written by Dries Lombaard
We’ve just passed Valentine’s Day. Me and my wife never really take notice of Valentine’s Day. This year, we actually thought about going away for the day, but in the end just being home and having a quiet Sunday won hands down.
A couple of days later, my eldest — about to turn thirteen — out of the blue asked us when we sat together before dinner: “Are you guys still in love?”
True to her female side, my wife immediately replied: “Of course yes!”
True to my male side, I replied: “Of course not.”
Oops. The stares burned holes through my being.
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written by Dries Lombaard
This is a time where a lot of people are seriously into “sensing”. You hear and read a lot about “sensing and feeling”. Spirituality comes to the forefront as a lot more sensing than thinking. I am learning to sense. To use my senses. To “come to my senses”. To be sensible.
Most of all, we need to get a sense of life. We need to learn to read the signs of the times – which is a lot more sensing than anything else. It is something that is caught, more than taught.
I had the privilege to have many guests share my home in the past couple of years. Many of them foreigners – mainly from the USA. All of them became friends… some very close friends.
I just had a great time of fun and laughter, learning and discussion, chilling out and being serious, with two new friends from the States. They taught me a lot about Christ, His church, community, the Bible, people etc. But most of all, the sensibility of having fun – always. I had so much fun woven through the work we did, that the work was also more fun than ever.
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written by Dries Lombaard
More often than not, when part of a planning initiative, project start-up, or new venture, the following words are uttered: “Let’s just not reinvent the wheel.” And then everybody nods slowly to affirm this very deep wisdom.
I also found that the moment those words are spoken, it’s like blowing out the candle of creativity and initiative. Hhmm…
I’m not at all sure that this statement is a sign of wisdom… at all. I mean, why on earth would anybody who is in anyway informed want to reinvent something that already exists? Someone who reinvents anything, is simply doing so out of ignorance.
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written by Dries Lombaard
There’s something about a display of energy that attracts people. Be it a powerful display of sound (music), water (waterfalls), wind (tornadoes), electricity (lightning), or explosions (demolitions) — it’ll always have spectator value.
One such controlled-energy display that’s already a festivity tradition worldwide, is fireworks. Associated with parties end celebrations, fireworks light up the sky at New-Year’s celebrations, on Christmas Eve, at birthday parties and sports events. The colorful display combined with the sounds of explosion is simply spectacular. (The best live display of fireworks I ever saw was at Disneyland in California…)
There’s another spectacular and very explosive display of controlled energy and force that always draws a crowd… the launching of a rocket. Especially the major rockets that launches into space, onwards toward the moon or Mars — those ones are not only something that make all the eyes in the area look in the same direction — it’s always broadcast live over television to millions of viewers worldwide.
Both these displays have energy in common.
Fire.
Sound.
Light.
Smoke.
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