The world is beautiful! – 17 April 2009 (Chrisna)

Jesus is alive! That is what we celebrated during Easter and every day thereafter. He not only died on the Cross for my sins, but also arose from the dead! During our time of celebration at Hillsong Church, we sang: "The same power that conquered death, lives in me. The same love that rescued the world, lives in me." That is such an awesome fact…we simply have to live it in obedience!

We departed for New Zealand on Monday, 13 April. We live in a barn (we are not horses, but very blessed people) . We are fortunate to stay on the small farm of the Harpers, outside of Auckland, in a barn which was changed into a house. It is cosy and peaceful.

New Zealand is a very beautiful country. Where ever you look, there is water or green hills. In the begining it almost felt as if more and different beauty would be just too much, that I cannot absorb more, but God gives capacity to be able to continue to enjoy and appreciate. It is as if God gives fresh hunger to see and experience and learn in each new country. We know that our tour is definitely not over, that we still need to see and learn more. The wonder is that the learning goes together with pure enjoyment.

We've been in London, France, Switzerland, Germany, Thailand, Singapore, Australia and now New Zealand. The beauty and diversity of the world, of creation, continues to amaze me.The fact that creation is still continuing, is awesome .God surely is creative! The wonderful thing is that when we start to know the people of each country better, one surely sees that man is the crown of God's creation! What a blessing to spend time with the people that cross our path, it's so precious…

As we travel, we see that it will be easy to live in many different places. There are so many places in this world where a family will have a wonderful life. I meditated about this the past 2 weeks and wondered how one (if you can choose) determines where you live. The obvious things to go by are: "Where is my family?" "What is my culture?" "What and where is my job?" Another question that I've realized is an important one to answer, is: "where will my family be save(as far as I can control it)" If you've sorted that out, it still leaves a vast amount of places to choose from. I came to the point where I've realized that knowing where to live boils down to 2 things:

1. Do you understand the Great Exchange? Jesus gave His life for me, my reaction is: "how and where can I serve Him?"
   
2. Do you know your purpose in life? What is it that you were made to do?(your calling)
   

You see, if you can answer those 2 questions, you know that you can ask God where it is that you must be salt, to help bring out the real taste of life and to be light, to bring out the true colours of this life! Then you live there, you live life to the full, you are content and you know: "I am at the right place for a time such as this." That brings Peace (not the place where you are).

I realized that patriotism has very little to do with your choice, that is if you come to a point where you feel that you must make such a choice. Another thing I've come to realize is that one may never judge any person/family, should they make the choice to move. One can rather help them to make sure that they know they are in God's Will. And the last realization concerning this issue was that, even if you've made your choice on your own, you can still turn back to God and ask Him, in your new country, "where and how do you want me to make a difference?"

As we traveled through many different continents, countries and cities, I surely know: there is nothing like the local church, if the local church is working right AND that a person should belong to a church, a family. That is the starting point of living out your purpose(doesn't matter in which continent you are.)

We are scheduled to leave NZ in 5 days time. We've seen the white beaches and the black beaches, we've seen the green hills and the sea with scattered islands, surrounding us. We trust we will still see much more and the van Wyks (Enid and Vernon) We look forward to it.

We know: for now, we are at the right place. We have Peace and Joy and lots of it!

Thank you Jesus.

Thank you to our heroes back home – 19/04/09 (Dawie)

To travel the world for close to a year, you need a few heroes in your life. It's the same with everything in life. Like a good sports team (or business, government or church) more than just the players on the field are important. The support team is crucial and it is often these people who really make the difference.

That is why I would like to dedicate this blog post to those heroes back home…those who really make the difference!

Those who know me will be familiar with my view of Jesus' relationships. He had the crowds, the 72, the 12, the 3 and the Father.

Thank you to the crowds:

Thank you to each and everyone who pray for us, who carry extra responsibility because we are away and who support in whichever way - including the teams within our family, our church, in transformation ("T"), in Turn the Tide("TTT"), in Rock Lodge & Rock Ministries("RL"), in Trip, in African Leadership Institute ("ALI"), at WHS, etc. - but who are not separately mentioned in this blog.

Thank you to the 72 and the 12:

Iain Erasmus for his leadership and spirit filled management of ALI

Herbert Burmeister for faithfully and successfully managing the RL

Piet du Plooy for his exceptional dedication towards Trip, myself and our family

Tinie Johr for her loyalty in managing TTT as an effective unit

Paul Smit in the professional manner he chairs ALI's board (and the responsibilities attached to it)

Andre & Hanria Fourie for lovingly looking after our family "business"

Luitha von Gericke for her unmatchable servanthood and love

Renata Solomons for professionally running the ALI office (and our personal affairs) in Whk

Gideon & Louise Potgieter for their unique demonstration of support and love

Bertus Gous for his commitment towards the training of principals and inspectors through ALI

Louis en Rinette van der Riet for making the difference where it is most needed

Albert Strydom for carrying us and our dreams very deep in his heart

Ilsje du Plooy for (amongst many other things) providing financial management info of all ministries so timely

Serge Solomons for his support to Iain and Herbert (but also as lecturer and board member)

Immanuel Dumeni for filling my shoes at board level and as lecturer

Dr Goody and Stephan Nell for carrying extra loads as lecturers

Esmarie Nel for her most effective administrative support to ALI at the RL

Petrus Anton for taking on more responsibilities on RL

Gerson, Katrina, Nerine, and Altino for their support to Anton/Herbert/Iain and loyalty towards me

Neeltjie van Vuuren for the difference she makes in STEP, marketing activities, youth ministry, RL

Melanie Julius for sorting out all the TTT coffee shop challenges

Nangula & Lazarus Uaandja for their friendship and valuable contributions (financially and at board level)

Schalk Walters, Theo Claassen, Stefan Hugo for their friendship & financial support

Fritz Weinrebe for website and software support

Pierre Joubert for IT and so many other practical acts of service that make a difference

Louis & Theresé Conradie for being the "extentions of our arms"

Roland & Denise Engel for building the church and serving there where God is working already

Stephan & Caryn Feldmann for their support to Roland

Chris & Elna de Jager for love and acts of servanthood

Ronel & Japie van Vuuren for their prayers and prophetic hands and voice

Nangula Kathindi, Patric Brits, Sackey Aipengi, Sakkie Kaulinge, Zack Pienaar, Lee Helling for their wisdom at board level

Renier, Liart, Gideon, Willem for their prayer support

Lynn Nederloff for all the travel arrangements and caring

Rodrick Engelbrecht for his exceptional support to Piet and Trip

Gert Burmeister for his true friendship and being a special partner in RL

Martin, Betsie and Herbie for being such unique partners for Chrisna

Martin de Man, Cathy Reyneke and Marina Diedericks for looking after Chrisna's patients (344 Ind Ave rooms)

Luitha's support team (Hetta, Urtha, Christine, Lina, Suzette)

Johan Swanepoel and Eric Knouwds for providing long-term "tentmaking income"

Basie Buitendag and Christo Davids for being so much more than financial advisors

Tony Edmunds (Pointbreak) and Ockert Zeelie (Bank Whk) for looking after our investments and banking activities

Faffa Knoetze, Dirkie van der Spuy, Cassie Carstens, Claude Moller, Johan Deysel for wisdom and adding value to my live

Piet Coetzee, Jaco Venter and Ernst Coetzee for looking after the development of my 36 sons (WHS u/15 rugby team)

Frans van Sittert, Wikkie Hough and Suzette van Vuuren at WHS for building the Nation and their support to Charlie

Thank you to the 3:

To those closest to us, the 3 (they were mentioned above and they will know who they are), a special word of appreciation, thanks and love: "Your reward is in heaven!"

In conclusion:

For we, as the players on the world tour, the experience is beyond the expression of words. We honour our Heavenly Father, who through you all made it possible for us to experience such a blessing on this side of the grave.

Ps 16:5-7 (NIV)
⁵ Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. ⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. ⁷ I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.