SITTING ON THE OUTSIDE, LOOKING IN.......

She was beautiful, gorgeous....not exactly what I would consider to be “model beautiful”, no it was more than that – soft, attractive, tanzanite blue eyes.  Every man in the room could not help but stare and silently wish that she could be his.  I, myself could not help but stare and silently wish....silently wish that I could be as beautiful as her.

They were an amazing family.  Happy people.  Wherever they went you could hear shrieks of laughter.  Fun and love were always the order of the day.  Oh and let me not forget to mention that they were a wealthy family.  When I say wealthy, I mean “beeeeeg bucks”.  Influential people....and yet such amazingly, “nice” people.  I wish I could’ve been born into their family.

He was successful in business.  Mr Confidence who could close any deal.  I am quite certain that he could sell a sole-less pair of shoes for the price of a house.  If only I could do business that way.  If only I could be him.

Sitting on the outside looking in, these are the type of thoughts which have gone through my mind on so many occasions.  We all do that, don’t we??  Meet people and wish we could have their lives...their beauty, their love, their money......

But how many times have you hung around and watched their story unfold??  “Never judge a book by its’ cover” , we are told.  I prefer the saying about “assumptions”......”Assumptions are the mother of all (let’s be polite and say) muck ups”.   I can count on my hand how many sayings are really and truly appropriate, but this one, this one rings true and somehow manages to teach me a lesson every time.

You see, because she was so beautiful, she not only attracted the “yummy” men, she also attracted the scum bags and has lived a life filled with both sexual and physical abuse.  Her story is very, very sad.

The “happy” family who has everything, also has a child who is in and out of jail and causes them many heartaches and sleepless nights.

.....and Mr Confidence, well in business he has it all, but personally he has no love.  He has no relationship with his parents.  His closest family and friends are his business associates.  They care deeply for him, but let’s face it out of business hours they go back to their families and leave him on his own.

Just yesterday a friend and I were chatting about the story of laying down your cross.  If everyone laid down their cross – all their heartaches and problems – in one big pile, would you take someone else’s, or would you take back you own??

Everyone deserves a chance.  Everyone has good in them....and yes, everyone has bad in them.  I guess what I am really trying to say, the next time you are sitting on the outside looking in, don’t give assumptions a chance ......take the time to get to know someone and have compassion for whatever it is that they are going through.

How to Cope with Life

To quote an old cliché, “The only certain thing about life is death.”  How very depressing is that?  I do have to wonder what types of people sit and think about such things.  It’s enough to make anyone despondent, incessantly wondering what it’s all about and asking why we are here. 

Let me tell you something – we’re here because God put us here – for a purpose.  All of us.  He has a plan and purpose for us all.  There was no explosion that sent us flying to this earth, to simply cope with whatever comes our way, aimlessly struggling along until the day we will finally bite the dust and float back into oblivion – or whatever.  We were put on this earth for a reason, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.   Having said that, we all have coping skills – God gave us those too!  It’s how we choose to use them that counts.  Life is all about choices – think about it.  We can choose to wallow in self-pity, we can choose to be co  Those are some of the negatives, but in my opinion, there are far more positives than negatives in life. 

mplainers, or we can choose to get angry.

A good coping mechanism is to write things down.  Divide a sheet of paper into two columns.  One column will be headed “Positives,” and the other “Negatives”.  Now list all the things you have to be grateful for and all the things which you consider to be problems.  As you go through the week, you can keep adding or taking away from your lists.  As each “problem” is solved, you should transfer it into the “Positive” column, by saying something like this:  “Today the person who owed me all that money paid it back in full.  Praise the Lord!”  What a positive that is!  Or:  “Today, after worrying about my health problems for so long, all the tests came back clear.”  Write down your blessings.  Thank God for the air that you breathe, for your job, for your family.  Or perhaps you lost your job?  Then thank Him for those who are helping you through your crisis.  Don’t focus on the problem because God is way, way bigger than anything the devil may deliver to your door step.  You’ll soon find that your “Positive” list will be much longer than your “Negative” one.

At some point almost everyone faces a major crisis in life, but coping with it isn’t difficult really.  It’s how you manage it that makes the difference.  Yes, it’s true, the only certain thing about life is death, but facing your challenges with hope is the surest way of dealing with them and when you’ve done that successfully, you will be on the list of people God put on this earth to help others.  

Author:

Léonie Edwards

Spending time. Spending money. Putting who first?

With Christmas decorations adorning shop windows and the soothing tones of Boney M filtering through shopping malls countrywide, the festive season is well and truly upon us. For students, who have just sat for their year-end examinations, and employees, who are pushing through their list of year-end to-dos, the transition from November to December is signalled by a collective sigh of relief. ‘We made it!’

However, moving from the November’s frenetic push towards the end of the working year, what we encounter in December is far from the ‘Peace on earth and goodwill to all men’ mantra that so many proclaim. Often, December leaves us a little shell-shocked as we navigate the precarious terrain of buying Christmas presents, setting off for the coast, or travelling overseas on holiday. The November sigh of relief is quickly replaced by hyperventilation at the very thought.

Columnist Dave Barry observed, ‘Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.’ While this comment may be humorous, there is a sense of truth about it. November rolls over into December, and we are bombarded by a consumer-driven ethos that puts a price tag on celebrating the birth of a Saviour – it calls to us, saying, ‘spend money on things rather than spend time with people’.

For me, November is a time to finish things, leave no stone unturned so that the December break is well and truly an opportunity to do as little as possible and rest – and certainly the way that the world works pushes us to the brink of exhaustion by driving our ambitions towards having more, which in turn requires us to spend more. But where does that leave us in this equation of getting more stuff? Are we happier? Are we healthier? Do we make time for people who need our time? Do we make time for ourselves?

And so I put the questions to you. How do you spend your time in November and December – at the closing of the year?

HK Blog: Good day all KNIGHTS WHO STAND IN THE GAP AND FIGH...

HK Blog: Good day all KNIGHTS WHO STAND IN THE GAP AND FIGH...: Good day all KNIGHTS WHO STAND IN THE GAP AND FIGHT IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. THE ONE TRUE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD WHO WAS CRUCIFIED TO SAV...

Stop tripping over yourself and be the messenger!

I come before all of you in weakness and fear to be a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.

To understand my story and the power the Lord has in this world and over all creation

then check this out. Psalm 139 says:

“O Lord you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise.

You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you

are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O

Lord.

You hem me in – behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge

is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the

heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even

the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as

light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise

you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that

full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When

I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All

the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts o, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to

count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me you bloodthirsty men! They

speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those

who hate you, o Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Search me, o God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if

there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Boom, I mean Wow! What a mind-blowing concept to think that the creator of the

universe knows you intimately – what makes you tick, your strengths, your weaknesses,

your potential!

In today’s world there are plenty of situations and circumstances that we live through and though it’s easier to say in those dark times “where is God?” and give up. It’s easier to carry on following the crowd than to go out on your own and search for Jesus and his

kingdom. A love line from C.S Lewis’s book “THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE “ or better know as “THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA” while visiting

with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, a young girl named Lucy inquires about a lion known as

Aslan, who symbolizes Christ. “’Course he isn’t safe. But he is good,” replies Mrs.

Beaver. That’s Christ – good but not always safe.

In one sense, going along with the crowd is the safe thing to do. It requires no energy, no backbone, no guts. Taking up your cross to follow Jesus isn’t safe; truly living for Him

means putting your life on the line.

The next time you feel like GOD can’t use you, just remember:

• Noah was a drunk. 
• Abraham was too old, 
• Isaac was a daydreamer, 
• Jacob was a liar, 
• Leah was ugly, 
• Joseph was abused, 
• Moses had a stuttering problem, 
• Gideon was afraid, 
• Samson had long hair and was a womanizer, 
• Rahab was a prostitute, 
• Jeremiah and Timothy were too young, 
• David had an affair and was a murderer, 
• Elijah was suicidal, 
• Isaiah preached naked, 
• Jonah ran from God, 
• Naomi was a widow, 
• Job went bankrupt, 
• John the Baptist ate bugs, 
• Peter denied Christ, 
• The disciples fell asleep while praying, 
• Martha worried about everything, 
• the Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once, 
• Zaccheus was to small, 
• Paul was too religious, 
• Timothy had an ulcer…. 
• AND Lazarus was dead.

No more excuses now. God can use you to your full potential. Besides you are not the

message, you are just the messenger.

The amazing thing is that we need to see the world through God’s eyes. It’s amazing how everything can be his messenger. What can you do today or use today to be his messenger?