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by Luke KincaidThis past weekend Cammie and I had a great time attending her brother’s wedding. While on the way to Pretoria I was reminded once again of why I am not a fan of driving on the highway. About half way there I had lost count of the bad/reckless drivers as there was just so many! While thinking about this I made a connection between people who feel the need to drive too fast and the general desire of doing whatever it takes to get ahead in this life. While there is nothing wrong with having ambition and committing energy to achieving our goals, we as disciples of Jesus can do nothing to earn any more status in God’s Kingdom. What this means is that regardless of where we find ourselves right now in this moment, we mean something in the Kingdom! Every disciple matters and we all have a role to play! One of my favorite roles we play in the Kingdom is that of an ambassador:18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. – 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 We have the incredible privilege of representing the kingdom of God to the world around us and introducing people to the reconciliation which is available in Jesus. As an ambassador for Christ you can play a unique role in someone being welcomed into the Kingdom through their faith in Jesus.  This can possibly help them get out of trying whatever it takes to get ahead in this life and instead receive a place in God’s Kingdom that can’t be earned through any human effort. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit leads us to those who he wants to speak though us to and possibly welcome some new brothers and sisters into the Kingdom! Much love,Luke

by Calven Celliers It was apparently a preacher who invented blinders for horses, or so I’ve read. The story goes that one day this preacher was leading his horse down some unfamiliar stairs when the horse suddenly stopped, and no matter what the poor ol’ preacher did he couldn’t get his trusty steed to budge. When the preacher realised that it was because of what his horse saw, he covered part of his horse’s vision, and hey presto, problem solved! The blinders helped the horse to keep on moving in the midst of uncertainty. Horses are known to be distracted by activity in their peripheral vision, and so that’s why they wear blinders to keep their eyes focused on what is straight ahead of them. Without them, it is very difficult to keep a horse from being side-tracked by what is happening to the right or left. And while I’m no Italian stallion, I’ve found the same is true for me. In the book of Joshua, after the death of Moses, we read God’s words encouraging Joshua, as he is installed as the leader of the Israelites, to wear spiritual blinders to help him maintain the focus he needed: “7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” (Joshua 1: 7NIV)   Only by keeping his eyes fixed on God would Joshua be able to minimize the obstacles and distractions that threatened his success. If he let the obstacles around him into his focus, they would grow in their capacity to lure him off God’s path, and the exact same is true for each and every one of us. Though not many people I know are called to conquer a land, we are all called to conquer our fears, bad habits, and the sin that so easily entangles. And to do that we will need spiritual blinders to help us. I like the way one author put it when he wrote – “One way of putting on spiritual blinders is to think of adjusting a camera lens. When your lens is set at a wide angle, you capture many things in your photograph. When you zoom in, everything but the object you are focused on disappears from view. This is the focus you need to move forward in your trust.” As I read that I immediately thought of Peter when he walked on the water toward Jesus; when he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to take a few miraculous steps. In his gospel account, Matthew records, however, that “30 …when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”” (Matthew 14:30NIV) Peter learned the self-same lesson that Joshua learnt: Keep your focus on Jesus, despite what’s happening around you. But let’s get real, there is so much noise! With all the stuff going on in the world, plus…

by Graham Mol By the time you read this, my family and I will be enjoying the last day of our short camping trip. Right now, I'm really looking forward to the time spent outdoors drinking in the  amazing beauty of God's creation. One of the things that I love to do when we get away from the bright lights of the city is to sit back and stare up at the stars. This is something that has always made me feel close to God. Looking up at those glittering dots in the dark sky I think about the fact that the light I am seeing has travelled millions and billions of kilometers through space. I am awed by the sense of just how big the universe is, far greater than I can comprehend, and yet God has placed each star in the universe, He knows them each by name and holds them all in His hand.  25 “To whom will you compare me?     Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:     Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one     and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength,     not one of them is missing.                                                   (Isaiah 40:25-26) Looking up at the night sky is like catching a glimpse of God's infinite glory. There is no one like our God, and it is good to be reminded of this fact. Paradoxically, looking up at the stars and feeling infinitesimally small actually makes me feel closer to my Heavenly Father. Knowing that He holds not only the whole universe, but me too, in His hand is comforting. I know that I can trust Him with all that I am because He is mighty and good. His is bigger than any obstacle or struggle that I face. In His hands I am safe, I am secure and I know that I am loved. God Bless Graham