Brilliant Brothers

Last night I was privileged and reminded once again why I serve the God I do and why I’ve been a part of Intentional Living the past few years. I remember meeting the guys who had started the 1^st Intentional Living house in my 1^st year of varsity and that I have been involved in their projects since, only thing that changed is that this year, my 3^rd year of varsity, I had moved into the house myself.

Last night, we had had a communal supper made by Wihann whom I had met back in 2010 in the 1^st house. He had made us the dish he had been most commonly known for this year – bunny chow. What was great about this evening is that not only were there people from this year’s Intentional Living enjoying supper with us, we had our 2 German visitors as well as 3 members from the previous years.

These 3 are just legends, and listening to them last night truly stirred my heart and brought a few tears as they spoke…happy tears. Wihann and Hearns – they were there in the 1^st house and then Davie was part of the house last year, whom we supported as he went into the mission field this year.

These 3 men…just listening to their hearts and stories was really a gift from God last night. It was a blessing. At one stage it was just Jaco, Davie, Hearns and I at the table. Things got a little quieter and deeper as we spoke about missionaries and grace. I could literally feel God’s presence moving around us as we spoke.

Davie spoke about grace, making it so tangible and beautiful that if you hadn’t heard of it or someone who was blind or deaf and sitting there, they would have felt what he was talking about. It was just insane listening to him and how extremely humble he is. It was beautiful and during most of that conversation between the 4 of us, I sat with tears welled up in my eyes. He spoke about Bill Taylor, a great missionary and writer about cross-cultural ministry from the U.S. I once had the privilege of having supper with him and speaking to him and his daughter, I was truly humbled – something I would always remember. What really stuck out to me last night, was that Davie was saying – just like Bill once had said – that he doesn’t know if he can do this whole Christian thing and bring people God’s Word, because he isn’t perfect enough and can’t tell people to follow God and do things in which he himself is failing. That was such an incredibly humbling moment, one in which Hearns brought up ‘grace’ and that we have to remember we will never be perfect. We will always strive towards it and try be perfect, but that’s where grace comes in because without it – we will struggle.

Hearns also spoke about his heart, for those of you who don’t know – he’s finishing his articles now, in law. So as we all know, lawyers can be quite the sharks but when you hear Hearns speak and his dream….He’s not a shark at all….If you wanted to you could call him a shark – but a vegetarian which totally defeats the shark look he has going. Anyway, he will be working with Afgri next year which has been something he has been wanting to do for a while, as he wants to travel up into Africa. He wants to help them develop self-sustaining communities. They buy land and develop that community, giving them the equipment to farm and teach them how – using South African farmers, helping them build schools, churches etc and then the community gets to buy them out. He does all the lawyer-paperwork stuff but most importantly he makes sure what is happening is fair and that NO ONE will be exploited in the process. He really has such an amazing heart for people and God’s Kingdom, using what he has learnt for serving God. He has this great dream of farmers sitting around the fire with these communities, all of them sharing stories of their day and jokes and about what still has to be done tomorrow. His dream is to see all these different people come together, just sharing life. He told us a story of some of the guys from Afgri in Centurion. A whole lot of the farmers, guys with the same kind of heart, just arrived in the Congo and Uganda to help the communities there. They left here 2 months ago, it has taken them that long, because these guys drove in the tractors with all the farming equipment needed all the way to the Congo and Uganda to meet these communities and go help them out. I mean. Isn’t that what we should be like? Isn’t that what mission is? Isn’t that the Kingdom of God right there?

One more thing we spoke about that Hearns mentioned. Missionaries: the best missionaries in the world, are the ones we haven’t seen or heard of, the ones that are making a difference without even mentioning they are missionaries. The ones, who don’t even have to mention the word God or Jesus Christ in any of their sentences, ever. Those are the best kind of missionaries. Davie also told us about it as he was just in Malawi. He  said something we all agreed to – that people don’t want to hear about God and Jesus or anything like that. Christians are usually the most hypocritical. They don’t want to hear the stories anymore, they have heard it all. They want to see the stories come to life, they want to see through our actions. Our actions say a lot more about us than our words. Our actions are more influential than words. So we need to stop telling stories and start living what we believe. When we are so in love with God and focused on serving Him, His name and words won’t be necessary – only our actions will be. Our lives and actions will be what tell His story.

I wish I could better capture the moments shared last night and make it more tangible… but what I do wish, is that you all could get a chance to meet these wonderful men of God. Last night, was a cross-cultural conversation but not for one moment did any colour matter. We all felt like one family, one body of Christ. I just want to glorify God for these men and the work He has done through and in them as well as what He is still to do in and through them. They are amazing men, with such hearts for God who only inspire me to be more like them and to seek God more in my life and I am truly blessed to say I am friends with them and can call them my brothers.

CANSA TLC training

I never liked blood or in any sense wanted to become a doctor. Maybe nursing but my fear of blood and needles has just been to intense. In that sense, I think I can often relate to kids because of those fears. At a very young age I experienced having a lumber punch, and have had quite a few since then. For kids, this can be an extremely traumatic experience, especially being held down so that they can do this.

Recently, as many would know, I have had to experience and come into contact with many people having cancer. Riamien, who has finished Chemo, Ben and Wihann, as well as Bernhard’s dad. I’ve seen some come through it but also lost quite a few to cancer. But of late, after visiting Bernhard’s dad, I have experienced a great sense of compassion for people with cancer. I’ve experienced God’s feelings towards these people, or at least a sense of it, and especially that I really want to work with the kids living with cancer. God has always put it on my heart to work with kids and their families but never did I know when and where. These past two days, I was given the opportunity to visit CANSA TLC – Nicus Lodge near Steve Biko, where I got to go inside and see what some of it looks like and then go for training on how to work with Cancer patients and their families. During as well as after hearing all the stories and how you work with them and what they go through I have really felt this is what I would like to do part time and potentially full time.

After hearing what they go through, especially the kids, I could relate in the sense of needles, lumbar punches, being sick and scared and facing possible death. But also this week we have been doing Dollar a Day, and being so low on energy, not being able to concentrate and process things, not being able to remember things and being extremely emotional and tired physically and emotionally has made me so much more aware of what Cancer patients go through. They obviously experience it a lot more and more intensely, but with Chemo and treatments this is how they end up feeling. It really has given me a new understanding for those who live in Africa, on the street but also for these Cancer patients and what their families also have to deal with and is not easy. Going through these things and being up and down is really hard. I have become a lot more sensitive to these things the last couple of weeks, as well as our words and actions towards people.

So, I am extremely excited to work with the kids at CANSA TLC soon if possible. The training was so helpful and I would recommend it for everyone, pastors and their congregations, schools, faculties at University, as well as people who have or come into contact with Cancer or any other terminal illness. It gives you great understanding and can be extremely useful.

Adventuring in the World

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It has been a crazy month since I last posted. A lot has happened. Studies are going – quite busy and intense. But life is constantly rolling on.

In the past 3 or so weeks we have experienced snow for the first time in all 9 provinces in our country. It was a super cool day as EJ picked us up in the Leach-mobile and we drove through to East Gate Mall and played in the snow. My first time ever seeing snow and it was incredible! Afterwards we enjoyed a good cup of coffee before coming home.

In this time I also got to go watch the latest Batman movie with Chris and spent a night over at Liz’ place watching Olympics and just having deep conversations. Again, I must say, she has such a beautiful heart! Then I gave her paint, cloth and she could write her story with it. I’ve also had the opportunity of having breakfast with Mari since she’s been back and we also went shopping and had the car washed. I have had time to get involved at Doornkloof’s church with Chris and Mona and we now have a cell group called CRAVE.

I’ve spent time with some of my rugby mates and it has been awesome to just catch up over coffee, go support their games while others of them have really opened up their hearts to me and have also been such amazing spiritual warriors who themselves have picked me up and encouraged me through great conversations. They really have made an impact in the short time I’ve gotten to know them in my life without even knowing it. To those guys – Craig, Courtnall, Christopher & Jaco – thanks guys!

I’ve met amazing people through ECHO like Calvyn, Wacko, Karoo, Jaco & Marine. Soon I will be involved with Let’s Go Jozi. I have also spent some time with Christo & Daniel lately, they are from the other Intentional Living house and I have found such a deep respect for these two guys. They are just always willing to help and take on a new task with such great attitudes. They have now been facing a rough time and I owe them way more than I could ever thank them for. Christo as well, although only 20, he has a wisdom and love for God way beyond his years! The few moments over the 2 days that I got to spend with him, I really was humbled by his heart for God and love for people. Not only that, I learnt what it means to love unconditionally through a guy named Walter. I met him through Daniel and Christo, a guy about as old as my dad with such a great love for God and wanting to help people. He seems to see the good no matter how small in people and to focus on that, watering it with so much love that it can’t help but grow and be all that you see in that person! He really showers you with love…. I also had lunch with my aunt and sister and had time to spend a weekend with my other aunt, uncle and cousin which was lovely.

In the past week though, I have also witnessed a few other things. Wihann, Ani’s boyfriend and our good friend – was diagnosed with Cancer on Wednesday. He had his operation on Friday and it seems he doesn’t need Chemo which is great news. Ani was on her way back from WitRivier on Friday to see Wihann before his op and ended up in a car accident on the N4. Her car was written off but luckily she was okay with only a few cuts and bruises. There were numerous amounts of burglaries in areas that I visited as well as people who tried to break in to our house over the weekend. Talita, our housemate also showed us some footage and spoke to us about Human Trafficking. It really opened up our eyes to what really is going on in the world but also in our own country, police force and government. I really have a heart for helping the women and children who get trapped inside human trafficking, so this really has been on my mind a lot.

So although I have had a great time, a blessed time, there have also been really sad, tough and terrible times. But I want to encourage all of you to remain positive and keep praying. God is faithful and I have seen His hand in all the things I have experienced this last month. I have seen Him in people’s lives even though they might not be able to. He has the bigger picture and He is faithful. In these hard times, when we get stretched – we grow most. We are given the opportunity to grow, we just have to choose to take it. Our hard times can also be used to relate to others in similar situations or to help those who are going through what we have. Use those experiences to shed some light on the situations of others, use it to love people more. You’ll be surprised at the reactions you get. In the times that have been hard, I’ve learnt to surrender and God has come through each time, being so faithful.

Joshua 23v14: “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.”