2020, what a year!

 For a second I thought I was on set in a movie. There was a certain  sommberness to the feeling. Where am I? What's going on?  I saw people walking past me in masks and I couldn't help but look at the strange attire they had on their faces. A few seconds later I would snap back to reality  and realise; we have a coronavirus pandemic. In South  Africa, we had hard lockdown  for twenty one days at the beginning of the pandemic. It was needed. The times were frightening.  There was a sense of a feeling that the world had come to an end. At least the weirdness of the  situation.  

It is seven months down the line and the shadow of the pandemic  is still upon us and the somber feeling is there but not as intense anymore.   Its enough to say that 2020 has been one strange year. I'm not sure there are words to adequately  describe this year. 

We were hit with the worst  pandemic I  over a hundred years.  Some countries have been hit the hardest.  With the USA as of today surpassing  ten million  infections. Ten million. India is not that far behind.  So, we are still reeling in this year but we have hope. 

We hope in God who can save us. Who can rescue us when we call unto Him. He hears us when we ask for His helping hand. Even though this year has been one for the books, it still remains a year to celebrate.  A lot of people have had celebrations this year. 

We will not forget those who died. Those who will forever be remembered by their families and friends. Those who have left this earth due to this massive pandemic  that  has plagued  the whole earth. 

Yes, 2020 is one for the books!

ladders

step up, get yourself up to the top of the world. take every step methodically. make every effort  to push yourself to be on top. enjoy every moment. smell every achievement with each step. celebrate your ability to move up on the ladder. there are people who are watching, hoping they were the ones going up that ladder. others are cheering you on while others are secretly hoping you would come crashing down. step up, go on, you deserve that break. do it while world watches.

when you get up there be careful. watch your step. you lose your grip at the first step the fall is mildly painful. you lose your grip midway the pain is somewhat bearable. you lose your grip at the top of the ladder you come crashing down. the fall shatters. everything flashes. the fall is unforeseen. the pain is everlasting. the memory, imprinted.

so is with the ladders of life. we achieve little no one takes notice. we are somewhat halfway there, the world around us takes notice. they see this beautiful gift that is beginning to unwrap right in front of their eyes. some cheer on, others wonder how long the show is going to go. others wait for the skeletons to come out of the closet. such as is the life we life. bottled up. judged upon. 

safety in the storm

the one thing that is sure to  happen in our lives is that we will face some severe storms. it's not a  matter of if, its a matter of when.  when we face a storm, the one thing we can do is just brace ourselves.  no way to stop it, no ways to run for safety; the only way we can be sure to endure is to go to that proverbial fetal position and brace for it.  sometimes it takes longer than it should. and sometimes, while we are still expecting more then suddenly it's over. two reactions to that, one person will look around and check if more is coming. another when they see the coast is clear they immediately jump out and celebrate.

we, who have a comforter in the midst of the storm go through it differently. we have God who wipes every tear from our eyes. He sees to it that no matter how terrible the storm of life is, He's there beside us. He has not authoured the storm, He has simply allowed it to happen. i've noticed that we suffer differently. we weep differently. we cry differently because ours is a sure and steadfast anchor that keeps us from being swept away and capsized. in life's horrible moments we don't cry out of hopelessness but we do with the knowledge and thought that it will pass away.

we are, safe in the storm.

the leader heals

We all have this idea that a leader never goes through hardships. We know it happens, we just never think of it a great possibility for a leader.  In fact, the shock and awe is when a person deemed to be great leader falls.  People and think within themselves if anything could have been done to stop the process. We wonder if they had anyone to talk to about their internal struggles. Could they have avoided the fall in some kind of way? So may questions arise as to how this could have been avoided.

The description above sounds a like a fall from grace type of hardship. The same goes for when a leader feels emotionally spent. They have spent all they have emotionally, physically and mentally for the betterment of others. This is a great thing. To invest in others. But it does not help the leader if they don't take care of themselves while they help others. Leaders need support structures just like everyone else.  They are vulnerable just like everyone else. They hurt, just like everyone else. The thing is, people don't think they go through these emotions. But the fact is they do. It then becomes of paramount importance that a leader creates support structures for themselves.

I read a book earlier that was titled, "leading with a limp." It was basically highlighting the fact that leaders are prone to everything else that all people go through, and how a leader can navigate through those stormy waters of life and make it while being leader. 

The fact is leaders tend to be judged  more harshly for hardships they face. Especially a fall from grace. Or a leadership mishap. Or a wrong call on an important strategic  decision. Leaders tend to go through the most.  So it's very important for a leader to realise that time to heal or even heal while they are working is important. 

This is not a complete thought process, will come back for it. 

the leader leads!!!

fact is, there are good leaders and there are bad leaders. they both have one thing in common; they have followers. two of the things that become evident with any leader; power corrupts / a corrupted leader will show his/her true colours once in leadership position

the responsibility always lies with what one does with the power they now hold. a leader with good character will know how to negotiate with the people they lead as they come up with ways to create a a great environment. this reveals good self confidence, a vision for a great legacy and being able to trust other people.

 a leader with bad character will want to always exert their leadership. they couldn't care less of what other people think. it's not about others, but about self. this is evidence of lack of self confidence. lack of good judgement and lack of vision. 

i write what i like

its just one of those moments in life when one just screams; "Whats going on in the world?!?!" there is just too much chaos, lack of leadership, lack of statesmanship and lack of direction.

it seems and feels like people are grasping at straws to make sense of the very things that happen right in front of their eyes. It's tough, and we need leadership. leadership is lacking. I should say good leadership. We have leaders every where but are they making good strides in pulling the world together? at the moment the answer would be no.

if the top to bottom cannot do anything to change, the ground up can be the strategy we need.

Keeping Up!

The hardest thing ever  is to keep everyone in your circle happy. Its hard when you are being pulled from side to side. This one wants this and that one wants that. One ends up with nothing for themselves and nothing to give to themselves. Just wondering if ever that is possible, to keep everybody on one's life happy.

I am an inquisitive soul. Its the personality that I have. I like it much. I have a thirst for knowledge and to know is much better than walking in the dark. But knowledge not transmitted is futile knowledge. So empty yourself, empower those around you.

So, if you ever come across this blog post in the future. Hope you ask yourself the same question. Happy blogging!

Matters of Weight (Weighty Chews)

My friend, who has been a close friend of mine for a good couple of years recently accepted the Lord into her life. This was indeed a joyous moment for me, as I have been telling her about the relationship with Christ for years. We rejoiced together and as I always like to do, I gave her material to read so that she can grow in her faith. 

I observed that my friend is growing in her faith, which is always expected and should be appreciated. I rejoiced when I called her and she would go on for 30 mintues to share with me what she was learning. I was mostly glad as you can imagine that I spent a good 3 years convincing her about the joys of having a relationship with Christ. I thought to myself, finally she gets it. I was a proud friend. Glad to see all of this happening in front of my eyes. 

Tides started to turn as when I would share something with my friend about things that normally wouldn't be an issue she would start to question my faith. Don't get me wrong, I read and study my bible, I read theological works because I believe in being learned. I have sorrounded myself with women who pour into my life nuggets of life and I appreciate that always.  But now all of a sudden I can't talk to her about anything. I have to watch my words with her and I spend a bulk of the time listening to her talk. With hardly a word from me inbetween.

It then dawned on me. The stages in our Christian walk. She is at the excited stage. Nothing can go wrong. If you face an obstacle, you don't pray enough or you don't trust God enough. Or you are not letting the Holy Spirit flow in you. 

I laughed at this matter as I remembered my time at UWC, where I was exactly the same and I do want to go to the people I did this to to just apologise to them. 

So I'm going to tag a few people, as I  am learning that we offend people in our stages of our walk. If you do feel like some way or the other I offended you while growing up. My humble apologies and please do understand that I was child growing up and I am still learning. 

October Newsletter

OCTOBER 2011
VOLUME1, ISSUE 7
ON THE GROUND NEWS


DE NOVO AND OTHER NEWS!

In September there was a new intake of clients who are on the Rehabilitation Programme at De Novo. This meant that it was my second time doing the workshops.
We started with seven of the ladies already in mid-programme so they did only 3 lessons before they could leave for home.
The Managing Director of De Novo is requesting that Cross-Roads trains all their staff. This is because after 3 years of workshops at the centre, they have realised that the curriculum is very effective and successful.
De Novo is a Youth Centre for women and men. It specializes is drug rehabilitation. Cross-Roads (Campus Crusade for
Christ) has been conduction life skills and character build-ing workshops for the past 3 years.
In the Gauteng Province, CrossRoads held their first “Quest for Significance” Semi-nar. This seminar was attend-ed by 80 Headmasters and Businessmen. The following step for the Gauteng province is to have a “Teacher Train-ing.” This is going to be the first ever training in the Gaut-eng province, please pray for that to go well.
Since the “Teacher Training” that happened in Cape Town, two schools have requested CrossRoads that they want their whole schools to be

PRAYER POINTS AND PRAISE POINTS
Praise God for the growth of CrossRoads.
Praise God for the interest that people have on this ministry strategy.
Please pray for exponential growth for CrossRoads.
Please pray for more fulltime staff at the Western Cape of-
fice of Campus Crusade for Christ.
Please pray for my MPD, to reach 100% status

STAFF NUMBER
(SA) 11480
STAFF NUMBER
(US) 2868173
WEBSITE
HTTPS://GIVE.CCCI.ORG
A youth that has good character and love for one another is what we hope to have
POINTS
 Let God be true and every man a liar
 We don’t preach ourselves, but we preach Christ
 Obedience is better than sacrifice
 Owe nobody anything but love

Skeptik

It's hard to be in a situation that is not desirable. I am thinking about the possibilities of such situations.

Currently I am in a situation where I want to get out of but its not easy as it looks. I am developing ministry partners and I need to have them as soon as possible. The thing is its not going as fast as I would like it to be.

I am emotionally drained. I am physically tired. I need to get out of this situation.

I only can trust in God, its hard to trust in self at the moment.

forgiveness

just jotting down my views on a misunderstanding and then a path to reconciliation. what most people find hard to say is sorry. such a difficult but necessary word to say, not just that but mean it. recently witnessed a situation where clearly there was a clash of people dynamic, a misunderstanding was inevitable. the biggest was talking about it, where the other party went around telling people what was done to them. even though i did not agree with the communication style i had to understand we have different backgrounds and we handle different issues differently.

saying sorry and showing remorse are two different things. i don't know who came up with the term; "actions speak louder than words." this is very true. it is a sticky situation as work must go on but trust has been lost and respect has been lost as well. trying to make building blocks in a manner such as this is hard.

my hope is that a path to reconciliation is a swift and smooth one. time is against the ones who toil. there is work to be done and this is a serious statement. one's thoughts and feelings have to be placed aside as there is not enough time to accommodate such.

grace and peace

taking a stride in the tides

...so we all grow, we all leave the teenagehood spent hating our parents because they know so little. they just don't get it. we tell ourselves that if they could get on with the game, then it all would be okay. we enter a life of adulthood where we become adults, when we realise that whatever ideas we had about our parents were all wrong. we spend the first few years of adulthood apologising in our actions to our parents. we think, if i act right then s/he will know that i am sorry and i didn't mean any utternaces i may have said in my teenage years

after leaving varsity, we set out for the 'real' world. and a real world it is. i'm still asking myself if this world is merciful to its inhabitants. i've just heard it's not. but the research is not done. before a memoir gets out an extensive research has to be done. varsity is a well coated shell. of course that is my opinion based on careful observation. (and this particular blog is will never be done until a book is out. so, this is a work is progress. )

tides are very strange, some a beautiful, some are very cruel, merciless and inconsiderate. some tides' cruelty is brought on by us, individuals or as a collective. the question i would like to get to is how does one take a stride in the tides? is it possible to?

as a nation and and the world we are currently facing the biggest tide in the history of the world. everybody is struggling. everybody is either drowning or trying by all means to keep the head above water, and i mean very hard. myself included. we are all facing it. we look toward the sky where we know the Lord is watching. hence the word, 'if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and repent, i come down from heaven and hear them.' this is of course a paraphrase out of 2 Chronicles 7:14. we all need the Lord.

as i said, this is a work in progress so i'm still thinking, let me know what you think. write to me

Summing it all up

Life's beauty and treasure are what you make them to be. The best way to live is to learn.
What am I currently doing about the dreams and aspirations that I have in my life?
Am I nurturing them the best way I can? Am I looking forward to the future? These are but a few questions that we all have but some never take them seriously. The best way to fight ignorance is to inject the masses with knowledge. But how will the get they power if they are not willing to use what they have?

Knowledge becomes futile if I don't live out what I know. the best weapon we all have is knowledge. It is a right, not a priviledge (a cliche would say)...let me know what you think? these are my thoughts, just writing what i like.

just wanted to sum it all up at once, not chronologically but just jotting down.

What Am I doing?

south africa has the highest number of people infected with HIV and AIDS, the new statistics reveal that there is an extra 2million to the 5.5 million infections......the questions is, what am doing about it?

nonsense

he most difficult thing is to move from being the wisest person to being the most foolish. this happens when we allow the crowns given to us stay with us. if you want to be among the wisest that ever lived do not claim any crown given to you, its your very own curse. Jesus was not a medical doctor but they called HIm healer. He did not have any formal education but He was called teacher. He did not not have any army but He deafeated death. as far as i'm concerned, He's the wisest Man that ever walked the earth. shake of the crown given to you and you will see how free you become because you no longer have to live up to it.my brothers and sisters, let us be better people by letting go of foolish pride, its the very thing that kills us dead. love you all

Leadership

(for those who don't know, i'm from South Africa therefore the way we write our English is different to yours)

perhaps my most favourite topic is leadership. i'm always intrigued by the way one would be able to recognise, train and groom somebody to be a leader....its only a God given talent because on our own we can do that. now you are probably thinking its not true because we have the secular world doing a great job in grooming for leadership. i totally agree but their basis for grooming is PRIDE. that cannot be good. the Word of God says that pride comes before destruction.....to them letting go of their pride is letting of the self. for the Christian, letting go of pride is receiving the self...i can write on and on but i need you guys to help with this, i'm busy writing a book about it and i need to really understand the topic

Hunger

i'm at work right now and i'm wondering which is good? hunger for Jesus or hunger food....you are probably thinking, its a stupid thing to even ask, believe me, i know....i left my wallet at home and its in the afternoon i haven't eaten anything yet, i'm really hungry....this gets me thinking because people out there are hungry, for Jesus and for food....what are we doing about it? do we idle in fancy offices or get out there and feed them with both the Word and food? you see, we have fancy jobs with great titles and benefits....some people more benefits than others...but, when we see somebody in the streets asking for food we act as if we didn't hear anything and we move on....last week while at home a young boy came my way, he could'nt have been older than 15....he asked for a 50c, i did the shoulder thing, because i was more worried about my safety than giving the boy what he needed. you see, a few metres behind me was a group of young boys and in my mind i thought they just wanted to check whether i would give so that they would rob me.....and i walked as fast as i could to get away from that situation, i had seen what i did was wrong, but the most important Person saw it all....this gets me thinking, what are we doing in our communities to help the needy to get food and the Word? should we worry about safety or what Jesus would say in the end?........you know the answer

My All

I believe God is busy dealing with me and all the things that could come up as obstacles in my life. Last night He asked me, "Can you handle it?" I said yes. He reminded me then that its no joke. Its not hide and seek game. Once I commit I can never turn back. I have to do the best way I can, allowing Him to speak through me. Its called MINISTRY. The word itself is very heavy.

So far, this is the most important decision in my life. I won't lie and say I'm not worried about what would happen. I also ask myself if it's the right time. I ask God, "Should I go in now or should I wait for later?"

One thing stands clear about God. His faithfulness is forever more. He will never let anything happen that is not ordained by Him. Complete trust and obedience in Him is what He desires from us

Buddy

.uhmmmm, i'm just pondering on the sweet benefits that come with having a buddy. then i wonder, who or what is a buddy? this is a term i never use. i don't have an indepth understanding of where the word iriginates or what it means.

my general understanding of the term, which is very limited, means a friend who you know very well. somebody who you can depend on and have mutual love for one another. this person will be there for you in your dark moments and maybe help you through those

if that's the case then I would to have Jesus as a buddy. i would like to know Him like I would know my buddy, love Him and and depend oh Him like would a buddy. but, according to what I know, He more than a buddy, much more. a buddy may leave you but HE wont, a buddy remembers your past wrongs but He doesn't.

but i still have a question, mybe you have answer....what is buddy?

I'm back

I forgot how to log in to my blogspot....funny i know but now i'm back and i know this time is for real, i'm planning to stay here and be here all the time. this is my strategic plan for something that i will reveal later.
for now, God bless