What's in a cup?

When you believe, you had come to believe first and that process meant swiping your mind clean of your prejudices towards God and giving Him a chance. It's saying, Ok, God, so far I don't like what I see or hear, but I am willing to put aside all I have heard about You and am willing to get to know You personally. I am willing to give You a chance. And the reason I am willing to do this is so that I can make up my own mind about You about the purpose of my life about heaven and hell about what happens to my soul when I die about the possibility of purity and innocence and true love and the possibility of eternal life and happiness, and about my specific calling on earth. I don't want to live for myself anymore, but for Your calling on my life. You have called me, here I am! And I trust, once I do on earth what I was made for, I will be happy and live eternally.

This is how I see my soul tonight. This is how I see what is inside my round ball, the world in which I live, which I look out onto as though I were in the centre floating through it and around me is the capsule, filling up with all the natural world... Mostly there are trees, tall and lush green tress, very dense, very dense indeed. There is a shimmer of light that shines through all, causing streaks along the wood-chipped path And there are mountain bike trails and obstacles courses - really just logs and man-made hills And nearby, somewhere down low, is a clear spring stream that runs for miles and miles and miles and eventually flows into an ever-increasing river that eventually shows up rapids of foaming froth that inevitably lands in a large and powerful waterfall, which cascades down and cools everything down, its mist rising from the depth to which it has plunged and then, there are the rocks on which to climb and lie and sleep and rest and soak up the warm su...

She floats in a bubble of love. When she stretches, it stretches. When she curls up into a ball, it carries her. She is not alone anymore. She smiles. There are two in the bubble of love now. The only way to hold their balance is to dance. They don't know if this bubble will one day burst or if it is able to expand but in the bubble of love they are. In the bubble of love they are.

Feel like I have nothing to say these days. Maybe it's just because God has taken my breath away. For once I am dumbstruck by the sudden flip of a coin. Don't want to say anything more on that. Tonight I realised in certain situations at certain times I have a great desire to share my views. Reminds me of my Taoist days, which taught me it is not so important to voice your opinion. Perhaps it is not, and yet when my mind has something to say, it stubbornly persists to be heard. My great desire is to one day be a woman who truly listens. I want to be one of those godly women who asks others about their lives with sincere interest and prays with them and for them, who always puts others' needs first, but is humble enough to also admit her shortcomings or desires, but always with a smile and with gratitude. I think of Heidi Frische, as I write these words, for she is a woman such as this. I am thankful to have gotten to know her, the senior pastor's wife, w...

It is hard to tell where people are. You can learn about their lives through social networks. You can find out what's on their mind and you can see what they have been up to through their pictures and wall posts, their notes and their comments. But you still don't really know where they are at. What are they really thinking about, deep down in their hearts? Sometimes I can look at a person and I can see the anguish, the frustration, the sorrow in their hearts, but I don't know where it's coming from. I can't place its source, and thus far that has always bothered me. It is none of my business, and as Mother Teresa taught me, it is not even important how they got there, but the fact that they are there is what counts. It is the meeting point that counts. The other danger, I realise as I write this, is trying to give someone a solution to a problem you are sensing in their lives. You might not know for sure what the problem is, but you sense they need help,...

"Jesus is my life," the pastor of Vantage Point Church, Rustenburg, exclaimed casually today, and I love how he said it. It reminded me of teens, or myself as a teen, pointing out some rock band or ideology with the exclamation, "Music is my life" as though music gave me breath, gave me love, gave me eternity. When the pastor said those words, "Jesus is my life", he said it with an emphasis on "life". It made me really proud to be able to use that expression and this time equating life with its source rather than an idol. I realise now that making anything other than Jesus your life is actually just idolatry. When you say, "Music is my life", what you are meaning is that you love music above everything else. Music gives meaning to your life in a way that nothing else does, and you can't imagine your life without it. Furthermore, you don't think you could live without music. That is why I love that song by Michael...

I can appreciate subtlety in matters with a sensitive nature. It is important to approach with gentleness the object of distress. Furthermore one should ease into words with a quiet spirit and voice, as though not to overwhelm the listener. There are words that when spoken too loudly will be too harsh to the heart and thus will bypass it, taking no effect, planting no seed. The words, like balls, will simply bounce over onto dry soil. There is a time for everything, but for everything there is a certain way. Each situation calls for something else. There is no formula that guarantees success. There is often a simple prompting, and given the unique situation, it calls for that prompting to be put into action. That prompting, if it comes with the Holy Spirit, is just that: holy. It is intended for application. It is intended for a higher purpose than the mundane routines of earthly life. The force of nature is great. And yet there is a force greater than this. And we ofte...

My latest truffle of a read is Balthasar Gracian. This titbit about expectations was an especially tasty morsel of wisdom I wanted to share with you. Some background: Balthasar Gracian lived in the 1600s as a jesuit priest and wrote 300 aphorisms (a pithy observation that contains a general truth, such as, “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.”) which came to be known as 'The Art of Worldly Wisdom', much in the line of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". Here goes... It is the usual ill-luck of all celebrities not to fulfil afterwards the expectations beforehand formed of them. The real can never equal the imagined, for it is easy to form ideals but very difficult to realise them. Imagination weds Hope and gives birth to much more than things are in themselves. However great the excellences, they never suffice to fulfil expectations, and as men find themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations they are more ready to be disillusionised than to admir...

As I write this, magic tears from heaven fall, I think, Great! God has heard my call. I seek restoration My heart hurts from the fall. What is the most important thing in life? Your will. Not love? Perhaps love is further than I thought, Or it too has growing pains. Who is to know except You? Lord, I seek to remind You of the promise You made, that we could ask You for anything if we ask in Your name, in the name of Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, and for those who believe, You will answer that call, because You love us, You love Your children. Remember, God, how much You love us! And we, down here on earth, we often don't know what we want. Even now, as I write these words, I realise I haven't asked You anything at all. I am really just babbling like a pagan, the one thing You say we shouldn't do at all. So, Lord, Father, Holy Spirit, I want to come humbly before You and for no reason other than an expectancy of Your promise fulfilled, I ...

He planned to travel by train to Elgin Valley in the Cape. He was attending a wedding of one of his best mates. He looked forward to the train ride He looked forward to its insights. He wished it had already come The sights of mountains and forests Perhaps they'd pass oceans and seas and he'd smell the salt breeze in between. Who'll be in his cabin for company? Will it be no one or someone free? He looked forward very much to the train ride to Elgin Valley. He looked forward to the Cape and the salty sea breeze.

An excerpt from an interview in The New Dare to Discipline by Dr. James Dobson: QUESTION: You have said on several occasions that a society can be no more stable than the strengths of its individual family units. More specifically, you said sexual behavior is directly linked to survival of nations. Explain how. ANSWER: A book could be written on that topic, but let me give you a short answer to it. This linkage you referred to was first illuminated by J.D. Unwin, a British social anthropologist who spent seven years studying the births and deaths of eighty civilizations. He reported from his exhaustive research that every known culture in the world’s history has followed the same sexual pattern: during its early days of existence, premarital and extramarital sexual relationships were strictly prohibited. Great creative energy was associated with this inhibition of sexual expression, causing the culture to prosper. Much later in the life of the society, its people began to reb...

Where does the mind wander to when not walking in the light? I ask. I am asking you instead where your mind wanders to when you are not walking in the dark? Are there not forests of lush green and thirsty leaves and flowers in full bloom just before their sudden death that you suddenly see and never knew were there? Have I not shown you the many wonders you missed out before when your eyes saw not the reality of the beauty of life because you were so busy wondering what this life is all about. But indeed you have come to see beyond the realm of this reality. Oh, I have so much more to show you, child, and I tip my fingers together in childlike excitement because I know your face will light up when you see what I have to still show you, and you will be so amazed that tears will stream down your beautiful face. Of course I see your frustration and your deep hurts and I know you don't know where to take them, though you bring them to me a lot, and yet you hold on so...