Dirt

dirt  (dûrt) n. 1. Earth or soil. 2. a. A filthy or soiling substance, such as mud or dust. b. Excrement. 3. A squalid or filthy condition. 4. One that is mean, contemptible, or vile. 5. a. Obscene language or subject matter. b. Malicious or scandalous gossip. c. Information that embarrasses or accuses. 6. Unethical behavior or practice; corruption. 7. Material, such as gravel or slag, from which metal is extracted in mining. [Middle English, variant of drit, excrement, filth, mud, from Old Norse.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

As I drove to work this morning I noticed something that puzzled me. To give you a bit of background, I had 2 passengers ie a neighbours kid I sometimes drop off (as his school is on my way to work) and one of my friends, living with us at the moment. My brother in-law who lives with us had done a superb job with cleaning the enterior of the car, infact I liked what I saw and immediately became protective. My younger passenger, like most young school boys, didn't bother much about the cleanliness of his footwear and this got me thinking he was going to spoil my temporal internal 'bling'. I brushed the idea aside as I focused on the road ahead. 10 minutes later I dropped up my friend and was about to drive off when I noticed a 'noticeable' amount of shoe dirt, where her legs rested...( I am not usually this paranoid about dirt...it's just that the shine in the interior had the better of me)! Arggggggggggh, I moaned internally. Now, I thought, I had to deal with to dirty carpets, rather than just one.  My younger smilly customer soon reachedh his destination and skipped off. As I was about to drive off though, I noticed his area (inspite of his conspiciously dirty shoes), still possessed it's bling. I looked hard to see if I'd find any dirt, but there was none. No shoe dirt, no dust, no mud...wooh! OK That was weird I thought, then some thoughts dawned on me:

1. God, our maker, made us in His image and likeness. Sin (like dirt), distorts this image and separates us from God. Somehow, the cleanliness of the interior of a vehicle made my spirit light and put a song in my heart. When it got dirty (by a few specks of dust), I could feel a cloud settling over me. I begin to understand why God hates sin.

What is required of you, when you know Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,? Knowing that, Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Get rid of the dirt confess your sin today and receive Jesus in your life. The next step? Rom 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

2. When we judge (and we should do so sparingly), we ought to judge righteously and not per appearance. I, in no way suspected my friend  would be the one to 'spoil' my pleasure of having a clean ride and rather condemned my younger passenger before the fact. How many times have we fallen in the trap of judging others based on appearance rather than on true facts? Whatever measure we apply or grace we provide in our judgement of others...the same awaits us. That is divine Judgement.

A pleasant week as you meditate on these things.

Repetition

In one of the rare moments during which I chat about 'other issues' with my boss, we looked at why some people were more efficient than others. He's had the added advantage of having been in the military and therefore stands the chance of making a balanced judgement. As we disected the subject, it came down to one thing repetition. Repetition is key to learning anything. This probably explains why I have failed so far in my pursuit of learning how to play any musical instrument. I have had my hands on the electronic keyboard, acoustic guitar, flute, drums...and even fruity loops!

Practice makes perfect. Having the knowledge is good, but that's just the base. Put it into practice, once, twice, trice etc and you'll surely 'own' it, if you hang in there long enough. Yes, some people are born naturally skilled to do certain things, but the greater number of us are not genuis! That said, the practice of our faith and spiritual discipline is the natural spring board for spiritual growth. When a Christian chooses to fast, study the bible and pray regularly, the benefits are priceless.

First, you come to know and understand God, His will and promises better. It also opens you to a new world, wherein impossibility is but a word and the miraculous is to be expected.

Next, it shows you (like a mirror), who you really are. The book of James talks about the mirror effect of the Word of God. The best thing we can do for ourselves is see ourselves as we trully are. Unless you get to that point, you really won't be able to make any progress, as your base is false/faulty. Run yourself, through a biblical reality check.

The most important of results however is that it tells us of man's fall, his depravity and God's gift of eternal life to all those who choose to lay aside their pride, ignorance etc and accept to follow Jesus.

The bible is loaded with stories Jesus told about the kingdom of God. His repetition was surely in a bid to sow the absolute truth of the Kingdom in the hearts and souls of His audience. Do you know Him?

Is He your lord?

Inno

Reflection

One of those days when you just glide though, with many questions and in-wards reflection. There's so much to be known, so much to be read, so much to be learned, but it seems like the forces of distraction are getting their best...I reject..I stand strong...God give me strength.

When you struggle though periods of uncertainty, when you need your quiet time, be absolutely sure to take a break and look in but up also. THe Joy of the Lord is my strength...it will be Your strength, if only you can trust Him with your uncertainty.

Enough of me. One thing I'm thankful for is God's love and provision. check out the attached picture...
That's how I spent the later part of last Friday...eating good, grilled chicken. Enjoy!

How do i hear from God?

How do I hear from the Lord?

In the first few chapters of the book of Mathew, we see Mary receiving a visitation from an Angel, and later, Joseph. The two received reports and instructions that directly played out in their future. Imagine for a moment that they didn’t receive such information, yet still had to be players in the events concerning them? This is what would’ve probably happened;

• Mary would’ve been completely confused at finding herself pregnant without having ‘known’ a man.
• Joseph would’ve divorced and exposed Mary to the leaders, leading most probably to a sure death.
• Joseph won’t have escaped with the baby jesus to Egypt when the right time came.
• The couple won’t have known this was a special baby, with a particular name, born for a specific reason.

In short, without this visitation, they’d have probably missed out on their destiny.
God still speaks, are you listening?
How do I hear from the Lord? Is there anything special I should be doing, in order to hear from God?
Take a closer look at the stories in Mathew 1 through 4 and you’ll discover that both Mary and Joseph didn’t seem to have been doing anything special when they received a visitation or got connected to Heaven’s frequency. The Holy spirit knows the mind of God and is willing to communicate it. We know this because Jesus said, He was going to send another comforter. The issue has never been with God but man.
As we mediated on the above questions above, it suddenlly dawned on me that the only thing they seemed to have been doing was being expectant! The word in itself reminds me of my 2012 word- deliberate.
Mary was bethrothed to marry Joseph, could she have been looking up to God in preparation for her wedding?
To be continued…

Deliberate

Deliberate

That is my word for 2012.
Lord, make me deliberate in my actions.
I will not wait for chance, I’ll act on my word and as God gives me grace, procrastination is a thing of the past.
What is your word for 2012?

Twin @ la Delor

My brother and friend Mike's has been blessed with a twin (boy  & girl), today at 18h50.
God is so good.

Congrats

The game of life!

Aloha precious friends!

 

Long time -

 

I was just thinking about Eto'o and his move to the football club with a might difficult name...

The thirty year old has accomplished things in his career that many in his line of duty can only dream about. He makes the average Cameroonian proud, eventhough we still find it difficult to come to terms with his performance during the last World Cup which was taking place for the first time ever, in Africa. How could a group of star players be knocked out of the first phase of the competition with almost zero points? A new record (in the negative) was set for Cameroon and African soccer.

 

Eto'o trully, is blessed with an extra ordinary gift with the round ball,  but as we have seen, even he is not spared from the age old responsibilty of team work! The truth is he is who he is and achieved all he has only because of his team mates. I am still to find a one man team!

 

In the game of life also, teamwork is essential. True success, which englobes the whole man (body, spirit and soul) with

his/her whole reality ( present circumstance, spiritual experience, health of the body and mind) and security (present and

future - temporal and eternal) is dependent on team work.

 

Google the word success and you'd be surprised (if not disappointed!) to see the direction the world wants to give to the word success ie success = money= achievements! That is worse than shallow as you probably already know. Success is not about your possessions, status or qualifications. Most of us however, act as if succeeding had everything to do with us and no one else. Your one man team ego will only land you in a place worse than loosing a few matches in a world cup.

 

In John 15, Jesus said, "..."I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.." Jesus alone boldly proclaims the need for man to abide/stay with him if they must succeed.

 

 A good coach (shepherd) is one who understands his teams (strengths and weaknesses) and knows how to direct his team to success. Jesus happens to have a vantage position from which He sees all that's going on, knows what's the best game plan and understands our strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. Unlike our earthly coaches, who only give advise from a distance however, He not only has first hand experience (having walked in flesh), but He also promised to equip (..as many as received Him, He gave them power...John 1:12) and dwell in them! The best of this is, He alone promises hope even after life as we know it. We can belief Him because He died yet he rose. Many have spoken about themselves in a bid to draw men to themselves and their ideologies, but we know the location of their graves which also still holds their bones.Jesus alone presents us with an empty grave, a testimony to His authenticity.

 

In the game of life, the winning team is you plus Jesus.

 

Peace

Inno