A country without a president – South Africa

South Africa has been a country without a leader for some time now, but today we heard we’re without a president too.  Maybe it is inevitable that a man lose his leadership position when it has become evident he can no longer lead.  In terms of this country, my country, leadership has seriously been lacking for too long.

A leader leads by example.  A leader leads in directions beneficial to those he or she leads, and not in directions that seem popular on the day.  A leader leads where followers do not always want to, but he or she leads because it is the right way to go.  A leader sets aside personal choices, keeps away from corrupting paths, and leaves family, friends, and past favours behind to lead to the benefit of those who follow.  When a leader no longer leads, others will take up the lead, and when that happens, the followers split in various groupings, turn aside from the original path, and start to square off against other followers who go a different route.  This turns any leader’s original foundations into nothing more than quicksand.

Sadly for Thabo Mbeki, he became such a leader, and today he has nothing left other than a title that the ANC wants to strip him of.  Nothing he can really do about this, since so many others have taken his leadership from him months ago. 

In South Africa, the new clique who led this country recklessly these past 8 years, and who set themselves in secure and unchallengeable positions in their own eyes, are about to be replaced too.  Unbelievably the entire cabinet bar a few, have ‘announced’ their intentions today after the ANC’s announcement to recall Thabo Mbeki. ‘Their intentions???’  These are people who seem to forget that when the president who elects them leaves, they too must leave (regardless their intention or will) and re -apply for their positions if they wish to remain in office. The new president will then review all candidates for that position, and select his or her choice.  Our minister of finance is so sure of his position that he stated he will not leave, but stay on.  How can he make such a statement when he technically will be out of his job on the day Mr Mbeki is officially relieved of his duty as president?  These people are so self assured of their powerbases that they don’t really seem to care what our constitution says about the matter.

Anyway, so we are a leaderless nation hoping for a new president, though we will apparently have a temporary president by Tuesday, 23rd of September 08.  So here is my suggestion on this matter, that we all spend the next few months praying prior to the April 09 elections for a man or woman to stand up and be elected as president and lead!

Where is the church?

Leona Lewis Footprints In The Sand

Music Video Codes By Music Jesus.com

When the message is this loud and this clear, why do we still fail to respond?

I am reminded of the scripture and the specific verse in Matt 25:43 “Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

(The Message)

This video just broke my heart again.  Clips in it I have seen before, in other broadcasts, and yet forgot so quickly the heart rending images of children barely older than 3 helping younger ones to bed down in the street, comforting each other, helping each other up, the pictures of children in absolute despair, in absolute abandonment, as I reach for my new model Blackberry lying next to my previously new Blackberry, to call the pizza delivery guy for another cheese-laden meal to fill the gap created after the one I had 2 hours ago, all home delivered so that I do not have to tear my eyes away from my 42 inch flatscreen LCD just in case I miss the second re-run of my favorite show!

I hang my head in shame!  Is this compassion?  Is this a true reflection of 1 Cor 13 love?  I look at the Leona Lewis video, stick out my hand and pray over the kids I see there.  O, it may help, God’s word never returns empty, there’s power in prayer, and o, lest I forget it’s so much more comfortable doing it from my armchair.  Is this Christianity? Is it really right for me to throw my tithe into yet another church hungry for yet another steepled building with golden pews, rock band stage and a bible school to make Harvard look lame?  Is this really the time we live in when we feel that the few Christian champions out there actually working the streets, getting dirt under their nails, risking life and limb, only need our prayers and our money?  Is this really the time to stop when we see these creatures dying out there, to check and ask ‘is this God’s will for me to help?’ !

My heart cries out today for the pain and suffering we as Christians cause the world, when we do not step up, when we hide behind our champions who are, and point to them and ’support’ them instead with lovely words and even some cash!  I say all this, but my own heart is heavy with shame, because I have become what I hated the most, a Christian living Christian life through words alone, too comfortable to step out of my comfort zone, too self assured that where I am now is where ‘God’ wants me to be, too ’seriously’ involved in my local church standing in the audience each Sunday for a singalong and prayer! Too busy to be His hands and feet, too deaf in my own needs to see those of others, just too busy.

And I gasp at the fact that if God ever felt that way about me I would be dead in a second, if He had to stop caring about my little life, about my problems, about my situation, if His compassion only went as far as the small change in my pocket or the next hour or when His favorite TV show started I would be as nothing, as if I never existed.  Yet I do exist, I am alive, despite my utterly selfish life there is a Creator out there who cares for me so that my life matters to Him, my problems He made His problems, my illnesses and my hardships He took on Himself, my sins my rebellion against all that is good, that is Godly, He forgave and paid for my full pardon as if it all never existed, so that I may live! I have forgotten that too.

Between the stress of working, and running from creditor phone-calls, and finding some desperate excuse for being busy, I have forgotten His own example, His sacrifice, the price He paid for me, so that I would not have to be in a dusty old street, lying in a gutter, hungry and desperate for a human touch, for some compassion, for a life beyond the despair of abandonment.  He loves me as I am and He came down from heaven to show me that love, down into my street, breathing my dust, smelling my dirt, sharing my burdens, just to show me His love.  And this is it, this is where He is so different from us, because His love is SHOWN, its SHOWN despite of any cost, it is SHOWN LOVE that does so at all costs!

And now watching the video again, I realize that this is what is missing, there is no shown love, other than from little ones to little ones.  There are champions working out there, I know, we call them relief workers, charity workers, even missionaries like Pieter and Rika Boersma, but they are not the church collective, they are only individuals pressed on by their own compassion to try and stem this tide of misery and not winning.  So I realize that it is me who needs to step up, along with those in my pew, it is me who needs to move beyond my comfort zone and miss out on my daily Starbucks to feed someone else a breakfast or even a meal for the entire day for the value of my sacrificed skinny late.

I don’t really know how to begin, but perhaps it needs to be at the next traffic light when the kids come begging, perhaps at the next street corner where the children are sleeping on the grass, maybe by volunteering some of my time for the local shelter, I don’t know, but I don’t want to feel this way when next I watch a video like this. So I am confident of this that I will change today, and start making a difference as a common Christian amongst many, and I will not only rely on those few champions out there in the world trying their hands at stopping the tide, but I will step up and give a hand myself!  God willing this change will be permanent for once.

Wonderful blessing for us, and also for you to take to heart!

Psalm 112 was what God gave Abby, Joshie and I this week and even amidst black-listings and possible personal insolvency we hold onto this word as ours:

The Message bible reads – “Hallelujah! Blessed man, blessed woman, who fear God, who cherish and relish His commandments, their children robust on the earth, and the homes of the upright – how blessed! Their houses brim with wealth and a generosity that never runs dry. Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people – God’s grace and mercy and justice! The good person is generous and lends lavishly; no shuffling or stumbling around for this one, but a sterling and solid and lasting reputation. Unfazed by rumor and gossip, heart ready, trusting in God, spirit firm, unperturbed, ever blessed, relaxed among enemies, they lavish gifts on the poor – a generosity that goes on and on and on. An honoured life! A beautiful life! Someone wicked takes one look and rages, blusters away, but ends up speechless.  There’s nothing to the dreams of the wicked. Nothing.”

We pray this becomes your truth as well!

Pray for Abby, Joshie and I

Hi everyone, please pray for us as we face what personally must be my toughest time yet this week.  Some of you may know that the company we work for has a serious cash-flow problem, as many new start-ups have, and stopped paying us at a week before payday in May.  Since then we have been working hard trying to conclude crucial contracts that have been dragging for months, one for over a year, to try and get some much deserved funds into the company and have the two key staff members paid, but to no avail.  I put out my resume in the meantime to try and see if there are any positions I could qualify for that would allow me to work 8 hours a day full-time, whilst continuing to work on the start-up after-hours.

Of course the UK remains the main centre of focus for us since our main debts and costs are over there as a family, and not here in South Africa.  Sadly its the summer break for many executives and so there are very limited responses from employment agencies at the moment until end of August – urghhhh!  I also went to see several key companies in South Africa of course, and sent my resume out to SA agents as well, though paying our UK debts from here may still be a major problem thanks to the exchange controls.

All our UK possessions are stil being stored in the UK at our cost and we’re already in arrears there, risking losing all of it.  Our credit card payments and study loans are also all there, but without cash to travel to the UK, a place to stay and a job to go to, repaying any of those also become tough.  Our hope remains for a good position in Cape Town soon or a new offer from London for something solid, but at the moment, in the very short term we face some really serious problems.

So we ask for your prayers please that the Lord will supply us all our needs this week, money for rent and possibly an overdraft from Barclays Bank to cover us for our UK expenses, and a positive outcome for a job as soon as possible.  The Word of God says a man who does not provide for his family is worse than a dog, and I do not want to be in that position any longer.  Three months now and it has cost us everything, and all we can do is to look up, to the mountain, where our Help comes from!

No pavements in Durbanville!

Ok, so my topic is a little different to the usual, but this really erks me!  How can we design a city or town that allows no safe passage for walkers or pedestrians?  In Durbanville finding ONE pavement is hard to do, and when you DO find one, it terminates onto a road without more pavement within a block or two.  Worse to me is how the town or city councils seem to have plans for wheelchair users or pram-pushing parents on one pavement, that they then forget 10 meters further when the pavement terminates! So you either get a nice wheel access lower area when you arrive at the elusive Durbanville pavement or when you leave it, never both.

So here’s the issue in historic terms as it seems to me – was it because we frowned on walking in the past?  Maybe we thought only non-whites walked?  So we disregarded their needs as ’second-class’ citizens, and never planned pavements at all.  If you’re white you’ll drive around, not walk, so pavements are not required?  Well, if this was true of our past city/town planners it really has caught up with them now, and they should be lined up and shot, the lot of them. Not only because of their blatant discriminative attitude then, but also because they were obviously poorly qualified, and I do hope I offend the lot of them with this paragraph.  How can you plan a city or town without proper pedestrian access?

If history is to be forgiven and we not shoot these planners, we still have a problem that will only grow worse now.  Fuel prices are going to continue a steep climb with very small downward trends as oil gets scarcer and scarcer, and people, white, black, brown, yellow, whatever color, will be walking much much more!  I live in a new part of Durbanville, after living for most of my life in Kenridge, and I see LESS room for pedestrian needs now than I do in the old neighbourhoods!  And if men find this post ridiculous in topic, let me challenge you to take the children for a walk like your wife or housekeeper may be doing each day, or take the walk down to the kids school and see just how unsafe it is for pedestrians around our beloved town.

Enough is enough! Someone with pedestrian experience needs to be our next town planner so that we can see some changes, because we will soon have more walkers than drivers at the rate of oil price increases, and currently they will be forced to do most of their walking on open roads!  Here’s a thought, maybe we should pray that more women are promoted into these positions!  It could just help a change in the right direction.

A tribute to my friend, Paddy

Paddy Nash died on the 3rd of July, last Thursday, suddenly of a heart attack.  He went home, with no more need for the vehicle God gave him during life’s preschool period here on earth, as he had graduated to that wonderful higher life God has for all of us.  I miss him very much.

Do you ever watch a movie where the leader or champion or just the poor guy thrown into some challenge, battle or obstacle has someone step up to them and tap them on the back or place a hand on their shoulder or give them a look, and you see the resolve change in their faces and how that one action has given them heart to take on the impossible?

Well, other than my father, Paddy was like that to me, strange as it may seem to many who knew us.  Being a young church leader I often found quiet in the storm of emotion and huge uncertainty when stepping up to the stage to teach a word or preach on a Sunday morning, by looking over to where Paddy and Helen were standing or sitting.

I never experienced criticism from Paddy, or condemnation, or even an angry look.  I always found a smiling warm greeting every time we met, no matter how long I was away from South Africa, as on each return whether meeting him at a men’s meeting or running into him at a mall he would smile and greet me with such dignity and warmth that it seemed I had never left.

He could say more with less words than I could writing 10 volumes, and one pat on the back from him did more to my resolve and self image as a man and leader in church than all the embraces of others put together.  His silent presence often bore more value to me than the clamour of verbal opinions at a meeting, and I shall miss that.  Though a man of few words, he spoke volumes through his devotion to Helen, his love for his children, even through those teen years, and his precise and disciplined approach to everything.

Patrick Francis Nash, I salute you, my friend and silent mentor.  I will miss you, miss having a chance for a coffee with you, miss hearing your greetings and seeing than almost-smile of yours.  I will miss you, but I look forward to seeing you soon again.  I am excited even as I grieve as I know right now you are experiencing the most fantastic and glorious time, and though I know you may miss Helen’s food, I’m sure that Jesus has tried to make up for that with a great celebration in your honour!  Bare your crown well, my friend, you have run this race to the end!

A black car, directions and a gun..

On Sunday, Ellen and Luche went to visit friends down the road from home and on their return, were met by two gentlemen, well dressed, one of whom ended up at Ellen’s car window as she parked to ask for directions, whilst the other waited at their car, a black car, reversed in behind Ellen and Luche in their driveway.  Ellen, thinking as always to help, responded and the two talked for a moment about a place in their street he was trying to find.  Luche, at this time, had popped out of the car on her way to the house.

Suddenly Ellen was facing a gun and the demand to hand over her handbag.  What happened next?  She threw her bag as far as she could whilst screaming at the top of her voice.  Wow, that turned out to be the thing that scared the hell into the two thugs and they picked up the bag and bolted for their car.

The police arrived within minutes, but the thugs got away.  We ask everyone to pray that they be caught and made to own up to the result of their sin, as we all have to do.  For all sin there is a consequence and these two gentlemen, as violent as they may be, must own up too.  We also pray that no harm will come to anyone who cross their path in the future.

As for Ellen, I arrived 30 minutes later to a mother that was chirpy, full of bounce and relaying her experience to two police officers.  I stood amazed with Abby and Josh, that my mother would be this brave, recover this well, and face down two thugs on her own.  Knowing that a gun was involved and that a trigger could so easily be squeezed these days, I am very very grateful to a God who made His Presence felt that Sunday afternoon and spared Ellen her life and harm.

Woooottttt – Hillsong’s coming to town :)

So my wife and I have been waiting for this to happen from the moment we moved our home to Cape Town, South Africa.  We absolutely loved living in London for the wonderful time we had at Hillsong London and it was the one thing we most missed when we moved at the end of last year.  But then we heard a rumour, and during my return to London from time to time rumours became announcements and finally led to confirmations – Hillsong has come to South Africa, and is starting in Cape Town!  What a fantastic day for the de Lange family, our spiritual family has decided to follow us to paradise on earth   Ok, maybe not follow, but still the timing was so amazing, God clearly purposed it for us, and we are delighted!  Officially meetings begin in June, but we hope to pop into the pre-launch meetings and stuff so that we can be equipped with the usual flack jackets, hard hats and things one needs in service of the King

Watch this space closely for LOTS more on our spiritual family and their latest congregation right here in our new back yard!

EDIT: Well, sorry about this ‘gap’ not being filled Our family got left high and dry without income by our insolvent employer and we basically had no way of getting to the CTCC where Hillsong are now based in Cape Town.  Its a fantastic venue by the way, but really out of the way for us as it is smack bang in the city foreshore area whilst we are on the other side of the Tygerberg hills.  But we are trying to get there from time to time as fuel allows and we continue to look to God for an outcome.  For those who wish to attend, the church has a fantastic website at www.hillsong.co.za.  You’ll have a blast worshipping the Lord Jesus and being surrounded by caring family there

My life, a witness?

I have been struck by how few of us in the Christian family today realize that people are meant to be drawn to us.  It is the one part of a two part evangelical process that we seem to get unstuck with or that we are less familiar with in our daily lives.  The reason I mention this is because I have been convicted of how much my own character is projected to others in my life instead of Christ’s.  Sitting down and thinking this through has left me with a very sure sense that we tend not to spend enough time on ‘doing’ Christian life instead of ’speaking’ Christian life, and it leaves us even as Christians unfulfilled in our day to day activities, or at least it leaves me feeling that way.

It is not very long into the Gospels before the Bible reader discovers how Jesus drew people unto Him, long before they heard Him speak.  It has been interesting to me just how powerful a ministry His was as those drawn unto Him could actually SEE Christian life and therefore follow in His footsteps, compared to many people today who ‘heard’ the Gospel from someone or somewhere, and were saved through His grace, but then have to figure out what this Christian life is all about.  Many are left feeling totally condemned despite being called the Redeemed of the Lord, totally saved by His blood, mercy and grace, and despite Christ becoming their rightiousness.  Many are depressed and even suicidal, with news regularly coming to me of Christian leaders, pastors and teachers committing suicide and ending their lives, and of Christians who more often than not search for their identity within the greater Christian community, search for their ‘mission’ in life, their ‘calling’.

I have done this, spent 8 years of my life living in complete uncertainty about who I am in Christ.  I know the facts, I know the truths that make me His bride as we are all called as fellow believers, but I was lost on this earth, stumbling from day to day, and it has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions and sense overloads and battles with vices that has left me reeling in an ever widening sense of utter uselessness and even depression.  How can God use me? Me?

Before saying more, let me make this completely clear, we are called to PREACH the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God is very clear on this.  Matt 28:19 speaks of our calling, our mission to go out and make disciples of all nations!  S0 this post does not intend to minimise such a calling, but rather its my own attempt to understand why added to the preaching of the Gospel we too need to LIVE the Gospel to be truly affective in this world we live in.  It is my attempt to explain how God has been ministring to me, even in my deafness, even as I try like Jonah to run, or like Saul to hide.

Well, let me say that I am not perfect in living this rediscovered truth, but I intend to try, and so will share more as we go along and see what God is doing with us.  What I want to share with others here though is the importance of the steps to salvation and living the Christian life.  We must start with the dying before we can talk about the living!  What does this mean?  The Bible states that we must die so that Christ can live through us.  Why is this so important?  Our character needs to be infused by Christ’s character, and for this reason, I, Johan, needs to die the day I come to Christ, and henceforth need to remind myself every day that I am dead so that Christ may live through me.  THIS is the drawing card, this is what makes us magnets to those not yet saved.  Christ, through me, drawing others.  I die, my ambitions, my goals, my plans, my wishes, and I rely completely on Christ, on who He is to me, on what He wants for me, on where He leads me, each and every day.

My discoveries of who I am in Christ started with a reminder that He died to save me, that by His blood I was saved, cleansed, sanctified and redeemed, that by His sacrifice I am healthy, I lack nothing, and I am clean and forgiven before the Father, before God.  I look to this wonderess and free gift God has offered us all, and I realized many years ago that all I need to do is reach out and open my heart to Him. How? I asked him to forgive me for living a life ignorant of His existance, His work, His sacrifice, of leading a life that by its very ignorant nature meant I was rebelling against my very Creator.  So on acceptance of what He did on Calvary for me, I asked Him to forgive my past, my person, that which I had made myself to be.  I asked Him to take up residence in my life, to come and occupy that spot that was until then dominated by ME.

Cleansed, whole and feeling a sense of such victory I threw myself into the work of Christ in my local community, sought to serve Christ and my fellow Christians where ever I could.  For many years that evolved into building church cell groups and serving in the Christian community.  Despite my activities I remained lost as to what it was He had made me for, what it was that I now as a Christian needed to become, what it was He PLANNED for me, my mission, my calling.  To add to this confusion was the wonderful yet often frustrating prophecies over my life, words of wisdom, ministry encouragement from fellow believers, and so on.  I believe many people loved listening to me teach, and wanted me to go into ‘fulltime ministry’ at that time.  Whilst all this was happening in my life, I actually felt utterly empty of fulfillment.  Spending week after week with church politics and trying to put out fires started by Christians about Christians, and patching wounded people for the umpteenth time, simply exhausted me.  More so though was my sense of failure, of not getting to fulfill the mission, the plan God had called me to.  These two issues started ruling my life in as far as how I saw others, and I ran! I left everything and simply disappeared off the Christian map.  No one was to blame except myself, and in my years of depression and feeling sorry for myself, I did not see that.  Instead I started falling under a spell from the evil one that left me bereft of the joy and peace of God, open to depressive states and becoming a critic of any ministry I happened upon during my travels.

It took my eight years to finally realize that I am saved by Christ, that I am owned by Christ, and that I must LIVE for Christ.  Regardless of where I am or what I am doing, to understand that where ever I walk and work I must live Christ.  Slowly but surely Christ has managed to re-secure my sense of purpose within me, successfully removing the sense of failure within myself, and setting me in a direction that along with the readers of this blog, I hope would see many saved, not only because they ‘heard’ the Gospel, but because just maybe they see enough of Christ in me to be drawn to him through my life.

This is a LOOOOONNNGGGG post, but I wanted to start this off correctly, openly, sharing with you all from my heart, and maybe also to get it all lined up in my own mind whilst typing it out.  So let’s call this a day and see what tomorrow brings.

Wow, its been a while :)

Apologies to everyone for the silence on this blog since January, but I have been travelling like crazy and Abby and Joshie have been setting up home for us.

I hope to get this blog flowing again and invite you to check back regularly.  Its simply a reflection of my heart here as a Christian, as a husband, a father, a son and a bud to my friends.  All comments are my own and reflect only my personal views.

Happy New Year to you all!

What a year 2007 turned out to be – I a son and father richer!  It certainly left me with the motivation to keep thanking the Father for His blessings despite any hardships.  Having Joshie born on the 14th of Oct was the greatest gift to me and my wife this year, only to be equalled by the Lord restoring our dad to us as a family in Dec.  Two marvelous blessings that surpass all else for me this year.

Now if 2007 ended in such a wonderful way I cannot wait to see what 2008 holds for us all!  Happy New Year everyone! May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you all with the wonders of His plan for your lives this new year!

A blessed Christmas to everyone!

Although historically possibly not the actual day, THIS day – 25th Dec – is the day we celebrate our Christ, our Saviour, the One who paid for us with His blood, the One to whom we belong completely, the One for whom we died completely so that He may live through us completely!  This day is our day of celebration, to commemorate not only because of this Final Word from God being spoken in such a wonderful way, but for all the promise that this Saviour’s birth holds for mankind and for me personally!  Celebrate with us LOUDLY the birth of Jesus Christ, and the new beginnings that He brought with Him to earth, the new promise, the new covenant!  Be blessed, you and your whole house!

Ellen is home!

Hi everyone, Ellen came home this morning after spending the night under observation and treatment at Durbanville Mediclinic.  Praise the Lord for her recovery and her restoration after being so badly dehydrated from a bacterial infection.  Welcome home, mom!

Pledges – Update 18th Dec 07

Hi everyone, well we’ve been static since the 10th with the fund for Gerrit’s heart attack treatment and subsequent operation.  Please pray with us that God will continue to bless them with additional finance to cover all the costs still outstanding.

Ellen into hospital this morning…

Ok, so now we have come to understand that Gerrit & Ellen are in tune with the Lord because the saying goes when you’re right with God so much goes wrong at times. And it has been such a period for the de Lange family. Someone clearly hates the way they are ministering at the moment as he has attacked and attacked, but to God’s honor and by His grace they will prevail!

At 515am this morning we rushed Ellen to Durbanville Mediclinic where she is currently in ward E19 and recovering from a bacterial infection that led to severe dehydration. She is in an open ward so please feel free to visit her there as she is much stronger with the drip they put on her and is already chatting up a storm!