DRAW NEAR TO GOD

One Friday evening, the youth at our church invited a few prominent sports personalities to share their testimonies with us.

Louis Koen, of South African Springbok-rugby fame was there, as well as Pieter Louw, Western Province rugby player; Kobus Meintjies, a Boland Club rugby player, and Eric Hofmeyer, South African champion power lifter.

Eric was a member of the infamous Cape Flats "Staggie" gang. His story really tore at my heart. He told how, whilst still a member of this infamous gang, alone in his room one evening, he asked the Lord to enter into his life and how, immediately, he was aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room. He knew that a change had taken place in his life and heart as he prayed.

             "Therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to
              God and He will draw near to you..." James 4:7,8.

He also told how he now visits some of his old gang friends, who are currently serving prison sentences of up to 25 years. He is fully aware and not ashamed to admit that, if the Lord had not changed his own life, he would have shared their fate or have ended up in a wheelchair or dead. Some of his friends have, in fact, died violent deaths.

Questions were posed to these men as to why they had chosen to commit their lives to the Lord. They told how their loving Christian parents were their role models, how the love of their parents for the Lord and each other, led to their accepting Christ and committing their lives to the Lord. Eric, the "Skollie", or "gangster" as he jokingly referred to himself, on the other hand, had no such role model at all. There was no father figure in his home.

It is a fact that these caring, loving, Christian parents, whom the sports stars were testifying about, were all part of the privileged society during the apartheid era, whilst Eric came from one of the 'disadvantaged' segments of the apartheid era. I wondered how this affected Eric emotionally and spiritually as he listened to their testimonies.

Yet, here was this young man, who with his wife have adopted and are raising a 12 year old girl, who was an abandoned baby found in a bag lying on the street; here he was standing praising God with his hands raised in the air. They have a vision to open a house for more abandoned babies.

All these celebrities emphasized that living a life commited to the Lord is not about religion, but about a loving and intimate relationship between a person and a very personal God.

             "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears
             Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. Acts 10: 34-35

Thank You, Lord, that You save us, as well as those that we, in our sinful, or ignorant ways, have abandoned, or neglected as being not worthy of living within the confines of our own guarded societies.

Thank You that You never needed our help to do this and that You are capable and willing to raise them up far above anything that most of us have, or ever will, achieve.

Thank You that You do not care about any political system that we may ascribe to or support; that You love all the world with the same everlasting love and compassion.

Thank You, Lord, that You do not have to rely on any specific culture, or tribe, or 'colour' to spread the gospel of Good News. Thank You that You are capable of reaching the lost at any time and any place through the power of Your Holy Spirit.

Thank You, Lord, that You are willing and able to use us to enlarge Your kingdom to the measure in which we are willing to submit to Your will.