Drawing straight lines with crooked sticks

 

After our church services on Sunday, one of my friends shared this intriguing quote with me. He was speaking in the context of how God's divine plans are carried out by fallible human beings. 

"God can strike a straight stroke by a crooked stick." - Thomas Watson, English Puritan (also used by Martin Luther and Ignatius Loyola) 

These words came back to me today as I was reading Matthew 1:7, noting that Rehoboam's son, Abijah was not the best of kings. He was not fully committed to the Lord and did some wicked things. In many ways, he becomes an interesting ancestor of Jesus.

"But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.” – Psalm 33:11

Advent reminds me that God chose to use 'ordinary' people to accomplish his extra-ordinary purposes. We can never deny the eventual outcome of God's plans. 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Playing on the one string - attitude!

"We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude." -  Charles Swindoll

What do you make of this quote? Do you agree or disagree? I do agree that our attitude is important in how we respond to certain people and events in our lives, but where does 'Faith' come into play? Can our faith impact our attitude? 

Ephesians 4:23 - "...to be made new in the attitude of your minds."

Let me know what you think.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Do we have this the wrong way around?

 

I have come across this quote twice in the last week, so thought it would be good to reflect on it.

"People were created to be loved.
Things were created to be used.
The reason the world is in chaos is because

things are being loved and people are being used." - Unknown

There is some element of truth in this. It seems that the more 'things' we have in life, the less connected we can become. Jesus always saw value in the people around him and this was noticed by everyone. 

Mark 6:34 - "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So, he began teaching them many things."

Thought: Although some people may treat us as commodities, God never will. 

Do we love things more than we love people? 

Living in grace

D3LM3

The test of a truly great person

"I believe the first test of a truly great man (woman) is their humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of their own power, or hesitation in speaking their opinion. But really great people have a ... feeling that the greatness is not in them but through them; that they could not do or be anything else than God made them." - John Riskin 

I think this quote is spot on. I have met a few remarkably humble people in my life, who have not needed to strut or be arrogant in any way. Their very presence has been enough to reveal Christ to others.

Of course, on the other hand, I have also met a fair share of arrogant people. It is interesting that their attitude and demeanour actually repels you, instead of drawing you in. 

Can you think of anyone who fits the description of being humble or arrogant?

James 4:10 - Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Which one are we? 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Don't count on your Warhorse!

                                                     

^"The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory— for all its strength, it cannot save you." - Psalm 33:16-17

When we turn to signs of human strength and power to gain our glory or salvation, we will only set ourselves up for disappointment. Every ruler on earth, no matter how successful they were or how good/evil, they all had to relinquish their thrones and kingdoms in the end. Every one of them! Look at this brief list as an example:

•   Alexander the Great
•  Napoleon
• Julius Cesar
• Genghis Khan 
•  Hannibal
• Charlemagne
• Attila the Hun
• Sun Tzu

·       We can add many modern people onto this list – even those who have made the world a troubled place in the last 100 years.

If our strategy is to try and build up the biggest, strongest, mightiest Kingdom in all the world, we should learn from history. No matter how much gold went into establishing these kingdoms, or the cost of human lives, or the number of horses and weapons in their armoury - it was all handed over to someone else in the end.

Where are we putting our faith and trust?

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Placing your trust in people

"Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there." - Psalm 146:3

In the light of voting in our local government elections today what do we make of the words of Psalm 146? For me, it is just a reminder that my hope and trust in not in another person. 

Of course this doesn't absolve me from playing an active role in society or in holding government officials accountable to their jobs. However, it does draw me back to the heart of the matter - God is the only one worthy of my trust and hope.

What do you make of this?

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Rejection

“Rejection is just an opinion, remember? It reflects them more than me, right?”- Jia Jang

In his outrageous experiment called "100 days of Rejection", Jia Jang set out to conqueror his fear of rejection by doing a hundred "off the wall" things to face rejection from others. What he learnt was that people are actually a lot kinder than we think and that rejection is not as bad as we imagine it to be.

His quote (above) is interesting as it reminds us that 'rejection' can be more about the other person's tastes and opinion than our identity. It doesn't need to define us.

And of course, looking at the life of Jesus we see that he was also rejected many times over, but his purpose still prevailed. It is God's opinion of us that truly matters!

Psalm 118:22 - The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone

Luke 9:22 - And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Good Service

We are so used to bad service in South Africa, that when we encounter 'good service' we are left feeling elated. I feel that we complain about the inefficiency we experience (and rightly so), but we seldom say thank you when things run smoothly. I want to pass on 2 'good service' stories.

A few weeks ago I had a problem with the car. It just wouldn't start the one morning and so I decided to call my Insurance company - what made me phone them first I can't explain, but I did. They confirmed that I was covered for breakdowns, even at home, and within 20 minutes someone was at my gate and fixed the problem. This cost me nothing. I was gobsmacked, but totally grateful.

On Wednesday I had to hand in some marriage documents at Home Affairs. As you can imagine, I headed off there with much despondency, expecting a long morning. As I arrived I discovered that they were renovating and that the marriage department had moved across the hall. No problem, I thought, this will be OK. As I walked along the corridor I saw queues of people and in the back of a crowded room was the lady I needed to hand my forms to. My heart sank. I realised I would be there all day waiting for one signature.

At this point I was disappointed I hadn't worn my clerical collar (as it can work miracles some times). There I was, just a plain clothed civilian desperate to jump the queue. Trying to be proactive I introduced myself to the security guard and without blinking an eye, she took me to the lady concerned. I handed over my documents, got the signature and was gone. I was so grateful to that amazing lady. She made my day.

So, I just want to continue this theme and say a massive THANK YOU to all of you who bother to read my ramblings. Your many comments via email, inspire me to write more. May God bless you this day.

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

Lessons from life

Kim and I have been married for 12 years today and I admit that she does need a medal for putting up with me. I am not an expert in relationships (you will have to ask those who have been married for 40 or 50 years), but these are few handy tips I have learnt along the way. I think these apply to most relationships or friendships, not just romantic relationships.

1. All relationships require a decision to 'love' regardless of how one feels on a particular day.
2. All relationships are inspired by the ability to say "I am sorry!"
3. All relationships work best when seasoned with grace.
4. All relationships should bring out the best in all people involved.
5. All relationships require work.
6. All relationships depend on trust and mutual respect.
7. All relationships need God in them.

What are your thoughts?

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

Trevor Hudson

When we are privileged to be in the presence of Godly men and women we need to acknowledge that. Trevor Hudson is one of these men (although he would be embarrassed to know I am writing this). He has had such a huge influence on my life, as a mentor from afar and now as a colleague in the ministry.

What marks the quality of godly person (for me) are 2 key things:
1. A passionate relationship with Jesus Christ
2. Genuine humility

Trevor has both of these in bucket loads!

The awesome gift for us is that he (along with others) can be our mentors too! All we need to do is to read some of his writings and we will grasp the spirit of the man. Click here to see all the books he has written.

Here is a quote for you, from his book on the Serenity Prayer:
"The Serenity Prayer reminds us that true wisdom is a gift that comes from God. It is something we need to pray for."

May you pursue your relationship with Jesus with passion and may we seek to live out of a place of genuine humility.

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

P.S. I was blessed to have Trevor write the foreword for Living Oceans Apart. His validation of that book was immense for me.

I pictured him to be different!

When we read the writings of famous authors, we put together an image of how we expect them to look. Just think about some of your favourite authors and what image comes to your mind? Have you ever thought about this when you are reading from the Bible?

To be honest I had a certain 'image' in my mind of the Apostle Paul and I was quite content with this, until I read this description of him (from a 2nd century historian):

"A man small in size, with meeting eyebrows and a rather large nose, bald-headed, bow-legged, strongly built, full of grace; for at times he looked like a man, and at times he had the face of an angel."

Paul seems different all of a sudden!

So, how do you picture Simon Peter, or Matthew or even Jesus? What has shaped our minds to come up with a particular 'image' of these people? When we meet them face-to-face will we stop for a second and say, "I thought you looked different!"

Just pondering:)

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

Achilles heel

In Greek poetry it is said that Achilles died when he was struck with a poisoned arrow in his heel - thus starting the saying which we refer to as having an 'Achilles heel.' This is the definition according to wikipedia:

"An Achilles’ heel is a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall."

Well, this certainly happened to our Champion warrior Achilles and this has happened to many other powerful people ever since. Just when we think we are strong (and perhaps invincible) we run the risk of being destroyed by something small - like an arrowhead.

So, what is your potential Achilles heel?

The Scriptures give us this advice:
Isaiah 63:1 - Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."

"We become God's people when God's grace conquerors our fear of others knowing our weaknesses and shortcomings." - Leverett Luck

Live in the strength and grace of God,
D3LM3

Photo courtesy of www.solarnavigator.net
Hope the ladies appreciated the photo of Brad Pitt!

Shopping Blues

Admit it, this has happened to you!
You buy all that you planned to buy from the grocery store and when you get home and unpack everything, something is missing. The thing is - you know that you paid for it, but it is not in your shopping bags. There are two potential reasons for this:

1. We forgot to put it into the bag and we are the fools.
2. The shopping assistant thought that you wouldn't "mind" missing one of your many purchases and bargained on you not returning to look for it.

To be honest, the few times it has happened to me, I have banked on option one - it is quite possible that I forgot to put it into the packet. I am then left feeling frustrated!

However, it happened a few days ago and I am convinced that there was something 'strange' about the whole thing. In the end, it was too much of a schlep to go back and get that ONE item again, but I was feeling livid. I smelt a conspiracy!

Here's my theory:
If every 'packer' is encouraged to hold back one item per customer (especially when we buy 40+ items) then the store can save themselves a lot of money when you add these all up. Most people figure it is too much effort to go back and find their purchase and if we did go back it probably won't be there. Besides, how can I prove that the slab of chocolate, I brought 30 minutes ago from your store, is not sitting in my stomach now - sure, I have the till slip, but that proves nothing!

What do you think of my theory or has the festive season got to my brain?

"Rich and poor have this in common:
The Lord is the Maker of them all." - Proverbs 22:2

Living in Grace,
D3LM3