Out of the fire

I'm leading a team this year!  In less than four years God has come and radically changed my life for the better. I believe that each and every single one of us are led to lead. In other words Christ leads us to lead others to him. What a privilege it is to be able to lead a team of intrepid missionaries this year! Our smaller team has been dubbed Hidden Places, this year there's also one team called Distant Nations and another called Work Your Way. Our team will go to more than 15 countries from South America to...

First of, hello from this, my new blog with which I'll be sharing some of my experiences of the journey that I'm partaking in this year. This first entry is a short synopsis of what has precluded this journey and also what has happened thus far. After having to say goodbye to a significant other in my life I also tried to say goodbye to the world... Fortunately God had other plans for me and decided I should stay a little while longer. This is when I had reached the lowest point of time in my life and I finally embraced...

It's truly happening. So many things, people and circumstances have conspired together to have me not on this journey. To name but a few obstacles; a lack of finances, an old flame and most notably my dark past. I was lack lustre to believe that this journey would come to be a reality for me. I initially withheld from engaging with my teammates fully. Why build friendships and relationships if it won't bear fruits? Why build up any plans or expectations if chances are they would just come to naught?  Why risk getting hurt if you have nothing to gain?...

There are known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. It's easy to predict what's in store for us as a team this year. I know we're all persuing Christ even as He's persuing each one of us. I nor the team know what to expect from the countries we'll be going but we do know to what countries we'll be going. Lastly and for the most part we don't know what to expect, we don't know the relationships we'll make nor the people we'll meet, we don't know about the lives Christ will touch through us. God is good and...

At the end of our stay in a country we are given questions to answer. These questions usually go along the lines of what did you think, how did you feel, etc. The purpose is for true reflection to take place and so that everything isn't internalised. This is called debriefing and I admit that it's really empowering. In Benin, a small West African country, we've each been given the task of writing a blog. It's a good thing since I'm also overdue on writing a blog anyway. But, and here's the reason for this explanation, this isn't just any...

One journey ended and another started. Guess that's the cycle. The new global challenge students arrived last week, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Thrown into the thick of it they'll be returning from their first camp with a new perception and some humility. Their lives already changed in unforseen and wonderful ways. God in the midst of it all. I also started this year in the thick of it. The 7th of January I started working at Global Leadership Academy, or GLA for short, it's a one of a kind school that started as an off shoot from Global Challenge...

A beginning and an end. The obvious is that this was our first country and that this was the beginning of our journey. From the onset of our journey God has come and shown me the joy in serving other's, specifically those that serve Him where others dare not stay. The end is less obvious and, more... An end to self deception, an end to self pity and most importantly an end to past fixation. I  had been clutching like a corner stone. Wearing a grudge like a crown, unable to forgive. But not anymore! I can gladly say that...

I've heard people say South Africa is such a wonderful country and it's so diverse, in fact I've said something similar, travel magazines and tourists too. It's even in our De facto slogan, the rainbow nation. Diverse in people, nature, culture and heritage. It's one thing to think you know something and a whole lot different to know you only know a little. Naively I thought I knew. Since we've been expropriated from Brazil the team has actively served in 4 of our 8 provinces and not even lockdown has been able to impede our travels. Where's the truth in...