The Latter iz Greater

Ya Fambz,

it's about time i sign in again and speak to you. Let's get all the formalities out the way first though - how you been, wut u up to, ndiepi, lei ho ma (sp?). Me? I'm grand by God's great grace!

I was hugely blessed by a visitation from Dad and Phil a couple of weeks back. They were here for only a week but it was incredible to reconnect and our time was so fruitful. They were here on personal business which required a lot of meetings, etc. and God gave us the grace to accomplish what most human beings should only be able to do in a month! haha, it was great.

Last week i took time out, for the first time in my life i realized i needed a holiday. You know before holidays were fun family trips - a luxury so to speak. Now, i know the meaning of getting away to get refreshed! It was good time, didn't relocate but just did my own thing - no time requirements, no early mornings and a lot of music.

I feel that i'm moving into a new season. This season has many dimensions. Firstly, i'm stepping away from facilitating the Intern program at AE. This means i plan to be at AE 2 or 3 days a week during which i'll only focus on the Film Fest. Secondly, it's time to get down with music - i feel that it's a time of release in that area of my life. I feel i'm called to that and i have been for a minute but now i'm ready to make more moves. Pray for me there. Thirdly, i'm still in the community and working with different types of people - esp. Zimbabwean refugees. I want to take that further and tie that up with the music... i'll explain more as it unfolds. Fourthly, there's a young afro-dread in the happenings.......

Yup, that's wut it is for now. Okay, stay chuned!

BLessd

Yo Famz,
tnx for the encouraging words and blesses. Tings here are moving well by God's great grace. The AE Int Film Fest is coming along, made some really good contacts yesterday. I'm trusting God to open wide the doors of funding!

THere is a gentleman by the name of Bryce Anderson who fellowships at our church, except he's always on the road and so we hardly see him. He is a prolific musician and this year won Best R&B Album from the prestigious South African Music Awards - hype eh? His album is called Undescribable. He came through with his band this past weekend and helped us out with worship and our church choir. They're nyyyyce! Looks like i'm gonna have the opportunity to do some work with them, looking forward to that.

And that's wut it is. Every blessing! Luv

Do you need some of dat? Me 2.

Well i been stupid busy as per usual, actually trying to slow down a bit cuz in fact there's more i want to do! I'm relearning the whole thing of putting God first, Family next and Work after. It's a big release attempting that balance but someone once said that balance is trying to hold a tray of glasses steady on the shifting deck of a boat - you never really arrive.

Ya, well nuff a gwan.....but most recently something pretty amazing happened. My passport expired yesterday and South African visa expired early in May. i couldn't apply for another visa until i had received my passport back and i only realized the visa expiry date......after the expiry date. So i was in a tight situation and getting kinda stressed out but all the while doing my best to trust Him and leave it in His hands. Well i got my passport to the Canadian High Commission only to realize that i needed my citizenship card which i had lost. So i now had to apply for a new citizenship card all the while my visa had expired (thick eh?). But i have to say the Canadian High Commission was really good - it takes months to get a new citizenship card so as soon as i applied for it they began processing my passport and had it to Canada and back in about 2 weeks!

Next ting was SA Home Affairs. I needed to somehow get them to extend my visa so that i wouldn't have to take any expensive and inconvenient trips across borders, etc. On my first trip there with a letter of motivation from AE's Team Leader, Uncle Gregs, dude told me i had to go back home without reading the letter! ANyway, on my way out this guy from the UK gave me a "pssst" and furtively motioned me over - fraudlent visa's? fake passports? nope! he told me you just need to pay a fine when leaving the country.

Anway, i ended up going in with a colleague who does a lot of ministry in Home Affairs and after a conversation with a lady we had the way forward. I went in this past Tuesday morning and they gave me my visa right there and then - no fees, no photographs, no applications - all praises to Him who sits on the throne!

keep blessed!

Check this lynx from a local zoo sort of joint, kept hissing at me!

For our Mothers.....

Mothers of Revolution you offered us solutions
pain in cracked palms, the tears, death, the nuisance
you grew thin so your seeds grew straight
the legacy you are can never be erased
you have struck a rock that will not be effaced!

April Showers

April was a month i won't forget - it was madd hectic, a beautiful time though. I was pretty busy planning for a 5,000 person rally which went off smooth by God's marvellous grace. There quite a few other things going on at AE which kept me busy. At church we also had our Easter Camp - dat was powerful! God's breakin us deeper into His Kingdom. A lot of movement has come out of that which is good cuz it's more than lip service, you know?

Radio KNI

Check the pic of some of us at Radio KNI, 103.0fm. It's a radio station where we had a month of airtime, 3hrs/weekday. I was on Friday's and we had a youth focus. It was kool - it was mainly a Zulu listenership which meant we had to translate it all. It was a little low budget but fun and hopefully ministered to some people. We did CD giveaways which was also kool cuz we made people freestyle/recite poetry to win them - peoples are talented!



Anyway, hope y'all iz gud!
Bless up

Window 2 my World

Peoples!

How you feeling today? I pray you're experiencing victory in Him and comfort in the fact that we, who belong to Jesus, with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)

View from Msinga mountain range where we were doing rural house visits for those affected by HIV and AIDS

By God's grace i'm well. Things have been pretty good - busy as usual, but i'm beginning to center down on the most important things: not what i can do but who and whose i am. That's what makes life worthwhile and satisfying; i believe that's also what releases the Father to accomplish His will through us. It's amazing because as we focus on who and whose we are, we also become less as Jesus becomes greater - a great paradox huh?

What a mystery, but all i know is that as i begin to focus my prayer life and communion with God on coming to the cross where self is crucified and "I" cease to be central...God is doing a great work in me. My desire is that His work in me is so complete that overflow into the lives of others as a channel of blessing will happen more and more naturally.


Amazing though because we are called to live at a place of brokeness - this is something i don't ever want to relinquish. I've seen awesome examples of broken yet whole people in my life. I think this must be a delicate balance cuz God don't despise contriteness and brokeness and when i'm weak He is strong....


As a final thing to meditate on which has rocked me in these last days:

"When Jesus was 12 he was mightily used of God in the temple where his earthly parents found him astounding to the teachers of his day with his wisdom - nowadays we would've released him into fultime ministry, he would've held workshops, seminars, talked at universities, etc. However, he had to undergo the maturation process of Luke 2:52 and grow into sonship - from a breastfed babe to a meat munching man. When he was 30 years old he was then baptized by John as the transition into being released into the fullness of His ministry. The Father said 2 incredible things of Jesus at this baptism:

1) this is my Son - Jesus was now clearly a son which speaks of having received the full inheritance of the Father and this stage of maturation applies to all, gender is totally irrelevant

2) with whom i am well pleased - Jesus hadn't even done any public ministry before this point and yet the Father was happy with him! Why? Because the Father was concerned with who and whose he was not what he could or couldn't, did or didn't do!"

That's big innit??? So, may you find true security in who and whose you are in the Father. You have been given the spirit of sonship by which you cry "Abba Father". Let that permeat your spirit, soul and body; I challenge you to discover what that really means. As we let go of external (and internal) pressures and we'll become - just as the I am is.......

Aight famz, that's all for now..............much luv and blesses!

You ever seen a white pumpkin???

Soul Shyftinnnnnnnnnnn..............,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'''''''''''''''''''''}}}}}}}}}}}}}---------------

Wawrries and Prawblems <--> Graissse and Ovacuming

Hey Famz,



Howz everybody? I'm well by God's grace. Last night was pretty hype, hit a spoken word event at the BAT Center on the Durban harbourfront. The BAT Center is an incredible hub of creative energy - art galleries and studios, creative writing workshops, drama and nuff music...... Of late, i've been making some good connections there. At first it was kind of hit and miss cuz i would go and find out there was either something hype on or nothing at all. Finally, i guess i'm more ready for it and got some good peoples around me that can hold me down. The truth is that i see the Arts as belonging to God and there is so much redemptive and restorative work to be done to experience the glory, beauty and wholeness of God in it. So i'm looking forward to continued building from here - give thanks.


God works in great ways. For the past few weeks i've been feeling an urgency to be more involved again with people on the ground - i've felt too comfortable and unconcerned and having been asking God to break me into that. He has been answering that in an incredible way. One of the ways is through a connection to some fellow Zimbabweans who i met while working here at AE. There are 3 of them i bring them to church on Sundays. They are wonderful peoples. I just check their living space yesterday and discovered they're living in someone's back yard in a plywood structure that's about 8ftx8ft - there are 4 of them living in there........no beds, no storage space, no toilets, no cooking facilities. There are a few other similar structures in the same yard with other people living in them where they go to cook and use the toilet. It's a pretty ruff state and finding work is not easy for them. Please keep them in your prayers and keep us as a church in your prayers because i'm really trying to figure out a way to be able to help them out as much as we can in a meaningful and empowering way.


The other thing opportunity is a gentleman by the name of Sihle who approached me and my friend Dave one early Sat morning while we standing outside of our church talking. he was looking for money to get back to the rural area he came from but everyone was in prayer (we were making our way there too) so i asked if he minded joining us for the remaining 30mins then i could direct him to someone after. He was concerned that he didn't smell clean but i assured him it was kool. So he came in and sat next to me.....and the man started to weep. You could sense that God was really doing something in his life. So after the service i introduced him to Uncle/Pastor Greg and he shared a bit of his story. Sihle is a Christian who left his home because it was a tuff situation there and ended up in Joburg and PMB. He's been on the street for most of it, but while in Joburg was actually living with a pastor. He decided to move out though, feeling that God was moving him to and ended up living under a bridge in town. He's been facing so many hardships as you can imagine and just the night before we met him he had decided to turn his back completely on God - God is so amazing! By the end of the prayer meeting he said that he had come for money but realized that God had sent him here to call him back to Himself.


So after prayer i was able to buy him some food and soap (with money someone else had given me for him). He also showed me his place........

So again, we need much wisdom to know how best to help this brother. Please keep that in prayer too.

Ya, so that's what that is. On another tip, i'm looking at buying a car; peep it:

It's a pretty good deal - mechanically good, clean and upgraded engine and big sound! Please help me pray about whether or not this is a good investment.....thus far, it seems it is. I checked it a few times with a mechanic.

Aight family, much luv!