Sheepish Expression
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27
Saturday, June 4, 2011
What I'm reading. June 2011. Some first impressions.
When I'm not trying to get through my 200+ South African law cases for exams this is what I'm reading:
"Emotional Purity, An Affair of the Heart", Heather Arnel Paulsen
So far this book has challenged my idea of what a godly, non-romantic relationship between a man and a woman looks like. She has great insight into how the heart works,I can only take it in one chapter at a time- very deep!
"Tender Warrior, God's Intention For A Man", Stu Weber
Stu Weber must be a man's man. The war/scout/football references were really cool at first & then I just got a bit tired of them. Where are the long Jane Austen-esque descriptions? 200-word sentences? Where are the paragraphs about how you feel? All I've been reading are short sentences and bullet points. Everything's straight to the point, no stories like a present for me to unwrap, no surprises. Must be a man's book. 'Cause it feels really foreign to me. Reading more requires a mindset shift on my part. Liking the chapter on women.
"Good Morning Holy Spirit", Benny Hinn
Benny Hinn's book on fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit. Keen!
What are you reading?
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Giggling Windows
I’m sitting in the Rhodes University library reading room on my laptop and I hear giggling. Weird giggling, like the Wayans brothers on White Chicks when they say in their girly voices, “What a beautiful chocolate man, ha-HA-ha!” But no one else hears the giggling and in a split second I go through all the possibilities of what it could be. Invisible spiritual beings? Turns out there’s a man behind me cleaning windows next door, but instead of making a squeaking noise the windows are giggling. Awkward. Oh wow, he just walked in and is cleaning behind me now. The giggling just got closer...
Friday, July 9, 2010
"Jesus's stomach growled"
25/06/2010
"After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." Matthew 4: 2
This week I tried fasting. I began my fast by forgetting that I had decided to fast, and then remembering and being really sad 'cause it meant couldn't have breakfast. And then I convinced myself it was for the best, breakfast was really fatty anyway. My spirit told me that I should think about whether this fast was about God or about weight, my head told me not to be ridiculous and proceeded to use scripture out of context, "There is no condemnation..." etc. Thankfully, I began on a Sunday so I had church to distract me from all the awesome things I could be eating.
God's been teaching me a lot about awkward moments and how to embrace and even use them as ministry tools, this fast was no exception.
So, I was sitting in the pew (which is actually a cinema seat at the moment) shouting my "Come ON!" and my "That's good, REALLY good!" whenever the preacher says something particularly profound.Suddenly I heard a loud rumble. The first thing I thought of was "And I heard a sound from heaven...like a loud peal of thunder." (Rev 14:2) No one else seemed to notice. The next time it was much louder and I got a weird tickly feeling in my stomach.
Mutsa, shocked and horrified, "Is that YOUR STOMACH??!" Takunda, "HAHA!"
Me,mortified, "Um. No. Yes. I'm fasting."
Lesson 1: A growling stomach could potentially open the door to a great sermon illustration, God intended it for your good!
So, this fasting got me researching and I ended up at Matthew 4 and this hilarious video. I learned in Bible School that applying the Bible to yourself is called RiD (Reading it Devotionally). So that is what I did.
First with what was set out before me:
1. Jesus had been fasting.
2. For 40 days and 40 nights.
3. Jesus was hungry.
4. Jesus was human.
followed by applying it to me:
1. I had been fasting.
2. For several minutes.
3. I was hungry.
4. I am human.
5. My stomach growled.
My devotional reading of the Bible has been based on trying to make these people real for me today. These people were real God-followers, trying to live in a fallen world, like me. The Bible was written for people and God specifically chose certain people, their stories and there is some kind of conclusion to be drawn having applied their circumstances, their experiences and the end result to my life.The Bible is filled with testimonies!
Back to Matthew 4. The conclusion is NOT that I'm Jesus (I know you thought that too). The revelation was that "Jesus's stomach growled". So irreverent! The religious me flared up. What a terrible thought to have about God! As silly as it may sound, this is a revelation that I believe that everyone should get because most of us are guilty of emphasizing Christ's deity and denying or minimizing His humanity (Phillipians 2: 5). and that's where our disconnection with Him begins. You see, denying Christs humanity, defeats the whole purpose of Him coming down to earth, we might as well be living in the Old Testament.
The issue of humanity not only applies to how we relate to Jesus but to the all the Bible characters (David, Esther and all that bunch)and this revelation has really shifted the way I think about stuff.
More on this soon... For now, the next time your stomach embarrasses you, remember, you're in very good company.
"After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." Matthew 4: 2
This week I tried fasting. I began my fast by forgetting that I had decided to fast, and then remembering and being really sad 'cause it meant couldn't have breakfast. And then I convinced myself it was for the best, breakfast was really fatty anyway. My spirit told me that I should think about whether this fast was about God or about weight, my head told me not to be ridiculous and proceeded to use scripture out of context, "There is no condemnation..." etc. Thankfully, I began on a Sunday so I had church to distract me from all the awesome things I could be eating.
God's been teaching me a lot about awkward moments and how to embrace and even use them as ministry tools, this fast was no exception.
So, I was sitting in the pew (which is actually a cinema seat at the moment) shouting my "Come ON!" and my "That's good, REALLY good!" whenever the preacher says something particularly profound.Suddenly I heard a loud rumble. The first thing I thought of was "And I heard a sound from heaven...like a loud peal of thunder." (Rev 14:2) No one else seemed to notice. The next time it was much louder and I got a weird tickly feeling in my stomach.
Mutsa, shocked and horrified, "Is that YOUR STOMACH??!" Takunda, "HAHA!"
Me,mortified, "Um. No. Yes. I'm fasting."
Lesson 1: A growling stomach could potentially open the door to a great sermon illustration, God intended it for your good!
So, this fasting got me researching and I ended up at Matthew 4 and this hilarious video. I learned in Bible School that applying the Bible to yourself is called RiD (Reading it Devotionally). So that is what I did.
First with what was set out before me:
1. Jesus had been fasting.
2. For 40 days and 40 nights.
3. Jesus was hungry.
4. Jesus was human.
followed by applying it to me:
1. I had been fasting.
2. For several minutes.
3. I was hungry.
4. I am human.
5. My stomach growled.
My devotional reading of the Bible has been based on trying to make these people real for me today. These people were real God-followers, trying to live in a fallen world, like me. The Bible was written for people and God specifically chose certain people, their stories and there is some kind of conclusion to be drawn having applied their circumstances, their experiences and the end result to my life.The Bible is filled with testimonies!
Back to Matthew 4. The conclusion is NOT that I'm Jesus (I know you thought that too). The revelation was that "Jesus's stomach growled". So irreverent! The religious me flared up. What a terrible thought to have about God! As silly as it may sound, this is a revelation that I believe that everyone should get because most of us are guilty of emphasizing Christ's deity and denying or minimizing His humanity (Phillipians 2: 5). and that's where our disconnection with Him begins. You see, denying Christs humanity, defeats the whole purpose of Him coming down to earth, we might as well be living in the Old Testament.
The issue of humanity not only applies to how we relate to Jesus but to the all the Bible characters (David, Esther and all that bunch)and this revelation has really shifted the way I think about stuff.
More on this soon... For now, the next time your stomach embarrasses you, remember, you're in very good company.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
For God...

This is a monologue I wrote that I'm going to perform one day. The story in it is adapted from a movie clip I watched at a youth conference screened on GOD TV.I imagine that the woman speaking has an African American flavor to her. One of those funny but deep characters.
I suppose you could call my first play. It's not necessarily finished yet, I may add or remove some details. This is, IMHO, the greatest story ever told, ever lived. A story of a Father who loved the world enough to give His Son up, so the world could have relationship with Him. A story of the love of a Son that made Him willing to come down to a world that He Himslef created. I can't ignore this story, I can't help but be moved by it. Not just moved emotionally, but moved to a place where I am faced with the question of whether I will believe. This story has changed my life, the life of millions of people who came before us. This story is timeless, it will continue to change lives, hundreds of years after we are dead and gone.
"Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come" Revelation 1: 4
Please read it and tell me what you think.
Bleet!
-------------------------------------------------
(Woman walks on nervously, looks around)
Woman: Um, hey. I’m Sandra and I’m going to tell you a story a friend of mine once told me, but before I do, I’m gonna give you a little bit of background.
See, I’m not the kind of girl who likes it when people want to get all up in my “bid-ness”(business). I’m not being mean or nothing but people like my friend Alice really get on my last nerve.
You know the type. Always up in my grill, tellin’ me that God loves me, always tryna “save” me, tellin’ me how I need to be a Christian.
I'm like, girrrl, first of all, my relationship with God hasn’t been all that. There was a time I didn’t even believe He existed, true story, but when my professors couldn’t explain how somethin’ could be made out of nothin’, I had to admit that it took more faith to believe in evolution, than it did to believe in a Creator God, who is more intelligent than any person could ever be. And secondly, pssh.. I am a Christian! I mean, I go to church when it counts- Easter and Christmas… ooohh and when that cute brother is leading worship.
(Pause. Daydreams. Clears throat.)
I don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t tell lies big enough to hurt nobody and I’ve never stolen anythin' from anyone that was too poor to buy a replacement. (Chuckles)
Anyway, back to the story Alice told me, "There was a man named Mike who lived in a cottage on a hill with his 4 year old son, Vusi. Mike was a station master and every Saturday morning he’d take his son for a day at the station. While Mike was in his office waiting for the train to come in, Vusi would play soccer outside and when the train passed by, he’d wave frantically at the window hoping one of the passengers would catch a glimpse of him and wave back. On this particular day, the train was two hours late so Mike left Vusi playing while he went to the nearest phone booth to find out what was wrong. As Mike dialed he heard the familiar sound of a train approaching.
Vusi had heard the train too and he remembered that his father had shown him the special lever that made the tracks go into alignment so that train could go along the tracks without crashing and killing the people inside.
Vusi looked around and, seeing that his dad was not back yet, he knew what he had to do. He ran towards the man-hole and reached his little hand towards the lever which was underground. He didn't want them hurt, he didn't want anyoe to die. His dad would be so proud!
In his excitement Vusi's feet lost their grip and as he stretched, he slipped and fell head first into the hole.
Meanwhile, Mike had seen his son run and fall in and by the time he reached him the train was only a few hundred metres away. The train was approaching fast. Mike’s mind raced. As he looked in the hole he noticed that Mike was not moving, he's have to go into the hole himself and carry him out, but by the time he did that the train would have reached the station.
If he pulled the lever the tracks would align and all the people on the train would be saved, but as the steel cogs underground turned, they would crush his little son to death.
Taking a deep breath. He pulled the lever.
[Long Pause]
Mike watched as the train rolled slowly by hoping someone inside would notice, reassuring eyes to tell him that it was worth it.
The people inside didn’t see the hot tears of anguish falling down his face. They would never hear the anguished cry of a father screaming, “Vusi, my only son, Vusi!” as he held the broken and bloody body of his brave little boy."
"So," Alice asks me, “Did you notice? Was it worth it?”.
I looked at her in confusion, still shocked about how the story had ended. You see, I didn’t realize that this story was about what God had done. God had sent His only son to earth. He had given Him up to die, to save me.
Unlike Vusi, Jesus had willingly come, knowing He would die, for me, for all.
I felt sick to my stomach. This sounded like something out of a terrible horror movie. Why would someone want to die for me? Why would God want to die for me?
Romans 3: 23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not perfect, I’ve lied, I’ve stolen stuff and my thoughts aren’t always the purest…
No doubt, I am a sinner.
Romans 6: 23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
WHAT? I thought that God was supposed to be a loving God! I felt I was being condemned, judged.
This did not feel loving.
What kind of loving God would send people He loved to hell?
What happened to the “God who so loved the world”?
John 3: 17, “For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.”
Slowly it began to sink in. God’s aim was not to judge, but to save me. He loved me enough to give up His son so that I could have a relationship with Him, I could go to heaven, I could know God.
[End]
---------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
