How's your soil?

Our complex entrance gardens are a bit of a mess. Long story short we just haven't been getting the best out of our garden service staff. The trustees and myself decided it was time to do a spring day entrance gardening revamp. The brief was to get plants from family and friends.

Tonight I went to a friends house to scout for some plants. I found two plants I was interested in but as the garden hadn't been watered the plants just weren't going to come out. I realized that it takes time and effort to prepare soil for both planting and removing plants.

Our hearts too need to be prepared in order to receive the wonderful blessings heaped in God's word. It our spiritual garden isn't watered our hearts can become hard to God's word. When we spend time in God's word and time in worship, the soil of our hearts is softened to receive from God.

How is the soil in your spiritual garden?

Be the hand

King Belshazzar was faced with a frightening sight. A hand appeared from nowhere and began writing on the wall. The king needed help interpreting the message and in came Daniel.

God's greatest desire is to communicate with us and make us understand the message. Sometimes he may need a....hand (excuse the pun) with getting the message accross.

It is my belief that the sole reason we exist in bodily form is to communicate the love of God with others. The question is, are you willing to be God's hand and deliver the massage to others that he is trying to communicate?

Smile

I was feeling grumpy when I left home this morning and I just couldn't shake the bad mood. Always one to try and juggle two things, I was trying to switch from reading to sun glasses when the case somehow slipped from my fingers and fell on the floor. I put the reading glasses on the dash (I know stupid), when they too went flying.

Eager to rectify the situation I decided to turn off at the next street, stop and fix the problem. As I get to the corner and who do I see, but one of our home cell members who's an estate agent handing out business cards.

I teased his wife about his beard but in honesty, seeing a smiley familiar face in an unexpected place made me laugh and lifted my mood. Round off the evening with dinner with good friends and I reckon the day turned out great.

Are you willing to let God lighten other people's mood through you? If so, wear a smile because nothing replicates faster than happy faces.

Just scream

I can still hear Kate Winslet's character 'Rose' in the Titanic movie saying, “It was everything. It was my whole world and all the people in it, and the inertia of my life. Plunging ahead and me powerless to stop it.”

Have you ever felt powerless and just wanted to scream? I did today. There are times when you feel like you are screaming your lungs out and nobody's listening. There could be no less frustrating feeling than feeling that way about God. Does he hear me? Is he listening? Does he know how I feel?

God does! Though we don't see it or recognize the signs, every word we speak, every cry we make, God hears. Then one day when we least expect it, the answer comes and we are amazed. How did God do all that? Then as we examine closer we see every decision, every turn, every failure, every success that lead us to this point in time, and it all makes sense.

Moments of clarity from the mountain top are rare and precious. They last but a moment, but in that moment we are able to see clearly and know what path to take. With renewed faith in God's control in our lives we can have the courage to once again leave the mountain top and head back to the valley where the hard work lies.

Believe! Your mountain top is coming soon!

One giant leap

20 July 1969 Neil Armstrong steps on the moon. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Those words rung out as a statement of faith that mankind can and will overcome any limitations we may have set on ourselves, be they physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.

As a child of the 70's I remember those words reverberating as a regular refrain. The sense that we could overcome immense challenges became a turning point in world history. Since then we've seen the fall of communism in the once mighty USSR, the wall dividing East and West Germany has fallen and many more challenges that have faced humanity have been overcome.

As much as Neil Armstrong’s words have given faith and echoed through time, so too the words of Christ have echoed through humanity.... “It is finished!” Christ paid the price and overcame death, securing our eternal salvation.

As we remember the life of Neil Armstrong, let us continue to hold the faith that God is able to do great things through humanity if we will only believe.... all things are possible.

From snow shoes to sandals

It has been barely three weeks since a freak snow storm blew through the country and now we find ourselves reaching for sandals. The seasons change so rapidly. I don't put it past winter though to send us one last snap reminder of the season past.

The thing is as quickly as seasons can change on earth, so too the spiritual seasons in our lives can change. The question we need to ask ourselves is, are we ready to change with it? When God moves your mountain and produces your miracle, are you ready to seize the opportunities that the seasons change brings?

Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes that to everything there is a season. That however means that we need to do a little planning. The farmer knows he needs to have his seeds ready so that he can plant at the right time.

If you've been praying for a miracle, start preparing your heart for God to bring the rain you need. Have your seeds ready because a time to plant may be very near!

He was there

Mark 11:23 “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

How many of us know this scripture by heart? I'm sure most of us do. For many years I've quoted this scripture in faith, not really understanding how Jesus could be referring to a mountain, which to us is clearly and immovable object. Then it came to me......

While standing on a rock koppie (hill) and looking at the end result of an asteroid that hit earth and caused the Vrederfort dome phenomenon, I finally got it!! Jesus could say this because he was there when it happened. The creator of heaven and earth was probably playing God's version of what we do when we throw a stone and make it bounce across water.

Jesus had seen exactly how this “mountain of earth” had been moved during the asteroid strike, so he knew that moving mountains was “playtime for God”. How awesome is that! We no longer have to fear the future but know that God is supremely busy moving everything around us in place to where it needs to be for our miracle to happen!

Hallelujah!

Bath salts

For one of my new creativity projects I decided I wanted to make my own bath salts. My first project is underway. Looks like my potion needs a little work but the trial and error process is all part of the fun.

I was perplexed initially wondering how such a salty product would absorb other fragrances. What I discovered is that raw salt has very little odour of its own and with the rough pourace surfaces, the essences can cleave to the salt easily.

Many have said that in order to grow in God we need to die to self. I beg to differ. I feel it is only when we are true to self that the fragrance and annointing of God can cleave to us.

Boulder hopping

With my recent trip to Parys, my guide lead me for a walk up the banks of the Vaal river to look at the rock formations. At one point we came across a small stream and I knew that I was going to struggle to get across. My guide also did her fair share of testing me to stretch my comfort zone.

While I was sliding down a rock my guide trotted on ahead. It wasn't long and she returned and handed me a stick she found in the river. It didn't take long and I was hopping across the rocks myself.

I realized that somewhere in my past I had either hurt myself badly or embarrassed myself while out hiking and I had developed a fear for challenging myself physically in a hike. My hearing disability makes it difficult for me to maintain my balance and I fall easily.

This trip really opened my eyes to how much I had been living my life in fear. What I realized is that I truly can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. In order to achieve this, I need to understand my limitations and develop the coping skills necessary to deal with it and move on towards my goal.

Common, if I can do it, anyone can!

Swing of things

Getting back into the work swing of things is never easy after a break. Couple this with some scary SciFi TV viewing and you've got the recipe for a panic attack. That's how I felt first thing this morning. After night-mares of my office desk being moved to a tennis court and being stuck with a work desk the size of my junior primary school desk, I was starting to hyperventilate.

Thank God for his word as my morning scripture reading about consistency and steadfastness in difficult times anchored my heart back in God's presence. Feeling a bit more comfy and cosy I managed to get through the day quite pleasantly.

The devil loves to mess with our brains. His tricks can infect our minds like a computer nano-virus. If we are not careful, he can quickly take control of our thoughts. That is when we need to remember that we have the power to “take every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” and bring it into captivity, under God's control.

I ho I ho!

Those seven little dwarfs iconized one song for the working masses: “I ho, I ho it's off to work I go.” As I prepare to go back to work after a week and a half's leave, it is so natural to feel a little anxiety. The stresses of everyday life can be tough and I'll admit that before going on leave surely felt a little overwhelming.

The full pleasure of leave though can only be truly appreciated when contrasted with work. Adam did seal our fate by taking a bite in that illusive apple and we would be easily tempted into thinking “what if?” Truth be told, had any one of us been in his position, we most likely would have done the same thing.

So how do we go about setting the stage for true life fulfilment in life and work. I think I found the secret in Parys.....understanding that our great God took great care to create our planet and make it a place habitable for us. If our great God could do all that, then we have to have the confidence to know, that “He who began a good work in you, will complete it to the day of Christ!”

Vrederfort dome

Yesterday I was blown away by the creativity of mankind. Today I had the opportunity to be blown away by God's created universe. The Vredefort dome, an area with a diameter of 360 kilometres, makes it the largest meteor impact site found thus far. It is believed to be much larger and earlier in time than the impact which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The existence of this impact site could only be confirmed with the help of space satellite technology. This global extinction event has completely transformed the impacted landscape with evidence of the activity being recorded in the rock strata.

God used this cataclysmic event to fundamentally change our planet to ultimately make it habitable for human beings. This evidence has lead me to an even deeper conviction that God is able to do exceedingly above what we can imagine to bring about great things in our lives. We simply must have faith!

Look with your eyes

Today while walking through the wonderful galleries, art, crafts and antique stores in Parys Bree street, I could clearly hear my gran say, "look with your eyes and not with your hands."  A repremand most young children hate as touching is part of the learning experience. 

It did make me think though that in life there are certain things that are truly fragile.  Health, emotions, egos and self image issues are all very sensitive and sometimes we act like a bull in a china shop and just destroy everything in sight. 

We need to learn the compassion of Christ and that being gentle and careful with our fellow man can prove to be a wonderful testimony to the grace and goodness of God. 

Sense of adventure

Tomorrow beckons a first for me. It will be the first time I will go to a new town and scout about on my own. What I really mean is that it will be the first time doing so as a tourist. I must admit the thought has me nervous and excited as I have nothing specific planned, so I'm leaving it all up to whatever catches my eye as I drive through town.

It reminds me of many times as kids when my mom used to pile my sister and I into the car and we'd go for a drive. It wouldn't be long before mom would spot a road and say, “let's see where that road goes too.” We had great fun but I sometimes wonder how we ever found our way back home again.

For many of us, reading the bible has lost the sense of adventure. When we first came to Christ, everything in the word was new and exciting. Now we've settled down to a routine and it has become a situation of just going through the motions.

I dare you to take a drive off the beaten path. Go and read a book in the bible that you either have never read before or you haven't done so in a long time. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the revelation of God's word and you may just be surprised at how amazing it can be to hear God's voice through scripture in a new way again.

Taking it easy

Holiday's are certainly a time for taking it easy. Being able to take things at half pace is certainly a joy. We all need a little down time for fun and relaxation. Down time should certainly help us with turning our hearts and minds to God, but if we are unaware the devil can use the opportunity for evil.

One King learned that lesson the hard way. Scripture says in 2 Samuel 11:1, “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.”

We all know what happened next. David spots a women bathing and desires her and sin followed. When our hearts aren't anchored in God and we take our eyes off the ball, it is easy for the devil to lead us astray at times when we 'feel we need a break'.

When next you decide to take a little down time. Guard your spirit as the devil may well take the opportunity to lead you 'down the garden path' in the wrong direction.

Behind the picture

I recently hung a picture on my lounge wall. I took great care to measure out exactly where I wanted it, only to find that after it was hung that it just didn't feel right. My efforts to remove and re-hang it resulted in a few more holes being made than planned. It didn't look pretty but once the picture was rehung it felt right.

We all go through life making a few more holes in walls that we didn't plan on making. These holes come from sin, bad decisions, errors in judgement or even trusting people we shouldn't have trusted.

Thank God for his grace, because he sent Jesus to die for us. When he did the picture of his crucifixion hides all the holes that we have made. What does God see when he looks at us? No imperfections or sin, just a blood washed, redeemed bride that he can Glory in.

Windsor women

With today's public holiday being national women's day, it was wonderful to be invited to spend the afternoon with some of the women who were part of my home cell ministry when I was ministering in the Windsor East area in Randburg.

It was great to catch up on the news of peoples lives, but the time soon moved to lively chatter about the differences and similarities in our various churches and acknowledging that though we are all very different that each part of the body of Christ has a valued part to play in bringing people to Christ in their own unique way.

Other topics were discussed too and I think what delighted me most was watching women who were once shy about sharing their opinions all being quite feisty in defending their various opinions about matters on the table. Indeed God has been working in these women as they have grown in boldness. Thank God that as we share with each other in fellowship our boldness in Christ indeed grows.

It should have been today

6 August 1973 is the day I should have been born, on my great grand-mother Ouma Van Wyk's birthday. That is if my mom had followed doctors orders. This however would have meant being induced as cesearians weren't quite as common practice back then as they are now.

Living in Komatipoort at the time, there was no hospital in that small town, so my parents had to travel to Barberton. By the time mom got to the hospital for a check up, the doctor told her that she was already in labour and they could pretty much induce any time. Not feeling any cramps though, mom wasn't keen to push the issue but rather give me some time to make up my own mind about when to appear.

In the early hours of 7 August 1973, mom finally felt some labour pains and her waters broke, meaning I was on my way. They rushed to the hospital and sure enough a few minutes later I was born.

Scripture says of Jesus that he was born “in the fullness of time.” I thank God that as I celebrate another birthday that he does all things in his time, and when we trust him his plans are perfect. Thank God for his goodness!

What's in a second?

In life we usually try not to count the seconds, simply because if we had to count every second while dealing with life's frustrations, it would drive us crazy. While watching the Olympics though we can see how crucial the seconds are. There is sometimes only a second or two separating first place from last.

The seconds of our lives are important to God as he watches over us as we go about our daily business and he cares deeply for us. God cares about the little details; the hairs on our head, the freckles on our face, every breath we take.

Know today that this great and awesome God who created our universe cares deeply for you. He cared enough to create a planet with just the right blend of hot and cold to sustain life. If he could go to such great lengths to create this planet for you then he knows exactly what is required to make your life meaningful and worthwhile.

Going for gold

Our South African athletes are busy lighting up the board with Gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics. There is a national air of expectancy as we now have 3 Gold medals, 6 days into the games.

Our swimming team setting the stage with some electric performances and creating the feeling that anything is possible. The men's rowing following today and there is just the sense that the day is not done yet.

Do we live life with the same sense of expectancy? If we want God to do great things in our lives, we have to raise our faith level. God meets us where our faith is and when we believe God can.....He most certainly will!

Evening Emerald

If fire appears to leap from the vibrant green surface of the Peridot, it may be because this gem is formed as a result of volcanic activity.  Natives discovered Peridot crystals in the black sands of Hawaii.  Throughout history, Peridot has been symbolic of a connection with nature.

Ancient Egyptians called them the "gem of the sun," because of their dazzling brilliance when seen in the desert sun.  It was believed that the Peridot glowed with light even as darkness fell, which is why miners were said to have scouted for these gems during the night, marking their location, and returning in the light of day to retrieve them. Perhaps this legendary mining method is the reason that the Peridot is sometimes called the "evening emerald."

When darkness is all around, does the light of our relationship with God shine as light in the desert guiding those around us to God?  Does scripture not say that a light on a hill cannot be hidden but gives light to all around?  Will you let the light of your passion for God shine through and draw others to Christ?