What the tour has taught me...France (Tinus)

I am content…

I'm sitting at the dining room table on a leather chair in our temporary home in Palm Springs, California. It is very hot and the air-conditioner is not all that effective, but hey, I'm still Namibian…who's afraid of 35 ºC! And what's more, you've guessed it, my steaming cup of strong, bitter, white coffee is close at hand.

So, I'm content and would love to continue sharing what the tour has taught me. If you have not read my post on what London taught me, please do so first.

 

France

All is not as it seems, so use the right sense

 

Have you ever felt that God is far? Ever felt alone and dry? Has God ever been silent in your life? Have you ever felt that nobody loves you or that you are being taken advantage of?

Have you ever thought what the disciples might have felt like on the Saturday after Good Friday? Remember that to them it was NOT Good Friday! Their Rabbi had just been murdered! Treated as a criminal! He said he would build his church and that the gates of Hell will shatter and then … and then He died!

Come on! They spent the last 3 years of their life with Him and now He is dead!

Remember that that Saturday was a Sabbath. In other words they may not have done work. All they could do is sit at home and wonder. get lost in the lightless void that had engulfed and crammed their very being! Remember also that they did not know that He would be alive the next day.

That was a horrible day. A Silent Saturday.

Have you ever experienced a Silent Saturday?

I did in France and this is what God finally told me:

Look at the snow. By looking at it and seeing it is white you might deduce that it is cold. Agree? You may even remember your past experiences with snow or what someone has told you about it and so gather that it must be cold. Correct? But isn’t touching it the best way to know whether it is cold or not?

Is anyone reading that and going "huh"?

Well, the idea is that to know a specific thing, specific senses must be used. You cannot know the color of something by feeling it. Nor listen to music with your tongue. A scientist cannot measure temperature with only a ruler. (By the way, Palm Springs isn’t getting cooler!)

The bottom line is that you have to use the correct sense in a situation.

So what then is the correct sense in regard to spiritual things? Well, I believe it is faith!

Before anyone simply dismisses this reality with something like: "Oh yeah, faith, that makes sense. I believe in Jesus so I must be sorted. Next!" like I did for so many years when I heard that commonly referred to word…allow me to share my simple view on faith. (And the more I learn about it, the cooler it gets and the more I realize I can still learn about it!)

In William Young's "The Shack" (you really must read it if you haven't), the Holy Spirit says that God created things as living verbs. He calls himself "I Am," which is a form of the most basic and profound verb "To Be" or just "Be". (More on this in a while…)

We humans have taken those living verbs and turned them into lifeless nouns. (Read more on this in The Shack)

I thus thought about faith in this matter. What verb best describes faith?

To know the truth and be absolutely sure about it!

To believe God and to trust Him.

These are some undeniable truths:

The Father, Jesus and the Spirit Loves you

They all like you

Nothing you do or do not do can make Them love you more or less

They want to spend eternity with you

You are going to live forever (where you live forever is up to you)

They know what's best for you

They are Good and want what is best for you (They want you to be happy in the long run!)

They created heaven and earth

Jesus was born as a little human baby in Bethlehem

He died on a cross on Calvary in Jerusalem

His death can cleanse all your past sins (if you confess them)

His death can furthermore give you the ability to not sin again (if you let Him live through you)

The Bible is true

God promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you!

What else do you believe? I encourage you to make a list with scripture references if you can.

If it seems that God is far. Or that you are not loved. If you find that you are in a Silent Saturday. Use the sense of Faith.

There is so much more to say on both faith and the concept of a Silent Saturday, but more wil follow in another post. (The Silent Saturday was one of the topics covered at Hillsong during Easter)

Allow me to conclude this post with a story also told at Hillsong over Easter. Remember that God planted this seed about a "Silent Saturday" in my heart in France.

Well, the story happens in France, many years ago. It was the final battle of the Napoleonic war between England and the French at Waterloo. Those that know the history will know that Wellington, commander of the English army, overthrew Napoleon. After the battle, the English soldiers wanted to send word to England. They sent the message "Wellington defeated Napoleon!"

That is not what reached those anxiously awaiting word in Great Britain, however. All they could make out was "Wellington defeated"

Imagine the utter devastation and disappointment that gripped the hearts of all who heard the news. Their loved ones are dead. They themselves will soon be captured. All is lost…

But, all was not as it seemed, was it? The truth, whether they knew it or not was that they were the victors! Wellington defeated Napoleon!!!

All is not as it seems, so use the right sense.

Orcieres, Southern-France 14/01/09 (Dawie)

On the 12th, Charlie and I tried to catch a bus from Orcieres to Gap (France) to rent a car, but the bus was only scheduled to depart at 15:00. This would give us only a few minutes to negotiate a good deal for a car-hire. Chrisna suggested we hike.

Tinus and Dawie J went to ski for the whole day. Chrisna packed. We hiked.

The Lord provided us a lift and favorable negotiations for a very special car at a very good price (thanks to Gielie van Zyl and Annemarie van der Riet, my Avis Presidents Club card has powerful influence).

Yesterday we traveled from Orcieres, through Geneva, to a wonderful villa very high in the Swiss Alps. The cabin is small, but luxurious and very comfortable. (It is part of Chrisna’s Home Exchange efforts and does not cost us a cent.) We all have a desk to work at and today, we’ll plan the “working part” of our world wide tour.

We read John 2, discussed it and prayed together. The depth and insight of the discussion was so special. The Lord, through the powerful work of His Spirit, is doing something very special in our spirits (individually and as a family).

In two weeks, I have already read three books:
The Latent Power of the Soul by Watchman Nee
The Shack by William Young
Genesis by Moses

All of them being world-class books that fed my spirit.

I do not have words to thank our Heavenly Father for the privilege we may have for this special year.

Orcieres, Southern-France 11/01/09 (Dawie)

It was a very special Sunday in the “Alps/France”. We rested, had church as a family and read from John 1. Discussed John the Baptist’s calling and execution there of thoroughly and prayed together.

In my mind I always felt John the Baptist “ prepared the way for Jesus”. This morning it was clear how he did it:
1. Breach the knowledge gap from the OT (400 years of silence) to the NT.
2. Preached the Gospel (the good news about Jesus)
3. Baptised people
4. Prepared/trained Jesus’ first two disciples.
5. Identified and confirmed Jesus Christ’s identity.

His role cannot be underplayed. He was focused and completed his calling like David did (Act 13:36)

Tomorrow Charlie and I will take a bus to Gap and try to find a car for us for the next 33 days we will be in Switzerland and Germany.

Same place 09/01/09 (Dawie J)

The snow is beautiful and ski is a wonderful experience. The snow is very soft: I should know because I fell in it quite often! Ski is my favorite winter sport(rugby is my overall favorite sport.) Yesterday was the last ski day, now we have “rest days”(ski is too expensive to ski every day)

Orcieres , Southern-France 09/01/09 (Chrisna)

You know this rhyme:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…..
And the king and his men could do nothing!
Problem: they went to the wrong king!

Here’s our rhyme:
Charlie went down a slope at the speed of light
A speed that will give you a fright!
He hit in the snow a hump
He fell and his head got a BUMP.
With this fall he suffered memory loss,
Didn’t even remembered the du Plooys were with us!
Didn’t know we were in France
Although at the snowy mountains he glance.
He had a severe pain in the head
And he was put to bed.
Then we took him to the King,
The King of kings, Who touched him and healed him!!
We praise God!!

Is 35 promise us that He will make us a road where there are no lions. God is faithful.

Orcieres, Southern-France 08/01/09 (Dawie)

I still believe that one of God’s very specific strategies was the family. This is undoubtedly a part of “church” that we have neglected in the past 50 years.
A friend of mine on a question:” How will we change Africa?”, answered:”one by one”
I want to add” family by family”.

As parent I am convinced that I should be more deliberate to invest in my children individually. All 3 boys are so completely different. They need attention in the group, but most definitely also individually.

I am deep under the impression that Chrisna and I have a unique privilege to live so close to Tinus, Charlie and Dawie J for 40 weeks while we are travelling the world. We realize that it brings huge responsibilities as well.

Even in Jesus deepest time of pain and despair He demonstrated the importance of family.(John 19:26-27 :” When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved nearby, he said to His mother, ”Dear woman here is your son” and to the disciple “Here is your mother”. From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”)

Orsieres, France, 5 January 2009 (Dawie)

We spent 3 wonderful days in London, saw many things and places, many people and even for a short while a piece of blue sky! We flew from Heathrow. London to Paris on 3 Jan 09, 06h15. Tinus had the time wrong and we ended up arriving on Heathrow 30 minutes before departure of the plane. Through God’s Grace, although impossible, we still made it to the plane and to Paris!(without Dawie J’s bag – still trusting that British Airway will come deliver it) We had the 1 (very cold day) in Paris and went to Notre Dam, the Eiffel in day time as well as after dark and to the Arc de Triomf. We had time to sit in Coffee shops and share 1 pizza between the 5 of us(if you say x 15, things are SO expensive!)

If you are willing to walk a lot and visit the places where no entry is charged, you can have fantastic days in these 2 world cities! Praise God for good health.

We left Paris at 22h00 per train, went through the night and arrived at Gap, in the south of France at 7h00 on 4 Jan 09, where Piet du Plooy came to fetch us at the station. The past 2 days we spent skiing! What a privilege. Praise God!

Thank you God for who You are, FOR Your Love and Care. I praise you for the way Tinus serve us, could get good deals on the travelling expenses and the great attitudes of the whole family. We celebrated Piet and Ilsjes 17th wedding anniversary on 4/1/09 – so special. Ouma phoned, she’s in Cape Town and doing fine – thank you God for that.
As Namibia and her people is getting ready for 2009, we ask: Please bless them oh Lord, especially You’re soldiers. In the Name of Jesus.