I was not a very good student at varsity. Amongst others, I managed to cram my three-year BA degree into five years, especially because studying was not my best subject. I did all I could: Managed a restaurant; drove buses for Intercape; ran my own irrigation company – and these don’t even include my social […]
Read moreThere’s a song by Michael W Smith that I remember from my varsity days: Love one another. Just listen to these beautiful lyrics: I had a dream that I was speaking With a prophet from the land of wise In a crowd of people from the land of troubled hearts I said we’ve come here […]
Read moreI remember the time I was working at the factory. Early in the morning, when I couldn’t sleep, I would start praying for all the people who worked with me. I couldn’t even remember all of their names, but then I would refer to those six men who took the products out of the molds, […]
Read moreMarina (not her real name) wrote to me in an e-mail: The time is 23:30 and I’m reading that piece about the clutch slipping. Thank you for this piece. It’s precisely where I was … slipping off the road, because I was sulking. It felt to me as if the Lord did not hear me and […]
Read moreI watched a Facebook film on how the disciples died. Peter was crucified upside down. Andrew and Philips were also crucified. Thomas and Matthew were stabbed with a spear. Luke was hanged. Mark died after being dragged by horses through the streets. John was boiled in oil but survived. He was the only disciple who […]
Read moreLife is not just moonshine and roses. All of us experience this first hand and in person nearly every day of our lives. What do parents hold onto when their four-month-old baby boy is no longer there lying in his crib? Their home has collapsed. For a long time, I simply sat with them at […]
Read moreWhen I was in the army, it was hard. I was part of the Mech Infantry Unit and big operations in which the enemy was attacked with a lot of force occurred regularly. Major energy was spent on planning these operations. Every division had to do specific tasks and everybody had to work together to […]
Read moreSince I started writing about 1 Thessalonians, I’ve used the word ‘hardship’ quite a lot. Hardship and suffering was a reality in the lives of these new Christians. And we have said often: If you are serious about the things of God, there will be hard times ahead. Things don’t always go well. There will […]
Read moreLife happens all the time and not always with some light background music. When we look back over our lives, each of us has a story to tell. Sometimes about the hard times. Sometimes about times when we nearly or completely lost the way. Life happens. Often hard times strike because of a stupid decision […]
Read moreOne of the most difficult appointments I had to do in business was to appoint reps. Those guys who have to go out into the world to sell your product. They must be hugely excited about your product so that they can persuade others to be just as excited and buy your product. It is […]
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