Thank You

I’m so excited! Christmas is just 2days away!!!

But being the individual I am, I always question my motives behind my thoughts, my feelings etc. Of course, that is a good thing, but it does tend to be a bad thing as well at times.

Anyway, I questioned my reasoning as to why I am excited. Am I excited because I’m going to be given loads of gifts?

If so, is that really what the day is all about?

This led me to my reasoning as to why I’m really excited.

Although the 25^th of December is not the actual birth date of Jesus, it is the chosen day that brings much excitement along with it. Excitement around the fact that this baby can and would and did change the course of history for all who would just trust in him…

A beautifully life changing story…

It is a day of remembrance for me personally. As Jesus handed out love, so do I in the giving of gifts to others. This is the way I am able to show my love for them on this very special day.

God gave us the most beautiful gift ever recorded in human history…

That gift? His own son…

As Christmas day draws closer I can’t help but to begin to feel emotional at the thought of the most precious gift that was given to me…

The beautiful thing about this gift is that it’s not only mine! It can be yours to!!! This gift can and will change your life as it did mine… All you have to do is accept it from God…

On that note, I want to publically thank YHWH for the most awesome gift known to mankind… I couldn’t have asked for a better gift.

Have you received his gift? If so, are you thankful for his gift?

A Christmas Wish...

Check out how Megs and I were able to make such a small Christmas wish a reality...

All this young lady, a police reservist (who is unemployed), wanted was a present for each of her kids... a simple task for us to meet... and so we met it...

We challenge you to do the same in some way...

“Boesak has shown his true colours” – Carl Niehaus

“The ruling party’s Carl Niehaus said Boesak had shown his true colours.” - JP du Plessis

Whilst working today and casually listening to the news I came across a story which shocked me! I’ve never truly been one to follow politics, but over the past couple of days, I’ve been sitting on the edge of my seat watching and hoping that South Africa’s newest and freshest political party, COPE would change South Africa. I was strongly considering giving them my vote, that was until Alan Boesak was taken on.

Firstly, let me point out that I am completely shocked by this move! How can a political party fighting against corruption hire and employ a convicted criminal? For those who are not aware, Boesak was found guilty of fraud and theft. However, due to a presidential pardon in 2005, his criminal record was expunged. Despite all this, Cope would like to make him the premier of the Western Cape… Aren’t we meant to be moving forward?

The second reason as to why COPE has lost my vote is due to Boesak’s recent actions. After reading this post by Eye Witness news, I question as to whether Boesak is honestly wanting to change South Africa or if he’s just looking for the highest paying position.

Is he in it for the money or is prepared to change South Africa? If the DA offered him a position as their receptionist, would he take it as a step into and towards changing SA?

I doubt it…

To read Boesak’s own words click here.

Will South African politics ever change for the better?

Our Captain, Our Hansie, Our Captain

I finally did it… I finally watched Hansie (the movie). For a long time I wasn’t to sure if I really wanted to watch the film or not. I had deep childhood memories of my school cricket hero and I didn’t want to damage them further. I wasn’t to sure if I was really ready to hear the whole match fixing story over again. Maybe there was something I missed and that something could damage his image further.

I’m happy to say that was not the case. Rather the film displayed what an honorable man he was. Granted he made some stupid choices, as we all do, but he remained the man he always was… a follower of Christ.

I can still remember the day I sat in front of my TV, tears forming in my eyes as I watched Hansie share his story in and amongst his own tears. That day, Hansie became more of a hero to me than he had ever been.

If you haven’t yet seen it, the film is a remarkable journey through his cricket career, allowing viewers the opportunity to just catch a glimpse of the pain and suffering that he went through. I highly recommend the film. His story is a beautiful story of the reconciliation process between God and man. Where Hansie needed someone to love and hold him, God was there. Unfortunately the public weren’t.

The comments made by the press throughout the film disgusted me and I can not believe that we (the general public and media) acted in the manner we did. Did the cricket board really make such harsh public comments about him as stated in the film?

It seemed so natural for Peter Pollock to share the story of the prodigal son with Hansie when he turned to him for guidance. Where man wanted nothing to do with him (Hansie), God accepted him with open arms…

He is our captain… He is Hansie Cronje

Carpe Manana

God was willing to submit the Godhead to cultural conditions – that’s the Incarnation.
And we aren’t?
God so loved the world.
And we won’t?
The Church is trying to get out of what God is trying to get into – the world.

(Taken from “Carpe Manana: Is Your Church ready to Sieze Tomorrow” by Leonard Sweet Pg 26)

I absolutely love this quote! It really gets me thinking in terms of how the Church should be moving along with culture. God the almighty creator of the heavens and the earth submitted to human culture in order to reach us, should the church then not do the same in return? He is definitely bigger than culture, and so the Church also has more to offer than the circular world we find ourselves in. But many are not aware of this…

If this is the case, which I believe it to be, then we’re living out the great reversal which Luke so passionately teaches and pushes us towards… We are as much the Biblical Church as we aren’t the Biblical Church.

So then, perhaps Leonard Sweet is right on the money when he suggests that as believers of Christ we should stop trying to Carpe Diem (seize the day) and rather move forward and Carpe Manana (Seize Tomorrow)…

Are you moving along with culture or are stuck in today?

A Changed Man: Brian 'Head' Welch

For years I followed KoRn as a young guy at school. If you aren’t aware of who KoRn is, then I suppose the best way I could describe them is: a hard rock / metal band. I aboslutley loved their stuff.

Despite my KoRn addiction (if I can call it that), I reached a point where the lyrics just really rubbed against me. The lyrics just seemed to go against my life philosophy and so I finally gave up my KoRn. Sounds funny I know… I still believe that these guys are so gifted musically and can’t wait to see what God can do through them musically…

Imagine my surprise and joy when Brian Head Welch announced his coming to Christ. I was over the moon!!! This dudes testimony is insane!!!! I was so encouraged by his story, I could not but just worship the living God. Man, He is soooo real. Don’t believe me? Watch Head’s story posted here or here to see what I’m talking about.

The exciting bit is the fact he’s just started his own record label and has just recently released his first album!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! If you’re into heavy music you can get his new album here. You can also get his life story here.

He gave birth to his own brother?!?

What is the weirdest medical story you’ve ever come across? I bet you’ve never heard about the boy who had his brother living inside of him!!! It seems to be a case of the Aliens movies coming to life… How do you react when you’re a dude and a doctor says to you that there is another dude growing inside of you!?!?

Here is a piece of the article taken from ‘interesting facts’:

India resident Sanju Bhagat always had bit larger stomach, but he got extremely worried when it suddenly started growing bigger and bigger. Thirty year old Sanju Bhagat was rushed to hospital and his stomach condition was diagnosed as an stomach tumor. To a doctor's surprise it was something extremely different and very unusual. From the birth Sanju had his twin brother living inside of him like a parasite. This phenomenon is extremely rare since parasite twin brother has to survive by leaching on its brother’s blood supply. This bizarre medical conditions is called fetus in fetu and it occurs when a fetus gets trapped inside of its twin. Doctor Mehta who was operating Sanju Bhagat said: "First, one limb came out, then another limb came out. Then some part of genitalia, then some part of hair, some limbs, jaws, limbs, hair."

Check out the video here

Have you heard of any other weird medical stories?

Even your pets can catch the Christmas spirit...

This is who God is...

Have you ever thought about how you would describe who God is if you met someone who knew absolutley nothing about a/the Muslim, Christian, Eastern god(s)...

Consider this response taken from I am bored:

It was written by an 8 year old, Danny Dutton of Chula Vista, CA, for his third grade homework assignment. The assignment was to explain God. Wonder if any of us could do as well?

One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn’t make grown-ups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way He doesn’t have to take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.

How would you or your children describe the god you know or serve?

Video Blog 2: The will you marry me blog

Looking for the baby Jesus under the trash

When I wrote this blog, I think I got IT… I thought that seeing that we’re entering the Christmas period, maybe I should pull it out again and share it with those who have not yet read it…

Enjoy...

Looking for the baby Jesus under the trash

It's the 10th of December today. We're still fifteen days away from Christmas. Why on earth are we having a Christmas lunch today? This was the question running through my head. It was through this lunch that the Kruger family showed me what love is, but one little individual, Nathan, not only showed me, but taught me as well. I owe quite a substantial amount to this little guy. Thanks Nathan, this article's for you.

Allow me to explain why it is that we had ended up having a rather early Christmas lunch. The Kruger family had family visiting from Pretoria who sadly (I admit) are unable to spend Christmas day with them. In fact they're leaving tomorrow (the 11th) to head back home. Hence the early Christmas lunch. However, the story doesn't end there. This lunch had more attached to it. Quite a substantial amount more. More than I honestly expected.

I've been thinking a bit about this whole "Christmas" thing for quite sometime now. I always seem to get annoyed with the season. What is it about Christmas that seems to annoy me? Why is it that I get hacked off with the world? Perhaps it's the same reason I get annoyed around Easter. Everything is so commercialized, we seem to have veered so far off course that we don't even seem to know where the course is anymore. Bono, a role model of mine, made quite a profound statement that really got me thinking along the line of what Christmas really meant or means to me.

The statement you ask? Quite simply, whilst in a conversation with a friend of his (I think), he was talking about Christmas and he ending up saying that he was searching for the baby Jesus underneath the trash. Quite a statement. That definitely explained the place where I was at. I had lost Jesus and I needed to find him. The problem was I just didn't know where or how to begin.

How do I find Jesus underneath all the trash?

However, I didn't realise I was very close to solving this dilemma of mine.

Megs, a friend of mine keeps asking me why it is that I'm against the Christmas spirit and I keep replying with the same answer, "I'm not against it." Then she asks me about decorations and again I reply with "I'm not against the decorations." Not at all. Christmas decorations are great. All I'm really against is the concept behind them. The decorations are great. They add to the mood, the atmosphere. Are those the right words to be using? Probably.

What does annoy me, is the fact that decorations seem to now be about money. Money. It doesn't stop there though. Christmas in its entirety seems to now be about money. Profit. Money is all Christmas seems to be about today. It's because of this that I've realized that it's not only myself with this dilemma, we all seem to have lost Jesus. What happened to him? Does anyone know where he is?

I do.

I know exactly where he is and so does Bono.

He's (Jesus) stuck underneath all the trash and it's a problem.

A problem which I'm not really sure we can fix on our own. He's stuck underneath all this commercialism. Most of us have seem-ably missed the true concept behind Christmas. We've buried Jesus under the trash of a now commercialized Christmas. We need to all work together to change this issue. However, I sadly don't really see that happening in the near future.

Christmas for myself, is about Jesus.

Love

I only realized that today. Today I was given the opportunity to experience what I feel Christmas is really about. I experienced parents putting a smile upon a little boys (aged 7) face. Their son clearly means the earth and more to them. It was absolutely incredible. For some time now, Nathan's friends were telling him that Santa wasn't real. In an effort to prove them wrong and show him love I was taught a valuable lesson. He won't understand the concept of love yet, but I do. These two incredible parents taught me so much about love today.

How'd they do that?

Well, what they did was quite simple. Small gifts were organized for Nathan and his younger brother, who's just about walking now. Meg's and I wrapped the gifts, well actually Meg's did, I just watched. I can't wrap presents at all. Is there a course I could possibly consider attending to address this issue? This was obviously all done without Nathan knowing a thing. Once the gifts had been wrapped, Robert, a friend of ours, had the privilege of dressing up as Santa. I say privilege as it was really him that placed the smile upon Nathan's face.

Once everything was ready, gifts wrapped, Robert in his red suit and white beard, we were ready to make Nathan's day. All together, we went outside, grabbed a chair and pretended to relax in the sun. Dam it was hot! This Cape Town weather is amazing. We were now ready for the operation to take its course. Whilst sitting and having innocent conversation amongst each other, Santa suddenly popped into the yard, dropped a bag and was off in a flash, all without saying a word, thus eliminating any suspicion of Robert not being the real Santa. The look upon Nathan's face was priceless. Nathan was up in a flash (after a short period of shock) and out the gate on a quest to find Santa. Thanks to Mr Kruger, Megs dad, Santa was in a car and off in a flash. Santa works with cars now, not reindeers, its 2006!!! For a while, Nathan attempted to see if he could find Santa, but was obviously (and thankfully) unsuccessful.

When he got back, we showed him the bag that Santa had dropped before running off. Nathan, I must admit did seem a bit freaked out at this point, until his mother checked the bag and showed him there were gifts inside with his name on them. There was also a short note to Nathan from Santa saying that he just popped in to prove that in fact he was and is real. Nathan's smile was by far the most beautiful thing I've seen (along side my niece) in quite some time.

How absurd, I'm not naïve, but a 7 year old taught me the true meaning of Christmas. He helped me find Jesus again. His smile shared with me exactly what Christmas is all about, exactly what love is all about and exactly what Jesus is all about.

Love

Love is what Christmas is really all about.

Now, thanks to Nathan, I can say that I've found Jesus underneath the trash.


Have you?