Who's your Engineer?

The Engineer

July 23, 2012

Hi Everyone. Yes its been a while. I was inspired to write again after I received such a refreshing revelation about 3 days ago.

I spent the day with Ricardo & Lizelle who are nice friends that are in the music industry. While having dinner Ricardo made a statement. He said he does not understand why the quality of the musical arranging and lyrics went from being so good to really average in a space of a year. This was a comment about a dvd I borrowed him a while ago.

We went on chatting a bit about it but left it hanging. Later when I was home I thought about it again. That’s when I got a word from within…

God took me back a year ago when I was on fire with the things of God. He showed me that I’m still the same person, with the same servant heart and talents and abilities. But then I had a different engineer. I allowed and surrounded myself with people that sharpened the gift within. Now I’ve stopped surrounding myself with those type of engineers that used to push me, sharpen me and encouraged me.

This could be the reason why the band on the cd went from being real sharp to quite average. They changed engineers!

Who is your engineer today? What tools (fruit) do they have? Who is their source?

Stay blessed and keep connected.

Blessed to be a blessing!

Glisson

This is what I'm made for!

I've been a volunteer in the local church since 1994, that’s back when I was in Standard 7. Interesting is that I really only got saved in 1997. It’s probably because of my church upbringing. Growing up I went to Sunday school, then youth, then I moved to another town and became an altar boy (my first volunteer encounter). The list goes on… lay minister, crusade psalmist, youth leader, choir leader, choir member, front vocal, worship leader, church board member and currently an open lounge facilitator at City Lights.

My mission is and will always be to equip and get people ready so they can serve God effectively, leading people to Christ trough their gifs & talents. Now if you have never assisted in ministry as a volunteer you would probably raise your brow by now, thinking “that is a bit much”. No not al all.

This is what it’s all about.

The above is the answer from many volunteers when asked why they do it. Whether it be helping to teach kids, change nappies, pack chairs, feed the poor, take clothe to a shelter and event sing in the choir.

The gratitude on the faces of people, the deep sense of appreciation, knowing that you have done something good for someone who can never repay you, that you might never see again, is what brings a smile to your face after a long day burning in the sun assisting with meals for the homeless.

We live in a radical world

Here is God’s idea of what our world should be like:

·         When He said we should love the Lord our God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves, He was calling us to trade our ritualized religion for a genuine relationship with God, to offer others the same kind of attention, honor, and compassion we give ourselves.

·         When Jesus punctuated His teaching with concern for the poor, the powerless, and the oppressed, He was describing a new value system.

·         When He said take up your cross and follow Me, He was describing in graphic terms that following Him would require sacrifice, long hours, hardship and death to something selfish inside of us.

Are you a part of it or the cause of it?

Just recently when I went on vacation back to South Africa I attended our local church in Johannesburg quite regularly. Watching the team at work, ushering the people in, singing their hearts out on the platform and serving in the lounge; everything inside of me wanted to be on their side and not on the receiving side.

What they were doing was excellent worship to God and service to men. Yes many times we need to be served, but for me it’s more about being the cause of someone giving their hearts to God, having a great time in worship, and getting a smile on their faces. It’s much better being the cause of it, than just being part.

I want to encourage you as we are moving in a new building this week at City Lights; to put your hands to the plough and make someone’s day, bring a smile to someone’s face and experience what I have described above, the love of God. Know that you are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath and whatever you put your hands to will prosper!

From Dubai... with love

From Dubai with love….

Exactly 54 days ago arrived in the chilly United Arad Emirate called Dubai. Some may have asked themselves “Why Dubai”. Why leave behind a wonderful job in Johannesburg, the best friends in the world and my greatest passion “ministry”. Well you will find out after the next year or two. But for now I am going to share my experiences here with you.

This week I want to share with you an experience I had last night at a Gloria Jean’s Coffee shop at the Business Bay Towers in downtown Dubai. Business bay is quite a trendy area where you will find many expats climbing the corporate ladder. The Executive Towers are located on Dubai's Sheikh Zayed Road worth a whopping 2.5 billion AED. It consists of 10 high-rise freehold residential towers, one commercial tower, one luxury hotel tower, and a two-level shopping mall. The residential towers are labeled from A to M, with 28 to 52 storeys. Amenities at The Business Bay Executive Towers will include a plaza level (courtyard), swimming pools, jogging track, clinics, health clubs, children's playgrounds, fountain yards, gardens, and covered walkways. So it’s quite a posh area although still under construction.
Business Bay is also where a lovely couple Ramsay who is a full time musician and guitar technician and his wife Elena who is an executive at Emirates Airlines live. They have become really good friends to me over the last few weeks while here. They basically took me under their wings, shared with me the in and outs of Dubai culture and lifestyle. So every Monday we get together at their place at 19:30 for an Open Lounge evening with other friends and new comers to Dubai. It’s pretty easy to get there; I just get on top the train close to work and get off about 200 meters from their Tower.
So back to Gloria Jeans. I walked in as normal to get a quick take-away cuppachino just outside Tower K. Waited for 5 minutes for the attendant to finish his mobile conversation with I suppose a staff member. Kinda listened to what they talked about… Anyway I then put my order, he rang it up. 16 Derms, took out 50 derms and gave it to him. Suddenly he just gave me a stare. I asked him what’s wrong and he asked me if I don’t have anything smaller. I checked and said, ok, let me give you 56 derm as it’s the smallest I have. Then he gave me a grin and still paused before he took the money while telling me that this is his last four 10 derm notes.
At that moment I had to really hold myself back, as the place was quite small with many people sitting chatting away. And I still had my company (Melia Dubai) golf shirt on. Not the right time to make a scene. But it really made me think about service in general. Daily you see tons of adverts of company wants you to buy their product. Why… Because somewhere along the line they lost the ones they had and now have to try and convince us to come back. But as far as I’m concerned they Gloria Jean’s (doesn’t matter how nice the coffee is) has lost me. I’m the customer who will never come back. That’s my defense from being pushed around. And I will share this experience with my friends, and they with theirs…

So the not so shabby colored guy with the Melia Dubai golf shirt is important after all hey… Till next time. Adios!