"...These hills are grass-covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it."
- Cry, the Beloved Country
Yesterday we were out in one of the villages at a visitation/vigil for the death of a young man...he was the brother of Elisabeth, a lady in our school. It was an incredible experience. I don't have time to relate it all right now.
After it was over I walked outside the small house and looked out over the valley. The house sat atop a hill and had the most spectacular view. Stormy winds were blowing the red dust across my face and into my eyes. As I looked out across the valley I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. Shafts of yellow and orange sunlight poked through the storm clouds, casting a soft glow on the homesteads scattered across the fields. I could see the rain moving in and dark clouds threatening the earth with much needed water!! The hills sang. As I stood there I was so in awe of the beauty of this place--and the power of God moving across the land.
"Something deep is touched here, something that is good and deep."
- Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Prayer
I finally finished Red Moon Rising (by Pete Greig). Please, please, read it!! It is amazing. Here is just one small little excerpt that I liked and wanted to share...enjoy!
“ ‘Whether we think of, or speak of, God, whether we act or suffer for Him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than His love, and the desire of pleasing Him. All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God…In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer.’ -John Wesley
What does it mean to pray 24-7? It means living our whole lives, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, in the grateful awareness of God’s presence and with a desire to please Him always. Prayer is not just about the contemplative moments or the moments when I’m consciously firing words at God. The call to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) is a call to remember Christ’s presence continually in the subconscious as well as the conscious realms of my life. But how am I to do this? How am I to keep Christ in my subconscious, in my reflex-reactions even I’m sleeping or working or watching a movie? How am I to be Christian by default as well as determination?
The key is to maintain a rhythm, a heartbeat of disciplined prayer, in which I encounter Christ regularly, deliberately, and consciously. The spinoff of these times, as you will see in the character of any older person who has spent a great deal of their lives contemplating Jesus, is that His presence thereby moves by a process of osmosis from the conscious into the subconscious mind. As we open the door, again and again, to Christ, he comes in day by day and eats with us, laughs with us, shares with us, until we acquire His mannerisms and know His very thoughts. A season of 24-7 prayer can be a useful tool for bringing Christ consciously back into the midst of our ongoing lives as individuals and as communities. And prayer rooms are an interesting expression of God’s intention, which has always been to walk in continual communion with His people….”
“ ‘Whether we think of, or speak of, God, whether we act or suffer for Him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than His love, and the desire of pleasing Him. All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God…In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer.’ -John Wesley
What does it mean to pray 24-7? It means living our whole lives, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, in the grateful awareness of God’s presence and with a desire to please Him always. Prayer is not just about the contemplative moments or the moments when I’m consciously firing words at God. The call to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) is a call to remember Christ’s presence continually in the subconscious as well as the conscious realms of my life. But how am I to do this? How am I to keep Christ in my subconscious, in my reflex-reactions even I’m sleeping or working or watching a movie? How am I to be Christian by default as well as determination?
The key is to maintain a rhythm, a heartbeat of disciplined prayer, in which I encounter Christ regularly, deliberately, and consciously. The spinoff of these times, as you will see in the character of any older person who has spent a great deal of their lives contemplating Jesus, is that His presence thereby moves by a process of osmosis from the conscious into the subconscious mind. As we open the door, again and again, to Christ, he comes in day by day and eats with us, laughs with us, shares with us, until we acquire His mannerisms and know His very thoughts. A season of 24-7 prayer can be a useful tool for bringing Christ consciously back into the midst of our ongoing lives as individuals and as communities. And prayer rooms are an interesting expression of God’s intention, which has always been to walk in continual communion with His people….”
Monday, August 20, 2007
A Favorite Song...
Jesus, life and hope to heal our land
Saviour, reaching out with your mighty hand
Sing for joy O Africa
The Lord your God is risen upon you
Sing for joy O Africa
The Lord your God is risen upon you now
Jabulani, Jabulani Africa
Jabulani, Jabulani Africa
(Repeat)
Jesus, river of life to our thirsty land
Saviour, meeting our needs with your mighty hand
Saviour, reaching out with your mighty hand
Sing for joy O Africa
The Lord your God is risen upon you
Sing for joy O Africa
The Lord your God is risen upon you now
Jabulani, Jabulani Africa
Jabulani, Jabulani Africa
(Repeat)
Jesus, river of life to our thirsty land
Saviour, meeting our needs with your mighty hand
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Just for Fun
Some things you learn when you live in Africa...
-The phrase "This is Africa" takes on a whole new meaning
-Is the smoke supposed to go up the chimney? Or is that just some strange idea from my past???!!
-Determining whether clothes are dirty or not is completely relative :)
-Real mail is the best gift...and lives you smiling for hours
-It's really quite normal for the lights to flicker on and off throughout the day...and its no big deal to run out of water for a few hours--that's what empty rice buckets are for! Store it!!
-Rice is so good (to others this might not be true but I am still a believer :))
I am currently reading:
Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig
The Cost of Discipleship (Bonhoeffer...sp?)
Both of these books are INCREDIBLE!!
and for school: Friendship with God by Ross Tooley...its ok. really easy reading, not spectacularly well written.
Languages I am wanting to learn:
Swahili
Arabic
(and Gladness is teaching me some Swahili!)
My Swahili Song :) I love it!!
Mambo Sawa Sawa (x2)
(things are really better)
Yesu Akiwa Enzini
(when the Lord is on the throne)
Mambo Sawa Sawa (x3)
Last weekend we went to a game park in South Africa...another stamp in the passport!! It was incredible. I was the only one (beside Hlengiwe) who saw the leopard! We saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, a RHINO (Just for you, Josh!!))...and many other things (the head of a lion through the tall grass). I got the most amazing picture of an African sunset I've gotten yet. Absolutely breathtaking. THe African sun is SO big and SO red. It is beautiful.
Alright. Until next time! Love to you all :)
-The phrase "This is Africa" takes on a whole new meaning
-Is the smoke supposed to go up the chimney? Or is that just some strange idea from my past???!!
-Determining whether clothes are dirty or not is completely relative :)
-Real mail is the best gift...and lives you smiling for hours
-It's really quite normal for the lights to flicker on and off throughout the day...and its no big deal to run out of water for a few hours--that's what empty rice buckets are for! Store it!!
-Rice is so good (to others this might not be true but I am still a believer :))
I am currently reading:
Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig
The Cost of Discipleship (Bonhoeffer...sp?)
Both of these books are INCREDIBLE!!
and for school: Friendship with God by Ross Tooley...its ok. really easy reading, not spectacularly well written.
Languages I am wanting to learn:
Swahili
Arabic
(and Gladness is teaching me some Swahili!)
My Swahili Song :) I love it!!
Mambo Sawa Sawa (x2)
(things are really better)
Yesu Akiwa Enzini
(when the Lord is on the throne)
Mambo Sawa Sawa (x3)
Last weekend we went to a game park in South Africa...another stamp in the passport!! It was incredible. I was the only one (beside Hlengiwe) who saw the leopard! We saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, a RHINO (Just for you, Josh!!))...and many other things (the head of a lion through the tall grass). I got the most amazing picture of an African sunset I've gotten yet. Absolutely breathtaking. THe African sun is SO big and SO red. It is beautiful.
Alright. Until next time! Love to you all :)
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