To all those people at Prudhoe, Montrose, Blaydon, South Africa and anywhere else this blog is being read, I would like to say, I hope you had a very nice christmas and wish you all the best for the new year.
I hope you have had nice times with family and friends and I hope everyone ate much more than they should have.
Until next time
Robbie
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Pride Goeth Before A Fall
"What most commonly leads a tragic hero to his downfall is nothing other than pride." Aristotle
In my devotions this week I was looking at the story of Samson. He was the strong oke with the big muscles who klapped all the Philsitines. There were many times Delilah tried to subdue the great man before she finally won. If it was me I would've become sick of the woman and put her out on her ear, but it was Samson's pride that stopped him doing this. We all know how the story ends. Samson, blind and bound brings the temple down on the Philistines, killing more at his death than he had in his whole life. Samson's tragic fall led to the end of his freedom. He was a prisoner to the Philistines, a sorry figure used for entertainment. So goes the great hero.
After reading this story it reminded me of the times I've put what I've done before what God has done. Whether it be building the fence or archiving videos, my pride put my achievements before the achievements of the one who gave me the knowledge with which to carry the tasks out. I was so proud of everything I've done and still am but need to remian humble, knowing that no matter how much I do, God has done so much more.
I sorted videos and stored them - God sorted the stars in space and stored them
I created a fence in 3 weeks - God created the world and everything in it, in 6 days.
I made a music library for the mothers - God made the ears that hear the music and the hands with which to play it.
As you can see there really is no comparison. I'm not trying to compare myself and God, I'm merely pointing out how futile it is putting self pride before honouring God.
I'm not saying pride is wrong either. Pride is what made things what they are. British football fans wouldn't be half as passionate without the staunch, churchill-uesqe, bulldog pride. I feel pride when I hear of Britains green and pleasant lands rising out of the dark satanic fields. I'm proud of being Scottish. I'm proud of my South African heritage. I'm proud to be a Christian. I'm proud of the children here. I'm proud of the way a little boy here hugs and consoles his crying friends. I'm proud of the way a child, brought to Rehoboth in a wheelchair with a twisted spine is now the best dancer, here, drawing children from the older classes at school to his class, just to watch him dance or the child who is now starting to walk of his own free will and ability.
There is nothing wrong with pride so long as it doesn't replace the honour of God.
Aristotle used the Greek word Catharsis meaning cleansing. Having seen a great person fall, people should be cleansed of their own pride.
I'm not sure whether you know it, but at the minute the ANC party in South Africa is electing a new leader. It's a tight run affair between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. If you had asked me 6 months ago, Thabo Mbeki would have been my number one choice by a hundred miles. And even though he is still my number one (purely because I'd rather have Hannibal Lecter than Jacob Zuma), the margin is much closer as I ask myself what happened to this once promising President. Ear-marked by Madiba himself, Mbeki had the chance to make South Africa strong and stable, but as his pride pushed the country's objectives further aside, so the country slid down the rocky slope. Pride forced the former exile to deny the link between HIV and AIDs therefore denying millions of South Africans the right to ARVs and proper medication. A man who aligns himself with the tyrant Mugabe and would rather jet all over keeping face with politicians of the world than sort the problems on his own doorstep.
If this is what can happen to a President and in the case of Samson, a great fighter and leader, it stands to show what a destrcutive force pride can be.
So I ask you to pray for the minds of the men that run this country. May they not seek personal agendas and look to line their pockets with money needed by the poor, but push their pride aside and admit there is a problem and that the country needs help.
For as the old saying goes; "Pride goeth before a fall!"
In my devotions this week I was looking at the story of Samson. He was the strong oke with the big muscles who klapped all the Philsitines. There were many times Delilah tried to subdue the great man before she finally won. If it was me I would've become sick of the woman and put her out on her ear, but it was Samson's pride that stopped him doing this. We all know how the story ends. Samson, blind and bound brings the temple down on the Philistines, killing more at his death than he had in his whole life. Samson's tragic fall led to the end of his freedom. He was a prisoner to the Philistines, a sorry figure used for entertainment. So goes the great hero.
After reading this story it reminded me of the times I've put what I've done before what God has done. Whether it be building the fence or archiving videos, my pride put my achievements before the achievements of the one who gave me the knowledge with which to carry the tasks out. I was so proud of everything I've done and still am but need to remian humble, knowing that no matter how much I do, God has done so much more.
I sorted videos and stored them - God sorted the stars in space and stored them
I created a fence in 3 weeks - God created the world and everything in it, in 6 days.
I made a music library for the mothers - God made the ears that hear the music and the hands with which to play it.
As you can see there really is no comparison. I'm not trying to compare myself and God, I'm merely pointing out how futile it is putting self pride before honouring God.
I'm not saying pride is wrong either. Pride is what made things what they are. British football fans wouldn't be half as passionate without the staunch, churchill-uesqe, bulldog pride. I feel pride when I hear of Britains green and pleasant lands rising out of the dark satanic fields. I'm proud of being Scottish. I'm proud of my South African heritage. I'm proud to be a Christian. I'm proud of the children here. I'm proud of the way a little boy here hugs and consoles his crying friends. I'm proud of the way a child, brought to Rehoboth in a wheelchair with a twisted spine is now the best dancer, here, drawing children from the older classes at school to his class, just to watch him dance or the child who is now starting to walk of his own free will and ability.
There is nothing wrong with pride so long as it doesn't replace the honour of God.
Aristotle used the Greek word Catharsis meaning cleansing. Having seen a great person fall, people should be cleansed of their own pride.
I'm not sure whether you know it, but at the minute the ANC party in South Africa is electing a new leader. It's a tight run affair between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. If you had asked me 6 months ago, Thabo Mbeki would have been my number one choice by a hundred miles. And even though he is still my number one (purely because I'd rather have Hannibal Lecter than Jacob Zuma), the margin is much closer as I ask myself what happened to this once promising President. Ear-marked by Madiba himself, Mbeki had the chance to make South Africa strong and stable, but as his pride pushed the country's objectives further aside, so the country slid down the rocky slope. Pride forced the former exile to deny the link between HIV and AIDs therefore denying millions of South Africans the right to ARVs and proper medication. A man who aligns himself with the tyrant Mugabe and would rather jet all over keeping face with politicians of the world than sort the problems on his own doorstep.
If this is what can happen to a President and in the case of Samson, a great fighter and leader, it stands to show what a destrcutive force pride can be.
So I ask you to pray for the minds of the men that run this country. May they not seek personal agendas and look to line their pockets with money needed by the poor, but push their pride aside and admit there is a problem and that the country needs help.
For as the old saying goes; "Pride goeth before a fall!"
Monday, December 10, 2007
His Love Endures Forever.
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful love endures forever." - 1 Chronicles 16:34
Last Tuesday I went to the Port Shepstone Office of home affairs. I had my application to extend my visa until the middle of April denied. I was told that if I didn't make change my flight home to before 14th March (6 months since arriving here) I'd be going home in time for Christmas. In medical terms this was like a kick in the teeth. I'd planned to stay until the middle of April and holiday after my stay at Rehoboth, but instead I'm now coming home on the 15th March. Now, people have told me how gutted I must feel at this news. However, when weighed against the possibility of returning before Christmas, I look at the extension of the 2 extra months as a blessing rather than a curse for missing 2 weeks.
God obviously has a plan for me, or else I wouldn't be returning in March. I just have to be patient and see where he guides me. I'm not stressed, I'm not gutted, I'm not downbeat. I'm positive, I'm seizing the day, I'm not worrying.
I read the Bible verse at the top on Sunday morning at church and just had to smile. I just flicked to the page and it just jumped out. and I had to ask myself the question,
"What do I have to complain about?"
And after much embarrasment and searching the answer was, "Absolutely nothing!".
So, I'm going home 2 weeks early. My initial disappointment had distracted me from the important fact. God has been so fantastic to me. He has blessed my life more ways than I can count. Wherever I look I see the evidence of his hand guiding me and watching over me.
I'm alive, I'm not dying, I am happy, I have friends, I have a loving family, I am in a beautiful country, I am surrounded by beautiful children every day, I am enveloped with God everyday, I go to a brilliant church with people hungry for the word of God, rather than a church hungry for the roast after church. I have absolutely no reason to feel down, and every reason to rejoice in the Lord.
That is why I intend in everything I do, to give thanks to the Lord for he is good. And that's why you should.
Forget the fact that you haven't got all your presents for Christmas sorted and remind yourself of the fact that you're blessed enough to have people to give gifts to. Forget the fact that the next door neighbours light's are better than yours and rejoice in the fact that you have a place to put the lights. God sees and provides and that has never been more evident than here at Rehoboth. We need money for something and the money comes in. We pray and God provides. This alone is evidence enough of how God's faithful love endures forever but coupled with my personal experiences and blessings, my heart rejoices in the goodness of God and how he guides the lives of everyone, whether it be here at Rehoboth or you at home reading this.
That is why I'm not downbeat about the visa. When I look back at the blessings I've received, how can I be downbeat? I am instead upbeat at where God's faithful love will lead me next.
I feel like the psalmist at the time of writing psalm 34;
"I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth"
Until next week,
Rob
Last Tuesday I went to the Port Shepstone Office of home affairs. I had my application to extend my visa until the middle of April denied. I was told that if I didn't make change my flight home to before 14th March (6 months since arriving here) I'd be going home in time for Christmas. In medical terms this was like a kick in the teeth. I'd planned to stay until the middle of April and holiday after my stay at Rehoboth, but instead I'm now coming home on the 15th March. Now, people have told me how gutted I must feel at this news. However, when weighed against the possibility of returning before Christmas, I look at the extension of the 2 extra months as a blessing rather than a curse for missing 2 weeks.
God obviously has a plan for me, or else I wouldn't be returning in March. I just have to be patient and see where he guides me. I'm not stressed, I'm not gutted, I'm not downbeat. I'm positive, I'm seizing the day, I'm not worrying.
I read the Bible verse at the top on Sunday morning at church and just had to smile. I just flicked to the page and it just jumped out. and I had to ask myself the question,
"What do I have to complain about?"
And after much embarrasment and searching the answer was, "Absolutely nothing!".
So, I'm going home 2 weeks early. My initial disappointment had distracted me from the important fact. God has been so fantastic to me. He has blessed my life more ways than I can count. Wherever I look I see the evidence of his hand guiding me and watching over me.
I'm alive, I'm not dying, I am happy, I have friends, I have a loving family, I am in a beautiful country, I am surrounded by beautiful children every day, I am enveloped with God everyday, I go to a brilliant church with people hungry for the word of God, rather than a church hungry for the roast after church. I have absolutely no reason to feel down, and every reason to rejoice in the Lord.
That is why I intend in everything I do, to give thanks to the Lord for he is good. And that's why you should.
Forget the fact that you haven't got all your presents for Christmas sorted and remind yourself of the fact that you're blessed enough to have people to give gifts to. Forget the fact that the next door neighbours light's are better than yours and rejoice in the fact that you have a place to put the lights. God sees and provides and that has never been more evident than here at Rehoboth. We need money for something and the money comes in. We pray and God provides. This alone is evidence enough of how God's faithful love endures forever but coupled with my personal experiences and blessings, my heart rejoices in the goodness of God and how he guides the lives of everyone, whether it be here at Rehoboth or you at home reading this.
That is why I'm not downbeat about the visa. When I look back at the blessings I've received, how can I be downbeat? I am instead upbeat at where God's faithful love will lead me next.
I feel like the psalmist at the time of writing psalm 34;
"I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth"
Until next week,
Rob
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Construction In Progress
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 2 Peter 1:8
There is an old saying that says, " A man don't know nothing he hasn't learned."
In other words, we all start at the same level and build. Even genius relies on the data given it. Shakespeare used play books, Mozart used overtures from previous pieces of music. This does not diminish what they have achieved but points out that they have built on the work of someone/something else.
This was what I read on Monday morning in my devotions and for some reason it just stayed with me. I didn't know why to start with but then I started work. On Monday I was archiving photos and videos from the past 5 years. Burning them to disks, then deleting them from the computers. Alfons, the director of Rehoboth starting talking about me carrying on from where their previous "archiver" had left it.
And then it clicked.
My work here at Rehoboth, whatever it is, is carrying on the good work started by someone before. My archiving of the photos was started by someone else and now the baton has fallen to me to carry it on. Like the devotional reading said, it doesn't diminish from what I am doing, but rather just acknowledges those who started it. On Tuesday, Nicholas ( a Rehoboth worker) and myself started lashing steel together for the foundations of a building. What we were doing wasn't anything new. It's something that has been done on every building of Rehoboth. We weren't doing anything that hasn't been done before but rather carrying on the building work that others set into motion.
I shared my epiphany with Nicholas who was only to happy to listen and only to obliging to tell me his thoughts. He told me that it didn't matter for him that it wasn't anything new. He was happy to have work and he made the very shrewd point that if we weren't continuing where others left off, would we know what to do? Would we know where we were going wrong or where we should be going?
The same can be said for the early church. The disciples, charged with the task of taking the word of God to the four corners of the world were carrying on what Jesus had started. Paul, so instrumental in taking the word of God to many people, was doing the work that Jesus had begun. And so it carried on. Through characters such as Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door in Wittenburg, or Charles Wesley getting saddlesore taking Methodism across England. These people were not doing anything brand new, never before seen. They were simply carrying on the commision of Christ. And that is what we are called to do as Christians. We need to be taking the baton willingly for the next leg of the journey. We will die and someone else will take over from us and do the work we were doing. Our work isn't useless or not needed, far from it. We are important in being here for this leg of the journey.
In my interaction with the kids I think the same. I am here, carrying on the work of someone else, e.g. looking after and caring for the kids, but the fact that I'm carrying it on is so important. One instance that comes to mind is from last year. Sally Leat and Steve Carrick both became extremely attached to one girl who was very ill here at Rehoboth. In the two weeks we were here with the church, Sally and Steve spent so much time with this girl, playing with her, trying to make her smile, make her happy. And looking back I see my work here as carrying on the work they were doing, as now it is my job to make the kids happy, make them smile. I'm simply building on what they did.
Until Next Week
Rob
"Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall"
There is an old saying that says, " A man don't know nothing he hasn't learned."
In other words, we all start at the same level and build. Even genius relies on the data given it. Shakespeare used play books, Mozart used overtures from previous pieces of music. This does not diminish what they have achieved but points out that they have built on the work of someone/something else.
This was what I read on Monday morning in my devotions and for some reason it just stayed with me. I didn't know why to start with but then I started work. On Monday I was archiving photos and videos from the past 5 years. Burning them to disks, then deleting them from the computers. Alfons, the director of Rehoboth starting talking about me carrying on from where their previous "archiver" had left it.
And then it clicked.
My work here at Rehoboth, whatever it is, is carrying on the good work started by someone before. My archiving of the photos was started by someone else and now the baton has fallen to me to carry it on. Like the devotional reading said, it doesn't diminish from what I am doing, but rather just acknowledges those who started it. On Tuesday, Nicholas ( a Rehoboth worker) and myself started lashing steel together for the foundations of a building. What we were doing wasn't anything new. It's something that has been done on every building of Rehoboth. We weren't doing anything that hasn't been done before but rather carrying on the building work that others set into motion.
I shared my epiphany with Nicholas who was only to happy to listen and only to obliging to tell me his thoughts. He told me that it didn't matter for him that it wasn't anything new. He was happy to have work and he made the very shrewd point that if we weren't continuing where others left off, would we know what to do? Would we know where we were going wrong or where we should be going?
The same can be said for the early church. The disciples, charged with the task of taking the word of God to the four corners of the world were carrying on what Jesus had started. Paul, so instrumental in taking the word of God to many people, was doing the work that Jesus had begun. And so it carried on. Through characters such as Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door in Wittenburg, or Charles Wesley getting saddlesore taking Methodism across England. These people were not doing anything brand new, never before seen. They were simply carrying on the commision of Christ. And that is what we are called to do as Christians. We need to be taking the baton willingly for the next leg of the journey. We will die and someone else will take over from us and do the work we were doing. Our work isn't useless or not needed, far from it. We are important in being here for this leg of the journey.
In my interaction with the kids I think the same. I am here, carrying on the work of someone else, e.g. looking after and caring for the kids, but the fact that I'm carrying it on is so important. One instance that comes to mind is from last year. Sally Leat and Steve Carrick both became extremely attached to one girl who was very ill here at Rehoboth. In the two weeks we were here with the church, Sally and Steve spent so much time with this girl, playing with her, trying to make her smile, make her happy. And looking back I see my work here as carrying on the work they were doing, as now it is my job to make the kids happy, make them smile. I'm simply building on what they did.
Until Next Week
Rob
"Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall"
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