African Spirit

Last week I had the honour and privilege to go and see the Soweto Gospel Choir perform live at the Robert Blackwood Concert Hall at Monash University, Clayton Campus here in Melbourne.

A week later and all I can say is “WOW!” The name of this tour and album are a true reflection of what you will experience, the African Spirit… Sitting in that concert hall, I forgot where I was. For a few hours, I felt like I was back at home! Back in Zimbabwe. I had almost forgotten what the African Spirit felt like. I connected with God in a unique way as the music, dance and culture saturated my soul and spirit.

The music was divine and I found myself singing along to songs that I knew and loved as well as being touched by the new songs! The sound was angelic and even if you didn’t understand what they were saying, the message definitely came across through the spirit in the music. It was authentically African with no apologies, drawing tears from my eyes as I realised how much I love and miss Africa. The African flavour cannot be duplicated or matched, the life that is in it is just incomparable.

What is the African Spirit? For fear of doing it injustice I will just briefly give a few of my insights. I believe the African Spirit is rejoicing even when circumstance does not give reason to rejoice, it is finding beauty in spite of surrounding ugliness, it is unity and a hope for peace and love. I believe the African Spirit is passionate, intricate and strong and has an unsearchable depth to it! I would even go as far as to, cautiously, say that the African Spirit is a unique impartation or manifestation of the Holy Spirit of God!

The Soweto Gospel Choir made me proud to be African. They made me embrace my heritage and see hope for the continent that has been written off my most of the world! I have not written off Africa! I have a dream to see it unified through the Holy Spirit. I pray God will include me in the spiritual revival that will take place in Africa. The songs of the Soweto Gospel Choir are prophetic and speak to this generation and the ones to come!

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Isn’t it funny how uncertain life is, often you look back and you wonder how you ever got to where you are. The funny thing is that most of the time we never see things coming. At the beginning of this year, while everyone around me was making New Year’s resolutions I sat back thinking how is life going to surprise me this year. My gosh, this year (so far) has been nothing as I expected it to be and i'm sure there are plenty of surprises on the way.

When I look back at last year, it was a year that was riddled with many happy and sad moments that took me by surprise. We have to realise that things in life are always changing, friends come and go, happy and hard times come and go, things that initially bring you joy become a source of pain and situations that once comforted you make you writhe with unease.

Therefore, as I look into the future I wonder what tomorrow brings. Part of it scares me as disappointment is always around the corner, and guess what? You'll never see it coming! One thing realised is that breakthrough is right around the corner too. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that even though things are always changing, God will always be the same. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Knowing that God is always for me and that His love is unconditional and never changing. Knowing that Jesus has a plan for my life that includes all the hiccups, highs and lows keeps me on top and optimistic.

So, as change comes, all I can say is “Bring it on!”

Obedience or Mere Excellence?

I've been reading "Everyman's Battle" by Arterburn & Stoeker, which is a great book that focuses on the battle that men go through to acheive and maintain sexual purity. I came across a passage that I found really profound. While this passage focuses on sexual purity, the principal can be applied in all areas of our Christian walk! Have a read:

Why do we find it so easy to mix our standards of sexual sin and so difficult to firmly commit to true purity?
Because we're used to it. We easily tolerate mixed standards of sexual purity because we tolerate mixed standards in most other areas of life.

Excellence or Obedience?

Question: What's your aim in life - excellence or obedience?
What's the difference? To aim for obedience is to aim for perfection, not for "excellence", which is actually something less.
"Wait a minute!" you reply. "I thought excellence and perfection were the same thing."
Sometimes they appear to be. But mere excellence allows room for a mixture. In most arenas, excellence is not a fixed standard at all. It's a mixed standard.
Let us show you what we mean. American businesses are in search of excellence. They could be in search of perfection - of course - perfect products, perfect service - but perfection is too costly and eats into profits. Rather than be perfect, businesses know it's enough to seem perfect to their customers. By stopping short of perfection, they find a profitable balance between quality and costs.
To find this balance, they often look to their peers to discover the "best practices" of their industry: How far can we go and still seem perfect? By how far can we stop short? Businesses find it profitable to stop short at the middle ground of excellence because perfection costs too much.
But is it profitable for Christians to stop short at the middle ground of excellence where costs are low, balanced somewhere between paganism and obedience? Not at all! While in business it's profitable to seem perfect, in the spritual realm it's merely comfortable to seem perfect. It is never profitable.
Clearly, excellence isn't the same as obedience or perfection. The search for excellence leaves us overwhelmingly vulnerable to snare after snare since it allows room for mixture. The search for obedience or perfection does not.
Excellence is a mixed standard, while obedience is a fixed standard. We want to shoot for the fixed standard.

Don't Fade, Faders!!!

As most of you who know me would know about the word that is loved by a few and hated by many.... Fade! I feel that this word is greatly misunderstood and it is my responsibility to take you back to school on this topic.

Fading is the verb, the noun is fader, and the adjective is fade. For example, "You are such a fader; your fading was done in true fade style".

Now, many people have different definitions of the word fade and I guess that is where the problem comes for those who are not well versed in the colloquial terms of the ebonic demographic.... So I'll help by giving you a general but not a totally exclusive definition of a fade. You have a fade when you have an expectation of a commitment and when that commitment is not fulfilled! The ambiguity arises in the definition of specific commitments as this is a very subjective parameter, as what maybe a commitment to one may not be a commitment to the next person but that person can is still qualified to be a fader. Fading is only judged by the person that used the word. For instance if someone calls you a fader because you have not fulfilled a commitment then you are a fader, whether or not you recognise that commitment or not!

While this may be a difficult concept for many to grasp once you get it you will hold on to it and use it any opportunity you have (LOL)... what is the moral of this random story? Just get with it and learn. People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer. All you haters out there, unfortunately this term is not going to fade. And since you can't beat us join us! (LOL!!!!)

Tales of a Blessed Man

Long time no see.... It has been a while since I've visited the land of blog!!! What can I say? Lots had been happening in my life since I last posted.... I had my computer die and come back from the grave all by itself, ran a 10 km race, went camping in the height of winter hiking 20 km through semi-raw wilderness, went ice skating for the first time, went salsa dancing, watched my first opera, saw a Motown show, had a return of a long lost friend, said goodbye to a few, struggled through a few things, laughed hard, had truck loads of revelations and found something really beautiful....

While I'd like to tell all those stories right now I think I'll savour them and slowly, relive some of these experiences again via my blog. All I can say is that I am truly alive and well! Enjoying life! Emersing myself in the blessing of living, of painting the portrait of my life and living it the way I want to remember it, continually on the search for something new! Seeing beauty in the mundane as well as the majestic.

The tales of a blessed man, coming soon....