These last few months
Have seen my geography diminish
To these walls
That surround us
To my east,
I have seen the the brilliant morning sunrise
Pierce through the window
As if to greet us
To my west,
I have seen the painted red and blue
Of the afternoon hue
Another God whisper (“I thought of you”)
To my south,
I face this screen
Zooming through meetings
And writing some musings too
To my north,
I face, as I sit in bed
With a book in hand
Widening my geography – stories that take me to another land.
Oh how I long to venture
On planes and trains
To further than a stone’s throw
Oh, how I’d love to go…
He was right and not confused,
Dear Confucious, when he said
“I live in a very small house,
But my windows look out on a very large world.”
Tag: Lent
Lent 1 – A Long Winter
Here is a little word:
A Long Winter
This winter has been a long one
Have you felt the same?
The grey did well, hiding the sun
A virus, kept us in our cage.
But of course, winter passes
The spring flowers, arrives in their masses
Snowdrops, daffodils and blue bells
And the days are getting longer, as well
Yes, winter was a long one
But You were with me all along
And spring is not far along
My spirit raises a new song
These are the SMALL things I’ve given up in 2018 so far…
A few months in – those resolutions have probably been forgotten already…
But ask yourself? How have you evolved this year so far? How have you grown thus far?
I was thinking today. These are three “small” things I let go of and have made a BIG impact in my life. That’s what I believe:
1) I sold my Xbox. Got rid of that serious addiction. I use to enjoy playing FIFA so often. Now that I don’t have that anymore I have so much more time for better things.
2) I gave up sugar in my coffee for Lent. Now that Lent is over, I still don’t have sugar in my coffee. Coffee tastes better now and I feel healthier anyway.
3) I dropped the word “just” from my speech.
I am not “just” a gap year coach. Or prior to that – I wasn’t “just” a youth pastor.
That word JUST can be so destructive.
So there you have it. Three small things I stopped. And they have brought about a big change in me.
Thankful.
What have you let go of this year, so far?
Bye Dear Blogging (For Lent)
To all the people who follow and read and comment on this blog. a BIG thank you to you.
For LENT, I have decided to give up blogging.
Why you may wonder?
I just prayed and thought about what to give up and this came to mind.
I won’t STOP writing. I like it too much.
But I will write without publishing it to my BLOG.
When I come back after Easter; I hope to OFFER some interesting piece of writing. to you, the reader.
So on the down low; I hope to present a decent creative piece after this lenten journey. (let’s hope those creative juices flow)
See you on the other side…
HAPPY EASTER! ….my time in ‘Exile’
HAPPY EASTER!
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5: 1)
So be free! be thankful, the cross has set us free. Jesus defeated death. Oh how differently life would look if we as His followers lived a resurrected faith!
(PS. all pictures in this blog are taken by my bro; he really is talented.)
The title of the blog inspired by a Third Eye Blind song:
“Oh we have grown
Maybe I’ve overstayed awhile
In my time in exile and
Oh time has flown
And the only thing I’ve learned
I want a life now of my own”
God has taught me things over this lenten journey.
It has been rather a tough time.
These 4 months of settling back in SA, have been interesting and even difficult at times…
so God and I have wrestled:
(You see, I fell in “love with the game”)
“Fell in love with the game
But I forgot your name
Go ahead please fight me
Cause I’m not scared
Though you stayed the same
I forgot from where I came
Go ahead please fight me
And we both stand tall on the table
You take me by the hand and I grab you by the throat
And we came crashing down through the window
On the dirt ground below
And we wrestle in the mud and the blood and the beer
Break my jaw I don’t care
Just stay with me, stay
Lock my arms I don’t want to move
Hold me still teach me how to weep
If it’s ok with you I think I’ll stay here
For a little while”
(Blindside – Fell in love with the Game)
I won’t bear my entire soul on this blog.
Yet this lenten journey has been good… it seems right at the eleventh hour God has taught me what He wanted to.
Yes I am still a stubborn student in His class – the school of life
Yes I still have my prodigal ways at times
Yes His mercy is drawing me one step closer
Yes His love is fierce. Breaking into my defenses
Yes I did cheat and not refrain from facebook entirely for 40 days.
Yet I did not blog or write my Sacred Spaces.
I guess the words “I wanted to throw out” I just brought to God.
on the lenten journey
in the desert
(the metaphorical desert relating to Jesus’ actual experience)
if i could sum up what God has said to be in his words (dare I speak on His behalf), this is what I felt God say to me:
“Darrel, I want to be your First love
I want you to love Me, the Blesser, not just the blessings I have given you.
I want you to be content with what you have now
I want you to be grateful for what you have seen and experienced already.
I want you to focus on Me more.
I have a calling for you
I have placed a passionate fire in you.
Will you let Me flame it abalzing again?
Seek me first
Stop living selfishly.
Focus focus focus.
Stop fighting me
Stop being pessimistic.
Live each day to the max.”
Something like that.
And thats what I needed to hear.
Some random photos of good memories over last few weeks (well, really just from my good friend’s 30th Birthday wkd):
I want to end off with a prayer our minister/rector/priest (whatever the terminology is) read to us at the start of Lent. Its really awesome:
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
(Attributed to Sir Francis Drake – 1577)
I hope you will be distrubed. A holy sort of disturbance by our good God.
PS. Its good to be blogging again!
I’m not religious HOWEVER i do love Jesus.
What do people see when they see me?
What do you see?
I read my friend’s blog: the other side of the coin
I agreed with what she wrote.
We did have a chat the other day and she just didn’t get “the whole lent” thing? She suggested that “she hates religious practices.”
I confess, I got defensive.
If someone takes part in LENT, does that make them religious?
I really hope not!
I am not a fan of religion and tradition. (Well tradition, when it stifles people)
My explanation of LENT is that its a good “practice” to help one focus in their faith journey.
And we all can do with some focus, right?
So when we “give up something” for LENT, the idea is that when the craving or desire for that “thing” (that we have given up for the 40 days of LENT) comes up, we ACTIVELY turn out focus to Jesus. and use those moments to worship and express our love to Him.
Now that’s something I can do. And want to try and do as much.
There has been a few influential books in my life, but this one by Brother Lawrence: The Practice of the Presence of God I keep coming back to.
It uses the word “Practice”
And like all athletes, sportsmen (women), academics… everyone needs to PRACTICE.
And LENT is one of those good practices.
NO, we don’t NEED to do it!
YET, would it help? For many, yes it does!
So as an academic writes practice papers, as footballers practice each day.
(By the way if you are an English Teacher, reading this now, I do always get confused with: practice or practise. never know when to use each one?)
I love Jesus.
And there are little quircky things I may do to keep my eyes on Him.
And how I often look elsewhere.
I would be the first to put my hand up, to say I am a sinner. I mess up. My sins trip me up often.
HOWEVER,
I would also be the first to put my hand up, to say that I am a sinner saved by grace.
I wanted to throw this picture into this blog.
A guy from my Youth took it during his trip to Botswana:
Seriously, when I see beauty like this it SCREAMS the existence of God. A beautiful designer, a beautiful creator… who breathed me out of the dirt of the earth.
I am unworthy… but as Louie Giglio once said it:
I am because I know “I AM”
I have hurt many people
I have run from Him often
I have tripped up
BUT I will stumble forward
I will learn and relearn grace constantly.
BECAUSE, I need Him.
I want Him. and I love Him.
Why I am preaching? (And if you are still reading)
These are two songs that have constantly gripped this heart of mine:
“As I recall with my stomach turning
I was hiding away from myself, away from you
Like nothing, though something was terribly wrong
And I admit that I was only waiting for the right time
Night time, the right moment for you to look away
Though you never did, I pretended for a while
So I could walk where I don’t belong” (Blindside – Pitiful)
Jesus, He never lets go.
And this song is more recent and its about think that “we are good.” Like those religious folks… those who live by religion… not grace and beauty and love.
THRICE – AT THE LAST
(I found it hard to select only a snippet of lyrics from this song)
“It’s a shame that some must go without,
But I was no fool to think it might be my problem.
Needy hands were reaching out;
I kept my spare change and my pride in a tight fist.
And now at the last, everything is changed in this pale light
That death has cast on all I’ve done – on all I’ve done.
I’m a good man on the whole;
Who could blame me for looking out for number one?
I never killed, I never stole;
A small indulgence now and then, so what of it?
I’m a good man.
I’m a good man.
Am I a good man?
I thought I was,
But the rewards of this life now count for naught.
My body: soon buried and left to rot.
The time’s gone, how quickly it all has passed.
My God, now I see how I’ve squandered each and every breath.
Now at the last, everything is changed in this pale light;
That death has cast on all I’ve done.
Now at the last, everything is changed in this pale light;
And looking back I am undone – I am undone.”
Thanks for reading!
Let Jesus in, I promise, He will turn your life around for the far better.
The view of life from His eyes and heart, is incredible!
Mark my Words (Ash Wednesday) – I wrote this 4 years ago
Mark My words (Ash Wednesday)
22 February 2007
“They” like placing marks on me
Marks that tend to remain…
If I do badly, they mark me with low marks
They mark me sinner
They say I’m unworthy
And I’m seeing that “they” have marks
of their own…
Marks that they know don’t what to do with
So they point out other’s marks
God, I’ve got many marks
Marks that make me feel unworthy…
Unwanted… unnoticed…
And this very night
The man in front places a different kind of mark on me
A mark to remember
The marks You carry
Those marks on Your wrists and ankles…
Marks that mark me forgiven
Marks that say that I am worthy
Oh God, I’m sorry I placed those marks on You…
And I hear You say back to me:
“Mark My words, child you are mine.”
Of Colours and Discovery 