Animal Action, Durban, South Africa

I recently found myself in a position of desperately wanting to help a sick dog, who wasn't mine, and not having the finance to do so. I live in a complex and we're not allowed animals, but this beautiful girl showed up on my doorstep - hungry and obviously sick. What was I to do? Well, our local vet's office gave us the number for Animal Action and when I phoned them and explained the situation, they agreed to pay all the vet bills! While this little girl still has a long way to go, she is doing much better. "Thank you Animal Action. Thank you for caring..."
I encourage you to click on the link on the right to read more about what they do, or if you are wanting a dog. Why buy when you can give a home to someone who desperately needs one?
Till next time...

If God should go on strike...

How good it is that God above has never gone on strike
Because he was not treated fair in things he didn't like.
If only once He had given up and said, "That's it, I'm through!
I've had enough of those on earth, so this is what I'll do.
I'll give my orders to the sun: cut off the heat supply!
And to the moon give no more light, and run the oceans dry.
Then just to make things really tough and put the pressure on
Turn off the vital oxygen 'til every breath is gone!”
You know he would be justified, if fairness was the game,
For no one has been more abused and met with more disdain.
And yet He carries on, supplying you and me
With all the favors of His grace, and everything for free.
Men say they want a better deal and so on strike they go
But what a deal we've given God to whom all things we owe.
We don't care whom we hurt to gain the things we like
But what a mess we'd all be in, if God should go on strike.
[Author Known to God] 
Till next time...

Abortion

Have you given the issue much thought? I haven't thought about it as much I probably should have. I know it's out there; I know it's wrong, but somehow that's as far as it goes.
Today I read an article on the methods used and I felt sick. Do you have any idea how much that little one suffers?!  We don't like to think about that - do we? But it's real and it's happening - children are being murdered everyday for the sake of convenience!
God's Word says, "Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"  Micah 6:7 
It's a question worth asking. Listen to this: "For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb...My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret...Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." (Psalm 139:13-16)
That baby is not just a blob of tissue! He or she is a living being with an eternal soul! 
For more info, click on the 'Pro life' link.
Till next time...

In the darkest night, the light will shine... God is good!

I am SO grateful for Jesus! He truly is an anchor in the storm and a giver of peace; peace that passes human understanding.
Whatever you're facing, as we stand on the threshold of a new week, let Christ be your Stronghold. Lean on Him in your darkest hour; lift up your hands - and praise the living God! The Maker of Heaven and of earth. He is your strength. He is my strength. He is our strength...
I pray you all have a blessed week!
Till next time...

Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant by Paul E. Marek

History lessons are often incredibly simple.

"I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War II. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.

“Very few people were true Nazis,” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”

We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. 

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars world wide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or execute honor killings. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard, quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority” is the “silent majority,” and it is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war-mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across Southeast Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians - most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt; yet, for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because, like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. 

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us, watching it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life."

Food for thought, right? But I was left thinking, 'I wonder if fundamentalist Christians, like myself, would be classified as fanatic?' There are so many websites that already label us as such. Are we considered dangerous purely because we believe God and everything He says? Because we believe that His Word, the Bible, is His Word? I wonder... why are people so threatened by what we believe? What do you think?

Time...

Have you noticed how quickly time seems to be passing by these days? I can hardly believe we're already in September! And what a week it's been! Some days it feels like there are just not enough hours in the day...
Life gets so busy that one day, one week, one month, one year - they all seem to come and go in a blur and we're left wondering, "Is this all there is?"
The good news is, 'No! This is NOT all there is!'
Jesus came so that we may have LIFE, and have it to the full (John 10:10). There can be no lasting, true peace or joy or purpose, etc. - without Him. Jesus said in John 14:6, 'I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father, except through Me.'
We are living in the last days. Time is running out my friend. If you have not yet asked Jesus to forgive you for your sin and to come into your life, don't wait another day! No one knows what tomorrow holds and tomorrow may be too late. If you need to chat... email me.
Till next time...

The Touch of the Master's Hand

It was battered and scarred and the
auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth the while,
to waste much time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bid for this old violin?
Who will start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar, who'll make it two?
Two dollars and who'll make it three?
Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three, but no; 
from the back of the room a grey-haired
man
came forward and took up the bow.
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
and tightening up all the strings,
he played a melody pure and sweet,
as sweet as an angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
with a voice that was quiet and low
said, "What am bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars and who'll make it two
three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them said,
"We do not quite understand.
What changed its worth?" Came the reply,
"The touch of the Master's hand."
And many a man with his life out of tune,
and battered and scarred with sin,
is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd,
much like the old violin.
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine
a game and he shuffles along;
He's going once, he's going twice,
He's going and almost gone.
But the Master comes and the thoughtless
crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of the soul and the change that it
wrought
by the touch of the Master's hand.
(Myra Brooks Welch)


This piece is my testimony on so many levels, in so many ways. "The touch of the Master's hand" has made me who I am today... and I am forever grateful. You too can experience His touch - all you have to do is ask. If you not sure how, please email me. Till next time...

Starting out...

As you read this, it may be morning, noon or night at your end, but whatever the time, I'd like to encourage you to start living your life as though each day was your first and last. Live it with wonder, careful to treat others right. Don't allow the ugliness in this world to mar the beauty in front of you. Till next time...