I was driving home the other day and I could not help but notice the backpacker at the side of the road. There was something about the young man that just got my attention. He was different to the other backpackers we always see around here – this young man had no shoes on his feet. At first I reckoned he was a beggar and I carried on driving, yet there was something bugging me about this man. Almost as if I had to take care of him somehow.
On my way back home from golf I noticed the man again. He was standing talking to one of the security guards, and that is when I noticed the printing on his T shirt. I suddenly knew why he had my attention from the start. This man was carrying a remarkable life story with him throughout the country. A story that made me think and one that I would like to share with you.
The young man is Jaco Swart. He was a professional black-water tubing guide, until a very fatal day. In March 2000 their party was on an ill-fated kloofing outing in the Storms River gorge. A flash flood washed away the party to their death, but Jaco managed to cling onto a tiny ledge just above the raging water. He had a badly injured knee and was stranded on the ledge for 27 hours before he was rescued. While Jaco was holding on for dear life waiting to be rescued he made a promise to God, that if he survived this terrible ordeal he would do a long and tough hike as a sign of gratitude.
Jaco started his journey in Cape Town at the V&A waterfront, before heading down the Cape Peninsula, past Camps Bay and around Cape Point. He will continue his way up the coast of South Africa until he reaches the border at Mozambique. He will then turn inland towards Swaziland before heading to the boundary fence of the Kruger National Park. He will then continue north to the mouth of the Orange river, and from there head back home to Cape Town. I would like to appeal to all South Africans out there. If you meet this extraordinary young man along the way please assist him with something to eat or any donations . He is out there being a true pilgrim for God.
I cannot help but think what do we do to say thank you to God for all we have in our lives. Some of us might say that we never turned around at death’s door step. My live is pretty ordinary. Well think again because although God might not have saved your life in an extraordinary way on one specific occasion that changed your direction. He is doing it every day by granting you another day to live your life.
Every day is a gift of life from God.
What do we do to say thank you for that gift?
We often confuse belief with religion or connect it to some sort of religious act, but that is not belief at all. I see belief as the ability to achieve great things in your life by having faith and trust in God and the abilities you were born with. None of us are born with limitations. We grow into them. For some reason our minds trick us in to believing that we are not capable of doing certain things. It is simply a trick the mind plays.
Have you ever noticed that when we grow up we often maintain the same type of lifestyle our parents had. A lot of the time when you look at people and you look at the way they live you will see that their parents had the same lifestyle. I know a lady whose parents got divorced when she was young. She is now also divorced and she lives exactly the same type of life her mother had after she got divorced. It is almost like this big cycle is repeating itself over and over again.
Our lives reflect the things we believe. We often go to university because our parents believed that in order for us to be able to get a good job we must study hard and go to university. Entrepreneurship and creativity was never really supported. We all follow this road and find ourselves frustrated in the work we do, just because we believe that one cannot get a good job if you are not educated. I take myself as an example. I hated studying, I loved nature and the outdoors and I am extremely creative, but instead of supporting my creativity and my love for drama and acting I was always told that one cannot make a decent living from that. There are only a few lucky ones and I am definitely not on that short list. So what did I do, I went and studied law. I was frustrated and nothing in my life seemed to have worked out, I got rebellious, annoyed and frustrated, because I was not aligned with my purpose in life. I had great talents for the entertainment industry but I never took the opportunity to use it, because of certain beliefs I shared with my parents. I was living my life in the wrong direction.
It was only when I met my husband that with his help and the grace of God that I found the courage to explore and change my beliefs. Today I am living the life I always dreamed of. I am not making a lot of money, but I am living my dream. This all happened because I realised that for me to find my purpose I must follow my dreams, even if that meant that I had to change my beliefs.
We all believe that we are here on earth to serve a certain purpose, however a lot of us wonder what that purpose is. This however is not a question that goes unanswered; the answer lies in the creation. God created us in his own image, for fellowship with Him.
That is why we are here on earth, and that is our purpose. God created us so that he could spend time with us, and visa verse. Throughout the Bible there is proof that God is involved in the lives of man. He interacted with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and he sent Jesus to earth to prove His love for us. Man is created with a body, a soul, a spirit, a mind and a free will to make decisions for or against God. God does not force us to believe in him or his existence it is a free choice that He gave us.
I know that it is very hard to believe especially because we cannot see God or that is what we think. I admit I grew up in a Christian home but this did not mean that I knew God. I know of God but I don’t necessarily know God personally. It was only when I made the deliberate decision to learn more about God that my eyes opened and I started seeing God in everything around me.
Having faith is seeing God in everything even in the disappointments that cross our roads to prepare us for bigger and better things.
Faith in God is spreading your wings and trusting that the wind will be there to carry you.
Faith In God has no limitations.