written by Stephan Joubert
“You made my day,” the petrol attendant told me the other day. A wide smile spanned his face. I was stunned. “What did I do?” I asked very surprised. “You called me sir!” he answered. Then he told me how many people treated him with disrespect and even shouted at him. He wanted to know why I called him “sir”. All that I could think of was that God’s Word teaches me to treat other people with respect, and that I tried to live exactly like that. And then I told him that.
When driving away from that filling station, I realized anew how easy it really is to do small things in the name of the Lord… like treating others with respect. How sad that I don’t succeed in constantly walking the extra mile for everyone who crosses my path. Just as sad that when I shared this story somewhere, someone immediately told me that I surely don’t live in the true South Africa. “Beggars, petrol attendants, and the unemployed are only interested in stealing and plundering,” he added. Then he concluded with: “Actually everyone does that these days.”
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written by Stephan Joubert
I once read an interview with the well-known South African boxing referee, Stanley Christodoulou. When asked what the greatest compliment was that he received as a referee, he referred to a world title fight that he handled in the USA. After the fight, he relaxed at the hotel’s restaurant. Someone with whom he struck up a conversation asked whether he watched the fight earlier that evening. For Stanley Christodoulou it was the best compliment imaginable that he as referee was so “invisible” in the ring that this spectator didn’t even recognize him.
I think as followers of Christ we must become just as invisible. People recognize us far too easily on the church foreground. Worse still, we sometimes stand in the way of others so that they can’t see the Lord. Our church infighting, theological debates that’s front page news daily, and our inability to love each other, are sight blockages. Let’s get out of the way.
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written by Stephan Joubert
People who follow their life’s quest have faced their fears. They’ve conquered many of them. But, even in spite of persistent fears, they still run the good race. They continue to climb the highest mountains. They can’t stop chasing the brightest stars. If necessary, they’ll even flop their way to the top. Like Dick Fosbury, they challenge conventional ways of doing things, even if it means not doing the high jump the conventional way. In 1968 at the Mexico Olympics, Fosbury chose not to cross the bar with his body parallel to it, but to bring his legs up and flip over the bar backwards. The result of this ‘Fosbury Flop’? Well, he set a new world record for high jump at 7 ft 4 inches.
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written by Stephan Joubert
For most people promotion means only one thing — MORE! MORE salary, MORE tangible benefits, MORE houses, MORE cars, MORE vacations, MORE status… For followers of Jesus, the word “promotion” should mean something completely different. It can’t equate to more tangible things. Promotion is to grab every opportunity that the Lord offers you to sacrifice more of your valuable time and energy in his service.
The right type of promotion is to cast the construction plans for your little earthly kingdom into the dustbin, and to exchange that for the privilege to be a daily blessing to other people. True promotion is to be part of the adventure of building God’s kingdom, full-time. That produces dividends that have eternal value. Such promotion happens when you spend MORE time at the Lord’s feet; when you have MORE time for the poor and the lonely; when you do MORE for others, and worry LESS about yourself and your own needs. In short, promotion leads to a more authentic relationship with God and more valuable relationships with other people.
written by Stephan Joubert
Think with me about the following question: Where do you discern God’s will the clearest — in the harbor, or in the storm? Let me explain — with the harbor I mean the well-known religious terrain, in between fellow-believers, or where you have your quiet time. Or those weekly gatherings of cell groups or bible studies. The storm represents the everyday world with all its unpredictability, dangers, unbelievers, and challenges. Listen to that question again:
Where do you discern God’s will the clearest — in the harbor, or in the storm?
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written by Stephan Joubert
I have the privilege to write a small column in a daily newspaper every Monday to Friday, entitled Good News. A while ago, I told the story of Ernie in my column. May I share it again here? Good American friends of mine involved Ernie in the youth ministry of their church. Ernie stayed involved there full steam until his death in his nineties. Ernie’s work at the youth ministry was to pack the dishwasher every Wednesday evening after they served a great feast to the younger ones.
One day Ernie told my friends that he asked the Lord the previous night to rather come fetch him. At this stage he was already deaf in both ears and he could no longer bear his deep longing for his late wife. But then he suddenly thought of all the young people that he served unnoticed and wondered who would pack and unpack the dishwasher after they spent time together on Wednesdays. Right there and then Ernie chose to carry on living with a new vigor. He did exactly that untill the end of his life. Ernie knew that once the race was over, Jesus would be waiting for him with the crown of righteousness in his hand (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That’s why he couldn’t stop living or stop running before the race was over.
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