Don't Love To Be Loved

I like clothes with words on them. I like the extra expression it gives, but it all depends on what the words are. A few weeks ago I was walking trough the mall with a friend and saw a lady wearing a t-shirt that said:

Love to be loved

I guess there are two ways to take this saying. 

I love being loved, because it does feel good. It is awesome to have those around us that love us and also to have an amazing God that loves us so much.

Or it could mean Love others to get love. That is not a good sentiment and is not biblical at all. If we just look at the example we have been given, even from one of the most shared bible verses, John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Jesus died for us when we were still sinners and not at all loving towards Him. It is an unconditional love in the purest sense, because even if we don't ever choose to love God He's already done so much for us! Even giving you life and free will is an amazing act of love, even if you don't agree. 

So my challenge is to love those that are hard to love. To show love to even those that won't ever give you the love back, because aren't we wanting to become more like Jesus? Aren't we wanting to show love to those around us even though it isn't always pleasant? You won't necessarily ever know what that love shown will mean to someone that hasn't experienced much love. I think that love can soften many world hardened hearts. To someone that has always been roughly dealt with by the world, someone showing them undeserved love won't make sense and will make them question what makes you different. 

And that could be an amazing opportunity to introduce them to our God :) 

We can't outlove God

  

He saw us made, saw us being formed, knows our thoughts and made us so intricately amazing. Just think of of your body and thoughts. Just thinking of how I'm using my fingers, these appendages that were so little when I was born, to type this out by hitting keys and knowing in my head how to combine those actions in order to create something that makes sense and that you will use your amazingly formed eye to read, it's weird.

Psalm 139 talks so beautifully of how we were created, "You knit me together"; how we are known, "You know me", "You know when I sit and when I rise", "You are familiar with all my ways". Why would God even care to know us so well? He could have just created us and stuck us on this earth to go about and watch us in our stupidity. But He loves us too much for that. "You hem me in behind and before."

He loved us since before we were born, but the weird part about this is we aren't even nice. We aren't good, we don't show Him the love that He deserves. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:6-8

While we were still sinners. When we did what God hated without a second thought, when we didn't love Him or know Him. He loved us. I've seen this rephrased as: You loved me at my darkest. Which is amazing cause how many people would love us when we are "at our darkest", when we have nothing to bring and aren't being loving or easy to love. At that time, in that state, Jesus died for us, even though we might never love Him back. 

"He loved us not because we were loveable, but because He is love." C.S. Lewis

We can't earn this love. And we can't do anything to deserve it. When we mess up and come back repentant, He's still there loving us. It doesn't change how He feels. It doesn't change who He is. He will always outlove us, and that is amazing. 

Vulnerability

4/11/16

I have realised something recently. I don't like vulnerability, I find it hard to share my problems with others. Whether it is because they have previously stared blankly at me or muttered some sort of "It'll be fine" in response, or have seemed disinterested in helping me, I don't understand the point of sharing a part of your life with someone when they don't care.
Yet over and over I hear that a team should be unified, should be able to help each other; we should have accountability partners who can help us with forward momentum; we should be transparent with our lives.

It is sometimes easier to put those emotions into a story or dance where they just need to be felt instead of put into words. But I was thinking that there are people in the bible that have experienced the same emotions that we do. David is one of my favourite bible characters lives. He makes mistakes, has hard times to go through, he is depressed at times, yet he is still called a man after God's own heart. A man that wasn't always happy, a man that took another's wife and had him positioned to be killed, yet God still saw his heart and that it was devoted after him.

 I think David's story can show us that we don't need to be perfect. We don't need to appear perfect in front of others. And that is hard. It is so much easier to hide my problems and deal with them myself than be vulnerable, but it is such a sweet place I want to get to. To be assured that whatever happens, whatever mistakes you make, whatever your emotions, that doesn't change your worth in God's eyes, So why does it matter so much what others think? I want to get to that place where my eyes are starry gazed, fixed on Jesus, that it is easy to admit how chipped and messed up I am. Where it doesn't matter how others see me, because I know how he sees me and if I don't have the support of others, that is actually okay.

20/5/17

Six months later and I am thinking these same thoughts. I guess some thought patterns take a while to get through. I still have the same desire though, to be humble enough to be open about my problems and failures. To not care that others see me as imperfect, because that is what I am. 

I am imperfect. 

And so are you, so what is the big deal about sharing that? Why don't we try and skip this awkward phase of not wanting to admit where we have or are going wrong. I do think with some topics you need sensitivity on who to share what with, but I don't want to be ashamed of the fact that I am not perfect anymore, because that is a silly thing to aspire to. 

Adventure Is Out There!

                                   

Let's go on an adventure!

One of my favourite sentences; and I have had many of them. From cliff jumping to travelling, performing to filming and driving fun vehicles, the unexpected ones like getting stuck in the mud, or the unconventional ones like walking through the drive-thru. I love them.

One of the best parts of an adventure is those you get to share it with. It's lovely to look back on those memories and reminisce or laugh with friends.

But I find myself caught in the mundane. Not every day holds an adrenaline rush and not every day looks exciting. Sometimes it's the same routine, the same tasks and even the enjoyable ones lose their fervour. Yet hidden in the ordinary moments of like there are some that spark. There are still amazing exciting things if we were just to look.

 "An adventurous life does not necessarily mean climbing mountains, swimming with sharks or jumping off cliffs. It means risking yourself by leaving a little piece of you behind in all those you meet along the way." - Shawna Grapentin

This is one of my favourite quotes. Maybe we can't spend every moment falling out of airplanes or hiking kilimanjaro, but that doesn't mean our lives are devoid of adventure.
Let's take a look at this word I am fond of.

Adventure

1) a: an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks
b: the encountering of risks 

2) a: an exciting or remarkable experience

An undertaking involving danger and unknown risks. Is that not what it is to love someone, to get to know someone, or even to start a conversation? You never know what is going to happen. You don't know how much you will affect them nor how much their lives will affect you. That friend that now knows you so well that if the friendship were to end it would hurt, was once a stranger, a person you met one day and decided that you want this person to be in your life, to know you.

As C.S Lewis says: "To love is to be vulnerable". We can open ourselves up to people as a friend, a mentor, someone showing kindness and you never know whether your lives might end up irrevocable woven.

It is a risk to love others. It is a risk to be open and it can be a remarkable experience to take the time to talk to someone, a person that you might otherwise never know.

And even apart from the people whose lives touch ours, there is beauty everywhere, in the sunset, the raindrops, the ordinary miracles of flowers blooming, the seasons changing. There is beauty in this mess of a place.

There are many exciting, inspiring adventures all around us that we often fail to see. Little moments of adventure, those exciting and remarkable experiences. Even a circumstance that seems bad at first can be an adventure if you look at it right.

I am wanting to look on the world with new eyes, in a way that sees the possibilities instead of fear, the amazing awe-striking moments instead of the dull monotony of life, because why should it be? And so I embark, on my daily adventure.

#mydailyadventure

A Distracted World

 I am sitting inside an airplane flying home. The past few weeks have been busy with an outreach, conference, and seeing friends. I have a lot to think about from the past weeks, and a lot more to discover from the notes I have taken, but over all of this, I have been struck again with the wanting to know God more deeply and more intimately.The continuing realisation that this discovering never ends astounds me.

I love this feeling of flying, the small vibrations of air, and whilst I'm enjoying my spacious seating (because I have a whole row to myself :O ) I am also privileged to be reading a bible and devotion on my phone. How easy it is for us to learn more about God. We don't have to struggle to get bibles or read only pieces of them over and over again. We don't have to sit in the freezing cold to hungrily watch the Jesus movie to learn more about our saviour. Yet we take this so for granted. We are so blessed by opportunities to attend conferences and events without them having to be secret, to go to church every week - or more - without often being persecuted for it. 

But lying in bed on a Sunday is more important.  

But watching series instead of spending time with God is more important. 

But being on Facebook instead of praying is more important. 

Why don't we take this life more seriously?

Why don't we take other people's eternal lives more seriously? 

We are so distracted by the frivolous that we miss the important. 

We are in a distracted world heading into eternity oblivious, oblivious of the implication of the choices we make now.  Yet we who know Christ know better than to spend our lives staring out the window instead of keeping check on our course and alerting others to the reality that without God we are just headed for destruction. 

This is not a game. This is reality. This is not some fabricated existence inside of the matrix. These are people's lives and people's eternities. Are we paying attention? 

8 Things I Have Learnt In Ministry

This year I have been doing a mission's program through a local church. It has been a good year and I have learnt many things, some expected, some more unexpected. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, but a few things I thought might be found interesting. Here are 8 things I have learnt this year.

1. Things aren't always as easy as they seem

Although there are many amazing sides to ministry, some are not so easy to find the amazingness in. Some tasks are difficult, or not appealing, or present a lot more resistance than anticipated.

Preparing games for kids in a cancer ward is difficult. Because of ports, illness and surgery it is quite tricky to think of games that are not too hectic but still fun. The fact that most of the children didn't speak English made it more challenging.

Even though we did come up with some ideas that they enjoyed, I found visiting the cancer ward one of the most difficult things that we've done. It's not nice to see people sick and know that they aren't feeling well and have to be confined to the hospital in an attempt to get better against a disease that is not readily curable with the treatments used.

Relating to people can be difficult, even the ones that you'd think would be easy can be confusing.

Hearing people's stories can be hard. Sitting in a dementia ward with an older lady that is crying because she misses her family (which I'm not sure all even exist in the states she remembers or are still alive), and not being able to comfort her is tough.

2. Things aren't always as hard as they seem

At the beginning of the year doing things such as preparing a lesson, or just getting my head around what a week entailed, was challenging, but as the year continued those tasks which first seemed difficult have become less daunting and don't seem like a big deal anymore.

Something that I was keen to do this year was speak in front of people. A few years ago this would be the thing I avoided the most, but somehow a desire for this new experience began to grow even before the year began. Even so, at the beginning of the year when we each had to introduce ourselves and say a few things in front of the church, it was a daunting task, a few months later and it is easier (and more fun) to speak in front of a group. 

3. How to relate to people of different ages

This is something that I think I have both learnt how easy and how difficult it can be. We get opportunities to interact with a whole range of people from abandoned babies, to school students, to residents of an old age home. It is awesome how when you give people a chance and try and get into conversation, how easy it can be, but on the flip side, sometimes how hard it can be to engage someone in a good conversation.

4. Teamwork and vision

Working together toward a goal is important. I was around a different group of people to those that I work with recently and it frustrated me how the task at hand was being carried out. The person with the plan was not taking charge and everyone else, for lack of understanding of the entire task or because they wanted to follow their own idea, was just doing it their own way which was not efficient at all. Having a goal to work towards and a plan to work along and all understanding it and working at it together is necessary if you're to work well and avoid confusion and unnecessary work.

 5. Pastors/ Youth Pastors are busy

I never thought that they sat around all day and did nothing or only worked one day a week, but it didn't quite occur to me all the other things they do in a week that you don't generally notice. When I first attended youth I had the impression that youth pastors would prepare for Friday ministries, run Friday ministries, prepare and run a few events, and maybe some leader's events, run a camp once or twice a year and sometimes see people. That doesn't seem like much, right?

Well, there are only so many hours in a week and a more realistic look at that list is probably: prepare and run Friday night ministries, co-ordinate teams, create rosters, prepare lessons, buy stuff, make stuff, prepare for bible study/ies, run bible study/ies, respond to messages, run other ministries, plan events, meet with people, pray for ministries and teams, plan and run camps, help with other church activities and responsibilities, and so on.... In other words, a lot more than it first appears. Although I've never held a full time job in another area and don't understand completely what that entails, the belief that pastors only work one day a week is strange. 

 6. People have different standards to you

Spending many years dancing and doing exams and shows taught me some things such as responsibility for what you have been asked to do (if you're told to practise a certain step for a group dance and you don't, you let your whole group down), and commitment (if you are in a show and don't show up for rehearsals there is big trouble. You just don't do that). It has been interesting to see that not everyone has these standards, yet I know there are probably other things that I don't do, or don't always do, that others think are basic standards.

7. What is important

Although I already knew the importance of God's place in my life, it has been highlighted to me again and again to remember what is really important in this world. Although God can use you in many places and pursuits, in the light of eternity, what is really important?

It's not making a lot of money or being successful by worldly standards, because the only things that last into eternity are God and people's spirits.

8. Where you are is just as important as where you'll be

Many people have a calling to a certain place or certain ministry, but even if you don't have, or if it is for the future and taking a while to get to, where you are is important too. We can get caught up in visions of the future and what things can and might be like, and how amazing it will be to go to this place to do this thing for God, when right here there are things that you can do to show others that same love. Because, really, that's what it's all about. We don't have to be on a ministry team or mission trip to change someone's life.

Shaw Academy Review

Earlier this year I took two courses through Shaw Academy. I'd never heard of them before, but through Daddy's Deals I purchased two courses for R19 each. I was readily willing to pay that to try their courses, even if it turned out to be terrible, I'd only lose R40.

The courses I took were 'Diploma in Blogging and Content Marketing', and 'Introduction to Photoshop'. They were both very interesting. Since I only purchased courses and not a subscription, I won't be talking much about the Membership side of the site. 

After buying the deal and receiving the voucher, you go onto the website to redeem it and register for your course/s. 

Registering:

When you register for the courses you get to chose which session you would like to attend. I think that you usually get two options that are in two months. For example, if you bought your course in March you can choose to do your course in April or May. Once you begin the course you have just over a month to complete it if you're not a member. 

Classes:

Once you have registered, there are classes to attend twice a week for around an hour each time. The lectures are live and you can ask questions during the lesson. The lecturers are usually happy for you to email them questions as well or you can request a call. 

If you can't attend the online lectures when they are streaming, you can watch all the lessons in your own time after they have been recorded and uploaded to your student area. They become available to you within about 24hrs. 

Assignments, quizzes and the final exam:

Depending on the course, you usually have some quizzes or assignments to complete. These help to prepare you for the final exam. The final exam is a 100 question multiple choice test. If you aren't a member there is a 5 Euro (about R80 when I did it) fee to take the test and get your certificate emailed to you. Unless you are a member you can only take the exam once. At the introduction level, the exams aren't too difficult if you pay attention so this isn't too problematic. 

In some courses, such as the introduction to Photosop course, the teacher sometimes gives optional assignments that you can submit for their review or to show off your newly acquired skills :) 

The lecturers quite often bring students examples into the lesson. This is quite nice as you can get free critique and see what others have accomplished.

Lecturers:

The lecturers that I had were awesome. They sounded interested in the material and were happy to answer questions. The thing that amazed me with Shaw Academy is the willingness of the lecturers to help you. They would remind you of their email addresses and that you could send them questions, and they both tried to call me at least once from the UK (where they are based) during the respective courses to see how I was finding the course, ask if I had any questions, and to let me know of membership deals. When I didn't manage to answer the calls they emailed me to let me know that they had tried to call me and why. 

The whole experience was pleasant. The only thing that I found slightly annoying was the continual reminding of the special deal for membership. I also found the tests slightly disappointing. The reason was that although the website and courses seemed fairly profesional and well run, during the test there were a large number of spelling mistakes and weirdly constructed sentences, most of which could have been corrected by just reading through all the questions carefully to check for mistakes before using them. 

So in short,

Pros:

Can get cheap courses

Good lecturers

Support

Flexibility of recorded lessons

Cons: 

Short time frame

Paying extra for the exam and certificate

Spelling errors in tests

If you get a deal on a course that you're interested in, go for it! If you love it you can go back again and again, or buy a membership deal for more great short courses.