P U S H

A cool morning breeze sweeps into my room through the open window and gently caresses my face. I get up from my bed and cover my eyes as the first rays of the sun brighten up my face. I draw open my curtains and something inside me just wants to inhale the fresh air. Two birds fly by chasing each other in what seems to be a fight. Could it be that, the early bird caught the first worm and now has to defend it from other late wakers??
The clouds are dark, pregnant with water and anytime they might empty themselves upon this our small town. The rays breaking through the clouds paint a heavenly picture in my mind. When He returns, will it be as beautiful as today, What is He saying to me through such a beautiful morning, questions start whirling up in my “workshop”.

I can here my niece stomping her feet in another room. ( Her language of not wanting the maid to comb her hair ) I smile, as I recall the many languages that she has managed to introduce to us. Schools open today and in this day she is one of the many “victims”. Its her first day at school, her first day in the first grade. She is all excited and she runs past me just as Taz does when he goes wild.
Its her beginning something that would alter the course of her “river”. She has started something that will take her ages to complete. Many have dropped out from school and I pray that she might to be caught up in the same web years down the line. She has to push on, hold on, strive and not lose her wits. Definitely it will get a bit nasty, but the sun always rises in the morning.

P U S H, is what my friend told me. Pray Until Something Happens. Have at it and have it. Stick to it and succeed; a strong job can be managed by a strong resolution. Till a thing is done, men wonder that you think it can be done, and when you have done it, they wonder why it was never done before. Know your business and give your mind to it.
He is a sorry dog who wants game and will not hunt for it: let us never lie down in idle despair, but follow on till we succeed.
Rome was not build in a day, unless it be a dog-kennel. Perseverance is one of the main things in life. To hold on, and hold out to the end, is the chief matter.
Persevere, say I to you.

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One Happy People

here are some of the shots taken at a summer retreat camp at Lake Chivero, where over 200 youth were in attendance.
The praise and worship was awesome and the Presence of God was magnificent.

I can only imagine what worship will be like in heaven, when i am together with all my brothers and sisters from all four corners of the earth.

Truly we are and we will be "One Happy People"

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Some Things I Know ( part 1)

shot taken by Traver Mudzonga

Every man in public life, every speaker who takes to the rostrum, every preacher who mounts the pulpit has certain reticences.
The modern preacher hesitates to inject personalities into his preaching. He is reticent about using illustrations out of his own experiences or that of his congregation.

But the apostolic preachers and writers observed no such restraints. Their sermons were full of their own experiences.
“ What we have seen and heard, declare we unto you ”, they said. They never tired of telling what the Lord had done for them…..
In simple telling, there was power –sheer power.

This power that made them different, they said, was available to anyone who would believe.
Sins could be forgiven; Christ could come into human life to change natures and dispositions….
To change moods and tempers….
To banish fear and worries…
To remove shame and guilt….
To provide a new dynamic, a new purpose in life….
A new joy and a peace that nothing could destroy.

It was exciting news.
People listened to it.
They did not always agree with the apostles, sometimes there were riots and bloodshed.
We modern Christians are remarkably frank about some things and strangely reticent about others. The trouble is that we are frank about the things that were better left unsaid and silent about the things worth discussing and sharing.

We do not seem to have any great faith these days –in God and His Power. We seem to have little faith in the availability of the Holy Spirit – The Helper – in our daily lives. We have no great convictions
No great passions
No great causes.

Lately I have had a feeling of compulsion to tell a bit of my own story and the convictions growing out of it. I do not know why it was laid on my heart and I do not need to know. For did not Christ say, “Go home and tell thy friends what greast things the Lord has done for thee”?

When a person can say, “I know Whom I have believed”….when he can say: “I know that prayer changes things”, he has done more to instill faith in other hearts than all the arguments since the world began.

What do I know out of the crucible of my own experience?
I know that Christ is alive, and personal, and real and closer than we think.
I have met Him.
I

have felt His presence.

I have seen the changes He can make in me…..in lifting a mood, in taking away despair, or frustrations, in melting my pride, in getting me to do the right thing when I preferred to do the wrong thing.

I know that I am a Christian
Now upon this point, there need be, and indeed can be no doubt or hesitation.
One either is a Christian or not.
One either is a believer or not.
There is no middle ground or compromise or indecision.

When someone asks you if you are married, there is no doubt or uncertainty.
You either are or you are not.
You are in no doubt concerning your citizenship.

So, it is not humility or piety to say that you are “trying to be a christian”……You either are or not.

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Some Things I Know ( part 2 )

Most of the latest discoveries have made war more terrible, and while they have given us many conveniences and comforts, they have made life more complicated, peace more difficult and the human heart more troubled.
Undoubtedly we have improved means but unfortunately, we have not improved ends.
We have better ways of getting there, But we have no better places to go. We can save more time, but we are not making any better use of the time that we save.

Anyone of you can agree with me that we have made far more advances in the scientific world than we have made in the world of morals and ethics.
Spiritually, we have not kept with our progress in the realm of sciences and invention.
If great advances have been made in the realm of the spirit, then either they have not been reported or publicized, or we have chosen to ignore them….else we are forced to the conclusion that they have not been made at all.

We hang on every word reporting the doings of the atomic scientists. We are aware of them and their work.
We lap up every word describing new inventions, and we eagerly discuss and examine pictures of the new inventions, weapons, automobiles and gadgets.

Why is it that we have so little interest in spiritual discoveries – new discoveries of God
Of God working in His world
Of God dealing with His people???????

Why is it that we are so little curious about the discovery of new techniques for living and new ideas that would make for our happiness and the peace of the world???
The scientists have forged far ahead. What they have invented and provided for us has out-stripped our moral character, our spiritual quality, and our religious faith.

But why are there so few spiritual discoveries to match the progress made by science?????
The answer lies in a lack of researchers!!!!!!

Men have been willing to let mosquitoes bite them in the interests of science and human welfare.
How many are willing to give themselves away to take risks in spiritual research?

We cannot do much for the world, until, first of all, we have done something within ourselves.
The longer an orchestra plays, the more it needs to be tuned up.
The further an aeroplane flies, the more it requires ground service to put it into shape again.

But here we are. We have money, we are well-clothed, we are comfortably housed, we have cars….and all the latest gadgets in our homes. But we are spiritually undernourished.
We have neglected spiritual food. Without spiritual exercise, our souls are soft and flabby. The temptation is powerful to become so obsessed with the urgent, brutal facts of the immediate world that faith in the Christ and His way of living becomes like a lovely impractical dream, a pious hope, a frail illusion.
But remember how that lovely dream started in a world mastered by military empire and filled by the thundering tramp of Caesar’s armies, a dream shared by a handful of simple folk. This little group, believing in a spiritual message, accepted the tension of living in two violently antagonistic worlds- ROME’S and CHRIST’S.

The challenge today, pointed and heated by the atomic bomb, is a challenge to spiritual research.

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Scatter and Increase

At a Prize Giving Day with some kids from THE GOOD SHERPARD ORPHANAGE

While so many poor neighbors are around us, it is a sin to hoard. If we do, we shall be losers, for rats eat corn, rust cankers metal, and the curse of God spoils riches. A tight fist is most likely to get the rheumatism, an open hand surely bears the palm.
It is good to give a part to sweeten the rest.
John Bunyan said,
“There was a man, and some did count him mad,
The more he gave away, the more he had.”

I say to you, “Give and spend, And God will send.”
Generous souls are made happy by the happiness of others: the money that they give to the poor buys them more pleasure than any other that they lay out.
What say you, Mr. Reader, to cut a few dollars out of your heap, and send them to help feed the orphans??????????

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A Prayer For World Love

Eternal Father, with so much bitterness abroad in the world – this poor bleeding world, stumbling from blunder to blunder, hollow with graves, hard with hate – may we who own the name of Christ, shed abroad Your Love.
We pray for a deeper vision of the needs of all mankind, and a deeper compassion to fill those needs; for a planting of the seeds of concern for all humanity in our hearts; for a tapping of the wells of generosity.
Help us to live together as people who have been forgiven a great debt.
Help us to be gentle, walking softly with one another.
Help us to be understanding, lest we shall add to the world’s sorrow or cause to flow one needless tear.
Help us to stand for what is right.
help us to be eager to forgive others as we are to seek forgiveness.
Help us to know no barriers of creed or race, that our love may be like Yours.

God help us to be ministers of mercy and ambassadors of kindness for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

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Stand

A summer thunderstorm. Lightning streaks through a cloudburst. Two cyclists are pedalling as quickly as they can down my street. They are soaked through and through. The thunderstorm rages on. The air becomes very cold. Its now exactly a week into the New Year and nothing seems to be new in Zim……
Here in Zim, many people fear for their jobs and worry about how they are going to provide for their families. Our whole system, entire way of life, has fallen apart in such a short time.
Let me explain, the people here are diligent workers. In the past, when our currency was stable, though people earned low wages, through their diligence many managed to save enough to buy a car.
Suddenly everything changed.
The Zim dollar fell dramatically, and at the end of its downward spiral, the people were no longer able to even buy a car that they had saved for – in fact, they were lucky to be able to afford the basic commodities with their savings.
Suddenly, they found themselves completely without means and on top of all that, they had to find their way through tense political and economic circumstances.
Some have never quite been able to cope with all these changes, so they have fled to other countries. You must not forget: no one receives unemployement insuarance payments, and there are no social benefits. Beyond that, people have to pay for their own medical expences..
These problems we face today. However, The appetite for God’s Word has not been diminished as one would expect neither has it been eclipsed by other cares. There is a massive hunger for God’s Word and true worship.

I am reminded of a familiar passage written by Paul. In Ephesians 6 verse 13 to 18 he says; “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, tha ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith ,where with, ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…”

Let us put all these to work. With this armour we will be able to win the battle. And because we must put on this armour ourselves, I would like to say: let’s do so gladly.
Just think of all that can be accomplished with this armour..
Faith leads to righteousness
Love leads to loyalty and fulfillment
Hope enables us to be patient
Zeal brings us divine success
The fear of God brings us wisdom
Prayer gives us security and peace in the soul
Offering brings us the fullness of blessings
And the Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit will help us in winning the battle.

Therefore let us do as Paul recommended to the Romans. Let us grasp the strength, light, and life that lie in The Word. Let us take on the heavenly substance for our future patrh of faith………

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