Stewart 5

Drew this with pastels on Tuesday to capture a bit of what God has been teaching me about listening, how God is changing me as a listener, and what God is leading me toward…

A lot of it has to do with exploring my own heart with God.  So, the flames, heart connectors going vertically.  And then the connecting to other hearts is because I believe that as I listen more to my own heart and what is going on, I will be able to listen to others better as well. I will be able to hear with compassion. My heart will become a place of invitation to others.  I need that connection.  I need to ask/listen to others more, to ask for advice, to know what’s going on inside others.  I want to connect with other hearts, not just for what I have to offer, but what I have to gain.

Around are odd shapes and colors.  And a bunch of black.  This represents the noise and distraction I am surrounded with, bombarded with.  One thing I have learned for sure is that I must be selective and intentional to hear the right and important things.  If these heart connections are what is important to me, then I have to make time and space.

These word don’t really capture all that is in that picture.  But maybe just enough to give the idea.

From my heart.

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For some random reason, it was discovered yesterday that women hug differently than men.  In giving front-to-front hugs, women apparently hug each other with one arm going around their friend’s side, and the other arm OVER THEIR FRIEND’S SHOULDER!  This is bizarre.  Basically, women hug one another diagonally.  Has anyone else noticed this???  We tried - and verified - this with all of the women in our community.

Men, of course, hug in a normal fashion.  Both arms straight across and around (forget all the back-slapping and homophobic side-hugs).  One guy is always taller, even if only slightly, so it works out fine.

What gives?  Can anyone explain this difference?  I wish I had a picture to demonstrate what I mean, and hope the descriptions above are adequate for you to picture this and hopefully offer some thoughts on this gender-based difference in hugging.

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Over the past years I have come to deeply appreciate Holy Week and some of the different traditions associated with the days and events associated with Jesus’ last week. This year, our community had a passover meal on Maundy Thursday, worship tonight for Good Friday, meditative stations for Holy Saturday (or “inevitable Saturday” as we decided to call it today), and songs/communion/meal on Easter morning.

So, in doing all of this, we seem to constantly struggle with what to call everything. Most don’t know the traditional names for the days. Others know the names but not the meaning. Some know both, but still can’t embrace some of the labels. Now, I understand that we are dealing with a few thousand years of history, so you can’t just give everything hip, modern, catchy names.

But what’s so good about Good Friday? It’s the day Jesus died. The greatest person in all of history dies and we call it good! Yes, of course, I know that Easter/resurrection redeems the death. But does that make Friday good? Today, Roger insisted that death is just part of the normal rhythm of life. My response: yes, but is it good just because it’s natural? Maybe I am being overly simplistic or argumentative, but I have trouble calling the day my Lord and saviour died as good.

And don’t even get me started on “Jesus was dead Saturday”…

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the lights isn’t perfect, but you get the idea. hope you like it!

(click to go to larger photo in photo album)

explanation here.

i have some pics of the process. anyone interested in those as well?

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An explanation of my new tattoo, soon to be unveiled when I can get a pic taken and posted in the next day or two now that it is done and nearly finished peeling…

Last year was quite significant for me in my understanding of God’s pursuit of our hearts. I suppose our time with our friends Sean & Jean Daly was a big piece of that. With them, we spent a considerable amount of time considering the great love God has for us and his pursuit of us, his beloved. I was challenged to consider what in my story keeps me from embracing that. Further, what wounds need to be healed in order to pursue God myself? Powerful and lasting stuff – I am still considering and working through some of these issues and truths. I am also reminded of a line from Rob Bell’s “Sunday” Nooma dvd – “God wants our hearts… hearts that are becoming like His” And Isaiah 58, which we spent a considerable amount of time with last year, makes it clear that God doesn’t desire empty rituals. Instead, he wants hearts that are turned toward Him.

God is love. Love God. Love your neighbor. The greatest of these is love. This is sort of a central theme of scripture. This is not a new theme, not new information to me. BUT, I am coming to actually experience/understand that God is after our hearts to the exclusion of all else. He isn’t impressed by what we can do. He doesn’t need us to save the world. He wants our hearts to become as they were meant to be – full of love – just like His. Then, frankly, the rest happens flowing from that. God is the King of Hearts.

Over the past several years, I’ve begun the slow journey of getting in touch with my own heart – my desires, my longings, my capacities to care for others. 2002 (our apprentice year with NieuCommunities) was a breakthrough year in this regard. Since then, it’s been big at times, slow at others. But being part of NC has afforded me generous opportunities to explore this most critical pursuit. I am also surrounded by amazing people who are much further along than I. Fortunately, they are all reasonably encouraging and patient with me as I learn.

Another big turning point came last year. While reading Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy for the 5th time or so, I was caught by a small phrase he was discussing from the Sermon on the Mount. “Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth ,where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21). This caught my attention because I am constantly considering how I spend my time, priorities, etc.

So, I asked myself, where can I invest that moth and rust don’t destroy? What is eternal, and not subject to decay? Where should I be putting my time, my effort, my heart? In people. People’s hearts are eternal. They do not die. That’s where I need to invest my treasure. With that, I believe I am desiring to join with God and his desire for hearts. I align myself with the King of Hearts.

For those of you who play cards reasonably often, you will know that the King of Hearts is also the “suicide king.” This king holds a sword that looks like it is sticking in the side of his head. There’s a whole long history of why the card appears this way, but I think it suits (ha ha) my meaning as well. The King of Heart must die to himself. Fill in your own scripture references here (there are tons), but let me just summarize to say that love comes at the highest of costs – sacrifice. But it also allows the greatest of rewards - manifesting and participating in God’s very essence – love. You will see when the pic is posted of how we captured the idea of the king who dies in order to love – the dead and living king therefore being one and the same.

My hopes for this particular post are threefold:

1. to offer explanation to those of you who got to see the tattoo during the NieuCommunities conference that I never had the opportunity to explain this to
2. as a teaser for those of you who are waiting to see it - you know i have something - and reading this can only increase your interest
3. to share with all of you the meaning behind this piece of art. it has deep significance to me, much more than I have written here, but this is enough for now. You can always ask questions for more info/clarification

Pics to follow soon, I promise

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The FA Cup has reached the semi-finals!  The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world (began 1871-72) and is annually held involving the teams from all the division in England.  What makes this tournament so compelling is that teams from the Premier League (some of the best teams in the world) are matched up against teams from the lower divisions.  So, the smaller teams get to play matches that are huge for them.  Every once in a while, teams from the lower divisions knock out the big teams.

As we are now at the semi-finals, there are only 4 teams remaining in the tournament.  Only 1 of the teams is from the Premiership (Portsmouth - currently 7th place in league standings).  So, odds are that a team from a lower division may win.  These teams are: West Bromwich Albion (4th place in the first division), Barnsley (17th place in the first division), and Cardiff City (12th place in the first division).

Who will win?  Could be Pompey.  Premier League teams have lots of money, resources, and great players.  But Barnsly has knocked both Liverpool and Chelsea out of the tournament.  And West Brom is playing strong, perhps well enough to be promoted to the Premiership next year.

While the Champion’s League is perhaps the highest level of club football, I think the FA Cup is every bit as exciting.  Can’t wait to see who wins in this round.

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i love this, so figured it would be a good tester for posting video. if i get this to work, be on the look out for videos of our kids which i will post in the future.

it’s business time…

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hi dr. nick…

we’re hosting our NieuCommunities conference, which officially starts tomorrow.  Which pretty much means we’re officially welcoming loads of guests since last night.  so glad we have that extended worship time yesterday!

as such, not sure how much i will post in the next few days.  HOWEVER, wanted to give the teaser that I got a tattoo this past Wednesday.  Colour and shading will be done this Tuesday.  Only my friend Andrew has pics of the ink so far (outline, which btw looks great by itself), so if I can’t get to them in the next few days, I promise to post some pics after it is done.

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Praise to God - maker of all things, lover of my soul - that I am finally feeling a bit better.  Not 100%, but well enough to actually enjoy this weekend.  And what a weekend.

Friday night, we did a commissioning time for the Kabongos who are launching an Innerchange team in Soshonguve this year.

Yesterday, Melissa, AP, Mairin, and our friend Chris went to a fab concert at the Botannical Gardens in Joburg.  Then, we went and had dinner at a cool little restaurant nearby.

Chris & Harris Tweed, Arthur & Chris all smiles,  Mairin at the restaurant  

Today, we took the kids and Iain’s friend Lukie to an outdoor adventure.  Hiking, animals, and hamburgers - what could be better?  This afternoon we swam at Pangani.

Lukie holds a crocodile (Iain making sure you see it), the boys hiking, swimming (Mosky doing ballet in the back) 

So glad to just chill for the weekend, especially with the hectic schedule we’ve had and given that we are hosting the all-NieuCommunities conference starting this upcoming weekend.  Nice to hang with the fam - nourishing to the soul!

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