The Vision

I just found this quote on Daniel Bashta’s website, and it just speaks to me as to what REAL worship is about, as well as explaining a bit if where I am residing in my life currently.

An excerpt from Red Moon Rising… Peter Greig’s
” What’s the vision?
The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.
They laugh at 9-5 prisons.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves for the hurting and dirty and dying.
What is the vision?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to lose
that they might one day win the great
“Well done,” you faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.
They don’t need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards
and hear the crowds chanting again and again:” COME ON!”
And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking Revolutionaries dreaming once again

Waiting on the Lord

So this weekend, I was playing at the Turn2God event that was held at the Union Buildings here in Pretoria, with the likes of Louis Brittz, Retief Burger and Joe Niemand.

I saw this event as n huge thing for myself to be able to go and do what I was called to do, and one of the main reasons why I left my job at the end of February. I had to get in with the ‘IT’ crowd, so they can know of me, and I need to impress them so they will call me again in order for me to get some work through them.

As the week and weekend wore on, I struggled to get time to speak to the different persons, and when I do get the time to have a word with them, I failed constantly to get the conversation turned to what I do, etc.

During one of the worship sets on Saturday, God just spoke to me and said, do what you are here to do, which was to worship Him. Do it to the best of your ability, and let Me do what I do best, which is to show you how great I am.

So yes, here I am, waiting on the Lord to do what He does best, and the greatest thing of it all is, I am fine with waiting. I KNOW that God will not drop this ball, since He has made a promise to me and to my family, but we need to let Him do it, and not want to do it out of our insufficient human power, since His power surpasses everything you can think to comprehend on earth. I mean, He has the ability to go ‘poof’ and there will be something newly created, standing right there…

Are you OK?

During the last week, that I have been without a job, after following the prompting of the Lord to really go out and live Unsafe, without that cushy little ‘tip’ slip I have been receiving for the last 10+ years, and to follow my and His dreams for my life, this is probably the question that I have been asked the most.

Are you OK?

Now, I know that this question comes from people in my life that really cares, and I mean really cares. They are the people that I know I can call up at 1am in the morning to come bail me out of some sort of situation, and I know, as I know that God is my Lord, that they will do everything within their power to come to my and my families aid.

So I just want to use this post today to lay those fears that these people have to rest…

I am OK. In fact, I am more than OK. I know that God would not have called me to do this work that I am setting out to do, if He knew I would not be able to do it, and I also know that He is holding my hand, as I am walking this unknown forest road, that is my life right now.

I do appreciate all the prayers that I am getting from all of you, and I know that you all care. I love you all, and love every minute that we can spend together in life, and all the adventures that we have together.

Thank you all.

The Landing

So, after taking the jump, finally, I have arrived at the place, where I am no longer employed, and I have to make thing happen for myself now.

It is somewhat of a surreal feeling, getting up this morning, knowing I don’t have to go to a corporate job, EVER AGAIN!

So what now, you may ask…

I have a GIG this weekend playing at the Turn2God event at the Pretoria Union Building with musicians like Retief Burger, Louis Brittz and Joe Niemand, and I trul believe that this weekend will be crucial for me to be able to make ends meat through music, since I am pursuing a career as a session mucisian, as well as going into ministry at our church.

All I can ask at this stage is that you guys will pray for me and my family through this new season, which we know has the Lord’s blessing all over it, but we obviously still need prayer to keep us focussed on the end goal ahead of us, and not to get stuck into worrying about money etc.

JUMP!!!

Woohoo!!!!!!

I am so freaking excited, it is not even funny…

I am finally taking the jump.

If you refer back to my post, Fear of Failure, you will know that I have been sitting on this problem of wanting to get out of my job, but being just too scared.

Well, due to the workings of my WONDERFUL wife, I am resigning tomorrow, 15 Febuary 2010.

I am finally getting all my guts together, and now I am stepping out in faith that the Lord will show me the way, into living out my passions that He gave me.

Needless to say, I am going to need a heck load of prayer, for the right opportunities to come along, etc, but this is going to be the start of a new life, serving the Lord, in which ever way possible.

Please pray for me tomorrow as I hand in my resignation letter, that my boss will see it in her to let me go by the end of the month, as I already have a GIG lined up early in March that is going to require me to be available for, but I trust the Lord will make things work out the way He has planned it out.

In any case, just wanted to let you guys know about this new Challenge, and my new quest of really being Unsafe.

Oh yes, and to top it all off, my mentor gave me these 2 verses yesterday from the Lord to encourage me on my way

Isaiah 41:10,13

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.

Outreach

So, we went on a bit of an outreach on Sunday afternoon, handing out food to men sitting on the side of the roads, looking for ‘piece’ jobs.

This was an experience for all of those involved, and it really made an impact in most of our lives doing this.

I must say, there really are few things as humblings as giving somebody food, out of your own pocket, and to see the gratitude in their eyes.

Yes, we gave them food, but in turn we received a piece of Gods heart for the poor. We are planning to do this on a regular basis, and if any of you would like to get involved, in whatever way you want, please feel free to contact me.

Matthew 25:34-41

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

99 Balloons

OK, I know this post should be the post about our outreach to the homeless men on our streets on Sunday afternoon, but before I can get to that, I need to share this video with you guys.

If this does not make you cry, then you need to ask God for a soft heart…

Accessible for all

On my way home from work this afternoon, I was listening to a sermon series from LifeChurch.tv on the topic of the church being for “Church People” and how this goes against what God wanted for the church. That the church is for the outsiders, and not for the ones that are already inside.

Listening to this topic, I started thinking about what is happening in the cell group where we used to go, and how awesome God is in working through these people to really go out and make a difference in the lives of the needy. The group, with us still included, are going to cook food for the men that sit on the street corners over the weekends, looking for piece jobs. They have work during the week, probably earning about R80 a day, but over the weekend they don’t have work and therefore are hoping that somebody needs a causal worker in the garden over the weekend.

Now, if this person is still sitting on the street corner at noon, the chances are pretty much 90% that they will go hungry for the day.

I am freaked out about the fact that we are FINALLY going to step out as a group of friends to really do something, and stop talking about how we can do what.

Just wanted to keep you on the up and up, and I will post feedback about the day with some pictures on Sunday, but in the meantime, please just pray for this group and for the peoples’ lives we are going to impact.

God loves you

Do you really believe this statement?

If you are like me, you have heard this statement at least a million times, but do you truly believe it, or do you, sometimes, like me feel that God cannot love me?

I am too bad to be loved…

But if we look at what God did for us, there is no way that God cannot love us. In John 3:16 it states that “God SO loved the world that He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not have to perish” (own translation)

And then we take a look at 1 John 4:16

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
GOD IS LOVE. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

We need to get to a place where we can really understand the implications of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We forget too often that we have been saved from our sins, and we simply need to repent and confess, in Jesus’ name, and His blood covers our sin.

Let us all start to really get to that place where we can keep this mantra going and really believe it

God is love, and therefore God loves me

Primary Calling

What is it that breaks your heart, the way it breaks God’s heart?

As you all know, 2010 is the year of change for me, and I really trust God for a new season in my life. To set me free from a dreadful and dreary job, and to release me into a place where I can really make a difference for the Kingdom of God. This is not to say that I can not make a difference at my workplace, but that just isn’t enough for me.

I currently serve in the worship team at church, and always have served in a worship team. That is just my way of doing corporate church. Due to this fact, I always believed that worship is my calling in life, and I must pursue doing that full time. But during the last couple of weeks, stepping into this season of change, my heart has been opened to that which breaks my heart.

Living in Africa, and being used to the poor and beggars all around, I have become insensitive to the needs of the extremely poor. In the last couple of weeks, God has really just softened my heart to the mission field, but specifically children. Whenever I look at a picture of a child suffering from hunger, I just feel an instant break within me, and I am unable to stop the tears.

Now, it is easy to actually do something for the poor. You can give them money, be it directly or through a charity that look after the poor children, like Compassion International, but that just isn’t enough for me. I really want to be with the children and just show them love.

With this revelation in my life, I have made a commitment to myself, God and my family, that I will go on a mission outreach two weeks every year, at least. If God ordains me to go more, I will follow, but what I can do at this point in my life, is two weeks, and I am going to make them count.

So, if anybody know about organisations that does mission outreaches, with which I can join up, I would really appreciate a comment or an email, so I can start to put the things I need in place.