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“There are no victories at bargain prices,” Dwight Eisenhower said. Success costs sacrifice. Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book Outliers that people who are really successful have at least ten thousand hours of hard work behind them. In short, years of effort are the key — also on the Lord’s route. To follow Christ on [...]

According to Danny Jordaan, some people admitted their skepticism about South Africa’s ability to host a successful World Cup to him. Did that happen because they crave bad news, or eat negative reports like sweet cake? Don’t ever allow such pessimists to get to you. Hope always wins. Or did you forget that Christ offers [...]

The social researcher, Stanley Milgram, once did research on “the small world problem”. He tried to determine what the chances are that any two people on earth are connected in some way. Put another way, he wanted to figure out how many relationships two arbitrarily chosen people were removed from each other. Milgram’s research found [...]

One of the unwritten rules of the religion that I grew up with is that you hear God’s voice most clearly in the church. Meaning, you need to go to church if you want to truly meet God. And yes, of course you also hear God’s voice in the church. But the more I read [...]

It was Martin Luther King Jr who said once: “The soft minded man finds security in the status quo. For him the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.” Too many people just calmly go with the flow. They don’t risk anything new. They also don’t surround themselves with creative people or put [...]

Recently, I was seated near a loud person on a flight. He was stuck with a hangover after the previous night’s festivities, and he had won a large amount of money at a casino. That he then reported loudly to his fellow passengers. The old guy next to him even had to inspect the thick [...]

Recently, while I was waiting for my luggage at the airport, two guys jumped at each others’ throats. Apparently, they wouldn’t make way for one another to take their suitcases off the luggage conveyor. Then they started pushing each other around violently and swearing like sailors. It made me realize again how much anger is [...]

There are two fears that can settle too easily in your mind — fear of the unknown and fear of failing in public. Fear is so strong that there are even organs in our brains, the amygdala, that manage and maintain our fears. No wonder that our brains develop more receptors for fear as we [...]

Fear and alcohol have one thing in common — too much of either in your vicinity and your good judgment goes out of the door. That’s why those who are under the command of fear or alcohol never take good decisions. Watch out for these two unreasonable ‘rulers.’ They steal your freedom! They steal your [...]

To live well is much more important than our earthly possessions. That’s what Proverbs 6:8 says. Much rather less money made in an honorable way, than a bag full made in a dishonest way (Proverbs 28:6). In the same breath, Proverbs 22:1 teaches that integrity and a good name matter much more than riches. To [...]