A long time coming....

So, I have been without Internet for a while which will explain the lack of new content on my blog. However, it has allowed me time to experience many wonderful adventures and journeys, so now I actually have something legit to write about other than the obvious "thought of the week" escape route. Haha. Enjoy.

God has been doing great and amazing things in my life these past two months, so I felt the need to share.

I'm pretty sure most people, from all faiths, religions or walks of life, reach a point where they just feel....bleh.
It feels as if you are just going through the motions of a day-to-day life without much direction or purpose. I might be totally alone here, but I have a feeling that many can relate.
This entire year I have had absolutely no idea what purpose my life held in the greater scheme of the world and basically I felt pretty useless.
I have always felt a very strong call to the poor and have always felt like I needed to be doing something, anything, to help the situation of poverty our country finds itself in. The problem was that firstly, I was just ridiculously lazy, and secondly, I didn't feel that I had the ability to do anything. I mean, I'm just one person and there are a gazillion (that may not even be an exaggeration) mouths to feed and bodies to clothe. In my mind, I just couldn't understand why God would want to use me of all people. I'm nobody special, I mess up all the time and I can be pretty selfish and greedy and even spoilt when I want to b.

But here is what went down.

I spent a week during Matric Rage working 10pm-2am and 2am-4am shifts with a team of other people, just being a positive and sober presence during rage and ensuring that the matrics felt safe in a very hectic, alcohol-filled environment. By Day Two I was so ridiculously tired and just emotionally and physically broken that I didn't know how I was going to cope for the rest of the week.
Then I heard a life-changing analogy.

It came from Matt 14:13-21 and was a story about how Jesus used the lunch of a little boy to feed 5000 people. He started off with five loaves of bread and two fish. He then broke the bread and used these five loaves to feed all these people.

 This story basically depicts my time during Matric Rage. Our team was like those loaves of bread, small and seemingly insignificant - but Jesus found us in our brokenness and tiredness and used us to "feed" or help all those matrics, and boy, did He show up. It was said to be one of the calmest Matric Rages they have ever had.

Anyway the point is that, during that week, God really showed me that no matter how insignificant I think I am and no matter how much I have messed up in my life, I still have the ability to love people beyond my capabilities. I realised that I had forgotten how powerful it was to merely show someone love and kindness. We don't have to be perfect people, in fact, we probably never will be, but we have been given this beautiful gift of love - a powerful love that comes from a God who loves us without condition or expectation... so why not use it to make a difference in the world.

I think it was Mother Theresa who once said,

" Following Jesus is simple, but never easy. Love until it hurts, then love more"

Sheesh, what a quote hey.

Sometimes, actually oftentimes, it does hurt to love the old lady who has fallen asleep on the pavement in the rain, or the man digging in the rubbish bin for any sign of food, or the group of friends sitting on the curb, drinking alcohol all day to forget about the pain of poverty. It hurts because I wish there was more I could do and it hurts because I know that there are so many more like them, but you would be surprised the impact that showing someone a little love can have. It is because I love that I give them money for the shelter, it is because I love that I make them food parcels, it is because I love that I talk to them and pray with them and build relationships with them.

It is because I am loved by a God like no other that I can love. It is because of that love that I finally feel like I have purpose. It is because of that love that I'm finally doing something about it.

Winter Warmth on the Streets

In the past month I have come to truly appreciate the value of money after quitting my job as a waitress and having to battle out the months expenses without a constant income. There's only one word for it - humbling. I have been avoiding clothing shops like the plague because I know I don't have the money to splurge on unnecessary luxuries like warm winter jerseys.

However, amidst the " financial crisis" of my life, my eyes were really opened to the fact that, although I may not be the richest kid on the block, I am extremely blessed to have warm clothes, warm food and a heater in my house this winter. I say this because I recently heard an excerpt on the radio about giving old jerseys and warm clothes to people we see on the street who have nothing to keep warm. This really got me thinking about how many people I drive past every day, sometimes at 10pm at night, who are wearing mere scraps as clothing, are usually barefoot, and are sometimes even walking in icy winds and rain just so they can get some money from passing drivers. It breaks my heart to even think that I could drive past those people with the heater in my car on full blast and a hoodie to keep my body warm, and yet still complain that I don't have enough money to buy myself more jerseys.

After I heard that piece on the radio, I went home straight away, put about seven of my old and new jerseys and hoodies onto the passenger seat of my car, and handed them out to anyone I saw that looked cold or in need of something other than a piece of sackcloth to wear. I wish I could warm up every person on the street.

People often say to me " what's the point of giving them clothes or food when they don't even appreciate it. All they really want is money for glue and alcohol ".

Well this is what I say in response to that.
Did anyone ever stop a street kid and ask him why he sniffs glue? I bet you his answer won't be that it tastes better than a home cooked meal. No, his answer will probably go something like this :
" Glue makes me warm inside so that I cannot feel the cold. It also takes away the feelings of hunger, and makes me forget about the pain and the sadness of my life on the street because it puts me on a euphoric high ".

What I believe is that if those street kids were being provided with love, food, clothing and warmth, the need for glue would disappear and it would be easier to stop the addiction.  An amazing quote I once heard ( can't remember who it was by) was : When people are on the street holding up signs asking for change, maybe they are not referring to money".

What have we got to lose by gathering some jerseys, blankets, warm pyjamas, or cans of food that we have lying around most probably in excess, and distributing them to the people we drive past on a daily basis. You'll be amazed at how such a small, random act of kindness can affect a person's life in the long run. If you have spare time on your hands, go a step further - get a group of friends together, cook a big pot of stew, take it to a place where you know there are people in need, and sit down and have a meal with them. We are all humans trying to find our way in an infinite universe and at the end of the day, regardless of what Maslows Hierarchy of Needs says, our greatest need is to be loved. So go and love all those people who so desperately need it.

I don't have a job, I live in a small house, I don't have my own car and I can't afford expensive clothes...but to that lady on the street with a baby, I am a millionaire - and "millionaires" need to be parting with their riches so that the poor can survive.

I know I wrote a post recently on a similar topic, but that's because it's something I am immensely passionate about, so I will keep talking and writing about it until I can no longer and I hope that you don't just read this and "like" it, but rather read it and then go straight to your cupboards and grab those jerseys and blankets.

What if God was one of us...?

When it comes to loving the poor, I feel that I, along with many other Christians still have not got it right, Actually we suck. Raise your hand if you feel good when you give some spare change to the boy who comes up to your car window at the intersection. I know I do. This is because I have learned to become satisfied with those "saintly" actions, they have become enough for me, and they have become enough for my faith.

Lately I have been feeling so drawn to the poor after reading a book called The Irresistible Revolution written by hippy-missionary-radical author Shane Claiborne. In his book he mentions the poor a lot, and quotes plenty of famous people on this topic. One particular quote was by this very wise,lovely lady named Mother Theresa - you may have heard of her. Her words really struck a nerve in me and since reading them I have been disgusted at myself for thinking that handing out R2 at the traffic lights was good enough.

" In the poor we find Jesus in his most distressing disguises"

Imagine what would happen if we started to see every poor person as being Jesus in dress up. I know for a fact that I would definitely give him more than a measly R2 coin. In fact, according to the Bible, in order to feel complete I should sell all my possessions and give the money to the poor (Matthew 19:21). Hectic.
Lets just say I have started opening my eyes more to what it really means to be a follower of Christ and to love Jesus. I think that we need to all get out of our middle to upper class comfort zones and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into loving and serving the people in society that we feel superior to, that we maybe feel a little afraid of, and that we possibly would rather just pretend are not there.

How many of us would open up our home to a child that is sitting alone on a street corner with just a rubbish bag for warmth. How many of us would take ten minutes of our time to speak to the man with one leg who is 'looking for food, a job, clothes, anything ' and find out about his life and offer him what we can, even if its just some love and Jesus. The generation that I am a part of has so much to offer if only we would open our eyes and look past our blackberry's and expensive clothes and safe lives. Now I'm not saying having that stuff is a bad thing, because its actually a blessing, but what IS bad is when that kind of stuff blocks our vision to the reality of the world - a world filled with sick,dying,heartbroken who desperately need to be loved.

I think the best way to encourage you in this would be through this scripture in Matthew 25:31-46. The whole passage is amazing, but a key line for me is this one ( Jesus is speaking) " whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me  '

So, what if God was one of us....the Joan Osborne song says "just a stranger on a bus", but I say what if God was just a young orphaned girl, or a cripple who lives in a shelter, or a young boy whose life of poverty is turning him to drugs and petty crimes. What would our actions towards those people be?

Lets be the generation that makes a difference, the generation that makes the world open their eyes to what Jesus was really all about, the generation who loves the poor.

 {Images from We Heart it}