all I want for christmas...

48 hours till houses all across Durban North will have a man in a red suit creep in through the chimney to drop off presents, devour the milk and cookies left on the shelf above the stockings and to cry "ho ho ho" as he lifts off into the dark night sky. And no, I'm not talking about me when I'm wearing James Robertson's red skinny jeans!
With mistletoe, christmas trees and carols being the main thing on all our minds at the moment, I've compiled a list of a few CD's and books you can slip onto your late christmas wish-list to santa...

Music:
*Jesus Culture (two cd's out at the moment of theirs, "Your love never fails" and "consumed"...both come with an extra live dvd...very, very cool stuff...include songs like "you won't relent until you have it all", "revelation song", King of glory" and tons more...on sale at CUM and Gospel Direct)
*Jason Upton (he's got lots out and they're all good)

Books:
*John Piper ("Christian Hedonist", "don't waste your life"...read more about him and check out his blog at www.desiringgod.org)
*Rob Bell ("Velvet Elvis", Sex God"...controversial but will make you think)
Anything written by these guys are also winners...
*RT Kendall
*Bill Johnson

One book that I picked up today and which i'll definitely recommend is called "Even greater" written by the mass-evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. It's only 188 pages and it's 12 stories of God doing incredible things around the world, so it won't take you long to read and it won't be any length of time until your faith shoots through the roof...in short, it's a brilliant book if you want to get amped for what God can do through you.

Happy Christmas mates...don't forget about the christmas service on Friday at Northwood at 8am

Gabe

Just a thought...

"The chief end of man is to glorify God AND (not "or") enjoy him forever."
*A.W Tozer

"God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in him"
*John Piper

Just some quotes that I've been pondering over for the last while...and I'm sure I will be mulling them over for quite a while to come!

gabe

The young and the restless

It's 01:45am on a Monday morning and I'm with James page and Andrew Wilkins at the Smith's house and guess what we find? No it's not david's secret stash of twinkies under his bed but rather folder upon folder of ridiculously young photo's of back in the day vibes at COGS youth. Here's 5 of the best...

1 - Carrington Collier (aged 13/14)
2 - Kiddies party at COGS youth 2004 (this was the entire youth)
3 - The day of COGSCARS 2004
4 - Chris Dudley (aged 11)
5 - Ashleigh Bargate (aged 9)

Hopefully we'll have more to come when we stop laughing

"An Indian Boy trying to make good in a black and white world"

Recently Ashneel and I were driving around Effingham and he was regaling me with story upon story of how the Lord had miraculously saved him out of his former lifestyle (Leader of the Effingham Heights Gang, Kagita and CatchHimDog) and had brought him into COGS youth. I asked him a few probing questions and I feel the depth of his answers might inspire alot of you out there. Here's a tiny look into the life and times of an Indian boy trying to make a difference in a black and white world...

Gabe: So Ashneel, tell us a little bit of what life was like growing up in the wild neighbourhood of Effingham?

Ashneel: It was rough, quite rough. Everytime you went for a walk you'd have to look back just to make sure no one was following you. Your money was safer in your shoes than in your pockets. Yes, it was rough but it made me a man. I had grown chest hair by the age of 5, just so that I would have respect on the playground and gulleys. Where witou lighties are drinking milk, I was drinking "spook and diesel". Nothing glamorous about the EHG lifestyle.

Gabe: Wow, and you seem so innocent now. Tell us a little more about the EHG (the Effingham Heights Gang)...

Ashneel: I joined the squad in the summer of 1997, I had just turned 10 and the wise Kagita took me under his wing and taught me the ways of the CatchHimDog. We used to walk maround and blow up peoples post boxes during diwali, take stones and right vulgar words on the road. When we walked down the streets heads used to turn and h'asses used to burn. People wanted to be with us but they knew it would cost them too much. We were feared, hated and loved. Kagita was tough with me, but he saw something that the other gangs didn't.

Gabe: How did you rise to the top of EHG?

Ashneel: In the early hours of one fateful Monday morning, we were involved in a terrific battle with the VSR (Verulam Sewer Rats) and Kagita was leading the charge up Sanjay Hill...we were making great headway as we slowly took control of the Hill. All of a sudden as light started to appear in the distance, a great cry went out as Kagita was slain by a stray fishing line. As he lay on the ground so close to death, I knelt on the ground next to him, my tears spilling upon the soil. He took hold of my hand, and whispered, "Watkind laanie? Chune Lugs farwell for me". Then he breathed his last. I took his words to mean I was in charge, and from that day forth I was no longer just Ashneel, I became Bra George, head of the EHG.


Next blog, the conversation continues as we find out how the Indian became a Chrindian (a christian indian)

The Ghost of COGSCARS Past...#1

With COGSCARS 2009 now just under a week away (and with a little spare time on my hands this morning), I've let my thoughts wonder down memory lane and reminisce over some of the highs from previous end of year COGSCARS events. Here's a quick list of what made the first one I can remember (2004) so great:

It was the end of my grade 11 year and I had been in Durban for just over 14 months at that stage. David Smith, Andrew Wilkins and myself had just become good friends and during the year we had played with the idea of starting a band (read some of our history on the facebook group "Smash and Grab" or click on the link here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts&gid=6217291287#/topic.php?uid=6217291287&topic=3292). News of our musical attempts reached the ears of Mike Gooch (the guy leading the youth at the time) and he foolishly thought it would be a good idea to get us to play at the COGSCARS that year. Despite Paul's many vociferous protests, "De ja vu", as we were first named, somehow made it onto the agenda for the infamous night.

The three of us hadn't been playing our various instruments for any substantial length of time, so you can imagine the torment for the audience that followed. If you ask people who were there that night what they remember from that auspicious occasion, I bet they won't mention our 5 minute time slot as they have conveniently erased it from their memories!

But besides this, it was a great night! We had it in the actual church building, and the decor was absolutely incredible. Nick Hustler had braided hair, Jono Rich wore a t-shirt and a jacket and Dan Bailey won "most likely to take his shirt off in public" (mainly because James Robertson wasn't there). James at this stage had a preoccupation with showing off his abs, his biceps and his lats to anyone who was remotely interested. When he realised that not many people were interested, he began removing his shirt at youth at the proverbial drop of a hat. So we thought that pointing out this particular obsession of his with an award at COGSCARS would maybe curb his enthusiasm, but alas he was playing in a cricket tournament that week, and so Dan Bailey won the prize intended for James instead(a packet of cat food if I remember correctly) and the legend of "Dan the ladies man" became official!


As our countdown continues till friday night, so to will our recollections of COGSCARS through the years. So make this blog your home-page and get ready as the Ghost of COGSCARS Past keeps you in the loop...

A John the Baptist people...

John the Baptists life prepared the way for Jesus! Yes he ate wild honey, ate locusts, and lived in the desert... but what makes him one of the great men of the bible is this - everything John was and all he did was done with the intention of preparing the way for Jesus! How insane is that.. and how challenging!

The question I ask is this... Isn't this God's plan, intention, purpose and desire for our lives as well? How can it not be if the nations - those who don't know Jesus - are so important to Him?

John lived a life that prepared the way because he knew God and understood the heart of God - he lived in the desert ( Luke 1 : 80 ) - it wasn't the locusts or honey that sustained him, it was God! It was through intimate relationship with God, in the desert, that God was able to prepare John to prepare the way!

God works in us to flow out of us!

We prepare the way - God saves! Us preparing the way for Jesus starts with allowing God to prepare and equip us in His presence, through His Word, in worship and by searching our hearts and leaving revelation of the mysteries of Jesus and who He is to us ( see Gabe's blog about how God does this - the red font ).

God works in us to flow out of us!

God my prayer is that when people speak of my life they will say I prepared the way for Jesus! Thats my prayer for you as well... God take us to that place more and more! God keep raising up this John the Baptist generation!

God work in us to flow out of us!

Bradlows...

Time to go swimming!

This weekend, The Killers, an American alternative rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, will jet into South Africa for two highly anticipated gigs in Johannesburg and Cape Town. With this in mind, The Killers have a song called "the river is wild" and another which contains the lyrics "the river is deep, the river is wide" and this got me thinking about the passage in Ezekiel 47:1-12 which speaks about the wild, deep and wide river that flows from the throne of grace.
Go read it...then go read John 7:38...

The River of his presence is flowing and he is saying “put on your board shorts boy!”
The river is increasing…what-ever you have experienced, no this with an absolute certainty...THERE IS MORE!!! Not ankle deep limits, not waist deep limits but more and more and more!
there is always, always, always more to him!!!!

It's holidays for some already, nearly holiday for all and that means time will for once be on our side...if you're going to do one thing over the next 5 weeks of summer holiday, make sure that it's plunging yourself deeper into the river of God. Sometimes it can feel a little difficult, so that's why I've taken the liberty of typing out a few helpful hints which are helping me get a little "wetter" as I continue pushing out into the deeer parts of this river:

*Why is it difficult:

• don’t be in too much of a hurry...learning to swim with your feet off the bottom doesn't take 5 minutes...
• We feel unworthy:
  When we realize who he is, we then will know who we are (remember that the only way you can come to dad is through Jesus! Plead the blood of Jesus! (I feel crap but I’m not coming in my own name!!!!)
• as you pray you are looking for the help of the Holy Spirit/ We pray to the father, through Jesus, seeking the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit…he’s the one who gives you the strength and liberty
• The word of God
  -If God promises you something in his word and you are not seeing it, turn the promise into prayer! (“but you said, and you don’t lie”)
  LAY HOLD OF GOD! (read Genesis.32:22-32)
• Practically: EVERYONE IS UNIQUE…I struggle to sit still (I draw what God says, I write, I dance really crazily, I waltz with my dad, I Lie on the floor with music in my ears weeping…I have a pen and paper to write down thoughts etc…Turn your bedroom into a fortress but don’t be confined there)
• Get God conscious…Quiet times no more/LOUD times/every times

my prayer is that before the clock ticks to midnight on december 31st and the calendar moves onto 2010, that I would have pushed into deeper waters, to a place where my feet no longer touch the bottom, where i have discarded my water wings and to where I am in wilder, deeper and wider parts of his river.

The safety of the shallow ends or the adventure of the depths...it's up to us!