Mental Health Awareness Month

October is Mental Health Awareness Month in South Africa, with the 10th of October marking World Mental Health Day. This is something very close to my heart as I understand the struggles that many of us have with our mental health. 

I think it is a wonderful thing that people are willing to speak more openly around these issues and to offer help for those struggling with this aspect of health. One of the things that has helped me over the years has been regular exercise - this is proven to be good for our mental health. 

For this reason, we are challenging our community to get outdoors and to exercise more during October. We have set the bar at 110 km's, as we are part of the Fish Hoek Circuit 110, so if you would like to join us, then feel free to do so. 

I have also set up a Back-A-Buddy fundraising campaign, if you would like to financially support our Mission projects. Here is the link to the site. If you have any questions, please drop me a line.

Lastly, let us be more aware of the people around us, as many of our neighbours could be fighting their own battles today. 

Ecclesiastes 2:23 - Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Prayer and action

I read a lovely quote the other day that stated: "Prayer and Action are not enemies!"

This is a timely reminder that our actions should always be guided and covered in prayer. Sadly, many of us seem to use prayer as a "Hail Mary", shot in hope, when all else fails. Of course, we are invited to bring all our desperate prayers to the Lord, but our lives should be rooted in prayer as a starting point. Too often I have been guilty of allowing my actions to run ahead of my prayers.

When we consider the example of Jesus, he was definitely a man of action, but equally he was a man of deep prayer. 

Luke 5:16 - But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

A trip to the zoo changed his life

A trip to the zoo changed his life!

According to reports on the conversion of C.S. Lewis, he truly believed in God while riding in the sidecar of his brother's motorcycle. Later on, Lewis wrote:

"When we set out, I did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and when we reached the zoo I did." 

It was not the bad driving of his brother, Warren, that led to his conversion, but rather years of grappling with what it means to follow Jesus and to believe in him. Lewis was always willing to engage and enter into deep conversations with his friends, and he notes that debates with Hugo Dyson and JRR Tolkien were instrumental in helping him "cross the line" into faith.

John 6:29 - Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Look at the birds

I love the fact that Jesus often used creation to bring people back to the center - back to the most important things in life. Matthew 6 gives us a number of great examples of this:

"Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? - Matthew 6:26-27

This is such a simple statement to make and yet it carries a deeply profound spiritual truth. When we pause for a minute to look at the birds, we should remember how they survive without all the trappings and frills we think we need. 

God cares for them - surely, we should remember that God cares for us too?

Living in Grace

D3LM3

A thought for Heritage Day - Jeremiah's prayer of confidence

The 24th of September is marked as Heritage Day in South Africa. It has obvious roots in celebrating the diversity of all our South African cultures and people. Many people choose to turn this public holiday into a day spending time with family, as well as enjoying a Braai (which is a barbeque for our overseas readers). 

A working definition in the Cambridge dictionary, helps us put some meat onto the bones of what 'heritage' truly means.... "Features belonging to the culture of a particular society, such as traditions, languages, or buildings, that were created in the past and still have historical importance." 

For us as people of faith, we are given many traditions and 'features' that shape our faith. Sadly, some of these are not always good, as Jeremiah pointed out so clearly: 

"Lord, you are my strength and fortress,
my refuge in the day of trouble!
Nations from around the world
will come to you and say,
“Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage,
for they worshiped worthless idols.
Can people make their own gods?
These are not real gods at all!”

The Lord says,
“Now I will show them my power;
now I will show them my might.
At last they will know and understand
that I am the Lord." - Jeremiah 16:19-21

Thought: What spiritual heritage are we leaving behind for our children and grandchildren? 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

We have no excuse

We have no excuse!

There are a lot of things that we like to make excuses about, and in so doing, we push our responsibility onto someone else. However, today I am not speaking about world events, local crises or anything else. I am wanting to draw our attention to these words from the apostle Paul.

¹⁹ They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. ²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God." - Romans 1:19-20

I believe what Paul is getting at is that we have enough evidence of God's nature and qualities in the world around us - in other words, in the Creation. By looking around us, and up into the heavens, we have the "call to worship." 

All that has been given to us (Genesis 1) reveals something of who God is. Of course, Paul is not inviting us to bow down to the sun, moon and stars, but to allow them to grab our attention and then to Praise the Lord God.

So, if we took the time to stop and look around, we would have no excuse for not getting a glimpse of who God is.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Speaking without sound

David reminds us that God continues to speak to us, and he doesn't even need to use audible speech to do this. Read these verses from Psalm 19 to see what I am getting at:

1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.

I am convinced that God is trying to commune with us way more regularly than we are willingly to listen. 

How can we become more attentive to his words and voice?

Job 33:14 - "For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it."

Living in Grace

D3LM3