Archive : February 2014

By admin

Loved up

By Cheryl Lowe

When my lovely daughter Claire mentioned to me last year that she wanted to do a Valentine’s dinner for us older couples I was a bit taken aback. Simply because most of us older couples don’t bother celebrating Valentine’s Day. It was never a big thing when I was younger and now has become very popular with the younger set, but knowing my Claire’s tender and sweet heart I knew it would be amazing.

The plan, Claire said, was to ask young couples to “sacrifice” their Valentine’s Day evening and spoil a couple in the church who were over 50 by making them a three course meal and decorate a table for two in their own style. Her heart was that she wanted to honour the years of marriage that was collectively in the room that night, and spoil us. What a beautiful idea. Even more so because Claire is such a busy wife and mom. She threw herself into it and there was a lot of secrecy, whispers and quickly hiding things when I walked in the door, at home.

I must confess, as the time drew near I began to get quite excited, wondering what I would wear and really looking forward to the evening and wondering who our “special couple” were. When we walked in that night we walked into a transformed magical place. Soft candle light, all different hearts strung up amongst names of popular songs of our times and the jukebox playing “our songs” from the 60s and 70s. Individual tables for two were placed strategically around the room and beautifully set.

When Claire showed us to our table I nearly cried, it was beautifully decorated and when we read the beautiful letter from our couple the words were just so amazing – we were spoilt with a lovely thoughtful gift as well. Our special couple was Veronica and Mike Webb and she surpassed herself not only with our table setting but with the tastiest meal. It was simply delicious. As the ladies waited on us and brought our starters you could hear the oohs and aahs all over as people saw what they were having. We had the lovely Amy, Kirsty, Kate, Robyn and Claire waiting on us whilst we ate and the dashing Rowan and Jacob were our barista and bar attendants. It was cosy, relaxing, and so much fun and you could tell that everyone was just enjoying the moment. Towards the end of the evening some of us pushed our tables together and enjoyed chatting and drinking coffee together and comparing notes.

With reluctance we realised that all good things have to come to an end and we had to take our leave of our magical evening and go home, leaving our lovely team behind who cleaned and tidied up and got home much later than us. I think I can speak for all that we were completely blown away by the thoughtfulness, love and care that  everyone showed to their couples and of course Claire for the inspired idea and carrying it out. It was just lovely.

Thank you all so very much – you all gave us a night to remember.

By admin

Anonymous

There is this amazing trend going around YouTube and Facebook at the moment called RAKnomations. A person films themselves doing Random Acts of Kindness and then nominates/challenges someone else to do the same within 24 hours. It’s fantastic – it inspires people to DO good things. But I have to be honest, something about it also makes me sad. The world is full of people ‘doing good’ in front of a camera for all the world to see… and every time I see it, I am reminded of this: But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:3-4) I’ve often wondered why God asks this of us. Why not make it known so that he can have the glory, we ask. Well, let’s think about it… in the version where our ‘good deeds’ are made public, who benefits? Of course, the person we do something for will benefit but we also benefit. I wonder if we would bother to do those Random Acts of Kindness if no one ever saw what we had done. In a world where affirmation has become an essential human need, I think we often do these things to fill our own need, more than the need of the other. And I wonder, would we feel as though we had successfully helped someone if no one patted us on the back? Is that how we measure things now? True selflessness requires that we receive no recognition, no praise, no accolades – except those the Father gives us. I’m not saying stop the RAKnominations – on the contrary, continue to inspire people to do good. But I urge you, don’t let it stop with a nomination. Don’t let it stop when the cameras are off. Do good simply because the Father asks you to do good and let him alone be the witness of your kindness.

By admin

Dream on, dreamer

With our Dreams Group starting up in a couple of weeks, we thought we would let you hear from someone who did the last one. Judy Gore happily filled us in on her experience. Be careful, her enthusiasm is catching! When I heard about the dream course I got excited, because truth be told I had forgotten about some of my dreams. Being a single mom who had time to dream? When I heard Adam Bright was doing it I was even more interested as I’d had a glimpse of his life and wanted to learn more. I’ve been a Christian practically since I was born so I really did think I knew it all but I started learning more about this mysterious God from the very first session, and it ignited a new fire in me right away. I didn’t have a long list of dreams that first week (just seven) but I conscientiously did my homework each week (yes, there’s homework) and it paid off. I got a dream partner and we shared our dreams, fears and tears. It was amazing. I was learning about what God wanted for me, that He had created me with dreams inside and that it was His desire for me to dream dreams and to trust him to show me when and how to accomplish them. And then the tough part…… Which dreams were His and which were mine…. Ouch!!!! Anyhoooo week after week we learnt more about this amazing God of dreams and our journey to work consciously towards them. My list grew to 34 and every week the testimonies were rolling in of people speaking out their dreams, God making a way and dreams coming true. And then it was my turn. This changed my life! We were in a group discussion and we had to share a dream with each other and get vulnerable. I’m not really too good at the sharing stuff so I looked through my list and chose the craziest dream I could find so that we could all agree it was crazy but nice to have, by not really achievable and then move on. So I shared my crazy dream of being a radio DJ. Strangely enough not that many people laughed it off but we actually spent some time discussing it and people encouraged me. Hope grew inside me, not so much at that time for the DJ dream but for the fact that with some focus, determination, prayer, faith and plenty of obedience dreams can become a reality. A few days later Debbie Becker, who was on the course with me emailed me an application for a position at a radio station.  No, I’m not joking! She had met some people, got chatting, they just happened to work at a radio station and they were looking for volunteers. When I saw the mail I just cried. Actually, I filled it in and then I cried. I was so excited and overwhelmed you just couldn’t wipe the smile off my face…. Long story short I went for two interviews, (they are sticky about who volunteers) and got offered a position. Today I’m in training and have a position where I interview NGO’s around Durban for GNCR (Good News Community Radio 93.6 FM ) that’s my hook ( it’s radio talk ) and they want me to do a ladies hour magazine show once a week on live radio! Come on that is amazing. That is the God that I serve. And that’s why you just HAVE to do the dreams course. Come meet the Dream-giver. I have 89 dreams on my list and still dreaming…..