Pit stop: Johannesburg, South Africa.
Four days here, before heading on
City living, what a luxury- or so it used to be
I take a hot shower and hit up the mall,
because that sounds like a good idea.
Do I want to shop? No.
I want coffee. Good coffee.
And I want to sit alone
because being alone is a foreign concept
I break the rules and escape
Ah, I can breathe.
I find a table at a juice shop
(that sells coffee)
because apparently coffee shops aren’t popular in South Africa
Amongst a casino, bumper cars, a cinema, and endless stores, this mall contains ONE coffee shop.
Pitiful. So I adapt, because this year has taught me how.
I post up at a juice shop,
and my mind wanders…
As I watch hundreds of people pass by letting their eye’s wander- lusting after the material possessions they somehow squeeze into the category of a need, giving themselves justification that yes indeed they can buy it because after all it’s a necessity, I wonder how many people before me know the God I know?
Not how many claim Christianity,
but how many people know God?
For a second I feel like God gave me His heart.
Yes, the very heart of God, was felt inside me today.
And I hurt.
I hurt because I looked at everyone and they were empty.
They were blind,
Their shells were so thick, nothing would penetrate except the Lord Himself, and even that seemed questionable.
And they were lost.
I write this through tears because I’m reminded of the pain I felt
My body aches for them.
I see them and they look beautiful,
Cute shirt, pretty necklace, I think to myself she’s so pretty,
And then God’s eyes overcome my own
and boom, empty.
She’s empty.
Everyone I see is empty.
I want to scream,
I want to run up to every person I see and shake them and tell them about the goodness of God that they’re missing out on.
I want to shatter everything they’ve ever known to be true.
I want to rebuke every lie, every perception, every moment of despair they’ve ever had,
and I want give them purpose.
I want to see them flourish.
Because with God you have purpose.
Life without Him is quick and pointless
It’s a story of self indulgence & instant pleasure (that instantly fades)
James 4:14 says, “You are but a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
You’re here and then you’re gone and before you know it you’ve missed out on the very purpose of life.
Is that what you want?
I know there are people out there that will say yes, and for them, I hurt.
Your very Creator, the one that handcrafted you, sees you deny Him and hurts.
He hurts because he sees how empty you are.
Hollow to the core,
bound to a life on Earth and nothing else.
A mist that disappears.
Allow the God of this universe to penetrate your heart.
Let him set a fire in your soul
That warms you, comforts you.
That destroys the hard shell the world has built around you.
Let him renew you, giving you hope.
A bird set free.
Fly.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.’” -Jeremiah 29:11
If you want to know God’s heart read John 10, Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me..I lay down my life for the sheep…My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they know me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all.”
