Is it the end?

Over these past months or maybe even years much has been said about the impending arrival of the year 2012 and the potential of us living to see the end of days. Even preachers have been supporting the view of the world coming to an end soon or some more specifically, ending in the year 2012. The global situation has further strengthened this hypotheses with the increase in earthquakes and political upheaval and turmoil.

The view that the earth will come to an end in 2012 seems to have it's roots in the ancient Mayan calendar system called the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which ends it's count on the 21st of December 2012 signifying that the Mayan people had special knowledge and knew that was when the earth would "expire", but this is a heavily disputed theory and there are other plausible reasons as to why the calender ends on that date (feel free to look it up on wikipedia).

As Christians what view can or do we have when we hear of such things and see those things spoken about in the bible signifying the end of days start to take place? The bible is clear on the end of days, as to what, and how and why, but it is also very clear that there is no "when". Jesus, when asked by His disciples said,

Matt 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (NASU)

We walk a dangerous line if we think that we on earth know and can decipher that which is locked safely in the Fathers heart only, that which He had not revealed, even in Heaven. The world will end, but not on our timing, so lets not play God. While the scriptures are silent on the time, it is loud and clear about the signs and the stages and what our focus as Christians must be on.

Matt 24:4-14 - "See to it that no one misleads you.  5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.  6 "You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.  7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.  8 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.  10 "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.  11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.  12 "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.  13 "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.  14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." (NASU)

Note the order and things that will happen:
 - People coming in Jesus name, claiming to be the Christ (anointed one) - misleading many.(Matt 24:4) Spiritual deception, people chasing and following special "anointed ones" coming in Jesus name and leading them with a false gospel. This has been happening for years and in extreme cases people have been led to commit suicide by false "christs"- We have been warned and we will end up victims if we do not know the Word or have a personal relationship with God. Don't depend on others to reveal what Gods will is for you when He has made it clear and accessible by His Word. Know Him personally and know His Word thoroughly and you will not end up a casualty.

-Wars, Earthquakes and Famines - Matt 24:6-8
Already happening! Our stand as the scripture says - don't be fearful, God is in control and these things "must" take place". but note - this is not the end yet - it's just the beginning.  How do we not get caught up with fear - know that God is in control of this earth and your lives and the reality is things will get worse before it gets better - Hope and trust in Him, know His Word for you and focus on what He has called you to do, know that He is in control. Develop an intimate relationship with God.

-Persecution - Matt 24:9
There will be a period where we will go through persecution. We will be hated for our faith. There is no escape from this and it could be physical or emotional but do note that Christianity has been a faith that was birth and has thrived in an environment of persecution. Persecution of Christianity over the ages was like people trying to put out a flame with kerosene, it has done nothing but cause it to spread further and get stronger. Countries where Christians are persecuted seem to have the fastest growing conversion rates as opposed to countries where people are allowed to practice their faith in freedom and comfort (The Economist reported that China is now the country with the largest number of Christians, some believe that there are approximately 130 million believers there - http://www.economist.com/node/12342509).

The scripture goes on to say that many will fall away, betray one another - nothing like persecution to separate the good-time christians from the true people of the faith. Ask ourselves this crucial question, what if persecution does comes to our shores? What will our stand be? How far will you and i go for our faith in Christ. It is a scary but legitimate question, because the reality is, our boats will get rocked.

- Most will go cold - Matt 24:11-13
"Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold" (NASU) - It says not "some" but "most" and goes on to say - those who endure to the end will be saved - The key word here being "endure" - do we have the Spiritual endurance, the faith endurance that is needed to finish this race, start developing it now! How? - thats another topic :-)

-Finally it ends - Matt 24:14
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come" (NASU).
God is a just God, every people group will hear the Good News, and will have the opportunity to either accept or reject His grace and love. Only then will the end come. Believe it or not there are still a total of 16,500 plus people groups that are unreached (not heard the gospel). There are a total of 2.8 billion people in these people groups which is approximately 41% of the world population (check out this site to keep track: http://www.joshuaproject.net). The bible clearly states that the end will only come when the gospel of the Kingdom is preached to all nations (people groups), and this means that as long as there are unreached people groups, the end will have to wait as God in His love, grace and mercy has decided.

As Christians, this is not a time to panic or become fearful, this is the time to step up in faith, to walk the talk, to live the great commission. What a great opportunity this presents us with, to show and explain to people how the bible has spoken about these things aeons go and we are calm and know what will and must happen and how it will all unfold. For us, "To live is Christ, to die is gain", we have nothing to lose, thats why we do not fear.

So what if 2012 is the year it all ends? The questions to ask will be these - What happens to your family members, friends and neighbors who have not had the chance to hear the good news, shouldn't that drive us to intensify our desire to share in one way or the other the love of Christ with them? Where and on what should our efforts, time and resources be focused on? Do we spend the rest of our days living like we have no end and spend most of our hours chasing after, accumulating and investing in things that will all eventually perish and mean nothing? 

Is it the end? probably not yet but lets live like it is. Lets make this life count, lets lay up treasure in heaven, lets seek first the Kingdom of God! This life that we have on earth is like a drop compared to the ocean of eternity that we have waiting for us with God and we are destined for eternity. Lets live our lives with an eternal perspective. 

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Attraversiamo!

Cross over . We all need to cross over sometime. Why? because there is more that awaits us in life and we will never discover it if we are not willing to leave our comfort zones and cross over. Crossing over is always scary as we don't always see so clearly what we are crossing over into, there is always an element of risk involved and sometimes a great amount of faith is needed. But what other options are available to us apart from persisting in the familiar, the safe and mundane at the risk of leaving this one shot at life that we have been presented with, carrying an opinion of it that in no way does it any justice. Do we want to end up at the doorway of our eternal home saying to our creator, "what i had just been through, was incredibly boring!"

I didn't think so :-)

God has given us an incredible playground filled with mysteries, adventures and treasures that await us to discover them. Where are these things? On the other side! Of what? On the other side of your fears, on the other side of your comfort zone, on the other side of your laziness, on the other side of your risk free life! And mind you, the other side isn't the safe side, you could get hurt, you could have regrets, you could lose, you could get in serious trouble BUT you also could end up discovering life's best and have the time of your life doing it! But even if you don't, someone once said "better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all", or i would put it like this to cover the entire range of what crossing over could mean to you - better to have crossed over and discover that it wasn't good for you then to live the rest of your life with this nagging thought "what if?".

I have many times crossed over in many different circumstances. Yes it was risky and no i had no sense of certainty on how these decisions would turn out and yet now as i look back i can say without a shadow of a doubt that i have not once regretted any of it and am today better off because of these steps that i have taken. Attraversiamo folks! We've only got one shot at this life, lets make it count!

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Masked Honesty

All of us in some capacity have to wear masks to hide different aspects of ourselves. If you are truly honest with yourself you’d admit that you do wear some form of a mask or masks to shield the real you from being found out by those around you. This is not to say that you are a phony or that you are living a lie. There are various reasons that we wear masks, but the undergirding motivation that holds all these reasons in place is none other than that four letter word - “fear”. We fear that if people saw the real us, they would be disappointed or in some cases disgusted. We fear that if people saw us for who we actually are we would lose their respects. We fear that if people knew the truth about the things that preoccupy our thoughts, the emotions that we feel, we would be exposing ourselves to criticism and condemnation. We fear that we would lose friends & family if we removed our masks, hence we go through our whole lives cleverly disguised and only in the darkness of solitude do we remove these guises and find our release.

The levels of self masking differ in different folks. If you are a pubic figure you have to be better at masking yourself then the average person. I think the people who mask themselves the most are public and religious leaders. There is a pressure on you, especially the religious leaders, to live a life that is above reproach and on another level. You are expected to always have things together and never make mistakes let alone grave ones. We have seen over the years men and women of God, even outside the Christian circle “stumble” as people would like to call it but in truth they did not stumble but were merely seen or caught without their masks on and as a result all hell breaks lose as these men and women are dragged through the dirt by the hounds of the media.

Being a pastor I know and understand the need for masks and to be honest, like all mortals, I too wear them. I have my struggles that I don’t want everyone to know about and rightly so because there are people who look to me for strength and encouragement in their struggles and being unmasked would hinder that. Yes I have bad days, and I can guarantee you that all pastors on this planet do as well, despite their “I have it all together” and “I’m on the top of the world” facebook status updates. Yes there are times when I feel like punching someone in the face or screaming a cuss word. The are times when I feel like going to someone’s status update and typing an upper cased, “WHO GIVES A $#!%” J. Hows that for an unmasked moment! My point is, we are all humans after all, and being human, none of us are perfect. I don’t expect people to be, regardless of whether they are pastors, priests or public figures or even the Dalai Lama. Their personal battles, if exposed won’t shock me because I know that as long as we are in this mortal bodies we will struggle with things like lust, anger, greed, jealousy, etc, and the fact that we struggle with these things do not make us criminals, it makes us human and no human can be perfect.

So, is wearing a mask a bad thing? Not necessarily. Maybe the term “masks” by itself paints a negative picture. If I could use a different metaphor to describe what I am getting at it would be this, as a human being, I am like a multi-faceted diamond. There are many facets to me and different people see different facets of me. My wife see’s the most of my many facets yet because of how I am made it is impossible for her to see all facets of me. There are friends who see many facets of me as well yet there are others who see a single facet of me, simply because of the type of relationship I have with these people. It is not essential that people see all my facets but it is essential that all my facets are seen by someone and that there is never a facet that is totally hidden. There are facets of me that are unpolished and these facets are seen by those who I can come clean with, those whom I trust and allow to mentor me and help me polish up these areas. We all need those people. Recently a major public figure was exposed and got into trouble and it was later revealed that there were facets of his life that no one knew about, he had struggles that he never spoke to anyone about and kept hidden because of fear and never sought any help until it was unwillingly revealed. The importance of having someone whom we can be honest and accountable to is crucial in enabling us to finish the race well. I need people whom I can be honest with, whom I can share my struggles and weaknesses with, who will pray with me and for me and help me get to the other side of it, and I strongly believe that everyone needs someone like that.

Ultimately there’s only one person that can see us in our multi-faceted glory, whom we must go to daily as we are, knowing that we are loved and accepted for our true selves. Our weaknesses however severe do not diminish our worth to Him, all we have to do is be surrendered and allow Him to finish the work that He began in us. This is none other than God our creator who is always at work in us and with us to see us ultimately reflecting His glory through all our facets.

Yes you wear a mask or masks, and the truth is you’re not the only one. Start to see yourself as you truly are, a multi-faceted diamond, and like a diamond not all of it's facets can be viewed at the same time. Bring every facet of yourself under the light, be it through friends, family, leaders, mentors and ultimately God, for it is in the light that you will discover and achieve your best.

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Memories

I recently sat down and thought about the things in my life that are of true value. I made a mental list of what I thought was most valuable in my life, the things that made my time on earth worthwhile or meaningful. Of course there were many things that could compete for the top spots on that list and it was difficult for me to nominate a number one, but I can confidently say that if there was one thing that was a definite top contender it was simply this, “memories”.

Memories don’t get as much credit as they should in our lives considering the importance of the roles they play. They are our most loyal companions, they make us smile, laugh out loud and sometimes cry, they encourage us, keep us on our feet, teach us lessons and help us remember. When all is gone, the people, the promises, the relationships, the moments, we will still have memories to get us through. It is the smile on the widow’s lips, the tear in the lover’s eye, it is the wisdom in the counsel of the aged, it is caution in the adventurer’s step and it is the hope in the hearts of those who believe, because they have been there, they have felt and their memories tell them that it is possible.

If life is a journey then it is our memories that make the journey meaningful. When I look back at all the things that i have accumulated in my memory bank, both good and bad memories, all types of feelings surge through my being, and I can’t help but notice the glaring absence of one feeling, “regret”. Everything in life serves it’s purpose in moulding us. Yes there were bad times, but what has those bad times done to me other than make me stronger, wiser and more cautious. Yes those bad memories have served me well, and what about those sad ones? You mean the ones that have helped me realize that I should never take anyone or anything for granted, the ones that helped me see the fragility of life and relationships and how each day is a gift that will only come our way but once? Yup, those sad memories too have served me well. And should I even begin on the good ones? Those memories that are my constant companions, the ones that cheer me up, the ones that embarrass me because they make me smile to myself, the ones that will be with me long after everything is gone. Yes life is made of such moments.

My point? We spend a lot of our time making things for ourselves that won’t last, we want to make more money, we want to make good impressions, we want to make ourselves more famous, more visible, we want to make more money…did I already say that?  well, trust me, that’s what we spend most of our lives trying to make, yet at the end of the day the money can disappear, a single mistake or incident can overturn years of effort in creating a good impression for ourselves, fame will flee as quickly as it comes and all we will be left with are memories and they will stay with us until the curtains are drawn upon our lives and I’m sure they will be with us at the after party. So why don’t we put aside the mundane, the routine and instead start making memories, good memories, memories that will make us smile when the days are gloomy, memories that will give us strength to take that next step when we’re faced with challenges, memories of moments that though they may last for only a moment, they stay in our hearts forever. Create memories, with our loved ones, family and friends, because the world can take everything from us, but they will never be able to take away those special moments that will be ours forever…we call them memories.

To the dad who toils day in and out to ensure that there’s food on the table for your loved ones, yes you do what you do because of your love for your family, but the reality is, your wife and kids will not remember the number of days you worked tirelessly at your job, but they will remember that one day you decided to stay home and spend the day with the family, playing games, catching a movie together, taking your son on that fishing trip, being there to cheer your daughter on at her school sports event or concert, or simply going shopping. That will be a memory that that they will take with them to their graves and beyond. Do more than create a comfortable life for your family, create memories, for they last longer.

To the mom who labours with the required routine of daily life to ensure that your kids are fed, sent to their classes and have their homework done. Yes you are making a life for them, but truth said they may forget the meals you cooked or the number of times you drove them to school but they will treasure forever the time you spent laughing with them, playing with them, crying with them. Yes invest your time in activities that will become everlasting memories not only in your heart but in the hearts of your children.

To the child who now earns a living, who sends money to your mom or dad to show them you love and respect them, they may forget the amount of money you sent them but they will never forget the day their child visited and took them out for a nice lunch or dinner or even a holiday, trust me they will be talking about it for years to come, because what you did, did not just fulfil a responsibility, it created a fond memory that will remain in their hearts forever.

To those of you who slave at the offices or work places, five, six or even seven days a week because it makes your employers happy, because it grows your business, because it fills your bank account, if you knew your life was going to end tomorrow, what would be on your mind today? Would you be thinking about all those things you should have and could have done but didn’t do because you were too busy making money or pleasing your bosses? It isn’t too late, don’t end our lives with memories of things we didn’t do, but come to the end with a smile on your face as moments, faces and places flash through your mind, fond memories of a life well lived. If you have none as you read this, then it’s never too late to start creating some. Go on that holiday, take time off, spend it with that special someone, do something meaningful for someone else, go the extra mile, make an effort, for memories are made of these.

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Now What?

Now What? We’ve all asked ourselves that question at some point of our lives. Where do I go now? Which direction do I take? What decision should I make now? However you phrase it, it culminates from the mind drawing blanks as to the next course of action.
Where do I go from here? What path do I choose or take? Choosing means having options to consider and the problem is usually deciding on the best option, but what if there are no options, when you look ahead and all you see is darkness, nothing to light the path, not even a hint of a passage. It’s almost like facing a black wall in a room that is pitch dark. What do you do then?
Most people tend to seek advise from the wise who have traveled the path before or simply can advise or provide some form of illumination based on their experiences or knowledge. While doing this may help, it is only a part of the solution. We must also take into consideration human fallibility and realize that the ultimate responsibility for our decisions or directions lies entirely on our own selves. What then? What do I do when faced with this hurdle that blinds the way ahead. Here are 3 steps that can help us in situations like these.

1)Stop and Step Back
This isn’t the same as turn back or give up or run away. Stop and Step Back here simply means taking a step back to look at the chain of events or decisions or purpose that brought you to this point. What was your initial goal? What experience, emotion or ambition drove you in this direction? More often than not we normally start our journey with a clear idea of where we want to end up, with a clear view of the destination, but somehow, along the road we meet with numerous events, incidents or even additional tasks that work to slow us down, sidetrack us or even push us in another direction. After dealing with all these road blocks and speed bump’s on our journey we sometimes end up stopping and asking ourselves, what on earth was I doing here in the first place? Where was I going anyway?

You see, distractions in life or even the overloading of our schedules can easily pull us away from our initial plans and push us in a direction that we never planned to take in the first place, sometimes even without us realizing it.

When you face that wall, take a step back and do what pilot’s call a “mid-flight correction” that is to realign yourself with your initial goal or destination or purpose. Along our journey in life we will constantly be bombarded with things that take us away from our original purpose and plans, we need to look at these events, incidents or “urgencies” and if they do not contribute, benefit or push us towards our goals, purpose, calling or destiny, we must be bold enough to push it aside, say “no” or at the very least delegate it to someone else. This is essential to ensure we are not sabotaged along the way and this will help prevent us from getting lost or blinded along our path.

2) Stop and Ask for Directions
They say that if Columbus asked for directions he would have realized that he had landed in America and not India and maybe today the natives of America would not be called Indians. Like Columbus many of us want to be the masters of our destiny and we want to be able to say that we reached the top of the mountain or reached our goal purely on our own effort and determination. Another word for that is “pride”. Pride is a force that has tremendous destructive capabilities. Nations have gone to war because of pride, Kingdoms have been destroyed because of pride. Pride is also the reason why men are reluctant to go to his fellow man and say “I’m Lost”, “I don’t know what to do next” or simply, “can you help me please”.

Throughout history we read of the achievements of great men, but hidden between the lines are the lives of other men and women who helped these people reached those heights worthy of a mention in our history books and local legends. "No man is an Island" is more that just a overused cliché, it is a universal truth, someone once said, even the Lone Ranger had a sidekick called Tonto to assist and bail him out of the numerous problems he galloped into, therefore he wasn’t really the “Lone” Ranger as the name suggests.

While your destiny is solely yours and cannot be shared by or with anyone, we must also realize that we need people to help us reach our destiny. People who can come along side us and give us that much needed push, subtle nudge, encouragement or even that point in the right direction. Many times when we face that wall and look back we realize that one of the reasons we are at that wall is due to the fact that we never stopped and asked for directions, we never opened our hearts and minds to input from the hearts and minds of others.
Speaking or confiding with the right people along the way will most certainly help us remain focused or even deal with the hurdles along the way. People who have been there before, who are wiser and more experience can all help us keep away from that dead end that we can so easily run into.

3) Stop and Look to a Higher Power
We must come to the realization that our sense of destiny or purpose was put into our hearts by none other that God himself. The Bible says this in Eph 2:9 – “ we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them…”
“Prepared beforehand” simply means that we are pre-destined, our destinies have been determined and prepared by God. Walking our path knowing this truth will make our journey a lot more comfortable. When we realize that we are created by Him for a purpose determined by Him, we realize that He plays and active path in helping us reach that destiny. Though all that is visible is a lone shadow of a lonely traveler, our concern should not be in what is seen but in the Mighty God and all the resources of heaven that is not seen but available to that man who understands and embraces that truth. Sometimes, all the motivation in the world, nor all advise, nor all the reflecting, nor all the people in the world will be able to help you. You have to go to before God and surrender all that you are doing, surrender your agenda and just rest in His presence. There are times when only God can replenish and refresh you and set you off on the right path again.

Stop and Step Back, Stop and ask for Directions and Stop and Look to a Higher Power and we will find that the path ahead becomes a lot more clearer, and we will walk it focused and brimming with confidence.

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Hey You!

There are things that you cannot influence or change, accept them, but for everything else, God made YOU. Let your thoughts evolve into words and action. If something can be done about the situation, YOU can do it. Do not wait for someone to start something when you have all the power within you to become that catalyst for change. All it takes is a drive from within, a push from your spirit, a willingness to be bold, to leave your comfort zone and a desire to make a difference.

You have it all. There are no excuses! Has your mouth been forced shut that words of freedom, liberty, blessing, encouragement and justice cannot come forth? Has your body been maimed that you cannot walk to those places your heart leads you to? to those people that are oppressed, to those suffering women and children whose burdens you desire to lift? Can you not throw your fist in the air to protest the injustices upon the innocent? can you not stretch out your hand in servitude to those in need? Has illiteracy gripped you that you are unable to read about those places and people that you know you can be a blessing to? Are you not able to hold a pen to write your letter of protest to those people in authority?

You are not maimed, you are able bodied, of sound mind and infinite capabilities, so why do you reduce your God destined role on this planet to be one of mere self preservation? Why do you ignore those cries and injustices around you that tug at your heart? Why are you not willing to step out of those “comfort prisons” that you have built around yourselves, preferring to stay within it’s secure walls and finally going to your meaningless end as someone who could have and should have but never had, who wanted to but never did, just a passing memory that will soon fade into the oblivion.

Look at the great men and women whom we read about, speak about, learn about, those people whom have long gone but are still alive and well in our thoughts and memories, those people whom through their tireless, selfless labour have made life for us what it is today. If you enjoy freedom today, it is because someone stepped out of his or her comfort zone and was willing to fight for a cause. If you enjoy your rights today it is because someone allowed the disdain that he or she felt towards the injustices of their time to translate into words and action. If you are a woman and you enjoy your right to work, vote and enjoy those privileges once only available to men it is because of those women who dared to speak up, speak against and make a stand against injustices towards women.

The list can go on and on if I were to write on every benefit you so thoughtlessly enjoy today because of the battles fought and the victories won by people who cared and dared! Do not just read about them, become one of them, never mind if your name will never be penned down in a history book, I assure you there is no greater reward to a human being than knowing that he or she made a difference, be it to a person, a people, a country, all that matters is that YOU could and YOU did.

Let us all break free from those comfort prisons, let our words of protest, of love, of encouragement, of change, become more than just empty talk over restaurant tables. Let your thoughts give power to your words and drive you to action. Become the difference that we need in this world, why? Because YOU CAN!

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Why Bother to Blog?

I often wondered why people bothered to blog, why would anyone bother about what your thoughts are on anything, like their own thoughts aren't more than enough to keep them occupied all day long.

We get "check out my blog" messages all the time and we read stuff like "hi, it's monday, took a longer dump than usual...yada,yada..yada.." and we're supposed to go like, wow, cool!

Anyway, here's my take on it, we were originally created to last for eternity, we were destined for immortality but through the fall of man, Gods original plan for us was sabotaged by the dark side, well, God being God turned things around at the end and somehow restored us to our rightfull place in His original plan for us. Well thats a whole different story all together, but anyway, my point is, Humans (you and me) have an innate desire for immortality, simply because we were originally wired for eternal existence and purposes. However, because we are now faced with the inevitable, what we believe is our ultimate end, we try to satisfy that thirst for immortality by leaving behind a bit of ourselves, what we believe will live on even though we have passed on. Men of old documented their thoughts, experiences, passions in cave writings, scrolls and books, in the form of art, epistles, poetry and stories, and by doing so they avoided what they believed to be their ultimate end and have made themselves immortal, for although they have long passed, they live on in the hearts and minds of those who bother to read and share their memoirs.

Today, like the people of old we too are driven by a subtle thirst for immortality, and blogging in some way allows us to frame a thought, an experience, a moment of our lives, and nail it on the walls of eternity, and someday, somewhere, someone will find these pages of our lives and we too will live on!

Hence...welcome to my Blog! This is my first entry :-)

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