Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The God Who Waits

I've heard people question the grace and mercy of the "Old Testament God", saying that he was angry and without mercy and yet they see the "New Testament God" as loving and kind.

On the surface, if diving randomly into Scripture, one could be forgiven for thinking that, but this is the danger of reading randomly without context. On deeper study however, what one will discover is that Scripture is a love-letter from his heart to us, with his story poured out and how we are still part of it.   We will find too that he has always been, and will always be, the SAME God - loving, kind, just and merciful.

This was once again just brought to my attention in the account of Methuselah and the Flood. Methuselah's name means "His death shall bring" ... He was the oldest person to ever live - 969 years!

It's far easier to see God portrayed in a "bad light" in the Flood, than to see that that this was actually an act of mercy.

It's taken me a long time to say what only needs a shortish sentence actually:

The year that Methuselah died - the Flood happened.

For me it's amazing that God held out on judgement for SO LONG since mankind had become so depraved.  He waited for as long as he possibly could - it was his mercy that withheld judgement for that long.

He is loving - but he is also a God of justice.

This is a merciful balance.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Breathe

Still in Genesis.
Still marvelling on his breath giving us life
Still reflecting on being created in his image and what that means....

I came across this beautiful clip.
If you have 15 minutes, it will be 15 minutes well spent.


Nooma Breathe 014 by holer24

Friday, February 22, 2013

Wanted: A Willing Fairy - Will Pay.



I have a pile of ironing on the spare room bed, and I seem to think that if I close the door and come back the next day that by some stroke of magic when I go in again it will all be done. Kind of like the movie "The Prestige" - go in the one door and out of the other, except my clothes go in rumpled and come out ready. Often I take it to the laundry because I just  c.a.n.n.o.t   face it.

However, this has not been the case and the ironing fairies have gone on strike and left me to do it. I hate ironing. Hate. And yes, Hate is a strong word - but no, this is not a mistake - I really, really, really do HATE ironing.

I came home, set up the ironing board, switched the iron on, and then sat on the couch and looked at it for a minute, trying to find some ironing mojo....

To the average person it's probably not that bad a task, but when we first moved here, we arrived with neither of us having work. We both just felt that we had had enough of where we were, and wanted to raise Our Girl here. We arrived, bought our house and then, quite miraculously, we started our own business doing laundry for a major national airline, various hotels, restaurants and clubs. We did this for about 2 years until the airline closed down and with it our work. We went to the airport twice a day, once at about 04h30 and once at about 16h00. At 16h00 we would deliver everything that we had washed, dried and ironed from the 04h30 collection, and at 04h30 we delivered everything that we had washed, dried and ironed from the collection we made at the 16h30 delivery.

On top of that was also our other clients of bedding & tablecloths.

Essentially, we were washing/ironing for about 20 hours a day.  Later we were extremely fortunate in employing a fantastic lady that we trusted and we knew that she could stand in the gap for us when we just needed to get out for a cup of coffee together, or maybe have dinner with friends or family.

Anyway - all of this to say that this is why I loathe ironing.... It was purely I believe by the grace of God that we got that work when we needed it, and were able to do it. I wouldn't change this part of our lives ever because we learnt a lot about business, appreciating a good work ethic and discipline! However, I am not sorry that it is over.

SO now, I look up, obviously I am still on my couch (!), I see my ironing board, the iron is on and the pile is waiting, and while I wrote this, no-one came and offered to do it for me, so I guess it's going to be all me.

Let me stop procrastinating now - Nike would be proud of me, I am going to "Just Do It!"


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Let's Pretend...

I came across this while I was at work sourcing music for my Grade 8 & 9's. I have always loved classical music - in fact, I love most genres of music!  As I watched this piece though, I had a thought. Humour me.

















  • If we can pretend the writer of the symphony is God
  • If we can pretend that the piano represents the words of Christ
  • If we can pretend that the conductor is the Holy Spirit
  • If we can pretend that the balance of the orchestra are the followers of Christ

I notice some things:
I cannot see the writer:- But I can "feel" Him through His music.
I hear the piano more than I hear the orchestra:- Christs words are in the forefront of my heart.
The orchestra needs the conductor:-  He guides them to where they need to play.
I barely hear the orchestra at times:-  Yet they are written into, and are essential to the piece.

By each playing our part, whoever we are and wherever we are, we take our place in the symphony that can reach any heart with a beautiful redemption song.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Dreams & Desires

I know that God knows the desires of ones heart....
                                                           it's possible He put them there in the first place.


When it seems there is a possibility that your desires may become reality it's amazing how suddenly one can be overcome with all kinds of irrational fears.



My prayer is that these irrational fears never stop us from pursuing our adventure in Him.






Tuesday, February 5, 2013

It's about the Musician

"He who hears not the music thinks the dancer is mad." 
~ African Proverb ~

The moment I read this, I loved it.

We hear the music.
We respond to the music by celebrating the Musician.

This goes back about 28 years!
This reminded me of (waaaaay back in the day) when I wore my denim jik-soaked jacket and had painted all kinds of Christian stuff on it, with sewn on badges and emblems, I had a badge that says "Jesus has music for those who listen". (Yes, I still have the jacket and still believe the same things.)

Funny how one thought leads to another. This badge reminded me of something My Man has said. As he drives to work, the sun is coming over the mountain and across the bay and he says that he can hear the sun rise. People have varied reactions, but he is certain that there is a sound to the sun stretching its arms across the bay.

That in turn reminded me of the Scripture that talk about the rocks crying out if we don't praise God. It sounds to me as though creation is doing a fine job hearing and celebrating the Musician anyway.
.
Believing in who we don't see - figuratively standing on His feet and dancing to His Music.
Going where He leads us. Does it get better than that?

 "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command,
so that what is seen was not made by what was visible."  (Heb:11:3)


I love this... it fits in with my desire to join in with creation and sing.... You're Beautiful!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Creative Image Bearers

I am still in Genesis. I am ashamed that there was a time that I thought "Why go here, it's so familiar, I have read it a 1000 times." I am humbled by Gods grace in allowing me to discover Him in so many ways freshly in this study.

At the moment I am doing alot of reading on what it means to bear the image of God.  Just one of the paragraphs I have come across this week is how we reflect His creativity. Often we think of creativity in terms of just "making something new", or "job creation" or "creating wealth".

I loved what Atkinson writes about how we reflect the creativity of God:
"If our human creativity is to reflect something of God, it will not be concerned simply with what is new, economically productive or artistically expressive. It will go beyond these to seek to reflect God's concern for a world and society of which he can say, "This is good."  
Our human creativity should seek to mirror God's, within the freedom of the obedience of faith, to confront the formless and disordered places of our world, and our lives, and make them places of beauty and goodness. The concerns of town planners for an environment in which the good life can be lived; the work of doctors and therapists in seeking to facilitate that health which is the strength of good living; the personal growth in character which increasingly reflects the beauty and goodness of Christ: these and many others are all aspects of true creativity."
All we do and who we are, is a mirror of His creative reflection in and to the world.
He breathed his life, his creative Spirit into us.

How amazing is that!?



I think, it's pretttyyy darn amazing.


Reverse Culture Shock & Difficult Questions

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