Yahoo! 360° - Homeschooling in South Africa

Yahoo! 360° - Homeschooling in South Africa

Beautiful Words to me - From Niell
The saddest words – (1 September 2007)


Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape!



Warning – In this article I am going to say a few things that might have the potential to bend you out of shape. So please be flexible. And reader discretion is advised, (but not expected.)



Someone once said “Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a hole in his head”. This is not my intention.



Someone else said - "You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see things as clearly as you do." Something to think about.



And yet another person said – “False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing.” I agree.


And if you don’t agree with me, don’t worry - When too many people agree with me, I begin to suspect I'm wrong.



Let’s get started – The thief comes ONLY to steal and kill and destroy.


Did you get that? He comes only to steal and kill and destroy? That’s it! Nothing else!



So, do you know the difference between someone who gives you something and someone who steals from you?



Of course I do! – you will say with a little contempt because I ask such a basic question on the one hand, but on the other hand you’ll know there is a catch.



Then I’ll ask - Does the same person who gives also take away?



All of a sudden, if you are slightly religiously inclined your knee-jerk reaction will be to rehearse the following portion of Scripture in your mind (for some of you it might be the only portion from Scripture that you know of by heart.) – Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.



And based on your thinking you will say in a deep religious voice – Yes… Amen, Brother, sometimes the Lord gives and sometimes he takes away.


And it sounds like a good answer. But it is flawed. Why? Because it doesn’t comply with the first law of logic

How can the Lord take away without being a thief?



Good question,- you might say, after rationalizing for a few split seconds – but I have the answer. God is in control. He is sovereign. He can do whatever he pleases!



Where did you get that from? He cannot do whatever he pleases. Why not? Because it’s not His nature.



Why do I say that?



Because its true!



Why is it true?



Because I said it? No, because the Word says it. It is written that He is watching over His Word to perform it. (There are many other Scriptures to support this. Search and ye shall find.)


So why did I go through this little exercise?



Mostly because of a very sad statement someone recently made. In response to some other communication she said to me. – I wonder if my son’s father ever spares him a thought – He certainly didn't on his birthday or any other special day...



What sad words! Those words have milled through my head about two thousand times.



Why?



Because it is a typical situation where the enemy has stolen!



What has he stolen?



He has stolen a Daddy. He has stolen so many Daddies. The biggest need in the world is a need for Daddies.



This morning I read a biography (I didn’t verify the source) of a fairly well known political personality in South Africa. He was in the news recently because of certain perceptible crimes he committed.



Part of the (slightly changed to protect his identity ) biography read - …His father died at the end of World War II, after which his mother took up employment as a domestic worker. He spent his childhood moving between here and there and by age 15 took on odd jobs to supplement his mother’s income. Owing to his deprived childhood, he did not receive any formal schooling. Heavily influenced by a trade unionist family member, he became involved in politics at an early age…”



So what is the reason for this guy’s problems?



He wasn’t Fathered.



It is clear (for me at least) that his actions reflect a lack of proper Fathering. It has nothing to do with schooling, education, position or anything else.



I wish I could be his Daddy. As a matter of interest, I wish I could be the Daddy of everybody who doesn’t have one. But I can’t. Because of my own lack of Fathering, I scarcely know how do be my own children’s Daddy.



But my heart’s cry is to learn how, and then change somebody’s world!