Purrrrspektive

To The Precious Saints !!!!!!!

Ya YOU, don't look around or behind you or at the person next to you and if you are working away by your little lonesome self, don't feel lonely 'cause He is with you always. Jesus is saying U RRRR PRECIOUS TO HIM he paid the highest price that one can pay for anyone. So no matter how vrot you are feeling today that does not change this truth.

If you ask the majority of people about Mondays, you kinda get the colour answer, black, blue or a combo black and blue, if its really a bomb of a day. Mondays are such clichés, everything seems to go wrong and what makes it so difficult is that my brain is still in neutral weekend mode when Monday springs up on me and screams in my ear SURPRISE!!!! its Monday. Oh what joy. I'm looking so forward to going to work, all those exciting deadlines, playing with exciting financial packages, meeting all those terribly depressed and morose people. Everyone is just so hyped and motivated to serve their fellow citizens in Cape Town, yea right.

So there I am hanging on to a leather handle of the bus, like a choice piece of meat, while trying not to put too much weight on my fractured toe. The bus is crammed, standing room only. Yea running late again, gee wot a surprise. We are caught in a tailback from Cape Town to Timbuktu and everyone is enjoying sucking in all the free carbon monoxide fumes. Its stifling hot in the bus and a woman is virtually fainting as she decides discretion is the better part of valour and sits down on the floor. I'm miffed I can't read or sleep as the bus driver tries doing his best Schumacher impression all the way to town.

A couple of years ago my spirit would have been crushed to the point of desperation. My thought then was. Man is this it? Is this all that life is cracked up to be? This endless joyless trudge of spending most of your time doing something you don't want to do. Now and again you get a "happy spark" when something good happens to you and you hang on to that memory and cherish it. You collect those memories, you treasure them and you try your best to plan and create new happy moments. When you go through a dark times then you call up those happy moments and you also look forward to creating those new ones. But this is such an inadequate philosophy to use in your life, you start falling apart from within, but that's okay as long as you look good and fashionable from the outside. I'm Kooel ! Oh yea what about you dieing some day? Listen I've got enuff on my plate I'll deal with that when it comes up.

Thank goodness Allie, when she was going through some of the darkest moments of her life started asking the same questions that I had been ignoring for years. She really started truly searching and eventually found a place and a person of truth. Me I was not interested. Church!!! Huh that's just a place full of hypocrites (always room for another one hey). Somehow through God's grace and mercy and the love of Christ He reached out and changed our lives forever.

So now when I hang around (literally) on the bus seemingly going nowhere slowly, I know that this life is just a mist, a millisecond compared to eternity and its definitely not all there is. I'm going to live forever with Jesus in heaven 'cause He bought me with a price and nothing can separate me from His great and all consuming love. And He has a purpose and plan for my life while I'm here. So if you feel like nothing and pretty vrot then join me and all the Saints and dare to believe in the promises of God. Put quite simply it's the plain everlasting, loving, truth.

We have heard the thunder
We have seen the storm
Echoes of your kingdom coming
Rumours of our home
Where one day we will stand before you Lord
Our altogether beautiful reward
And we will give you glory, bring you honour
King above all kings, you deserve our everything
We will lift our voices with your praises
Jesus you are our King
Though now we walk in darkness
Though now we see in part
Right now we're warmed by the burning flames
Of the fire in our hearts
You've promised you will lead us to your throne
Where we will worship you and you alone
(King by Tree 63)

LoCTY !!!!!!!!!!

PS There are quite a few scriptures in here but have fun and work them out 4 yer self. Go on don't be so lazzzzy !

Focus

To The Precious Saints !!!!

Max Lucado tells the story about when he was a little boy and he went fishing with his dad. They rowed out quite far and Max couldn't see the shoreline. Suddenly a storm came up and the water become really rough and the wind was howling. Whenever Max looked out at the water he felt terribly afraid but when he looked at his big strong dad he felt assured and unafraid. You see his dad was big and strong and he knew exactly what to do and where he was going as he rowed their little boat to shore. Max decided that he'd rather just continue to look at his dad and feel confident that his dad would save them then look at the swirling water around them and be afraid.
We must be like that. We must focus on God the Father in all we do and all we go through. This life is full of distractions that will blur our focus and many times shift it totally away. That is the work of Satan who plays on our weak and sinful nature. We must know this that we are in a battle every day of our lives and the outcome of this battle has eternal consequences.
However God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God) and Jesus has left us with the helper, His Holy Spirit and Jesus is constantly interceding for us to His Father.
This focus on God was so important that it is the first of the ten commandments for the Jewish nation in the wilderness. This first commandment was summed up in Deuteronomy 6:4 & 5 "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength." When Jesus was here on earth he said that this first law and that you love your neighbour as yourself summed up and encompassed the whole law.
Today whatever you are going through, whatever you are doing keep your focus on God. Know all that He has already done for you, what He is doing for you now and what He will do for you in the future. And then more then that in this battle fight for your family, your friends your church because God wants you to stand firm and fight. But not in your own strength He wants you to draw your strength from Him.
Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the leaders and the people and said to them, "Don't be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your friends, your families and your homes!" (Nehemiah 4:14)
So never cease praying and encouraging each other and I leave you with this prayer from Paul to the church at Ephesus. When I first read this again three years ago(the last time I'd read it was 12 years before that as a JW, it did not have the same impact on me then) on the bus I wanted to shout it out to everyone on the bus, it just blew me away(and still does).
When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvellous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we could ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Can we get an Amen? Or are you too busy, too under pressure, going through something, couldn't really be bothered, somebody has hurt you, angry with someone, angry with the church or angry with God. Just adjust your focus back to the Father and fight to keep it there. He knows you better than you know yourself!

LoCTY!!!!!!

A Reminder From Stanley

To The Saints !!!!!

Last night saw the start of Alpha. It is always with mixed feelings/emotions that one approaches serving on team for the start of the first Alpha course for the year. There is excitement, passion, apprehension, fear, doubt and often (but not always) there is something that happens in your life in the week leading up to Alpha that brings out and highlights our weak and sinful nature. During this week we have have been subjected again to family tension and Allie has borne the brunt of this from her son Adam.
So on to the first night and Allie initially did not much feel like going but eventually she decided to go with me. Things went okay and we were enjoying the evening. While sitting in the small group Kevin came walking up to me and said he had a message from Mandy(who was looking after Matthew) that our car had been stolen and was in Delft and that we should phone her to get the number for the police there.
Of course I would like to tell you that I stayed calm and made all the right Christian responses and called an immediate prayer meeting or whateva but I flipped, I panicked, my heart came up in my throat, then sank down to my shoes (and then continued with this yo yo motion). Allie and myself hurried to the office, on the way there I looked out to where our car was parked (what was I looking for? It wasn't there!) and I said to Allie that its gone! By this time I was doing the good husband thing and trying to blame Allie "you see I told you to put a gear lock on the car, or get an immobiliser fitted but you wouldn't listen" (haaa, can you see Christ in me). Allie phoned Mandy and got the number of the police in Delft, Mandy also told Allie that the car was damaged. Allie was so upset at this time and she was crying she said "I told you I should not have come tonight....." I phoned the cops. While I was dialling their number I suddenly felt a calmness come over me and in my heart I said Lord whateva, I'll still love you and serve you. It was a strange feeling because I wanted to panic, I was enjoying it, I wanted to vent my frustration at the world, tell everyone who cared to listen how unfair life is(so wots new).
Eventually the cops answered the phone and the sergeant who I had to speak to took forever to come to the phone. When he eventually got there he asked if I was Mrs D White (ke ching! the penny dropped) it was Stanley (our old Mazda) who had been stolen. We had sold the car through a dealer friend when we bought our new car and the new owner had not yet registered it in his name. What a relief.
But then where is our car? I went to have another look (carefully this time) I was so blinded by my panic that I did not even see that our car was exactly in the same spot where Allie had parked it. Nope it had not moved at all. Of course I now had to put up with some good natured comments from the rest of the team about my eyesight, about immediate answered pray from the prayer team but it was all done in love.
Its just a reminder to us all as to how grateful we must be for every blessing and how grateful we must be that we have the truth and that we serve a God that loves us so much that He came down and died for us, so that we could be with Him forever. Sounds contrite, too good to be true, well my friends it is the TRUTH and you have it, it has been revealed to you. As Josh McDowell said the plain things are the main things and the main things are the plain things.

Mystery of mysteries
That you could love someone like me
In your hands eternity
And yet you have the time for me
A love so undeserved
You held nothing in reserve
Heaven played its symphony
I took your hand and you rescued me
Grace like a river
Is flowing down, is flowing down
It's flowing down to me
Staring at my history
Was all alone but never free
The sands of time have let me see
Your faithful shadow next to me
A love so unreserved
I did nothing to deserve
Love so free but what's the cost
To carry this old rugged cross
I love you, I thank you
I'm nothing without your Grace like a river
(Grace Like A River by Delirious?)

This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:10)

LoCTY !!!!

PS Thanks Michelle you really handled the group fantastically well last night despite the distraction.

Did you know (4).....

To The Saints !!!!!

Centuries ago guys like Johannes Kepler (17th Century) and William Herschel(18th Century) thought that the moon supported life. Kepler even wrote a book about the moon people in which he fantasized about how their lives might be.
As scientific knowledge grew, dreams of finding lunar civilizations dissipated. Everyone came to agree that the moon cannot support life. Yet surprising discoveries in recent years have shown the opposite to be true: the moon really does support life - ours! Scientific evidence confirms how this parched, airless satellite actually contributes in unexpected ways to creating a lush and stable environment a quarter of a million miles away on Earth.
A discovery recently made in 1993 found that the moon actually stabilizes the tilt of the Earth's axis. The tilt is responsible for our seasons. During summer, in the northern hemisphere the north pole axis is pointed towards the sun. Six months later, when the Earth is on the other side of the sun, then the south pole is more pointed towards the sun. With the Earth's tilt at 23.5 degrees, this gives us very mild seasons. So in a very real way, the stability of our climate is attributable to the moon.
If the moon was not there then the tilt of the Earth's axis could swing wildly over a large range, resulting in major temperature swings. If our tilt were more like ninety degrees, the north pole would be exposed to the sun for six months while the south pole would be in darkness and vice versa. Instead , it [our tilt] varies by only about one and a half degrees - just a tiny variation, because the gravity from the moon's orbit keeps it stabilized.
The moon's large size compared to its host planet is unique in the inner solar system. Mercury and Venus have no moons. Mars has two tiny moons - probably captured asteroids - and they don't do anything to stabilize the axis of Mars. In fact, all three of these planets have chaotic variations in their tilt.
The moon also helps in another crucial way, which is to increase our tides. The moon contributes sixty percent to the tides; the sun accounts for the other forty percent. Tides serve an important role by flushing out nutrients from the continents to the oceans, which keeps them more nutrient-rich than they otherwise would be. Scientists discovered just a few years ago that the lunar tides also help to keep large-scale ocean circulation going. That's important because the oceans carry a lot of heat, which is necessary to keep the temperature of the higher latitudes relatively mild.
If the moon was larger and still in the same place, the tides would be way too strong which would create serious difficulties. The tides slow down the Earth a little and at the same time the moon moves out in its orbit. If the moon were bigger, it would slow down the Earth much more. That would be a problem because if the days became too long, then you could have major temperature differences between day and night.
Isn't it amazing that the moon "just happens" to be the right size and in the right place to help create a habitable environment for Earth. Do we really know what a BIG GOD we serve?

Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose? (Sir John Templeton)

Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)

I have felt the wind blow
Whispering Your name
I have seen Your tears fall
When I watch the rain

How could I say there is no God
When all around creation calls
A singing bird a mighty tree
The vast expanse of open sea

Gazing at a bird in flight
Soaring through the air
Lying down beneath the stars
I feel Your presence there

I love to stand at ocean's shore
And feel the thundering breakers roar
To walk through golden fields of grain
'Neath endless blue horizon's frame

Listening to a river run
Watering the earth
Fragrance of a rose in bloom
A newborn's cry at birth

I believe
I believe
I believe
(Creation Calls by Brian Doerksen)

LoCTY!!!!

A little beautiful thing....

To You The Precious Saints !!!!


Wednesday afternoon when I got off the bus and was starting to walk home kinda day dreaming a bit. I suddenly noticed this young woman running like crazy to catch the bus I just got off. My instant thought was "Hey you dummy (meaning me not her), if you had been more observant you could have asked the bus driver to wait" and then I would have been able to add another notch to my halo. Suddenly I got this feeling to stop. I felt that I knew exactly what was going to happen next. So I waited and watched.
Whoosh the young woman dashed past me with a look of anguish on her face, nope she wasn't going to make it. Sure enough the bus virtually disappeared in a smelly, belching cloud of black smoke as it started off. She didn't make it. She was desperate, she just keep right on running. Well it was a no contest. But meanwhile at the stop street where I was standing a woman was waiting in her car to cross the busy main road. She was in the right hand lane to turn right with her indicator on. She was also watching proceedings and suddenly there was no traffic and she cut across the left hand lane and turned left and rode after the young woman, hooted to draw her attention and then picked her up and had a dice with the bus and dropped her off at the next bus stop ahead of the bus.
For me it was just such a thing of beauty of reflecting God's glory, His grace mercy and love.
I started thinking of when Elijah was standing on the mountain before the Lord. A mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was a mighty earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a gentle whisper, when Elijah heard it he went out and the Lord said "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (Beautiful passage in 1 Kings 19:9-18)
I felt that that's what God was saying to me through this woman's actions in such a gentle whisper "What are you doing here, Raymond? Can you see what I'm showing you? How to reflect my glory. Take in what I've shown you"
So precious saints never stop doing good in this world, look and listen for God's whisper, by you obeying His whisper He'll be using you and your actions to whisper into someone else's life.

Marvellous Light

Lead us out of darkness and into your marvellous light

When we wander into valleys far from home
Where shadows hover over our souls
Find us in Your mercy
Saviour of the world

You are the light of the world
(Jesus is the light)
You are the way the truth and the life
(You are the life)
You are the light of the world
(Jesus is the light)
Lead us out of darkness
And into Your marvellous light

Sanctify our spirits
Purify our minds
As we look to You, eyes open wide
Give us understanding
Set our hearts on fire

Give us understanding
Set our hearts on fire
Fill us with desire

Your are the light of the world....... precious Jesus
(by Steve Hindalong)

Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." (John 8:12)
LoCTY !!!!!!!

Did You Know(3)

To The Precious Saints !!!!!

What is it about our solar system that contributes to life on Earth?

More and more astronomers are learning how the other planets tie into the habitability of Earth. For example, George Wetherill of the Carnegie Institution showed in 1994 that Jupiter - which is huge, more than three hundred times the mass of the earth - acts as a huge shield to protect us from too many comet impacts. It actually deflects comets and keeps many of them from coming into the inner solar system, where they could collide with Earth with life-extinguishing consequences.
This was illustrated very nicely by the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in July,1994. This comet was attracted by Jupiter's tremendous gravitational pull and broke into fragments, with all of them hitting Jupiter. Likewise Saturn and Uranus also participate in that kind of comet-catching.
In addition, the other planets in our inner solar system protect us from getting bombarded by asteroids from the asteroid belt. The asteroids are mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Our first line of defence is Mars, being at the edge of the asteroid belt . It takes a lot of hits for us. Venus does do.
Can you imagine these planets acting like big brothers, loving protectors putting their 'bodies' on the line to protect the life that is on this planet Earth. Does not that remind you of someone?
More on Gods awesome creation to follow, watch your mail.

Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)

The River

To the river I am going
Bringing sins I cannot bear
Come and cleanse me come forgive me
Lord I need to meet You there

In these waters healing mercy
Flows with freedom from despair
I am going to that river
Lord I need to meet You there

Precious Jesus I am ready
To surrender every care
Take my hand now lead me closer
Lord I need to meet You there

Come join us in the river
Come find life beyond compare
He is calling He is waiting
Jesus longs to meet you there
(Brian Doerksen, Michael Hansen & Brian Thiessen)

LoCTY !!!!!!

Street Evangelism (2)

This year we started doing street evangelism. John Lawton, Clint Gibson and myself (Raymond White). That is the team!
The broad (and very flexible) plan was to go out on the street every other weekend on a Saturday or Friday evening alternating between ministry work at the soup kitchen and walking up Voortrekker Road (using the soup kitchen location as a starting point) up to Vasco station on one side of Voortrekker Road and then back down to the soup kitchen location on the opposite side of Voortrekker Road, just basically talking to people about the Gospel and handing out tracts. Unfortunately the team never got big enough to do both street work and effective ministry at the soup kitchen so we concentrated on the ‘sowing of tracts’ up and down Voortrekker Road. Doing this kind of thing leaves one with a whole lot of snapshots of life.

The first time we did this was on the 24 January 2004. We opened in prayer and asked God for His protection and for His Spirit to go before us, we also asked for divinely appointed encounters. We started off at about 7.30pm. We spoke to roughly 100 people and handed out about 70 tracts (The Way to God, in English). We had some incredible meetings and chats with some people, many of the people had had a few drinks and were rushing off to go to another ‘jol’. There were very few people who outright rejected our ‘free’ offer (about three or four) and we were amazed and stunned at how some people just opened up to us. Quite a few of them asked us if we were Jehovah’s Witnesses and when we replied that we were not and explained who we were and where we were from they immediately became more relaxed with us.
This became roughly the pattern for subsequent ‘outings’ on the street on the following weekends. Clint joined us during the year and then John was not able to continue with us.

Here are some snapshots for you.
Taking home a young mother who was hitchhiking to Summer Greens, we had previously, briefly met her on the street. Giving her supper (burgers) and then helping her to reconcile with her own mother and giving her a lift back home again. We finished at 11pm that night.
Being treated to a song and dance routine by some ladies who were celebrating a birthday.
Praying for an elderly man who had lost everything and had also been rejected by his family.
Many a night the first person that we spoke to told us that what we were doing was so important. Like the well-dressed dude who was on his way to Grandwest who told us his favourite Bible story in a very colourful and entertaining way.
Coming across a wedding reception and congratulating and blessing the bride and the family.
Pushing a Muslims car out of the traffic after it had broken down, yea Jesus died for you too!
The many Christians that we met who were encouraged by what we were doing and in turn encouraged us. Just imagine if you can, having a discussion on eschatology on a street corner in a howling south-easter.
The prostitute who answered me when I offered her a tract that it was too dark too read, I said she could read it later, she then countered that she did not have anywhere to keep it. Taking one look at her I knew then to give up.
Chatting to the ladies at the Laundromat and leaving a couple of tracts there after they had asked us.
Praying for a lady and she in turn asked if she could pray for us. She then proceeded to knock our socks off with prayer of such passion and power, wow goose bump stuff.

We don’t force ourselves on anybody, we don’t chase after people, no preaching, we give everyone the option of saying no to the tracts and we say it’s for free. When we mention the word free this often gets peoples attention.
This has been a really exhilarating experience for John, Clint and myself, we just step out in faith on a Friday or Saturday night and we know that it is God who is doing the work, Christ the redeemer is calling the lost, His Holy Spirit works through us and touches complete strangers. All we do is try our best to listen and be obedient to His Spirit within us. We are so grateful for this opportunity to do His will. We can only encourage you to join us.

LoCTY!!!!!