High Tea at the Cape Grace

On Saturday we went to the Cape Grace Hotel for Afternoon Tea to celebrate Zulfa's birthday.  It was an afternoon of pure decadence spent with three beautiful ladies.



Zulfa, me, Rehana and Terri

Loose leaf tea drawing for 6 minutes

Afternoon Tea - Scones, Sandwiches, cakes, pudding and sweets

 

 

The Cream Tea - Four scones with cream, jam and lemon curd.

Loose Leaf Tea

The best friends a girl can have in the world!



 

Hot Chocolate

Emilio, Arthur and Oscar with their hot choclate in Vida

Today I took these three boys for hot chocolate after work. We arranged it a week ago that I would pick them up at the circle at the police station.  When I got to the circle they were ready and waiting for me.  While they climbed into my car they were all chirping, "why did you take so long." I laughed and said, "I'm on time" and they were like, "We've been waiting since 5pm." I laughed again and told them I said I'd pick you up at 5:30pm because I only finish work at 5pm. We then drove to Vida and the conversation flowed about my car and if it was fixed.

When we got to Vida, Emilo was hanging back and I asked him what was up, he asked if he had had to pay for the hot chocolate. I told him, no it's my treat. He then looked more concerned and asked me if it was expensive. I told him not to worry about it.  I was blown away by this. I totally did not expect that.

We made a mad dash in the rain to the entrance of Vida, ordered the hot chocolate and then had a wonderful hour filled with laughter and discussing whether my Adidas takkies were fake or real. After I got my mom to send me pictures, we established they were fakes but I was safe from judgement because I was me. This made me laugh, especially when they told me not to be sad because they are fake and I spent a lot of money on it.  We even had a moment of serious talk when Oscar asked what it means to have Jesus in your heart. The conversation swirled around that for about 10 minutes before more laughter followed caused by Arthur sharing something funny.

The one thing I never planned on was the sugar rush that would follow... especially with Gap being right after out hot chocolate hour. They were on a super sugar rush, but so were all the other kids.  I think Huggi and I did well in zoning in their attention and using their energy constructively.

At the end of Gap we were doing prayer requests and Oscar's request for Jesus to come into his heart. He said he'll pray it when we go around the circle.  Huggi and I started prayer and then some of the kids prayed and the Oscar asked Jesus into his heart. It was an incredible moment. God is totally awesome and works in crazy ways, and tonight Oscar opened his heart up to God. 

I really enjoyed spending time with the Gap boys this evening. It was a lot of fun and I feel super blessed by them. I also feel super blessed after Gap tonight, God did something in the crazy.

xKx

I put my armour on

This morning while I drove to work I was still feeling pretty despondent,  my mind was a hundred miles away as I let my thoughts go to places they shouldn't go and I "moped" at the thought of going to work.  When I parked my car outside the building I looked up  at it and sighed before I took out my bible and devotional.

My devotional was on how God is our refuge and our strength, Psalm 41:6  "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble"

I sat thinking about that verse and what it means, especially the words refuge and strength.  I then prayed through it and gave up the fight of being at work and let God take over - I asked him to be my strength for today.  I also knew that without him there was no way I was going to be able to make it through today. 

After being at work for a bit, I started to feel despondent again and I smsed Tree to pray for me.  I then thought - "Why don't I put my armour on?"  So I quietly and quickly prayed the armour of God.  I remembered how when I do this it helps me refocus on God and to just stop focusing on how despondent or sucky I feel and to remember that I'm not in this alone, but that God is with me. 

It has helped, I'm not feeling as despondent as before and I'm leaning into God to get me through this "phase" at work.  I'm also ready for whatever comes my way because I have my armour on and God is with me. 

xKx 

Feeling a litte despondent

The past few weeks at work have been pretty tough.. and it's hard to keep shining Gods light when there is a certain person in my office who belittles me, shouts at me when I ask questions, when I get things wrong. He speaks to me like I'm stupid and treats me almost like a child. 

I really try to keep being nice and polite to him, I don't always get it right and roll my eyes when he's talking to me - especially when he speaks to me like I'm two years old and really stupid.  It's been getting super hard to just love him like Jesus would want me to love him and to show him grace, patience and kindness.  

It's getting harder to pray for him because I'm so angry and bitter towards him. I try to give it to God, but then I come to work and he's mean and it starts all over again. 

Today I kind of had enough and was like I'm over this.  He asked me to set up a meeting and I asked him if it should be at our offices or theirs and he shouted, "I don't know, I don't know, it's not my job" without looking at me.  I looked at him calmly, even though I literally wanted to punch him and shout "YOU ASKED ME TO SET UP THE MEETING" and said, "I'll set it up for our offices".  I then walked back to my desk and emailed everyone.  As I walked back to my desk, I was like "I'm done. I don't want to be nice to you anymore and I won't" He came up to later to ask me to send something for printing and I never looked up from the filing I was doing and just said yes.  When he asked what he had on his calendar, I looked and told him as plainly as possible. 

I know as a Christian I need to be shining God's light and loving people - but I really don't know how to do it with him. I try and be nice and he keeps being mean, some days on a whole new level.  A few minutes a go, well half an hour ago I decided to pray because I was so angry.  I just told God how I was feeling and how I give up.  I told him how this one person makes me feel so despondent about coming to work and being here. I told God how I don't think I can do this being nice and loving thing anymore. 

And then God was like...

 

He then gently reminded me that He is in control, he's my strength and refuge. He can renew my despondency and give me hope again. He can show me how to keep loving, showing grace and practicing patience. 

 

And I was like...

 

YIP!

 

Working here is hard at times, but God has put me here for such a time as this.  I just need to refocus on Him and let him relight the fire so I can keep shining.

 

xKx

Faith, Hope, The Bridge, Misuderstanding and then I got it...

We've just started working through a small group study by Andy Stanley called Faith, Hope and Luck.  Last night Andy was defining faith and it kind of made me hit a "wobbly" and really mess with my head.

When it comes to explaining what faith is most Christians quote Hebrews 11.1 "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." My basic understanding of faith was that faith is believing that God is going to do what he says he is going to do, because He is faithful, trustworthy and doesn't break His promises.  

Andy explained that between hope and faith there is a bridge between hope and faith.  First he explained hope as something that we would like to happen, by using the analogy of calling someone to ask if they want to have lunch with. He hoped they would meet him for lunch, (something he would like to happen), but to have faith that they were going to meet him for lunch something needed to happen.  The person had to call back and say they were going to meet you for lunch.  If they never did this, there was not “promise”, meaning that you did not have a guaranteed outcome.  Hope, as I understand, is therefore an outcome that you desire.   

Andy then defined Faith as being certain of who God is and being certain that what He says is going to happen, will happen.  This is where the paw-paw hit the fan for me last night.  I then totally freaked out and was like, "if you're being certain of who God is and that he'll do what he says he will do, then you can't link it to personal promises God makes to you."  I can have faith that God will provide, heal etc. because that is who he is and he does that.  When it came to God promising something to you like being a missionary, or who you'll marry or what you'll do with your life  because there isn't a certain outcome  because t can be influenced by sin, bad choices, other people etc., so you can only hope that will happen because you can make bad choices. I was really stuck on this and felt like it was pointless having faith in something that wasn't guaranteed and could change, in other words something that wasn't guaranteed.  I couldn't see past my confusion, or my heightened emotions  because of this.  I was just stuck and it never made sense to me, and the more I tried to explain how I understood it, the more worked up I got and the more frustrated I got.  It literally felt like I was going to explode and I couldn't process anything.


....BUT then this morning I had a light bulb moment while I was brushing my teeth and it all made sense.  I started to think about it again and I broke it down.  Faith is being certain of who God is. 

I know who God is, he's good, faithful, powerful, in control, trustworthy etc. 

The second half is knowing that God will do what he says he is going to do. 

We know that God will do what he says he will do, because of who He is and not because of the outcome.  I can have faith that God will do what he says he will do because of who He is.  

After I had that thought the light bulb went on and I was like, "Oh". We have faith in God and NOT the situation. We place our faith in God and not the outcome.  I was looking at the outcome and saying, if it's not guaranteed then why have faith.  That's wrong, that's basing my faith on the situation and not God.  God determines the outcome, he knows what is good for us and he always works the good for us.   We shouldn't let our faith be determined by the outcome or the promise made to us. Our faith needs to be and has to be in God.

.... So after all the emotion and a good nights sleep I was finally able to understand and see the light.

xKx

 

Things that require commitment

This morning I was thinking about the numerous things in my life that requires commitment. I then got the giggles as I thought of all the silly things that I commit to and ended up laughing rather loudly as I walked up to work.

Here are a four things in m y life that require me to commit to before I do them...

1. A Bubble Bath

When I want to have a bubble bath, I really need to commit to it.  A bath is not something that takes 5 minutes, it's a loooong process of relaxing.  You need to commit to taking the time out of your day - at least an hour to just have a bath. It's also a waste of water to soak for less than that.




2. A Loyalty Card

I LOVE loyalty cards, but I have had to limit the amount of cards that I have. I currently only have a Kauai and Vida e Café one.  Choosing which loyalty card requires commitment because you're committing to getting coffee of smoothies from only one place.  My commitment to Vida is lacking and is moving towards Knead. Their late's are R5 cheaper then Vida and nicer. I also saw that they have a loyalty card... I shall have to think about this A LOT before I decide to commit to Knead.



3. Early Morning Hike

 An early morning hike requires a LARGE amount of commitment.  I love to snooze and I could easily snooze way past the early morning hike start time.  I need to be committed and dedicated to this for  it to happen in my life.  I need to be so committed that I have packed my snack and water bottle the night before and have everything ready at the door for me in the morning. If this is not in place, I haven't committed and the chance of it happening are pretty slim.





4. Running

I really enjoy running... once I start and get into it again. Starting the run is the hardest part.  For me to actually go for a run I need to commit to it at lunch time already.  Today I have committed to going for a run after work.  I have smsed my mom and told her, I have prepped myself mentally for the run and I'm pretty amped. I also haven't been for a run in a week, so I need to amp myself up and commit a lot more than usual. 




I'm pretty sure I can think of more.. baking cupcakes - you need to ice them and that takes forever so you need to commit to that, getting out of bed on an early morning in winter... oooohhh.. I think I could go on but I'll stop.

 

Community

A friend of mine posted the following video on Facebook yesterday,  http://vimeo.com/64686246

I watched it now and I was like, "Yes, that describes community". 

For me community is being real with people and going deeper than surface level with people. It's about walking a journey with someone and loving them, like Jesus.

xKx

Sushi

According to MOST people Sushi is the ugliest dog alive and EVERYONE  proclaims to not like her or give her any love.  BUT back at the ranch I know that deep down all these people actually do have a soft spot for her, even though they insist that they don't.

Sushi is Dave's stepmoms dog and though she is pretty strange looking she's cute in an ugly kind of way. She's also quite a needy dog, she comes and demands attention from you and if you ignore her beady little stair she takes affection from you by tapping you with her face.  Dave just gives her a look and it's game over, she gets up, tail between her legs and walks out the room with a massive look of rejection on her face. This "look" that Dave gives her is just for show in front of people because I know deep down that he loves her, sometimes I think it's more than Doogie, Sushi's brother.  I have formed this opinion about Dave's love for her becasue I see him sneakily giving Sushi love when he thinks I'm out of the room or not looking.  When ever he see's I've seen he gets all coy and pretents that nothing happened.


I think that Sushi is a rad little dog, ugly but rad. I also somehow think she's plotting to take over the world... I can see it in her beady little eyes...

xKx

. . . and then God took over

The topic at Gap last night was how God is always there for you on ALL situations, no matter what. Ivan, one of the elders came and shared a bit of his testimony with the kids, specifically about a time when things were tough and God was there.  After his testimony I followed with the talk and illustration before I ended the evening with prayer.  

During worship I had a feeling that I should end the evening with prayer instead of small groups and give the kids an opportunity to come forward for prayer, to ask Jesus into their lives or to ask the Holy Spirit to fill them.  When I had this thought I was like, "God this is crazy - they will never sit still for longer than two minutes, let alone be quiet for longer than second", but God was like "Just do it" and I was like, "okay..." 

So... at the end of the talk I gave them the chance to reflect on the talk and then put up their hand for prayer. While they were reflecting I quickly ran to my laptop and put on a song.... and God just took over. It was incredible. 

The kids actually sat and reflected and then slowly they put up their hands and come for prayer.  We prayed for about 6 of the 9 kids who were there. It was as though the holy spirit just fell on the hall last night and God worked in the kids hearts.  

At the end we had 5 minutes left and when I gave them the option of a game or worship they all chose worship.  I let them choose the songs and they all got really into it. 

God was super incredible last night. 

xKx

Meet Paul

A while ago I blogged about homeless people and how I want to know their stories.  I then started thinking and praying about how I can bless them and find out what their stories are.  I then came up with the following idea.  I'll go to Spar and buy a few Haven Night Shelter Passports and then give them out to Homeless people when they come and ask me for money instead of giving them money.  Before I give them the passport I'll ask them about themselves, their name, family and why they are homeless.  Depending on how God leads, I'll either approach a homeless person or wait for them come and ask me for money.  

A Haven Night Shelter passport costs R10 and it allows a homeless person to go and stay there for the night. They are able to sleep in a bed, receive a meal, have a hot shower and receive social welfare support. 

Last week Wednesday I had the opportunity to talk to a homeless person.  I've bee putting it off for a while because I've been rather nervous to approach a homeless person and talk to them because sometimes they can get aggressive, but I need to remember that they are just people who also need love.  

Paul

I was sitting a bench reading a book in the Gardens and a homeless man approached me and asked me for money towards staying at the Haven Night Shelter.  I looked at him and thought, "here's my chance".  I asked him what his name is and to tell me a bit about himself.  He told me that his name was Paul and that he was a painter until he fell and broke his ankle.  He broke it pretty badly and couldn't work so he was fired.  He told me that he has a 10 year old son, who was at school while he was walking around looking for money.  I asked if he had family to stay with and he said that he was staying with his sister and her husband but he felt it was time to leave and he was a burden to them.  

I told him I would give him R10 towards the passports, that was half the amount he would need. He would also need to get another R10 for his son. I also only had R10 on me and I haven't bought the passports yet.  Come to think of I must go do this at lunch time. 

When I gave him the money he was super happy and thankful and then he asked me why I was giving him so much.  I looked at him and I told him that I'm Christian and that I really believe in community and helping people out in your community. Jesus also tells us to help the homeless, weak, orphans etc, he live like that, he did it and he set the example for us.  I also told him how in acts when people in the community never had something the community would step in and help and I believe that we should be living like that. 

Paul looked at me and said he'd never heard someone say that before. I smiled and said, God's put me in a place where I can help and I want to do that, and this is one way I can see myself doing that.  He then said thank you and I said, "I really pray that God blesses you." And that was that - he got up, said thanks and then walked off into the Gardens. 

After he had left I sat there thinking about how God has blessed me and I just gave thanks for what I have.  I then said a quick prayer for Paul asking God to bless him and his son. 

xKx

THE BET

I'm not sure if it was a moment of pure stupidity that made me think that I could actually beat Dave at a computer game or if it was one of bravery and courage to actually challenge someone who is WAY better than me at something.

Dave has been playing a racing game called "FlatOut" and I told him that I would beat him at him.  "FlatOut is a series of demolition derby-style racing games" (Wikipedia:2013)  To me it's a racing game where people drive into each other, push you off the road and do what ever they can to beat you.

When I heard that it was a racing game, I must admit that I did think that it can't be that difficult to learn how to play and then beat Dave. BUT I was wrong. The game is not that easy, it's pretty challenging and it frustrates me that I suck at it so badly. 

On Friday I got the game and  Dave and I had our first "LAN".  We played 10 laps of the game and I obviously lost. Dave even managed to lap me without me realising it, but it was fun.

On Saturday night I thought that I would practice and after about 30 minutes of playing really badly and not winning, or even coming anywhere worth mentioning in the game I got SUPER frustrated and switched the game off.  I then got all despondent and was like, "I'm never going to beat Dave"

It's two days later and I have decided to revisit the game and play some more.  I am not going to get despondent, and I am going to beat him.  This may be pure stubbornness speaking - but I am determined to beat him.


The conditions of the bet are:

1. I must beat Dave in a year, (2 August 2013 - 2 August 2014).
2. If I win we get to spend a day at Butterfly World.
3. If Dave wins I have to play another computer game of his choice.

I think playing this game is more than just about my stubbornness to beat Dave. It's also about the fact that we have finally found a game to play together. 

Dave loves playing computer games and I have never ever been into it. Dave has been asking for months about games and what I want to play etc.  I told him that I would play a game with him, since I think it's important o show and interest in what your boyfriend likes doing, finding out about it and possibly even trying it out.  You don't have to do it forever though, I just think it's important to try it out.  I also think that playing the game with Dave is more important than beating him - it's a way that we can spend time together doing something he likes doing.

xKx

Gap - Hiding Your Sins

Last week Wednesday at Gap we spoke about how we cover up our sins. 

I told the kids the story of David and Bathsheba, (2 Samuel 11 - 12). When it was time to tell them the story and give the talk, I sat on the floor with them and then told the the story using puppets as each person in the story.   At the end of the story I went into the talk by explaining how David had covered up his sin by killing Bathsheba's husband and how this made God angry. 

I used ice-cream, salt and caramel sauce to illustrate how when we cover up a mistake we  end up with a mess.  I put ice-cream in a bowl, and added salt.  I asked the kids if they liked salt on their ice-cream and they all said no.  I then said, the salt is the mistake we make.  When we steal something, cheat, or like David commit adultery.  When we want to cover up the fact that we did something wrong and sinned, we often hide it by doing something else.  I added the caramel sauce to the ice-cream and covered in salt. 

I then asked if any of the kids wanted to taste it. Two brave kids came and tasted it and they both ran out the room very quickly to spit it out.  

I wrapped up by saying that we don't have to cover up our sins, because it makes if worse than what it is.  God wants us to go to him and to ask for forgiveness and then he cleanses us of our sin.  sometimes we have some sin that has been there for a very long time and we think that God can't forgive that but he can.  It's like a glass that has dried milk stuck in it, (I held this up) when we put it into hot water the milk comes loose, (I dunked the glass into hot water).  God is like the water, washing our dirty dried sin away.  

I had asked one of the elders from our church to come and do communion with the kids.  He explained the story so well to the kids and had them all captivated by what he was saying. It was AWESOME.  We then went into a time of silence and the kids were invited to come up and receive communion.  They were given bread and then had to dunk it into grape juice. 

After communion we prayed and then went off to small groups. 

I don't know how to explain what happened at Gap on Wednesday, but it was literally like the Holy Spirit just fell over the room and kids were soaking it up.  They were so attentive during the talks.  I was completely blown away.  

I really praise God for how He is working in their lives, even when we don't always see it. 

xKx