Thursday 25 December 2008

The Ghost of Christmas past


The character of Scrooge that Charles Dickens created has haunted us all ever since his creation! The stingy old man that had to face the Ghosts of Christmasses past before he became compassionate over the Christmas period seems to pervade the entire human condition at this time of year.
Throughout the year people do terrible things to each other and suddenly, just before christmas, they put on the breaks and skid to a halt, to be kind towards each other for a day or two, even if it is only sharing a family meal!
In actual fact Jesus came to show us a completely different life style: He went about doing good (all the time, not only at his birthday!)healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with him (all the time!)
My friend Mike Wood in Sydney Australia, who has always stimulated thought and discussion with his sharp wit and questioning mind, sent me an email today on Christmas day to pose the question: what are we really celebrating,the historical or personal event of Christ being born?
With that he obviously refers to the 'born-again' experience of those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord. When he is born in a life it is the true Christmas, in other words. This is a spiritual birth and not a natural one.
So in effect Mike said, 'happy birthday!' to all the believers who had already accepted Christ and are celebrating their next birthday in Christ, rather than simply remembering the historical event as a religious observance.
Quite reformational, I think.
It is good that all the world celebrates the event - all do not celebrate Easter though! Yet is is good to have moments of high celebration where everything comes to a halt and people observe the goodness that life can offer rather than the dismal, depressing rat race they are involved in.
So let the Chinese, the Russians, the Indians, the Argentinians, the Alaskans, the Americans, the Europeans, the Africans, the Australians all go ahead and celebrate Christmas, but let them not wait for the Ghost of Christmas past to remind them to be compassionate!
The life that Jesus Christ offers those who believe in him, actually celebrates His goodness every day, not just on Christmas day! It is possible to enjoy the spirit of Christmas every day of your life if you have Christ within the hope of glory!
As the earth had to receive a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, so our hearts can receive the resurrected Christ by faith and His Holy Spirit can begin to change our lives and give us His kind of divine life. This life is called Eternal Life and is freely given to all who will confess their need of Christ's sacrifice for our sins and who believe and confess that God raised Jesus from the dead - in other words, believe in a living Christ not just a dead, historical event.
This could change Christmas experiences forever, for whoever dares to believe!
Don't let the ghosts of Christmasses Past haunt you any longer trying to be a better person, but let Christ change and remould you completely form within - by His Spirit so that you can celebrate Christ's birth in you every year, rather than remember him as a little baby.
Impossible?
Well, everything about Christ Jesus' life is impossible and miraculous: from his immacualte conception, to his virgin birth, to his death and supernatural resurrection from the dead and his divine ascension on high. So we can also expect His promised return - in the same way he went up, in a cloud, as the angels promised his disciples who saw him ascend.
His miraculous life is available to all who would believe. How about you, my friend?

Wednesday 10 December 2008

Cool Hand Paul


News often reach me a bit late, because I'm often away from news - somewhere in Nigeria, or Zimbabwe or in Korea! And when I discover something that actually means something to me, I feel robbed, as if it happened while I wasn't around.
This happened to me when I found out that Paul Newman passed away. He was 84 and his second wife, Joan Woodward held his hand as he stepped over into eternity. She gave up her acting to let him pursue his acting career. She made a few movies but mainly raised the family.
The first movie I saw Paul in was 'Hombre'. He played the part of an Apache scout. Although he did not have many lines to deliver, his piercing blue eyes stare, captivated my attention. It made me feel that I too would like to act one day. Then I saw 'Somebody up there likes me' that told the Rocky Marciano story. Steve McQueen also had a small part in it. And then I tried to see as many of Paul's movies as I could: Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,The Sting, The Color of Money, Hustler, The Mackintosh Man and several others. His non-chalance way of actor's studio way of acting as the anti-hero really made me like the roles he played. But he liked motor racing most of all. It excited him. He played in a movie about a motor car racing ace, but I can't remember the name of it. All I remember is how he turned around and hit the guy that was messing with his wife. And I remember the way he slept, with his arm over his eyes.
I've read that he doesn't like to watch his own movies and that he shaves in the shower so as not to look into the mirror. His family says he was down to earth and likeable, just like the roles he played.
He had his share of troubles, lost his son through a drug overdose, but he managed to stay married for many years to the same lady. They lived away from the Hollywood glits and glamour.
With his salad dressing he made $200 million and gave it all away to charity!
Robert Redfort that starred with him in probably two of the best ever buddy movies (Butch and Sting)said,'I've lost a friend'. He died because of cancer. The doctors said that he could probably live longer if he used certain medicine, but Paul and his wife Joanne decided together to 'let it go'.
How short this life span is. It is a hand's width. Today you are here and tomorrow you are gone. Paul Newman was definitely one of the actors that inspired me to act and now he is gone. All that remains is a memory and the movies he had made.
It is an era that closed with him. The Steve McQueens and Paul Newmans are now off the center stage and new young actors step forward...but, alas, its only for a while.
Yet, if someone made you feel good, it was a life well lived. Paul always made feel good movies, mostly.
Somebody up there loves me, made you feel taller as you walked out of the cinema.
Cool Hand Luke made you realise you can have fun - even in prison!
Butch Cassidy gave you a sense of the joy of living - even in a Western!
The Sting almost convinced you to bet on horse races because him and Robert Redford had such fun in their wheeling and dealing!
Thanks Paul, God rest your soul, if a movie was ever made about your life I think it should be called Cool Hand Paul!

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Tying Shoelaces


One of the most frustrating things to me was tying shoelaces, three, four times a day! Until at the impressionable age of 19 I saw my uncle tie his Barker English leather round point shoes and make a double knot! That discovery saved me a lot of time and lot of wasted emotional energy - about shoelaces!
Remember the first time you tied your own shoelaces? It took all the concentration you could muster, while chewing your tongue on the side of your mouth and hoping you will not get your fingers caught in the knot.
Then it happened: your shoes were tied! And you could walk off, proudly, knowing you accomplished a seemingly impossible task, all by yourself. Only to discover, a few hours later, that you had to redo everything. The whole process had to be repeated, labouriously.
Well, a double knot is the key.
I saw how my uncle enjoyed tying his shoes properly.
'Shoes must fit tightly to keep your feet in shape. Its no use to have your foot move about in your shoes. You will develop all sorts of problems. So if you tie the laces properly it keeps your feet in the right position in the shoes and you can walk around town without having to check if your shoe laces are still tied.'
I've often thought about that...if you know what to do, it is a pleasure doing it.
And obviously vice versa: if you don't know how to do something, it is a pain!
This applies on all levels, really!
If you don't know how to bake a cake, you hate it. If you don't know how to do book keeping or administration, you hate it. The same with budgeting, with paying accounts, with making a bed, with tidying a cupboard, with stacking things in the garage, with keeping your school notes, with filing your correspondence and bank statements...the list is endless. Think about it.
The things you like doing are things you were trained to do properly - and you saw someone actually enjoy doing it.
That is how I discovered cricket: Andre le Roux taught me and showed me how to enjoy it. He always had a smile on his face when he coached me in their back yard. And even though he was much older than I, he never made me feel 'small'. He invited me to come and watch where he played for Florida Park High's 1st XI. I would pack my sandwiches and ride on my BSC three-speed bike to spend the whole day in the sun, watching them play. I drank water from a tap on the school grounds. Cold drinks were too expensive in those days!
And I saw how my mother enjoyed praying, how my father enjoyed pastoring a church, how a prophet enjoyed prophesying and how a preacher enjoyed preaching, how someone enjoyed working with a computer, how my father enjoyed driving a car, how a cook enjoyed making spaghetti and how an old black man relished making porridge!
The first one to teach me to play the piano was our gardener...I was 5 years old in Benoni, 2nd avenue, Northmead. When my parents went out in the morning he would come into the house, wash his hands and tell me to never tell my parents that he played the piano. He would jam for an hour and I would stand next to him and watch how he played, 'In the Mood' and other favourites. No wonder that when I play in other countries they say,'you play like a black man even though you are white!' The same with my Hammond Organ playing, because African Americans taught me in Miracle Valley, Arizone.
Think about the things you can't do or do not like doing: you have not been taught or trained by someone who actually enjoyed doing it. It is the art of the tutor to instill the love of the subject into the pupil.
Think of the subjects at school...which ones you liked and ones you hated...
Well, Jesus Christ, came to teach us how to love one another and He showed us how to enjoy it! For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
The thing you love is easy to do, isn't it? You feed the cat because you love the cat.You put up with things in people that you love. You care for a babay because you love the baby. If it is not your baby you won't last three days!
Something birthed in your own heart is something you will stick to and never give up, because it is part of you. If someone else tells you what to do you soon get tired of it.
Your treasure lies where your heart it.
But today's sneakers and running type shoes have no laces. They use velcro and take away the joy of tying laces! But the lesson still remains the same!
It is the little things in life that makes life worth living. The art is to find enjoyment in doing the little chores of daily living. Washing dishes, making a bed, ironing...clean the pool. You don't have to study Bhuddism before you fix your motorcycle with concentration - just learn from someone who loves what they are doing and receive impartation that will change your life.
Jesus said,'I have come to give you life and life more abundantly!' He knew how to live. Its the best to learn from someone who knows what he is doing. He later on said, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life - no man comes to the Father, but by Me.' Either He spoke the truth or He was the greatest conman that ever lived!
My experience so far, as a believer, is that He knew exactly what He was talking about. So I became a follower of the Man from Galilee...and I'm enjoying it!
John the Baptist said of Him,'I am not worthy to tie His shoelaces...' Think about that for a while!

Thursday 4 December 2008

School closes


Schools closes. A note in every dairy, every calender. The next note is, school opens. This happens several times per year. Parents design their year and their days around the school calender.
But today is something more significant than that. Our youngest boys is finishing his Prep School Days. He went to the same private school from grade 0 to grade 7 and today they are leaving that building. They will not play on those fields again. They are going to College next year, God willing!
How can I say thank you for all the things the good Lord has done for our boy during these 8 years? He kept him, protected him, strengthened him, gave him favour, helped him to excell at academics,sport and music; he built his character through all the adversity and the opposition he had to face; he learned how to put up with certain things he could not change; he knows how to stand his man; how to make strong decisiotn that he alone could make and that will influence his future; he learned to stand for what he believes in; and he took his punishment when it was handed out.
It is the last time he will put on those clothes. It is the last time he will wear that cap. He will fold away his first team cricket clothes and keep them in his cupboard for a while.
It is the beginning of a new chapter in his life.
All parents experience it with their children.
School closes. School opens.
Today is one of those days, but today is just more special than other days.

Wednesday 26 November 2008

Everything is becoming old too quickly


Grabbed my old cell phone and had to think hard to remember how to use it. New one is on my mind. Old used to be something we threw away after many years of use. Worn out, rather than merely old. But in today's fast paced techno age things become old before they are worn out, simply because the Japs have found a way to update things faster than we can use them! What a turn over of money! No wonder phone dealers build skyscrapers within a few years of starting their company!
Everyone is talking at me...the old song said...can't hear a word they're saying...well that has come true, finally. Everywhere everyone is talking to someone else, even when they are walking next to each other. In the tubes in London it was most noticeable. Everybody was absorbed with their little palm toy and secretly smiling to themselves. Some hold the phone to the ear and talk to no one at all. It is comforting just to look occupied for a moment and not to appear alone...
Desperately lonely people everywhere...
And everything is becoming old so fast - young people are old before their time and have to handle the pressures of life and the problems of the world in their essays and their speeches...
No time to play...just work, work, work.
And sport is no longer just a game: everyone has to be professional because they see it on TV and the parents and teachers demand perfection at all times!
No wonder young people are looking for a way out - they want to remain young and be kids again!
Clothes become old before you have worn them out because fashion houses determine the look on the street. Suddenly your style is 'out' and something else is 'in' and those who are out do not fit in any more.
Israel wore their clothes and shoes for 40 years without wearing them out. God saw to that. But not today. Today the fashion demands that clotes be out of date within a season.
Buy a deodorant stick and you think you have 6 months supply. But open it up and you will see it is empty inside with just enough to last for a month! They deceive you - even with packets of chips...just wind, with a few chips in the bottom corner!
The Chinese diluted babies milk and added plastic to make more cash and killed many kids...the price of greed.
Things become old too quickly these days...we need the old buildings and old wisdom and old antiques to give our lives value...we need the old, old Gospel truths and hymns and songs and heroes of the past in order to give us a platform for today.
Don't discard everything you have to replace it with new things.
Keep what is valuable.
Everything is new in the spirit realm...all the time.
Look at the old with a new eye. Renew your mind but remember the old as well.
The Lord is called The Ancient of Days...because He is the same yesterday today and forever!

Saturday 22 November 2008

Blues Band in Benin


Harvester Blues Band backed me in the great all night concert in Nigeria a week ago! What an experience! I always wanted to do blues music in church, but the church world wasn't ready for it back then. In worldly circles my blues were too preachy for their liking so I never really fitted in anywhere!
But finally the dream came true - in Nigeria!
Pastor Godwins arranges an all night worship conference every year in November and all the world should be invited to it. It is a blast and a blessing all packaged in one! It is held in the athletic indoor stadium in Benin city. People come from four different countries to participate and attend. The best music equipment is hired from Lagos and the musicians practice all year for the event.
The choirs and solo artists all blend into the flow of the evening and the people are so responsive: they sing along and praise the Lord, but also enjoy the music because many of them are trained musicians.
The sheer artistry of pianists like Dr. Chidi and Romeo is absolutely stunning to hear and then Benin has their own Scott Joplin that entertains the crowd every year with lively syncopation.
The entrance fee is purchasing the DVD of last years concert. About 7000 people filled the auditorium and hundreds were standing outside.
When it was time for us to perform we went on stage that was especially built for the occasion and settled at the instruments: Aje behind the drums, Greg with his own harmonica mike, Dale plugged in his guitar and JP tuned his bass. Leigh was ready to do back up vocals and dance! I moved in behind the electric keyboard.
We started with a slow, solo number: Man Alone. Every time I got to the part: you were a man alone, but now...you can count on me! The audience sang along.
The next number was Preacher Man Blues. It is a fast blues song and young people everywhere got up and danced as we sang. They repeated the phrase, 'Preacher man blues' with me everytime! Then we did, 'Memory of me' that starts with the words, 'If I go away...'Pastor Godwins said the song made him cry because the song made him think about what he would leave behind and how he would be remembered one day. The last song we did was 'How can I say thank you' that starts off slowly but picks up the beat as we go along. It could not be recorded with a click track in the microphones - if you know what I mean.
We sweated so much in the 26 Celcius night that Greg, our blues harp player became known as our very own 'water feature' on stage!
Oh, how we laughed and had fun together on the 6 day adventure! But we also had many deep and serious times, sharing life experiences and explaining our understanding of the way the Lord works with each of us. Sometimes we sat around the lunch table for several hours and sometimes we shed tears...
On Sunday after the concert four of us preached in different churches. I preached about 'The Man Born Blind' in the Believers Church where pastor Samuel Osaghae and his wife Gladys are the overseers. I got down into the sand where the people were sitting on wooden benches and smeered the red mud that I made with spit, water and dust on my face to demonstrate the mud balls Jesus made for the blind man. When he sent him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam he became 'a sent one' and was no longer a beggar! The people praised the Lord when the blind man got his sight!
How else could I describe a tour with the Harvester Blues Band? So much happened in five days that it would take volumes to try to tell it all...Jesus did so much that all the libraries of the world could not contain all the things he had done!

Thursday 20 November 2008

Quantum of Solace


Watching Daniel Craig as James Bond in this years Bond release was what one expected: action, stunts, clever repartee in the dialogue and they usual distrust of the 007 agent willing to risk his life without ever being thanked for his labours by those who sit in offices and direct the procedings of the world's economy. Like the Minister said, (my summary)'if we only do business with men of integrity who would we do business with?'
Craig's personal rendition of the Bond character has moved away from the pretty boy suave image of a Pierce Bronsan. He has brought manly strengh but also a human weakness to the role that makes it both admirable and empathetic.
Without bad language or unnecessary nudity or sex scenes the Bond movie succeeds in keepin our attention rivetted to the screen because of good acting, excellent directing and editing.
The antagonist's Quantum project in the middle of the desert only has evil intentions: he wants to destroy all the earth's water resources so that he would control the water supply to all the countries of the world. But Bond outsmarts him as one would expect from Ian Flemmings secret agent.
But the line that stood out for me in the end was some advice Bond gave to his female assistant:'When adrenaline kicks in one has to compromise.Take a deep breath...and do what you have to do.'
As a cricket coach I often remind players to enjoy the exhiliration that comes with reaching a half century or a century, but then they have to take guard again in order to concentrate. Bond's line has given me better understanding of this coaching principle.
It is the adrenaline that kicks in that causes concentration levels to drop. The high brings imbalance. Take a deep breath...is sound advice at any stage!
If one would take a deep breath before saying harmful words in a moment of rage, it could save relationships! Taking a deep breath when one hears bad news could help to absord the blow. Taking a deep breath when one is praised or honoured will help one to stay humble. Taking a deep breath when one is unfairly criticised is an antidote to feeling rejected.
Compromise is normally seen as a weakness and a negative concept.But Bond's statement has raised compromise in my estimation as a tool to be used in life and not merely something to avoid.
Perhaps it is a timely word of advice for some of us right now, to find some solace in our sitaution! Take a deep breath before you go on! The oxygen to the brain will restore the balance and the sanity.

Monday 3 November 2008

Lessons outside the classroom


All of us face things we do not like. Sometimes the situation we find ourselves in, is not something we can extricate ourselves from when we feel like it and we just have to plough through all the upsets and difficulties until we find a way out!

School life is not enjoyable for most people, because some teachers hate what they are doing and take their frustrations out on kids. It is not easy to be a teacher either, because most kids have no discipline or manners at home and make it impossible for teachers to manage a class full of kids!

But there are certain lessons in life that we do not learn in the class room.

In my school days teachers were still allowed to issue corporal punishment. I attended an Afrikaans Boys High school in Brakpan called Stofberg. This was more like a military academy. Cadets and rugby were almost worshipped at that school.
Teachers would give you six of the best for anything they could think of and sometimes you received beatings for no reason at all. They had the habit of giving the whole class a thrashing to punish one boy for doing something wrong. When we asked a teacher why he beat the whole class his answer was,'Just in case you do something wrong today!' This was the cruel, sadistic humour we had to put up with - and no parents ever complained!

Ou Skellie, (Mr. Steenkamp) who looked like a skeleton to us, and that is where he got his nickname, used to either pull your short hair above your ear while talking to you or pinch you under your arm and turn the pinch so that you had a bruise for days! My mother once saw the bruise on my body as I got dressed and when she finally got the truth out of me phoned the headmaster, who did absolutely nothing about it.

To give you an idea, in Standard 7 I received 171 cuts! We used to mark them on the red stripe on the inside of our blazers to compare with each other during breaks.
During rugby practice they used to hit you with a kweperlat (a twig from a quince tree) or with the rope attached to their whistle if you dropped the ball or did not scrum properly.

Because I was artistic and got almost full marks for essays and because I played piano, I was regarded as a 'sissy' and constantly mocked and bullied. Why I still went to school is a mystery to me. I hated every moment. But I cherised the challenge to try and get 100% for tests or exams. And I found a sport that I could beat them all at: cricket.

Cricket was almost non-existent in Afrikaans schools in those days because it was regarded as an English sport.We had no cricket nets, so I got my dad and a builder to build the nets for us. We got Dennis Lindsay the Springbok wicket keeper to coach us. I'm still delighted by the fact that I bowled him with the first ball he ever faced from me - in our school nets! He predicted that I would become the next Springbok off-spin bowler.

The teachers had no knowledge of the game and the only coaching you received was normally the coach shouting, 'hit the bloody ball!' or 'catch the ball!'
I went to the local library near the town hall to read up on the game and spent hours in front of the mirror correcting my batting strokes. I also went down to the club cricket nets and used a dust bin as wickets to bowl at. A white handkerchief was used as my marker and every afternoon I would go and bowl for hours until I mastered the technique of bowling off-break balls that spun into the batsman.
One day something amazing happened...

The opposing team only had to get another 20 runs to win the match, with 4 wickets standing. When it was my turn to bowl, I took 6 wickets in 7 balls against Nigel High. Five wickets were taken in succession - almost a double hat-trick! And then there was a dot ball. With the first ball of my next over I took another wicket and the whole team was out! It was like a dream. No one could believe what had actually happened.

The next day it was in the newspapers. I was contacted by the selectors of the Eastern Transvaal schools team and before I knew it was playing for my province! In this way I fought back against the system and used my skill to make room for me in the school.

No matter how harsh the circumstances or how unreasonable, character is shaped by facing the situation and negotiating your way through it until you come out on top.

My parents pastored the Apostolic Faith Mission Church in Brakpan and that is something I was mocked about throughout my school career in Stoffberg, because most of the boys belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church.

But after 5 years my dad took the call to move to Cape Town where he pastored the Maitland assembly and I went to Milnerton High, a school where I got opportunity to express myself in cricket and in the other love of my life: drama. But that is another story...

Thursday 30 October 2008

Do not envy the rich


Charlise Theron the Oscar winning South African actress from Benoni received a shock when she was charged for wearing the wrong wrist watch at a social event in Los Angeles! She did not wear the watch given to her from the company that is sponsoring her. It was a mistake! But she has to pay $150 million to them as a punishment! When they interviewed her she was flabberghasted and said she could not believe they would do such a thing! It would probably swallow up all her life's earnings up to date!
The Psalmist continually warns us not to envy the rich or famous. The Psalmist also warns us not to take note when wicked people prosper and wonder why God allows it. He says that he almost backslid pondering these things and envying other people's wealth. The way of escape for him was to go into the sanctuary and pray about it until he had a revelation that gave him a new perspective on life in general. A word of the Lord came to him that reminded him to, 'look at their end'.
There are many books telling you how to get rich and how to imitate self-made millionaires, but these books do not tell you how these men ended up. As a young man looking at the path of life ahead of me, I investigated many aspects of life and studied the lives of great men to learn from them. Many books told you what to do and how to go about it, but in the end I decided to take the Bible, that old black Book that has withstood the test of time, to be my Road Map in Life.
When I realised that money is not the key to happiness and wealth is not the measure of a man's success, I turned to the riches Christ had to offer and decided to sell all that I have several times, give to the poor and to follow Him in the Way!
Nola and I have lived our lives as missionaries by this adage found in Scripture: there is he who scatters abroad and yet increases; then there is he who keeps back more than is necessary and it tends to poverty.
We have not stopped travelling abroad to other lands to spread the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, namely that God was in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to Himself and if anyone would believe with their hearts that Jesus Christ died for their sins and that God raised Him from the dead, would be saved if they confess Him as Lord!
The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow to it! When God begins to bless you there is no turning back! If generation after generation would continue to server the Lord faithfully he will increase their blessing and eventually begin to multiply it like he did for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Another verse of Scripture that guided our lives is the one where Jesus said, 'if anyone gives up houses or land, father or mother, or possessions for My sake and the Gospel's, he would receive 100 fold in this life and eternal life in the life to come, plus persecutions.'
Persecutions come when God blesses you because people are envious and jealous and begin to hate those who have found the favour of God in their lives by faitfully serving God and humanity.
I believe we need to make a decision individually, but also as a family, like Joshua and say, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord our God!'
The Lord's financial operating system works in any economy of the world: Malachi prophesied and said, if you would faithfully bring in the tithes and the offerings and sacrifices to the Lord's house (the accurate church), He would pour out a blessing that there would be no room to receive it! He will even give back to you what you have lost over the years! Then the Lord invites us all to test him in this matter!
If people would realise that the best investment and the best financial business to be in is to serve the Lord with your finances, the world would turn out to be a wonderful place, because the love of money is the root of all evil.

Thursday 16 October 2008

How planets are formed


A lady stood in front of me in the church building in Brooklyn, Pretoria where Nola and I pastored the last church before we moved to Cape Town to pursue our apostolic ministry, and said, 'I have a word from the Lord for you!' She owned her own insurance company and was not one of those dilly women who constantly tried to be spiritual, so I was prepared to listen to her.
'Don't look to the stars; look to the planets!'
With that she walked away and I was left standing in limbo. What on earth could that mean? I knew we had many 'stars' in our large congregation; sport stars, business stars, music stars, acting stars and some who just thought they were stars! But I was stumped when it came to planets!
I read up on some astronomy books and discussed it with Nola and the kids, but then I left it behind me. The word just didn't make complete sense to me. But it haunted me. It stayed with me.
A long time after that, when we already lived in Milnerton, Cape Town, I revisited Pretoria and knocked on the door of a prophet who has since moved to America (it ssems that all prophets end up there in the end!)
As I walked into his office he said,'have you been studying the universe lately?' How on earth could he have known. I thought to myself.
So on my return to Cape Town we made a concerted effort to go to Sutherland, where all the nations of the world have their Observatories. It is the place in the Southern Hemisphere where the skies are the clearest. There are no industries nearby for an area of 70 kilometres.
We attended some lectures - which, I must be honest, were far too scientific for my brain that looks for scripts to act out as an actor! But at the end of a lecture the scientist opened the floor for any questions.
'I have a question,' I ventured out,'what's the difference between a star and a planet?' At first I thought everyone would laugh at my foolish question, but instead, the man commended me,'that is a good question!' I felt relieved. It felt like we were all back at school in a classroom situation. The man continued his explanation:
'A star burnes on its own gas. When the gas is burnt up it uses its last gas to become a shooting star. A planet is a group of stars that have given up their own identity and uses their energy to melt together to form a new planet. The planet has no light of its own. It relies on the sun to make it shine! Just like the moon.'
It solved my riddle...
Unity is only obtained by those who are willing to lay their lives down for a cause. C. T. Studd, the old English cricketer who gave away his entire Eaton inheritance in order to be totally reliant on the provision of God as a missionary to China and Africa, said, 'if Jesus Christ was the Son of God and gave His life for me, then the least I can do is give my life to him!'
Half hearted efforts in life, luke-warmness, hesitancy not only causes delay, but eventual defeat! Whole hearted effort brings results in every area of life. If someone is not really with you, it will show up in due time, but so much time was wasted in the interim!
When everyone has their own agenda it is difficult to create unity. Unity comes only from people willing to give up their own ambition in order to serve something far greater than themselves...the Christian martyrs serve as a prime example of people who were willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ.
But even in sport, Mike Hussey, Mr. Cricket, as he has become known, the Australian batsman that is second only to the great Sir Donald Bradman in test averages, tells in his biography how he made up his minde to give cricket his best shot, even though he was just an average player, with a slight build and often self-doubting person. When he had made up his mind, he gave it all he's got and he has earned the respect of those who doubted him as well as his team mates. But in on the last page of his book he says he wants to be remembered as a team man and a good bloke who also played some good cricket! He is sold out to what he chose as a profession!
If you and I can take a page out of his book, we may be able to turn the tide in our affairs of life as well!
Instead of trying to be a star, lets form planets that outlast the stars!
This has become the definition for our church and our church network; we are not looking for stars, but for faithful people who are willing to give up their own ambitions to make the dream of Jesus Christ come true: a church where He is truly the Head of the body of believers! Paul reminds Timothy to only appoint faithful men who are able to teach others also - avoid the big talkefs and the ones who only rely on their giftedness!
A plante finds its orbit around the sun...but that is another chapter altogether!
Remember, stars might shine bright for a while, but eventually become shooting stars!

Thursday 9 October 2008

The Lazarus story


My Yorkshire friend John Waller ran a bible college in Ghana for ten years and had some amazing experiences during that time. One of them was the story about a church plant in a little village where there was no electricty. He took a small generator along and showed the Jesus Film in an open space in the market.
Before he went he prayed and told the Lord, 'we need a Lazarus or something similar to start the interest in the church in that village!'
At the conclusion of the movie he gave an altar call and many people gave their lives to the Lord. One of them was the town drunk. Everybody knew him. When he came forward the people were astonished.
His name was Lazarus!
John took one of his young associates with him on the missiona and asked him to remain behind to establish the church. When he asked the crowd who had space for the young man in their home, Lazarus was the first to offer his place. It turned out to be a shack and the boy had to sleep on the ground, just like Lazarus.
But the young man was willing to rough it in order to establish the work.
Many times God chooses the most unlikely person to get a job done. He uses the foolish things, the despised and rejected ones so that no man can boast about anything in His presence!
John and his wife Trish spent ten years of their lives in Ghana and could write a book about all they had experienced. When I encouraged him about writing the book, he remarked, 'what about all the unsung heroes in Ghana that have far greater stories to tell?'
John came close to death on two or three occasions due to Malaria attacks and a brain tumour. He has recovered but his body has suffered severely. But he is full of praise to the Lord for the opportunity for adventure that they had in Ghana.
Today he is pastoring an Elim church in Barking, London. With his typical Yorkshire humour he said, 'I've been to Toronto blessing and now I'm barking!' We shared a good laugh together.
He used to be a rugged truck driver before he got saved and became a preacher. Its a hard life, but he loved it. Trish has stood by his side all these years and her dedication and discipline has been the back bone of their ministry over the years.
The genuineness of their faith and friendship has been a pillar of strength to Nola and me over the years and we honour them as a man and woman of God who remained faithful in spite of untold hardships and even when facing dangers for the Gospel's sake.
The Pentecostal Church in Ghana invited him back for the inauguration of their new president recently and he enjoyed going over the old familiar hunting ground that he knew so well.
There are many more stories I can tell about John and Trish, but today I just wanted to tell the Lazarus story! I can say, 'It is written!' now!

Friday 22 August 2008

Do you speak Yiddish?


The Pope and the Rabbi had a religious debate but the only problem was they Pope spoke Italian and the Rabbi Jewish. They agreed that it would be a private, silent debate. The Pope raised three fingers and the Rabbi raised one. Then the Pope waved his finger around his head and the Rabbi pointed to the ground. After some thought the Pope brought out the Holy Communion wafers and a chalice of wine. the Rabbi took out an apple from his pocket and gave it a bite.

Later the Cardinals (not the American sports team!) met with the Pope to satisfy their curiousity about the discussion. The Pope explained his version of the silent debate as follows:

'It was very enlightening! I said we believe in The Holy Trinity and the old Jew said there is only one God! Then I told him that God was omnipresent, all around us and he said God is right here with us now. When I explained Holy Communion with him to tell him that Christ died to forgive our sins he clearly understood all that and took out an apple and gave it a bite to remind us of the original sin in the garden of Eden! We communicated so well it was amazing!'

The Jewish community enquired of the old Rabbi how the meeting with the Pope went. He made some rude signals with his hand and stuck three fingers in the air, so I warned him not to waste my time by pointing my finger at him. Then he told me to leave by waving his hand about his head and I said, I'm staying right here! I wasn't going anywhere until I found out what this meeting was about! After that he relaxed a bit and took out his lunch and I took out my lunch!

I really have no clue what the debate was about!'

Bruce Rudnick told me this story many years ago and recently a lady in the church reminded me of it. It's one of those classic tales that is hard to remember. It has to be told accurately or it looses its punch.

Today Bruce has changed his name to Baruch and he lives in Israel, near the Negev, the last I heard. We used to have great times together. He is a sculptor and an artist and a whole lot of fun - as Jewish people can be.

I just found out recently that my ancestry might have been Jews from Holland! Pelser is a well known Jewish family name in the Netherlands! No wonder I have always enjoyed Jewish humour so much! And I've always had Jewish friends wherever I lived. Maybe it is a natural attraction! After all, Jesus was a Jew too!

Paul writes in his epistles and says a true Jew is not necessarily one that is circumcised in the flesh but one who is circumcised in the heart, by turning to Christ Jesus for salvation and leaving the Jewish laws and ceremonies behind.

Anyway, here are two more Jewish jokes that Jonathan Rael told me: Abe and Hymie meet up in the street and Abe says: 'so Hymie, how is it that you don't ask me how's business?' Hymie replies, 'ok, Abe, so how's business?' and Abe responds, ' Ag. better you don't ask!'

A Jewish lady travelling in a train compartment sat opposite a young man who was reading a newspaper. She was a bit bored with the long journey and wanted to make some conversation.

Jewish lady: 'Young man, are you Jewish?'

Young man: 'Excuse me, Ma'am? No, I'm not Jewish!'

After a short pause she asks him the same question three times.

Eventually he explodes with agitation and firmly denies the association: 'Lady, I'm telling you, my mother is not Jewish, my father is not a Jew and I'm not Jewish at all, ok?'

The Jewish lady lets the matter rest for a while and then picks up the thread of the conversation again: 'Excuse me, young man, but are you sure you are not Jewish?'

In utter desperation the young man surrenders to her pressure and admits, 'ok, lady, I'm Jewish, ok?' He hopes that this is the end of the endless reparteee, but alas, the Jewish lady pulls his newspaper down and points her finger to his face and concludes, 'but you don't look Jewish!'

Thursday 21 August 2008

Time for Spring Cleaning


They call it Spring Cleaning. It's that time of year when the garden and the garage get cleaned up. Without trying we gather boxes of worthless goods and the garden develops its own undergrowth of weeds. We ask ourselves the same question every year: how did we manage to gather such a lot of rubbish! Trailer loads of stuff is carted away to the garbage dump and suddenly we seem to have a bit more space in the garage, things look a bit more organized and the garden has a fresh look about it. We even plant a few new plants to decorate and beautify the place. And then we tackle the office...our cupboards and our mail!
Life's like that. You stay busy with things and little unnoticed details creep into your life and eventually squeeze important things out of your schedule by demanding urgent attention. We tend to feel guilty about it and wonder why we allow it. But really. if we think about it honestly, none of us necessarily choose the unnoticed things.
I read a scripture in Proverbs that said, spiders are even in the palaces of kings! Think about that: how on earth did they get in? Who invited them in? Who opened the door or the crack in the wall? Did they jump on someone's clothes to carry them into the palace? Did the wind blow them in? Before you know it you have to have tall feather dusters to clean the corners of the ceiling from cobwebs!
They say that little foxes spoil the vine. The problem is that you cannot always spot the little foxes until they have caused some damage. Then you hunt them down. By the way, have you notices how the foxes are increasing in London since they banned the age old tradition of fox hunting? You see them everywhere, in the parks and in the streets, crossing the road into someone else's backyard to scavange the duts bins for some left over Macdonalds!
In the parable about the sower, Jesus explained how good soil produces the best harvest. He describes the problems with the other kinds of soils by saying the roadside allows the birds of the air to eat the seeds sown, the rocky soil has no depth and the plants wither in the heat of the sun, and thorns choke the soil that is not properly prepared for the sowing season. He goes on to describe the things he defines as thorns: being anxious about life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things creeping in. There we have it again, those creeping things! Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression according to King Solomon. So it is useless to try and treat depression, it is merely the fruit of all the things that make you anxious. We have to deal with the things that cause anxiety, one by one, and depression will disappear like mist before the sun!

Riches in itself cannot satisfy althoug it can make life much easier. But the love of money is the root of all evil. One cannot serve Mammon the money god and God, our Heavenly Father, at the same time. You either hate the one and love the other or vice versa. Mammon is a hard slave driver, but our Heavenly Father desires that we prosper and be in good health, even as our souls prosper. There is a balance in the divine order of things.

The most important Spring cleaning we have to do from time to time is in our thoughts and in our attitudes. Wrong thinking leads to wrong speaking and wrong actions. Paul the apostle tells us to renew our minds so that we may know the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for our lives. This we do by paying careful attention to the Word of God allowing it to address issues in our personal life that need to change - to remove the cobwebs in our hearts and minds. Things do creep in, sometimes creepy things!

Repentance is a wonderful way to Spring Clean our souls! The Greek word for repentance means to turn around one hundred and eighty degrees! About Face!- as they used to give orders in the army. (Yes, I did my stint in the army, for almost ten years, every year for about a month, in the Commando's! Just thought you might like to know!)

Asking God to forgive our sins, for Christ's sake, not because we deserve it, is a wonderful antedote for the spirit that needs Spring Cleaning! John the apostle wrote in his first epistle if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If all unrighteousness is dealt with all that is left is righteousness!

My father once picked up a Jewish man rushing to get to the synagogue.
'Why are you in such a hurry?'
'Today is an important day. It is the day of atonement. Today all our sins will be forgiven.'
My dad posed a difficult question: 'You don' t have to answer me, but what is your greatest sin?'
'It is easy to answer that: keeping my shop open on Saturdays which is the Sabbath!'
My dad thought about it and then said, 'tomorrow is Saturday. Will you open your shop again?'
The Jewish man hesitated and then raised his shoulders and opened his hands in a typical Jewish gesture: 'What can I do? Business is business!'

Spring Cleaning, comes once a year, in any race!

But it is good to be reminded that we have the opportunity to clean things out. It is fantastic to know that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that He is able to forgive them and also cleanse our consciences! What a privilege to have such a Friend! And to know Him and God who sent Him is the true definition of Eternal Life, according to Jesus' own description. To know Him is to have permanent Spring Cleaning going on in one's life! Wow!

Saturday 2 August 2008

Holiday in Cancun


The liquid turquoise water of the Atlantic... in the bay of Cancun...The picture is indelibly printed on our memory sticks! Never will we forget the warmth of the water, the 9 different hues of turquoise as your eyes scan the horizons! The waves lifted you up, ever so gently, and put you down again, with ease.
I took my family on a holiday of a life time. Unforgettable. Much needed. Full of surprises. Most relaxing. A bonding experience - the enjoyment will bond us together. Just say the words, Cancun, and we all swoon...under the spell of the Mayan Mediterranian holiday resort.
Nola loved it so much. She could live there. Yvette took all the pictures we need to prod our animated conversations about the holiday. Hilton remembers the day a life saver offered him his surf board to surf the waves: 'I surfed in Mexico, man!' Yve took the pic to prove it!
And the food! Exquisite cuisine, Mexican style, even for breakfast, spicy and fresh.
But when one returns from Paradise the real world hits you in the face: our home was broken into, all Nola's jewelry stolen! Bills needed to be paid - immediately! Attacks on you personally from family members that do not understand you. An old dispute about a third party car insurance payment that was never paid and now summoned to court! Book keeper wants to see you! Applications for next years studies! Computer malfunction when you need it most! An investment that you have to cancel due to certain complications! Plants died because they were not watered! Bird cage has not been cleaned for ages!
Then you close your eyes, my baby, and think of Cancun, a place where there is tranquility and rest and all the meals are included, all the drinks paid for, and all you have to concentrate on is enjoying yourself to the hilt!
Heaven on earth? Yea, for a while. But that is what holidays are meant to be. We decided that we would not talk shop or church or business or school or anything that would detract us from pure, unadulterated enjoyment! Our brains rested, our bodies were bronzed and our souls purged! We slept late, we hardly knew what was going on in the world - our cell phones were switched off and we did not watch the news, no news from our part of the world anyway - we did not know the rugby score, nor the cricket - everything was just Cancun, Mexico.
Yvette and I drove three hours by bus to get to Chichen Iza, the great monument of the Mayan Indians that is now the 8th Wonder of the World. Think about El Dorado, the cartoon, with Kennet Brannagh and Kevin Klines incredible voices, or the movie, The man who would be king, with Sean Connery and Michael Caine in the lead roles and you will know what I am referring to. The place of gold where they made human sacrifices. They played a strange ball game and the player of the match was sacrificed to their pagan gods. (On that day you tell your son, 'don't play so well, my son, let the other guy win!') It was interesting, yet horrifying to learn about these ancient cultures.
Nola and Hilton went horse riding on three estates and ate a scrumptuous meal outside under a grass umbrella. That night we swopped stories about our day - like we did every day.
What a day. Shall we ever forget it? Nor will we forget the other days. It was a treat to the senses and a rest for the spirit.
We came back refreshed - able to face the necessities, the routines, the challenges and lets call a spade a spade, the problems we had to face and we faced them one by one, by the grace of God!
Hilton was chosen for the provincial hockey team for Primary Schools and had to play a tournament in the first week! But he was so well rested, he scored all the goals for his team and helped them to win the tournament! Bravo! He did not ever practice anything during the holiday.
Sometimes all we need, is not more motivation, more energy drinks, more analysis, more guts - all we need is a fantastic holiday - a Cancun of our own somewhere, out there, away from it all, where we don't know anyone and where we can't speak the language and where all we have to do is rest and relax.
It is called a Sabbath's rest - even our Creator rested on the 7th day. We'll I'm sure he did it in Cancun!

Monday 2 June 2008

The Old Evangelist


A friend that has recently gone through a traumatic divorce in ministry wrote an email and told me about the secret of a great evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth, who had a heart of compassion: he said to someone, 'I am a broken hearted person: I miss my wife so much, but it keeps my heart soft towards God and people.'
Then I thought of a song my parents used to sing in church, 'He died of a broken heart for me'. As a kid the song had sad tones, but I did not have the savvy to grasp the intent.
I often got full marks for writing essays in Afrikaans. In fact, when the teacher wrote the topics on the board I used to write essays on all topics and often even suggest some topics to the teachers! I wrote note books full of essays, and sometimes when I read them to my willing mother, I used to cry while reading to her! Sentimental? Romantic? Perhaps, but I have learned that a soft heart can touch other hearts...
The Question is, how do I keep my heart soft? A hard heart is unbearable...to have and to live with. Bitterness of heart, unforgiveness, unbelief, hatred...all these things make a heart hard. Such a hard heart cannot produce a good crop. It spoils the seed of the word of God and when persecution comes for the word's sake it has no depth and the plant withers and dies in the heat of the sun...
Well, the seed of the word of Life can also be choked by the deceitfulness of riches, the anxieties of life and the desire for other things creeping into a heart. The good soil is the soul that is soft towards God, that understands, and it produces 30, 60 and 100 fold harvests!
That's from the parable of the sower.
Back to Smith Wigglesworth. He was a rasping bully of a man who treated his wife so badly that he often locked her out of the house because she went to church. When he woke up to get the daily newspaper and bottle of milk on the porch she would get up and greet him kindly. Her prayers and soft heart eventually broke his hard heart and he converted and became a preacher - a great preacher! He raised 22 people from the dead, apparently!
But his wife died not to long after that and obviously he missed her - he must have had memories of how he treated her! Obviously he wanted to make up for his foul behaviour and somehow he translated this into good deeds for others.
It was a known fact that he often wept when he asked people how their spouses or children were.
He had some things that softened his heart. He knew who he was and what he had done. He had received forgiveness, but the memory of the one who remained kind and patient with him, kept his heart soft throughout his lonely ministry years.
Don't we all have some things that could make our hearts soft? Or do we persist in having hard hearts? All of us have things that we wished we had not done, and things we hated when others did it to us. But we can turn these memories into our favour and let them soften instead of harden our hearts, by forgiveness. Sometimes we have to forgive ourselves...often!
How frail we mortals be!
But my friend shared his broken heartedness with me and I throught about it - if it softens our hearts, then a broken heart is a good thing...
Then again, Jesus is anointed to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free! But the memory of his kindness and patience towards us all makes me weep, at times, and keeps my heart soft! Patience and kindness are after all the first two qualities of divine love as defined in I Corinthians 13:4-9 (Its worth reading!)
So, what has broken your heart, my dear? What has caused you grief? Are you going to let it make you bitter and twisted and harden your heart or are you going to use it to soften your heart so that you can have compassion on others - like the old evangelist?
Those who sow in tears, shall reap in joy!
One day the Lord will wipe away our tears and say, 'well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the Joy of the Lord!' What a day that will be!

What a transporting moment of joy it will be
When we meet face to face
The One we have known heart to heart
All these years!

Friday 21 March 2008

No arrests for emotional abuse


Parents who abuse their children emotionally cannot get caught or be imprisoned. Physical abuse is punishable by law, but what is worse? Physical pain that eventually recovers or emotional scars that stay forever?
My daughter Yvette wrote a play about emotional abuse and won a prize for the best script for drama. She also directed this physical theatre piece and won acclaim for it. When we went to watch it, I saw grown men weep in front of me - the one had tatoes on his muscular shoulders and wore a white vest. His head was shaven and he had a goatie beard. He was a really tough looking character, but his heart was deeply touched by what he saw on stage...
One amazing theatrical touch to portray the harshness of the mother towards her daughter was nothing short of brilliant, even though I say so! Instead of having water in a sink bath tub to wash the daughter they filled it with rice. Yes, rice! When the mother used the rice to scrub her daughter's body and rinse her curly hair, the effect was tangible in the audience...people squirmed in their seats, feeling the callousness of the woman who felt nothing for her own flesh and blood.
The play is simply called, 'And then she cried...' and the actress Liezl won the best actress award at AFDA in Observatory. A couple we invited also wept during the performance. It was too close to reality. The husband was treated like that by his mother.
How many homes are there where children are mistreated by parents? How many homes are not broken? How many parents are not divorced? How many homes have peace and joy? In how many homes is there constant fighting and swearing? How many children suffer under the hatred their parents have for each other? Where, oh where, is love?
The youth dilinquency problem is an indictment against parents. In Scotland more kids run away from home than anywhere else. I saw it on TV and read about it in the newspapers. When the police caught a girl that ran away from home they asked her why she did it?
'I don't want to be at home anymore. Any place is better than home. My parents always fight and hit me. I am always alone at home during the day. They are never there. When they come home they fight. I hate it. I want to go somewhere else.'
Where is home sweet home? Where is the Christian ideal of a family? Has the church failed to produce Christian homes in the world? Then the church's doctrine has obviously veered off the beaten track and adhered to the teachings of men, rather than the doctrine of God. Perhaps the church is to blame for the mess the homes are in. Perhaps the church needs to reform before we think of reforming the world.
Yvette wrote the play based on stories she heard about what my wife went through in her parent's home. She read up about emotional abuse and drew from her research as well and put it together in a play. I want to make a movie about it - no matter how painful it is, because the world needs to know...
Day by day, we meet young children with pain in their hearts because they have been emotionally abused by their parents...
And children are innocent, they are quick to forgive, they trust so easily - yet once they are broken they end up with diseases, physically and mentally and the shocks they had to live through spoil the rest of their lives...
Does God care about children? To them belong the kingdom of heaven. If anyone harms the least of them, they are touching the heart of God.
We need to train parents, educate parents....Crosby, Stills & Nash sing, 'Teach your children' and halfway through the song they change the line to, 'Teach your parents well, your father's hell will slowly go by...'
Today is a good day to bring about a change in our lives at home. Today is a good day to appreciate each other. Today is a good day to hug our children and tell them we love and appreciate them, no matter how well they perform at school or in sport or playing their instruments of music.
Schools have become so demanding that children hardly have time to be kids anymore...that is why they break out over weekends and do silly things...
Many African children are tired of all the funerals and endless church meetings they have to attend every weekend...they have no time for themselves anymore.
We have to stop this madness and call out for help for all the children suffering emotional abuse in their homes, in boarding schools and those who have no homes...just like rolling stones...
Bob Dylan sings, 'How does it feel to be without a home, in the great unknown...just like a rolling stone!'

Sunday 16 March 2008

Breaking the sound barrier


The brilliant movie The Right Stuff depicts the courage of pilots who pushed through the sound barrier with ill-equipped air craft that almost fell apart in their effort to fly at new speeds. There are unforgettable scenes of nerve wrecking, riveting excitement as men defy all odds to enter new dimensions of flight. This determination eventually led to space craft and put the first man on the moon!
Pushing the envelope has become common terminology once Hollywood got hold of it - because they only do it in movies! In the unreal world of the cinema anything is possible and the Sc-Fi movies prove that. Nobody believes what they are seeing anymore and the stunts of ordinary actors and actresses with invisible ropes and safety gadgets are no longer impressive to the cinema boffin who now knows that the flames and fires in movies are not real and nobody can really dodge bullets as in the Matrix - its all trick photography and the cameramen compete for the Oscar!
But there are still real men out there...there women...real people who are not 'pushing the envelope' but breaking through in whatever field they are involved it in order to bring new hope and blessing to a tired, worn-out world (Sting's phrase in 'The River Flows...down to the sea').
In order to push through in something you have to have True Grit (A John Wayne movie for which he won an Oscar!) and a fierce determination to succeed.
From an early age we learn to ride a bicycle...at first our conscious minds desperately try to master the two-wheeler and many falls and hurts later we find a way to balance and stay on top!
And voila! There you go - full speed ahead.
The same applies for driving a car - at first the nervousness of trying to concentrate on all the pedals and movements of changing gears and co-ordinating it all - a nightmare at first, but soon everyone is speaking with cell phones and driving at the same time with a CD playing in the back ground and then they still wave at friends passing by in the traffic! Amazing...
Pilots do it...first in simulators then in the real deal...the other day my plane wobbled when it tried to land in a terrifying head wind at Edinburgh airport and the wings almost hit the tarmac before the pilot had the presence of mind to take off again and circle...I prayed for the winds to cease...and they did. So together we (the Lord, the pilot and I) did a splendid job providing the safety of the passengers!
Then when I returned home, on the 6 O' Clock News, Nola and I saw a Lufthanza plane going through the same motion my plane experienced - only this time the wing hit the ground and the plane spun around and someone had a video camera handy to film it and sell it to the broadcasting station! The pilot made a U-turn and took the plane back on the runway to avoid overturning and crashing it! It takes a certain kind of steel nerve to be a pilot - with 300 lives in your hands!
When we were small (and Christmas trees were tall...B-Gees, remember?) we used to sing, Jesus Saviour, pilot me! Now I understand a bit better...
But it takes a plunge of faith for a mother and father to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord in these days! It takes a holy fervour to live a sanctified life amongst all the perversion and corruption we face in the media every day.
It takes a church with schutzpah to reform from traditions to God's standards given in Paul's apostolic epistles.
It takes a lot of practice to be a good batsman or bowler. It takes a lot of practice to be a good musician that can flow prophetically when the Spirit moves...
But we have to push those boundaries back!
What are you facing that you can push further? Take courage and do it! God is with you!

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Characters on the Tube


The characters on the tube that caught my attention did so, largely because I was sitting opposite them in the train and had nowhere else to fasten my attention except on the explanation of the Piccadilly line in London's underground system. The group I observed were a admixture of a cosmopolitan United Nations!
On the left we have the Iranese (Lebanese?) Mid-eastern mischle bound rough neck with a shaven head and bulging arm muscles, strong hands, large nose and thick lips...but fast asleep and harmless with his head leaning against the glass partition separating the compartment from the sliding doors. On the right hand side (and imagine these two prize fighters in a ring!) we have the well-dressed English businessman, thoroughly modern with suit and white shirt, but tie-less as the Europeans do! He stares straight ahead of him, into nothingness, as if no one else exists.
Next to him is a Turkish girl, poor but hopeful to make it in her new homeland, which is foreign to her. She takes out a little hand mirror and does her eye make-up as if now one is watching and admires herself by turning her head from side to side and pouting her lips.
Adjacent to her is a heavy metal freak with tatoos all over his body, sporting a bandana with black and white skulls. When he stepped into the train he chose to sit on that seat where the Daily Tube Newspaper was lying. Instead of picking it up he sat on it, probably to show his defiance against society as a whole. His face is flaky and his nose red and sore from all the nose rings matching his ear and lip rings. He looks like a display window in a pawn shop with all the rings on his dirty fingers with nails that are equally spoiled and black! His walkman blasts the music into his ears at such ear piercing volume that the rest of us have to endure the overflow of the noise!
Then, quite out of character, he opens his black sling bag (it has to be black!) and takes out...wait for it...a Time Magazine and reads it with great interest!
When he got up the Turkish girl grabbed the crumpled up newspaper, straightened it out and showed off her skill of reading a newly acquired language, but it is obviously not great because she paged quite rapidly through the newspaper.
The businessman next to her strayed and peeped at the headlines for a while, before correcting himself and looking straight ahead again. But it wasn't long until he strayed again and this time kept reading over her shoulder for longer spells, the two of them making a silent duet!
In the middle perched a wannabe model with matching high collared black coat, black slacks and black silk stockings, grandiose make up, matching rings and hair decorations, designer sling bag over the shoulder resting on her lap...but her shoes gave her away...brown hush puppies! This suggested that she had a long way to walk to work - which wasn't doing modelling at all!
Bleak House sat next to her. Well, meaning by that, of course, a dull looking up-town girl with no effort at all to do make-up except an eye-liner. You get the message: make-up takes so long to put on and you only have to take it all off again at night when you get home, so why bother in the first place?
The only other person that could fit on that line of seats was an Easter-European with a slit-eyed expression of a Russian Mafia mobster that never looked at anything or anyone. Perhaps he was on a life-threatening mission?
Then a thought occurred to me: 'And God loves them all!'
Who could love a muscle bound rough neck from the Middle East? God does.
Who could love a boring English gentleman? God does.
Who could love a wannabe model who will never make the grade? God does.
Who would love the working class girl with no make-up? God does.
And who would love a mobster from Eastern Europe? God does.
And the heavy metal freak? God loves him too!
So, if God could love all these characters on the Tube Train in London, he could surely love you and me as well? Just a thought for the day...

Friday 15 February 2008

The Crumbling Flake


Nothing is as brittle or as tempting as flake, Cadbury's flake chocolate, that is! Open one up and put it in front of any person and before long the flake will have its way! Its so different from other slabs of chocolate, so easy on the tongue and so satisfying! It is simply irresistable!
We used to have a saying, 'that's the way the cookie crumbles' in the old days. But I think we need to upgrade it to, 'that's the way the flake crumbles!' In the old days the cookie jar was the forbidden territory for boys and it was placed on the highest shelf in the pantry and only opened at special occasions - when there were visitors.
But every boy (and girl) sooner or later discovered the treasure jar and tried to get up there, by stacking chairs on top of each other or climbing up the racks and pulling things down in the process!
Sting sang 'How Fragile We Are' with a nice bossanova rhythm to it. It was somewhat of a tear jerker and we all thought, how true, how true!
Yet with escalating violence and crime in every nation of the world, wars and rumours of wars, it seems that humankind has forgotten how brittle we really are. Not soft, but brittle.
I know Cowboys don't cry and real men are hard, but the Man of all Men also wept on occasions. the shortest verse in the bible is, 'And Jesus wept'. He was at the grave of Lazarus, his friend, who died four days ago but he had no inside information to go there. He only did what His Father in Heaven told him to do. When he arrived on the scene, Martha and Mary both scolded him for coming so late: if you had been here he would not have died!
And so He cried. He cried because of their unbelief that He is the Resurrection and the Life. He cried because He found it hard to explain to people who He really was. He found it hard that they refused to believe in Him. He also felt sorry for his friend having to go through this ordeal. But it did reveal the brittle state of life: his friend passed away and he wept.
Funny how funerals bring out different things in different people.
I spoke at a funeral of an African lady in Stellenbosch last year and saw how the family and friends loaded bunches of bouquest of flowers around the coffin and how they praised her for about three hours and gave money to her family and told the whole world what a great person she was. Afterwards they slaughtered some cattle for a mighty funeral party! It must have cost an arm and a leg to pay for all the entertainment - ala African style.
When I was given five minutes to say something, I only needed two. This is what I said: 'Why do you wait till someone is dead before you give her flowers? Why do you wait till someone's dead before you praise her and tell others what a wonderful person she was? Why do you wait till someone is dead before you give them money? Why don't you give flowers while someone is alive?' And then, I sat down. I did not cry. I just sat down.
As we walked out of the hall, young people grabbed me by the arm and whispered: 'thanks!' Outside a grey headed old man leaning on his knob kierie took me aside and said, 'what you said here today needs to be spoken all over Africa! We honour the dead more than the living!' The young people came to me and said, 'we are so sick and tired of all the funerals we have to go to every Saturday and the funerals are all day! We have no life of our own! We work six days a week and then have to go to funerals of family and friends, because if you don't go they say you dishonour the dead person. And Sundays we have to go to church and you know our services - they last for 5 hours!' I heard the cry of the youth and that made me want to cry!
Traditions are squeezing the life out of the youth of our country!
Who will liberate them? Who will tell them life is more important than death? Even though life is brittle and can end at any moment?
It is the brittle state of life that makes us seek a strong tower, a place of refuge, a rock of defense, someone like our Lord Jesus Christ, who is a help that has been tested in many ways ans never found wanting.
He took on the brittle state of human life in order to feel what it was like to be a man, and then he said, he has compassion on us, he is touched by the feelings of our infirmities, because he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin! Absolutely astonishing that he went through all the temptations without ever giving in to anyone! That is why all the Da Vinci codes and other conspiracy theories are constantly trying to prove that he had to have some secret love affairs in the silent years and that he must have had children born out of wedlock - and such rubbish!
But here was a man that would not give in to an open flake in front of him! He understood the brittleness of it all and conquered it in order to succour us in times of testing and trials.
By the way, I have just finished the flake Nola put in front of me before I started blogging! Go and enjoy one too, because Jesus paid the price for us and overcame everything so that we can be free to live life depending on His grace and His power to help us overcome things in our own lives.
There's nothing flaky about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Nothing at all! It is solid and it helps us in our flaky human existence to find solace and comfort at all times, knowing that He cares for us and understands us better that we can understand ourselves.

Monday 4 February 2008

My Servant Shall Succeed!


My servant shall succeed in his task and be highly honoured. This is a prophecy in the book of Isaiah that my mother sent me throughout her lifetime. Whenever I got discouraged, whenever I did not know which way to turn; when it looked like all was lost and that my life was going nowehre; when there was no financial profit in all the things I did; when I was rejected by the church leaders and my ideas squashed; when I wanted to throw in the towel on many occasions she would simply cut out a piece of paper on which she typed the words on her old black Remmington type writer with the black and red ribbon: 'My servant shall succeed in his task!'

Being a missionary in the modern world without the backing of any organization who want to own you and squeeze you into their own mould, is certainly not an easy task! You never budget because you do not know where the money is going to come from this year! You never plan a holiday because you do not know who is going to offer a holiday home for you in December! There is no pension scheme, nor medical aid - it is a journey of total faith - and praise God for His grace and mercy, I have travelled this path for over 35 years now, 30 with a wife and family and I can testify with confidence: it works to trust God for everything! But I admit it is not for the fainthearted or squeemish.

If God decided you are going to be successful - then everything will work together for your good if you love Him and you are called according to His purpose, which is to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, the first born among many brothers.

The secret lies in the fact that you have to choose to become God's servant. It is His servant that shall succeed in His task.

Ephesians 2 tells us that we are the workmanship of God who created us for a specific task and how he empowers us to complete that task successfully. He created good works for us to walk in. So your divine design is actually the secret of success - not just wordly drive and selfish motivation!

I once wondered what the Lord meant by telling his disciples to look at the lillies of the field and the birds in the air...then I went to sit on the side of Table Mountain where there are a lot of lillies every day for a few hours and just look and lie on my back and watch the bird in the air. I pondered and meditated but didn't quite get it.

Suddenly the revelation came to me one day - unexpectedly! The lillies are where they are supposed to be and the birds are where they are supposed to be! Only the surrelaist painter Salvador Dali would paint lillies in the air and birds planted in the ground!

Lillies do not try to be birds and birds do not try to be lillies. In being what they were created to be they do not have to toil or labour and the Creator sees to it that they are clothed and fed! To feed all the sparrows in America would bankrupt the governmnet in no time! God takes good care of his creatures.

So in order to be God's servant we should first of all learn to be ourselves, first. Then we can do what we were designed to do and have success as a result. Success is not a place you arrive at. It is a lifestyle.

Moses told Joshua to meditate in the word day and night and to observe what to do and then he would make his way prosperous and have good success. After Moses passed away God repeated the same words to the young man. Read the book of Joshua to see what he accomplished through meditation in the Holy Scriptures!

All I wanted to do was to play professional cricket and be an actor! There was no such thing as professional cricket when I was young (a bit before my time) so I became an actor. After many years I became a missionary. While in Australia I heard these words on the inside: prophetic actor! I became a preacher that acts out the prophetic word of God when I preach - and I still help to coach cricket wherever I can!

So, by just being honest with who I really was, I was enabled to raise a family, by the grace of God and to put my children through school, bible school and university. The youngest one is still at school. It is a miracle if you consider that most places I go to as a missionary cannot afford to have me there. We do have a church called Harvester that helps me from time to time, but not all the time.

By being faithful to the call I received as a 12 year old boy when Aunty Raper the old prophetess came to our house in 65 Gardener Avenue, Brakpan, and prophesied, 'Young man you have a calling from God. God will use you in other lands!' I was able to live and raise a family! My wife needs a medal for sticking with me! But she also has a call. When met her I asked her what she wanted to do with her life. She said she would like to be a missionary and an actress. I realised that our paths were the same - and she was pretty, sporting and talented! So I popped the question and later on she accepted!

I cannot measure my success but I know I have had some success already and I do not live for one day when I am successful. I enjoy one day at a time and try to live life to the full - as a servant of the Lord, perhaps not perfect, with many shortcomings and weaknesses, but at least sold out to be a servant of the Lord and willing to go to other nations.

What is it that you were designed to do? What is in your heart, if you are honest? A man's gift will make room for him: wherever it turns it prospers! My gift is to talk to groups of people, on stage or while preaching!

Sunday 3 February 2008

The Hole in the Doughnut


I remember distinctly how Dr. Gray explained the story about the doughnut to us at Miracle Valley, Arizona - and that was in 1973! just goes to show that if a story is worth repeating it is worth repeating! (We are in 2008 now!)
There was a moment in a meeting when the Holy Spirit melted every heart and people started acknowledging their pride. A second year student at The Valley got up and summarized his feeling about himself in the following words:
'I used to think I was something. But I am nothing. Nothing at all. You know the hole in the doughnut? That's me! That's what I am - just a hole in a doughnut!'
It was very touching and everyone agreed that we are nothing compared to Christ Jesus. He is and should be everything to us.
Later that afternoon a group of students were talking about returning to do the third year of practical ministry training at The Valley. The young man who used the figure of the doughnut in his confession, indicated that he was also considering coming back for ministry training. Some of the other students teased him by saying, ' Man! You can't preach!'
At this point Dr. Gray walked passed and overheard the young man responding in the following manner: 'I can preach just as good as anyone of you can preach! In fact I can even preach better than some of you!'
Dr. Gray laughed and cleaned his throat a litte and then remarked: 'Suddenly the young man was no longer the hole in the doughnut!'
I'll never forget that story...
Whenever I think I'm the doughnut, I remember that image.
Isaiah talks about the sieve of pride and those who say they are 'Holier than thou'. The African Americans at The Valley used to talk about some people who were, 'holier than thou; deeper than deep; too high to come by!'
Sport is a wonderful leveler. Just when you think you are unbeatable you have a bad day! There are a few exceptions like Tiger Woods who just seem to get better and better as he grows older. But he revealed the other day that he never thought he would have 9 major golf titles behind his name at the age of 32 - some humility in that statement, don't you think?
Pride comes before the fall. That is not a saying - that is the truth. We have all experienced in some way or another. The person walking with their nose in the air, cannot see the banana peel on the pavement and the consequences are appalling!
When they said The Titanic was unsinkable, an iceberg proved them wrong...a piece of ice sunk a ship! When Muhammed Ali kept announcing that he was the unbeatable champion of the world, he got knocked out and suffers Alzheimers disease for the rest of his life. When John Lennon claimed that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ he was gunned down by a madman. The moment Lucifer wanted to take over the throne of God he was cast down like lightning from heaven. When Herod spoke like a god, and people honoured him as one, he fell down and worms ate him up. Horror of horrors!
Well, we are all flesh and have nothing to boast about, that is really all I am saying. When someone else falls, we should not rejoice but go and help to pick them up. He who stands should take care that he does not fall in the same way as the person he is judging.
How quickly this life passess...like a shuttle, says Job, a shooting star through the air, and it is gone. Moses says it passes like a shadow. He described his eventful 120 years as a hand width...

I love a crispy doughnut with some icing on it! But whenever I eat one I am reminded of this story and it is a good time to take stock of one's own life. Our own assessments of our lives are not always accurate. That is why our Good Shepherd sometimes allows trials and temptations to come in situations we would not have chosen for ourselves or for our dear ones, so that we can be reminded that we have nothing to boast of in the flesh.

All we have and all we are have been graciously given to us. We are simply to be grateful for what God has allowed in our lives. We receive correction from him and take the instruction that adversity and suffering bring. Our faith is tempered by these things.

In a moment of disappointment remember to look for the mercy of God in it: it is by His grace that we are not consumed, because we are like the flower of the grass, today it is here and blossomes, then the wind blows over it, and it is gone!

But in the midst of this temporary state of being, we have an option to add eternal value to our lives by putting our faith in Christ's offering for the sin of mankind: by believing he died for me, He imparts eternal life into my being and I have this hope in me that I will forever be with the Lord, no matter what happens after this life!

So, in myself I am just the hole in the doughnut, but in Christ, I add taste to life! But because I know my source and substance, I am thankful for the opportunities offered to me daily to do what I can do in order to be a shining light for Jesus, in spite of my own deficiencies and weaknesses. All the glory of any achievement goes to my Maker. I am nothing without Him.

He is the real doughnut! He is the Master Piece of God's Creation! He is everything to me!