REDEEMED PIONEER

  I was afforded the exciting opportunity to preach at my church’s English evening service this past Sunday.    It was an awesome privilege for which I am profoundly grateful to the leadership of my beloved  Pellissier Gemeente  for.    I have been a part of this church for just over three years now, and unlike the anointed  dominees  (ministers) of my church who are also gifted preachers, I do not possess an advanced degree in Theology.    For that matter, I can correctly spell Theology-related terms such as hermeneutics, homeletics, apologetics, eschatology, liturgy, etc, but I have no formal training in any field related to Theology.  Truth be told, during my preparation, I struggled with the concept of being worthy enough to represent the Lord so directly in bringing His message to His people, because for a great deal of the time, my life simply fails to display my deep love for the Lord or my desire to serve Him fervently.    During a recent preach, a very dear friend of mine used

  He knew, ahead of time, that He would pay with His Life for ALL the unspeakable evil in this world….AND HE DID IT ANYWAY. Two weeks ago I posted  ONVOORWAARDELIKE LIEFDE DEUR ONBESKRYFLIKE LYDING (UNCONDITIONAL LOVE THROUGH INDESCRIBABLE SUFFERING), a reflection of a journey I undertook last year to discover the details of Jesus’ crucifixion on my Afrikaans blog,  VrygekoopteBaanbreker.     I translated portions of that for use in this reflection.    Truth be told, I was left dumbstruck last year.    The diabolical level of sadism with which Jesus was slaughtered, silenced me into mute heartbreak.    After Easter weekend, I wrote the following words on a blank page, How on earth did this, what appears to be, oxymoronic schizophrenic-like turn of events take place?    How did these people go from selfless acts of righteous worship on Palm Sunday to becoming a reckless mob of bloodthirsty murderous savages on Good Friday, hellbent on self-righteous vengeance? I decided to continue my j

  ”In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.“ ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Dearest little Stitch Today you are a tiny six-week-one-day-old embryo hidden deep within your mommy’s womb, but you have already overcome almost insurmountable odds.    For at least a week now, your mommy has been experiencing cramps and bleeding, and when the pregnancy hormone hCG in her blood took a nosedive yesterday, your chances of surviving until today were determined to be, at best, 10% (1 out of 10).    However, this morning the unthinkable happened, your mommy’s hCG increased by 3,000 units, her bleeding ceased and the ultrasound showed that you are still unharmed.    Your mommy’s doctor revealed that, from today’s evidence, you have indeed defied a 99% chance of miscarriage and not 90% as originally estimated.  I am so incredibly overwhelmed with joyful gratitude to the Lord for your life.    I write this letter to you as an introduction and it will be available on

Anybody who has ever had to undergo any kind of operation or procedure knows that an operating theatre is a cold, clinical, and sterile place.    The absence of both warmth and a feeling of safety is more than enough to unsettle even the most confident patient.     But what happens when the blood in the veins of the warm-blooded people (theatre staff) runs as icy cold as the stainless steel around them?     They now have the ability not only to make precision incisions into outer body parts with scalpels, but also to slash gashes into inner dignity with indifferent disrespect.     Before anesthesia, all patients are vulnerable and exposed, and depending on the invasive/intrusive nature of the operation or procedure, they could well be powerlessly subjected to the possible violation of their deepest hidden fear of having their nudity shamelessly exposed.     This can cause indescribable trauma and unlock complex emotions, especially for fragile, previously-traumatized individuals.     P