Reflections

I Kings 19:7 So, God having just conquered the prophets of Baal, the people starts cheering, in Hebrew probably: “Elijah! Elijah!” Guess Elijah must have been stoked! Then Jezebel comes after him, and maybe Elijah realises that the Lord is God. But that’s me speculating. And he starts running for Sinai. But no, he’s not running away from Jezebel, he’s running to God. Because remember this about the mount Sinai: it’s the mountain where God first gave His covenant to His people. Elijah knows he will ‘find’ God there. And God wants him there. So, when Elijah feints, God sends an angel to bring him sustenance. Twice. “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you”. ~***~ We know what happened in the cave. Elijah meets with God, not in the storm, or the earthquake, or the fire, but afterwards, in the sound of a gentle whisper. And he finds his (His?) perspective, and a new mission. The purpose of the storm was in that lesson Elijah learnt.

When reading the New Testament, one should not really ever forget what the situation was like in Palestine at the time. It was under Roman rule. And those Romans were crazy – ask Obelix. They made you hang around at a whim. On a crucifix. If you were a slave, your owner literally held your life in his hands. You were considered an ‘it’ – stripped of humanity. It wasn’t a crime to kill a slave, anymore than it was a crime to kill a dog. Those were bad times in which the story of Christ unfolds. And yet, He NEVER berated the Roman oppressors. He had lots to say about the Jewish religious leaders. But about Caesar? Well, we all know what He said about Caesar... So let’s change the setting: White, racist, apartheid South Africa… So there was this Wit Baas, three blacks employees working for him. They weren’t slaves, neither was he a Roman. He didn’t give them the vote, but he gave them pretty much everything they still have in post-apartheid South Africa. And he cursed them, and call

I remember the 1970 All Black tour. I was just a laaitie, 7 odd years old, and my memories has me, my dad and my brother in it, listening to Gerhard Viviers' commentary on the Afrikaans radio station. We bought a long playing record of his commentary of one of the test matches later. I remember Sid Nomis' try: "Siddie! Siddie! En hy druk hom!" You go listen, those are the exact words Gerhard used - I still remember them from that time. Both my dad and my boet are gone now. Sometimes I miss them so much. But I have these memories with them, and dudes wearing a Bok on a green and gold jersey on it. Now these guys want to take the Bok away. And I don't like it, because they are messing with the memories. At the same time, I read just now that there were already protests going on in 1970. So there are different memories about these same events, and I acknowledge that those may be memories people want to exorcise. I didn't know about those protests at th

Princess Nina sent me this story a week and a bit ago... A holy man had a conversation with the Lord and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and although each of them found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoon back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, "You have seen Hell." They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the

I had a long talk with Princess Nina tonight. We got to where she told me of some friends who had lived in Scotland until recently. They told the Princess that they were the youngest couple in church. And they're only forty-ish. So we started talking. Of course, I think churches are dying simply because God no longer rules in those 'churches' - if that's what you want to call them. So she told me of all the godly things people do, in the quiet, in her congregation. Truly amazing. That's where she sees God's love. She told me that she finds rest there. So for a moment, I couldn't answer - all I could think of was: I want more than that. I want to meet with God when I go to church. I want to see Him in action. Signs and wonders. I want to be with Him. And later, over doing the dishes, I got to thinking some more. About those churches in Scotland. About their members probably also being able to tell of godly things people do. Truly amazing things. That they fin

I've been sadly dilinquent in my blogging. It's been DAYS since my last posting. I'll try to do better. Screwing up a presentation is sometimes not a bad thing. It sometimes presents opportunities for learning that would not otherwise present itself. Like the thing about the groups today - so now everyone understands about formative evaluation and fixing up mistakes at runtime. I hope everyone is gonna read this - I would like people to know this about me. I hate critisism. I like being perfect, and for everyone to think that I am. But no one ever learns anything if you already know everything, so making a mistake is an opportunity for learning the proper way. So I always listen to criticism, with a distinguishing ear. I disregard what is not valid criticism, because I am mature enough to distinguish, and then I learn from the valid criticism, because I am mature enough. So please criticise me, and even if I react badly when you do - I WILL HEAR what you say. I still prefer

When I met God, I simply loved Him. I would talk to Him, sit with Him, listen to Him, be with Him. That would be enough. Soon I realised I needed more. I wanted to know more, do more, be more. So I studied with learned scholars. And read intricate writings. And conducted lengthy discourses. And then I found the truth. I realised that I simply loved Him. So I talk to Him, sit with Him, listen to Him, be with Him. That is enough. So, a person who knows what to do, AND does it, is like a the man who has built his house on a rock...