Friday 6 August 2010

To be wealthy or not? That is the question.

Ever found yourself not too happy with your current circumstances? More accurately should I rather say not too happy with your financial positioning compared with your neighbour?

I think we all have a bit of that from time to time and it can be quite a challenge, especially if you happen to be going through a financial challenge. What and who can you trust in then to change your circumstances and does it matter anyway?

Well I was reading Hebrews 13 today and verse 5 puts it into perspective. I hope it helps you too:

5 Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

So however bad you think you situation is... remember it could be worse and also you are being looked after by God himself. He won't fail you. I could write more thoughts on this but this is sufficient for now.

Thursday 29 October 2009

If...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And – which is more – you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Friday 23 October 2009

A meaningful poem (not mine)

This was written by by David L. Weatherford, but I love it so much thought it would be good to add in here.

Ever follow a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask: How are you? Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time to call and say, "Hi"?

You'd better slow down, Don't dance so fast.
Time is short, The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race do take it slower.
Hear the music before the song is over.

Monday 19 October 2009

Speaking of beginnings, I thought it might be appropriate to start at the beginning... the beginning of my life. It's not when I was born, it's quite some time after that. Let me explain.

Yes I was born and grew up day by day experiencing many different things that people experience normally and also things that were not so normal. Some of these I might blog at a later stage, but for this post... I'll concentrate on where it began.

Well, there were a few key moments in my life that stood out so much that I can remember them like it was yesterday. The first was when I was about 7 or 8. I had just been to Sunday school and it was about the wisdom of Solomon. I wasn't a christian, just a child that had been to Sunday school. Well I remember looking up to the sky and as sincerely as only a child can prayed, 'God give me wisdom, not riches, make me wise' because I remembered that God blessed Solomon for asking for wisdom, not riches. I felt that God had heard me.

The second was in High school (around grade 11) there were these Christian outreach teams witnessing at our school. Well there was a lot of debate and negative response to the teams and eventually they got fairly fed up and said well those who wish to leave may leave and those who want to stand up for Jesus, stand up. All my friends left but somehow inside myself I said "I will not deny Jesus. I'm going to stand up!" I didn't become a Christian but it was a significant moment in my life.

The third was one cold evening. It was clear and you could see thousands of stars. I remembered a song we used to sing at school, "Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works your hands have made..., I see the stars..." and I said "God, if you're real, show yourself to me."

Three weeks later I was in a big charismatic church... the kind I had never been in before. I remember walking in and being immediately impacted. The man who shook my hand at the door looked into my soul. The team praying on stage prayed with power and conviction. The songs we sang were filled with life and meaning. But before anybody began to preach, just after we sat down, one of the pastors said to the congregation, "if you are a believer, stand up". At first it didn't register, but as soon as most of the congregation had stood up it registered and I suddenly I felt the conviction of sin in my life. In that instant, God spoke to me and said "if you don't go down to the front and confess me before men I cannot call you like I'm calling them". It hit me square between the eyes, I couldn't deny it or hide from it. However it took me three weeks to get to the front (it was a big church and I thought a lot about this before I could do it). Finally I surrendered my life to Christ. It was like the first day of my true destiny, the moment my heart had been waiting for all of my life. I just didn't know it until then. That was the true beginning of my life, when I was born-again.

Thursday 15 October 2009

The beginning

We'll it's the beginning of blogging for me. I'm not usually one very interested in blogging but here I am taking my first step.

I'll keep this short as all I'm really trying to do is set the blog up, see how it looks, tweek a few thinks here and there and then... well then I'll probably invite a few people, tell them about my blog and hopefully become famous (just kidding, I have no interest in fame).

I intend on writing a few things about my experiences, thoughts and observations. Hopefully it'll be exciting, captivating, challenging, thought provoking and well just a good read too.

Well that's enough for now... more to come.