the strenuous demands that top level cricket can make on any batsman. He also has no stress regarding his selection and therefore he can bring all his energy, his experience and his skill to bear on the IPL competition and above all enjoy what he is doing!
It is absolutely a pleasure to watch him cart the ball from all the world's top bowlers to all corners of the field (well, a cricket field is an oval, but the simile would bear up under the present circumstances!).
All of us need to find a way to balance things in our lives: we need to know when it is necessary to take some time out. It has to do with the Sabbath. Unless one has a Sabbath's rest on a regular basis you pay the price in some other way: either through stress or sickness or some other form of repayment for not resting.
Mat Hayden gives us some good advice here and his present form as a batsman is enough proof in the pudding! (Once again a strange simile but it would do the job I think).

Outside my Comfort Zone

Steve Waugh's autobiography 'Out of my Comfort Zone' has wonderful insights into the life principles of a man that really made it to the top in International Sport and managed to stay there for a very long time.
The writer of Hebrews in the Bible tells us to imitate those who through faith in patience inherit the promises. Both Steve and his brother Mark showed promise as young cricketers and kept on working hard at their game to become one of the few pairs of brothers to play on the International scene at the same time. Steve easily acknowledges that Mark is the better cricketer and he does not hesitate to say he never thought of himself as better than all the other players. He admitted that there were many other better cricketers than him - but there were definite reasons why he not only played for Australia but also captained the national team for so long.
Many guys do not travel well. They always complain about the conditions in the sub-continent when they have to go and play against India or Pakistan or Sri Lanka. They get sick from the food or the water, the hotels are not up to standard and the cricket facilities are not what they are used to. Others miss their wife or family too much. Some just make it misreble for all the team members and they have a negative influence on the team. With the result that they never get picked again...
Steve learned to travel well and his secret was simple: learn to live outside your comfort zone.
As a youngster Steve had bad skin and he was bashful. In school he sat at the back of the class and combed his hair over his forehead to hide his acne. He had not technique with the ladies and admired his brother who had the knack he lacked.
As a batsman he had no great shots but he was willing to take a bouncer on his body instead of trying to hook the ball and be caught at fine leg. He gutsted it out with many painful blows to his body. He had a lot of problems with his physique and often had to take tablets just to stay on the field.
But he learned to play as if he would be the man of the match giving it everything he had all the time - even when he didn't feel up to it. It earned him the respect of his team mates and eventually the captaincy.
He had to overcome his own defiencies in every area of life just by staying out of his comfort zone and in the end that is where he spent most of his life. He married a lovely girl and they have 2 daughters and a son.
When asked what his greatest moment in life was everyone expected him to refer to some specail moment on the cricket field, but instead he said, it was when his first girl was born!
Both brothers hardly ever saw their family for almost 11 years because of the demands of International cricket which kept them busy for almost 11 months per year. This was a great sacrifice - out of their comfort zone.
There is a price to pay for any achievement in life, that is why Jesus said you have to consider the cost of something before you embark on it.
I have spent a lot of my time travelling to other lands and have had to be a man alone most of the time - it was a sacrifice for both Nola and my family as well as a hard thing for me to do: but I can safely say that I have reached over 50 nations now with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And I am still batting...out of my comfort zone.
Most people just want things the way they like it all the time and never venture outside of their comfort zone. They never taste the adventure that life has to offer. it is all out there - outside your comfort zone.
Think about it!