Wednesday January 07th 2009, 5:43 am
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So what did you do to build someone up to-day?
Or was it easier to break someone down?
With a start to the New Year, it is often easier going into the New Year with old habits.
Finding problems, shooting down solutions, finding reasons why they won’t work, without trying them. If we think it won’t work then it won’t.
Radical results come from radical action; if we are trying the same old methods we will be getting the same old results. In order to get new results we have to try new ideas, and apply them with enthusiasm, a lust and zest for living. It has to come from inside of you.
Listen to yourself talking about your business, does it have the sparkle and vibrancy you first had when you started? Do you listen to others?
Do you greet everybody with a smile?
What do you want to do today?
Would you really like to raise someone up to-day? Start with yourself, soon you will be raising others around you; if you want to be motivated, motivate others.
Monday December 22nd 2008, 4:20 am
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Children are one third of our population and all of our future.
~Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981
Rarely a year goes by without me thinking of an incident which happened in 1996.
Friends of mine, a young married couple with a two month old daughter; went from Johannesburg to visit family in Pietermaritzburg, and Tongaat on the KZN North Coast. They had decided to take someone else along with them. After they had left I had wondered if it was a good decision to take another person with them, as they were going through a very rocky patch in their marriage. I personally felt they needed to be alone with each other. Johnny the person they had taken with them was a graduate of hard knocks university; he could hardly read or write the written word, yet he knew how to read people and sum up a situation.
The main purpose of the visit was for the benefit of their parents to see the grandchild.
On the return trip, they had two other girls in the car with them, a sister from each family, to spend a couple of weeks with them in Johannesburg. A short way past Harrismith they were involved in an accident, only Johnny and the daughter survived; the cars engine was pushed almost up to the back seat.
Johnny was in ICU in Bloemfontein for two weeks, the two month old daughter only had a few bruises.
Johnny told us he had been sitting in the back seat behind the passenger seat, where the wife was sitting, with the daughter on his lap. The husband and wife had been arguing the whole week since leaving Johannesburg; just before the accident the husband pressed his foot hard on the accelerator, and aimed the car at a petrol tanker quite a distance ahead of them. Just before impact Johnny opened the door and jumped from the car, trying the shield the baby.
Let us remember the real reason for the Season.
In Chitungwiza, a sprawling township about 30 kilometres south-east of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, a group of women and girls are lining up with tin cans to fetch water from a shallow well near a river.
It is through the actions of ordinary individuals working together, that we can grow stronger as a nation, as seen in this story, of a community helping a school.
Saturday December 20th 2008, 10:08 am
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On the 15th December residents from Springfontein in the Free State and surrounding areas, Trompsburg, Bethulie and Edenburg, brought traffic to a halt on the N1 highway for a few moments to join hands and to pray for patience, awareness and safety on the road.
They have been doing it annually since 2006. They gather before the 16th December, early January and the Thursday before Easter to pray.
The group prays for each vehicle to arrive safely at their destinations.
Motorists stopped and some joined in the prayer meeting.
Let us remember the rest of the country at this time - KZN South Coast comes to mind.
Highway Ministry is an exciting new Ministry directed at the trucking industry. Its mission is to proclaim and establish the Word and LOVE of Jesus Christ in the hearts of all people involved in the industry. Finding the solutions to problems rather than preaching without offering alternatives, is the objective of Highway Ministry. Since the transport industry is plagued by various social issues, the Ministry aims at providing a complete spectrum of support services dealing with problems such as alcohol and other drug related dependencies, AIDS/HIV, marital discord, prostitution as well as focusing on general skills for a healthy and integrated lifestyle.
If you need more information on Highway Ministry, you can contact the Director, Jan de Bruin at (016) 349-1996 or send an e-mail to: highwayministry@freemail.absa.co.za
It is for me once more
that time of the year,
when my paternal emotions soar,
as the festive season draws near.
Doll houses I crafted with care,
every year a different style,
with a desire to be there,
to watch you play with them for a while.
Sometimes what I miss most ,
is that I never got to know you,
or the moments to hold you close,
and share the wonder of you.
Had I but a moment to tell the world,
of their greatest treasure;
in that moment all truth unfurled,
angelic reposes constant pleasure,
locks of hair tangled in sleep.
Let nothing steal your attention,
in gaurding their safekeep,
or abuse their unconditional affection.
In running here and there,
let not thoughtless neglect,
make you forget they are there;
in that moment I ask this in humble respect.
I came across a couple of sites I would like to share. Every year we read about children and animals dying in closed up cars and closed up spaces, refrigarators disposed with doors intact, I think of my own I have never seen, cherish what you have been blessed with Stan
Let me freeze this moment in time,
capture and hold it forever,
for when there is no reason or rhyme
that my thoughts cant stay together,
or I cant return from yesterday;
on a path I alone can travel.
In diffused shades of grey,
fragments of time unravelled.
I want to hold you so near,
that time could never erase,
that in you which I hold so dear,
which can endure life’s friction frays,
yet let my grasp be gentle and light,
so that you may have freedom to be caught
and carried by your fantasy flight,
to find all you have sought.
In the magic of this moments spell,
I want to whisper all I feel, careful not to harshly dispel,
the illusion that it is’nt real,
can my emotions be tightly bound?
Can the impulse to dance in delight?
All be brought to ground,
in this moment of time tonight.
Monday September 29th 2008, 6:43 am
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Applying the Biblical word “plan” for goal setting, it’s clear that God has plans and so do people. Above all, goals and plans are subject to the will of God.
Is goal planning even Biblical? God gives people plans:
Don’t discount goal planning as being “worldly!”
Goal planning for unethical means is bad.
So goals and plans can be good things!
and God has his sovereign plan! Planning and goal setting is a fine thing. But subject everything to the Lord’s guidance.
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21)
Don’t plan in a vacuum, but run your plans and goals past other people.
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22)
Surround your goals and plans with prayer and ask the Lord to bless you in their doing.
Ask God for wisdom as you plan and set goals.
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5)
“But the noble person makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.” (Isaiah 32:8)
We all know we must set goals if we are to succeed with our families, in our lives, careers, or even in a business. Without goals all our desires are reduced to mere dreams, dreams which may never come to fruition. But how on Earth can you set forth goals when the world is such an uncertain place? Consider if you will the planning for retirement, where one of your goals is to live happily ever after and without becoming dead or broke at age 65?
How can you set goals, which are made up of many micro-goals or mini-goals on a specific time table, if you cannot even be sure that you will have a job in the near future or if you will even have a home? Let’s face it we live in uncertain, interesting and turbulent times. If you fail to plan, you are in essence planning to fail. Break Your Large Goals into Micro-Goals on a Time Table
Commit to Your Goals
Watch for Unexpected Traps And Opportunities
Realize Nothing Good in Life is Easy
Vision Boards are destined to become the most financially life changing tool of our times as they can be the key to attracting everything you want into your life. With all the new technology available now the actual vision board is rather obsolete as now there is an even a more catchy and fun way to view your vision board and that is on a video; which I am going to call Vision Map Video. The actual physical vision boards can be frustrating because it’s hard to find the exact picture you want quickly from magazines and when pasted on, it can mess up your vision board. Now you can just turn on your computer; watch your vision map and not only are you watching something fun and catchy you are manifesting all the things you want in your life. Vision Maps are one of the most powerful tools in the deliberate creator’s toolbox. Vision Boards are too large to carry around, but we always have a computer close by these days, so there is your Vision Map right there nice and handy to watch any time you need it.
1 Committing your goals to paper creates a road map for success.
2. Use your imagination and describe your goals as vividly as possible, as if they were already a reality. Emotion adds tremendous power to your goals.
3 Social researches has proven that specific and challenging goals result in better performance then vague goals, or no goals, or people simply trying to “do their best.”
4. It is smart writing your goals in present time, as if you are living them already.
5. Be positive. Positive goals put us in a positive state of mind, and are mentally associated with positive memories and experiences, whereas avoidance goals are typically associated with memories of failures and accidents.
6. Be 100% committed to whatever you do, especially to your goals. If you achieve your goals and decide that you want something else, then go for that!
7. Choose goals that stretch your abilities and yet are within what you believe is possible. People who set more modest goals tend to accomplish less then
those who set challenging goals for themselves. Tune In next week for the other 9 steps of goal setting.
The key is in starting - Remember- Any goal is better then none!
Make the time
Goals can be achieved in as little as 90 days. Here are some easy tips to help you successfully map out a plan in order to achieve your goals in the next 90 days:
Write a list of every single task that you know will help you move closer to achieving your goal. Make them attainable, yet necessary in order to move toward achieving your goal.
By writing your goals down and completing them each and every day, this will bring you closer to achieving the goals you want to accomplish. Stay on course, keep up the good work and your goal will be achieved before you realize it.
Friday September 19th 2008, 9:54 pm
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I spent the afternoon, trying to find, “In The Presence Of Jehovah”, by Franna Benadie, thanks to everyone at “radio Impact”, Rene` at Maranatha, and of course to Sophia, this for you.
Enjoy, and let that peace which passeth all understanding flow over you now. If any one has a prayer request let me know, and we will pray to-gether.
On the 20th May I mentioned I had tried to get tickets for Loftus for yesterday the 19th of July. I had tried to get the tickets in March thinking I was early, the fact was I had only heard about it after it was already sold out, the event was sold out in less than a week.
Last month in June I was in Johannesburg twice once to visit someone in hospital, ten days later to attend the funeral of the same person. The first time we went we got lost in the area we had to go to. We had to return some things we had which belonged to somebody else, which had been with us for a couple of years. We stopped at a filling station and phoned the people, asking me where I was, I mentioned we were opposite a refugee camp, which had been set up as a result of the xenophobic attacks. The people came collected their stuff, drove in front of us to where we had to go.
Ten days later after attending the funeral and the service we went to Heidelberg, where we visited family, it was casually mentioned they had tickets for Loftus, and two of the batch was for us. They didn’t know I have this blog, or that I had posted something about Angus Buchan. I hadn’t told them about this blog, because it was never intended to be a Christian blog, I already have one;(which I need to work on.) This blog was primarily set up to show someone else how to set up a blog, and how easy it was to set it up. Setting up blogs is easy, it is maintaining them where the work comes in, an area I really need to work on.
All this seems like scattered fragments, yet stepping back a little, they all come together.
Being at Loftus Stadium with sixty odd thousand people was awesome and humbling; it also illustrated to me graphically the logistics of how big the tent must have been, for the Mighty Men God Conference, which was held On Angus’ farm just outside Greytown earlier on in the year. Not to mention the fact of 60000 men together for a weekend, without a single fight or swear word. Angus shared feedback of, a father and son reconciliation, fathers and husbands returning home changed men.
Seeing the crowd as one raising their hands in praise and worship, or the crowd going down on bended knees; At the start of his message he asked that everyone turn to a stranger and pray for each other. I am inclined to stutter, or mumble if praying aloud with strangers, yet when I started to pray the prayer came out of my mouth with clarity and conviction without thought of what I was going to say.
As Angus went into his message, a simple one delivered by a simple humble man, several areas of my life that needed working on became crystal clear. When Angus said that change in our country wouldn’t come out of the House of Parliament, but out of the kitchen door, I thought of the refugee camp I had seen and taken pictures of, the same one which had been in the news this week. It is up me as an individual to do something, not to hang around for the government to do it.
If I can’t see what I can do, I can start by praying and praying earnestly for the direction. Everybody can pray.
Angus being at Loftus was organised by Loftus For Jesus, and it was very well organised, but then God was in control, at the end of the day that is what it was all about, all about Jesus.
Angus is planning for two hundred thousand for the Men Of God Conference for next year, last year it was five and a half thousand, this year sixty thousand.
Sunday May 25th 2008, 9:06 am
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“How is it working for you?’
Dr Phil
Sorting out an entire booklet of “stick it notes”; all of them with cryptic clues for my “To do list” for the life of me I can’t figure out what they were for. Some are abbreviations for something or the other. A couple are for calling Koos, only problem, I have a dozen entries for Koos on my cell phone, Koos 1 right through; not to mention Koos Van 1 etc. As I am about to throw the whole lot in the rubbish bag, I go through it again, I come across one that I finally remember what it was for. MTN was all I wrote, why would I write MTN, dialing an MTN number irritates me.
“You’ve reached the voice mail like service….BLAH BLAH press one and MTN will send the subscriber an sms” Yello if I wanted to send an sms I would have, why cant they have an answering service, where I can leave a voice message.
So why would I write MTN. After some thinking, I remember coming back from Natal, at Mooi River Plaza toll gate, we were given an MTN booklet, thinking about junk mail for want of a better term, even getting into the cars. Riffling the pages of the full colour booklet, I wondered how much it cost for the useless campaign, and mentioned it. My better half told me I had taken the booklet, opened it so it wasn’t useless.
I explained my reason why I thought it was useless.
• How much did it cost them to print that booklet?
• How could they track the outcome of the campaign?
• For the same price could they have done a more affective campaign?
Go into any hypermarket, supermarket even mini market, you can buy a sim card for under R3-00. So instead of dishing out pamphlets dish out sim cards, at the start of the holiday periods, have programs set up to monitor when the sim cards are activated recharged etc. Done at the start of the holiday periods when people have money, no point doing it after wards no body has any money left. With technology which is available it is relatively simple to track the outcome of the campaign, when one considers the traffic going through Mooi River Plaza, the figures I have are a couple of years old and taken over an Easter Weekend. Do the maths get 5% of that traffic activating and recharging.
This is the traffic per day, I do know that this year was higher, over twenty Thousand.
After that digression, which is another reason why my “To Do Lists” don’t work, my habits and thoughts are like my “To Do Lists”, scattered and fragmented not focused on the job at hand. A while back I figured I needed a note book, to jot these things down in, I became too verbose and bored myself with information overload. Between too little information and too much detail nothing that had to get done got done.
What is needed for “To Do Lists” to work?
• Precise entries
• Not so that it reads like Tolstoy’s War And Peace, but precise enough to have clear picture what needs to be done.
• Organizing
Which, What, When, How.
Which one on the list first, what needs to be done, when will it be finished and how is going to be done?
Putting everything on a list, which is why it is called a “To Do List” and not a “To Do It Stick It Note” all this helps in the final step.
Focus!
Andrew Carnegie, an American industrialist once paid a small fortune for a piece of advice, the advice was simply this, write down everything you need to do, next rate them by importance, 1 for most important etc. Then start working from the top down. I first read that about forty years ago, but never seriously implemented it, nothing gets done by knowing, it gets done by doing; to help keep me on this track I now have a “To Do List” from Microsoft. As the person who gave Andrew Carnegie that advice said, “If it doesn’t work with this system it won’t work with any other system.
The top of my “TO DO LIST” was to write “ABOUT PARROTS AND WEBSITES”
That will have to wait for tomorrow.
Tuesday May 20th 2008, 12:32 pm
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Is it real? Francois asks a very pertinent question, in as much do we know what is real, when we receieve emails. Is it a scam? Is it someone phishing. The web is full of them, our emails are full of them. There are sites on the web; millions dealing with them, exposing them. I personally know of one case where a person booked a holiday home, because it looked great online, paid the deposit to find nothing there when him and his family arrived for their holiday.
In regards to Sign From Above, it was at the Izack Steyn Stadium 10th May. What is difficult to believe here? That the event took place in Vander Byl Park, where Izack Steyn stadium is? That thirtyfive thousand people would come to hear somone talking about God, I tried to get tickets for Loftus; and I thought I was early; no chance fully booked. Angus is fully booked way ahead, if you hear he is coming your way, you better get in early.
Do I believe it to be authentic? Yes. I have the proof I need to satisfy me. I am not an easy to convince of a lot of things; of the 350 odd emails I get a good third are scams, being doing the round for years; I have only been on the net for one, but I can still see them a mile away. Phishing I pick up just as quick.
Have I tried to sell you something? No
Have I tried to share something with you? Yes
Should you be interested in sites that expose scams that I can also share with you for free.
Monday May 19th 2008, 3:06 pm
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I was sent an email with this picture, it was taken whilst Angus Buchan, was sharing his testimony at a stadium, where 35,000 was in attendance. Angus Buchan is known for the film, “Faith like Potatoes”, if you get the opportunity see it.
God speaks in different ways to everybody. The question is are we listening.
To get the full picture please click on the image below.
