Travel Steadily

Considering Easter weekend has just passed, I thought a spiritual post is in order. I also posted this to the blog that my friends run at rockingitchristianstyle.blogspot.com... So check out that vibrant site for some thought-provoking reading and insightful album reviews if you get the chance.  

Okay, here we go...

Psalm 37:34 says “Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Travel steadily along His path. He will honour you, giving you the land”. What a beautiful thought. How comforting it is to acknowledge that we can simply live our lives according to His plan knowing that everything will work out perfectly. How comforting it is to know that we can be blissfully patient, without fear, worry or concern.

God, the Ruler of Universe, the Creator of Heaven and Earth is guiding our path and patiently setting up a great future for us. Literally, He created the entire universe, and He holds our whole life in His hands... How crazy is that?? There is no way we will ever comprehend that, but if we can just begin to understand how awesome it is, we can calm down and relax knowing “He’s got this”.  I mean, I respect someone so much if they can create anything – whether it’s hand-made clothes, art… even creating a tasty meal out of a bunch of ingredients is something I admire! But creating the entire universe??? Wow, God has my eternal respect, admiration and trust!!! 

We do not need to rush His plans. We do not need to fear when we are in a rough patch that is seemingly lacking in direction, because that is only a short term scenario. We do not need to fear when we are in a job that does not satisfy us, or studying a course that feels irrelevant. Because a lifestyle in line with the path of Jesus, mixed with prayer and an openness to God’s voice will reveal His plan for our lives. “Travel steadily”, be open to God’s will, and it will come.

That is why I am currently content. I had lived a relatively directionless life since leaving school, but since the door closed on medicine, I feel a new sense of hope that God is working in a big way for my future. I have hope that His plans for me far exceed what would have been possible if I was confined to life as a medical student and eventually a doctor. That seems to be a bizarre statement… but I truly believe that even if we are in a great profession, and it is not where we are called to be, it will not satisfy us.

I am still unsure of His plans, which is the difficult part because I do not have a fully logical answer when people ask me what career I am pursuing. But it is important that I present the same peace to others as I have within my heart; A comforting peace that says I am patient and trusting in the Lord, seeking wholeheartedly to follow His path, knowing that He will honour me because my life is dedicated to honouring Him.

I am now doing a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management, and I truly feel that this is the right place for me to be in. I’m not sure how God is going to use me in the business world, but I know that He will use me and I’m excited for the possibilities.

I know this is a journey that so many students are on. There are many reasons why we have decided to study the degree we are; sometimes it’s because that’s the only degree our matric marks allowed for us, sometimes it’s because of pure uncertainty post-matric, and sometimes we just think it’s a degree that sounds good (what sounds more prestigious than medicine??). But I’m a firm believer that it’s better to do something than to do nothing… along the journey God will reveal our true passions and talents to us, and we will be able to use past experiences to help us when we find our true calling.

So don’t fear if you feel uncertain of your path now… simply “travel steadily along His path”, and I am certain that He will honour you, so that you can honour Him.

Have a great week amigos!

Being faithful with little

Depending on what Bible translation you’re reading, Luke 16:10 says something along the lines of “He who is faithful with little will be faithful with much”. 

What does it mean to be faithful with little? We recently had a church service in which our pastor looked at Genesis 39; including Joseph working for Potiphar and resisting the seduction of Potiphar’s wife. In this chapter, Joseph is a great example of doing his small, seemingly insignificant work well in Potiphar’s home, and being blessed by God with greater work responsibilities. Joseph resisted Potiphar’s wife even though nobody would have known if he had slept with her. Because Joseph was responsible with little, God knew he would be able to comfortably thrive with greater responsibilities.

What does “being faithful with little” mean for the lives of you and I? There are many examples we can look at, but firstly let’s look at it from a leadership point of view. If you have been blessed to be in a position to lead a small team in a work environment, grab that opportunity with both hands by leading with integrity and making the glory of God your focus. If that becomes a habit, you will be more likely to lead that way when entrusted with thousands of people working below you, and when the suffocating risk of greed begins to emerge.

Speaking of greed and wealth, those are huge examples in which I believe being “faithful with little” is immensely important. Even if we are students on part time jobs, or on a meager allowance, no amount is too small to put aside as a monthly tithe to further God’s kingdom or to try do your part in fighting poverty. If we can’t put aside 10% of 500, how can we expect ourselves to put aside 10% of 50 000 one day??

What about relationships? Men, if we can’t be faithful to our girlfriends now, how can we expect to be faithful to our wives when the stakes are so much higher? Sadly, for red-blooded males, the challenge of battling lust will always be there. It sucks! But we need to follow Joseph’s lead and bluntly resist-refuse-run in response to the temptation. Easier said than done, of course! But we need to start practicing now so that we can be the best possible faithful husbands one day.

My friends and I were discussing this the other day in terms of keeping fit, keeping out of debt and doing early morning quiet time routines. If we can't exercise, work hard and wake up early as young adults, how will we do it with ample responsibilities, stresses and a family around us?

I think we should look at every situation in our lives as an opportunity to nurture faithfulness *now*. I truly believe that every day, week and month we are confronted with several difficult circumstances in which our faithfulness will be put to the test, but if we can use those circumstances as a means to exercise faithfulness, we will be glorifying and growing closer to God. 

As we head into the new week, let’s ask ourselves - in what areas am I being “faithful with little”? In what areas should my faithfulness improve? What are some examples in my life in which I’ve been faithful and I've received greater opportunities as a result?

How to Change the World

My first week at Wits Business School is "in the books". See what I did there? An Accounting reference? Not funny? Oh okay, fair enough - It's been a long week!

My first set of lectures in Marketing, Economics, Accounting and Human Resources was extremely interesting. I feel blessed to be learning about things at university that are aligned with my interests in real life. I have been reading many books concerning business and leadership recently, and to be able to learn in depth from world class lecturers with vast experience in their respective fields is a privilege.

However, the greatest aspect of my course is my fellow students. These are students from various academic backgrounds, including arts, architecture, health sciences, law, psychology and engineering. Whenever you get a selection of people from different fields discussing the same topic, you get different insights, and thus, fascinating conversation. We have had this in abundance over the last week, and with group work being a significant component of the course, I am looking forward to many intriguing discussions and debates in the months to come.

This notion of people from different fields discussing a common topic is nothing new; any dinner table conversation or family get-together involves people from a variety of occupations with different insights. However, I believe the instance in which there could be real value, is when harnessing the varying perceptions into solving a social problem.

For example; suppose we were to take one student (with leadership potential, or the desire to be a positive change agent) as a representative from each of the respective aforementioned art, architecture, health sciences, law, psychology and engineering fields. Suppose we put them in a room together with bottomless coffee and some free water (people enjoy free stuff). Suppose we then gave them the topic of 'food insecurity' to not only discuss, but come up with practical solutions for. I firmly believe that within an hour of discussion, this group of students would produce further questions surrounding the issue, answers to those questions, idealistic solutions for the problem, logical challenges to implementing the solutions, improved solutions, and finally - plausible practical solutions for the problem. Each student will have a different knowledge sphere to draw from, with creative idealism balanced out by pragmatic logic.

I truly believe that 'Think Tanks' of this nature can result in positive change in our country and Africa - all we need is passionate people with diverse perceptions to discuss social problems with the goal of coming up with innovative solutions. Then, the most important part, to have the conviction to implement the solutions. I am very excited by the prospect of this, and I know there are many platforms already out there taking advantage of this concept; the first to come to mind on a global level are One Young World and Sandbox. On a South African level, Brightest Young Minds are doing something similar. We need to support these initiatives, but also seek any opportunity to create our own. We can emulate those think tanks at a coffee shop outside university, take notes from our discussion, and vehemently seek to execute any exciting ideas that are conjured.

To quote Thomas Edison; "Vision without execution is hallucination". Felix Dennis said "I think having a great idea is vastly overrated. I know it sounds kind of crazy and counterintuitive. I don't think it matters what the idea is, almost. You need great execution". While I disagree that great ideas are overrated, I strongly agree that great execution is always needed.

I am excited by the upcoming think-tank-esque discussions with my peers, friends and colleagues in the coming months and years, and God-willing, I look forward to conjuring some innovative ideas matched only by the high quality of their execution. If we want to make a difference in the world, we need to think of ideas and take the step out of our comfort zone to implement them!

Have a great weekend!

Bring on 2014!

Firstly, happy new year!!

I arrived back in Johannesburg from Brazil 4 days ago. It was truly the experience of a lifetime; the lessons from those 6 weeks alone could fuel several blog posts. And they will, in due time. For now, it seems more appropriate to simply share my goals for 2014.

I don't like the term "New Year's Resolution"... perhaps because of the generally accepted notion that they don't last beyond a few weeks, or simply, that resolutions are nothing more than folly adopted by people needing to make a change in their lives but don't have the discipline to do so (I know because I was that person for approximately 19 years!). I like to look at them as goals, rather than simply saying I will "never do this" or "stop doing that" in 2014. I try to make them quantifiable so that I can keep track of them, although that is not always possible. Unfortunately this year, very few of my goals are quantifiable, but I will try my best to monitor them as the year progresses.

My goals for 2014:

(1) Improve bold decisiveness (nurture the habit of making fast decisions, and being slow to change mind) [Challenging to monitor quantitatively]

  > Make instinctive decisions in all situations to build the habit; fight the use of "maybe" and "I don't know"

(2) Commitment to being up to date on current affairs and world news

  > Watch the news at least 3 times a week

  > Read daily news blog as part of morning routine

  > Form opinions on current affairs

(3) Say nothing bad about people behind their back [Challenging to monitor quantitatively]

  > If there is a conflict with someone, discuss it with them personally and not to others

  > Try always look for the positive aspects of people and look to learn from them, even when difficult (Emerson's: "Every man is my superior in some way, in that I learn of him")

(4) Commitment to daily productive morning routines

  > Bible reading

  > Prayer time

  > Read

  > Blogs

  > TED Talks

(5) Continue learning Portuguese

  > Finish Duolingo course

  > Read 2 Portuguese children's / teenagers books by June

  > Practice with Portuguese friends

(6) Read 20-24 books

  > 2 books per month

Last year was the first year in which I adopted a goal-based mentality to new year’s resolutions, and it worked well. Having personal goals on a daily, weekly or monthly basis give greater context to the everyday rat race of life; no matter how busy things get, there are still personal challenges we can seek to become better people and grow in areas we may be weak. Our goals for this year should be seen as an exciting challenge to grow as people, and an opportunity for us to nurture our discipline. We will almost certainly slip up along the way (I know for a fact that I will), but that's part of the fun challenge - we can always restart and try again :) Let’s do this!