So what is "Passage to Purpose" all about?

Trying to explain what Passage to Purpose is all about in a couple of paragraphs is quite a challenge. I must admit that if I had to do this at different times over the past year I would probably have formulated it differently every time. But at this point in time I would say that it is about discovering the two programs that God has been running with since the beginning of time (the Redemptive Program and the Kingdom Program) and how he longs for every person on earth to be a part of both programs.

Most Christians and churchgoers are fairly familiar with the Redemptive Program. Some of the prominent Scriptures that point to the redemptive program are John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” and also Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Churches in general are very good at running with the Redemptive Program . . . If we take a close look at the two verses above you'll notice the words “faith” and “believes”. The question is have faith in what . . .? In Jesus of course! But what about Jesus? Everything about Jesus . . . ! This is exactly where the problem comes in . . . .

So why is this a problem? Because during the three years that Jesus ministered on earth his teaching was often radical when we consider it from our frame of reference. No wonder that the church of the time desperately wanted to get rid of Him. Because you see there is also the Kingdom Program whereby God is as committed to establish His kingdom, than what He is to save mankind. You see Jesus also said (Mat 10:37-39): “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

So in summary I would say that “Passage to Purpose” is about discovering that God also has a Kingdom Program and that He longs for every believer to play his (or her) part in that. To establish His kingdom and glorify Him, is ultimately why He created you and me. Once you have discovered this, "Passage to Purpose" is about making our roll in Gods Kingdom Program a reality during the time that we have on earth.

So when and how did it all start?

For all practical purposes the journey that we are on at the moment started round about August 2010, almost exactly a year ago. It started with us attending a "Starting Point" presentation presented by Kingdom Encounters. A bit more about that later (or click on this link if you really can't wait). But before I go there I would like to briefly explain why we attended the presentation. Over the period 2006-2009 I had a growing sense of dis-contempt inside of me. That despite the fact that I have been relatively successful according to the norms of the world. I was pretty sure that the level of accomplishment in the world was not the reason behind my dissatisfaction and lack off fulfillment. I was satisfied with what I have achieved from a career perspective. 

On the spiritual front as a Christian I've also been very much engaged all the time and has constantly been at least part of a home cell group and about half of the time leading the group. Then there has also been the normal church camps and courses like discipleship EEIII, etc. Round about 2006, I read a book titled "Half Time" which helped me understand why I did not really felt fulfilled. The title of the book refer to the half time that you would typically have during most team sport events. Half time is an opportunity to take a time out and reflect on what you have accomplished the first half and to make some decisions on how you plan to approach the second half to ensure that you will end up on top by the time the final whistle blows. I realized that from a career perspective I've more or less reached the half time mark and that it was probably a good idea to take some time to contemplate what I wanted to achieve during the "second half". 

The main theme of the book was "moving from success to significance" and after reading the book I was pretty much sold on the idea that moving to significance will bring true fulfillment. The question was how should I go about to become significant and experience true fulfillment? I believe that there is only one answer to this question and that is that you need to find your purpose in life. The very purpose God had in mind when He created us in so much detail. When we discover that purpose and start to live it, we will be fulfilled. So in August 2010 we attended "Starting Point", an introduction to a series of seminars collectively titled "Passage to Purpose" . . .

God's Amazing Puzzle

Thinking back on our journey I realized that there are many similarities between it and the process of building a puzzle. God has been handing us pieces pretty much during our entire life. I guess the most challenging part about building this puzzle is the fact the we have no idea what the picture looks like when we start. So, initially we need quite a bit of guidance to get going and this normally comes from fellow Christians who have already made some progress with their own puzzles.

As we grow in our relationship with God we gain confidence and are able to start placing some of the pieces all by ourselves. Not all pieces fits in straight away (actually most don't), but normally we are able to put them down in more or less the correct area. As parts of the picture start to unfold we can get quite excited to see it and immediately reach for the next piece. Then there are also the times that we get distracted by the world and lose interest . . . while God patiently waits for us to take the next piece from His outstretched hand.

Sometimes He would hand us a piece which is really hard to place. We would put it down in the area where we think it might fit, just to pick it up a bit later again thinking that maybe it rather belongs to another part of the puzzle. I have even went so far as to tell God in no uncertain terms that He has made a mistake, got confused and handed me a piece from a different puzzle. When He gently persisted, I argued that He does not know me because if He did He would have known that that particular piece does not fit into my picture of happiness.

The reality is that God never make mistakes and therefore wouldn't take any pieces back. He does not want our puzzle to be spoiled by one missing piece when we finish the puzzle. Those of us who have build a puzzle with a missing piece or two knows how terribly disappointing it is . . . it is almost impossible to feel completely satisfied when the completed puzzle has a missing piece. The piece that I referred to above took me close to 7 years to accept as part of our puzzle and a further 3 years to place. Praise God that that piece will not be missing when we finish the puzzle.

Reflecting on the past year's journey

Firstly we've decided to write this in English since some of our friends with whom we've shared our journey over the past year had to use Google Translate to follow the blog in the past and we do not want some things to get "lost in translation".

Secondly, the primary reason why we have decided to capture our "reflecting on the past year" in writing is primarily for ourselves, to remember God's guidance and provisioning as we've been discovering how His "divine conspiracy" has been playing out in our lives.

A good friend of us uses the analogy of a roller coaster ride to explain what it is like to go on a journey with God to search for and live out the purpose for which He created us, with unparalleled attention to detail, as David describes it in Psalm 139 (See below).

Although I agree that a roller coaster ride is probably the best analogy in the physical that can be compared to a journey with God, I strongly suspect that it does not even come close to the exhilaration of journeying with God and I believe that we are not even scraping the surface of our journey as yet.

During a roller coaster ride in a short space of time you typically go from laughing and wildly throwing your arms in the air enjoying the wind through your hair to anxiously going into the brace position with your eyes closed and for a brief moment actually fearing for your life. It is because of those anxious times that we have decided to" put our fingers to the keyboard", so that we can remind ourselves that God has been faithful before and because of His unchanging nature He will remain faithful until the end.

Psalm 139 (ESV):
"Psa 139:13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
Psa 139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psa 139:15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Psa 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Psa 139:17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! "

I finally cracked it - Plan and Purpose

After being back for a week now, still trying to absorbed everything that we have heard and experienced, I think I'm beginning to understand an important concept crucial to mission: PLAN and PURPOSE. I actually started to grasp this as a result of hearing the testimonies of people how have partnered with us (through financial support, moral support and PRAYER support) during our journey. Many testified how it felt as if they were physically on the journey with us, and  how close they felt to God as a result. (I guess that is exactly why JP encouraged us to "take others on the journey" with us, but to be honest, I some how doubted if is was possible considering that this was only a short term outreach ....)

So what is PLAN in the context of missions?
Mat 28:19  Therefore, as you go, disciple all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Does God really need us to accomplish this task? Most definitely not, remember, He is God, He created the universe by speaking a word.
So why is He then so eager  for us to obey this commandment ....? Because of the PURPOSE of missions....

Why does corporates take there staff on team building adventures like up-sailing and white river rafting? Simply because they want individuals to become a strong team through BUILDING RELATIONSHIP under challenging circumstances. God wants to take every child of His on a journey to disciple the nations, not because He needs our help, but because He is so keen to build relationship with us, a relationship that just goes deeper and deeper how ever far we are prepared to go .....

Does this mean that every body is called to be a missionary in the field ....? Most definitely not! None of our partners left the country, yet by getting involved in the PLAN (the outreach) they experienced the PURPOSE: a more intimate relationship with God.

PS. JP, let me know if I missed something important. I realize that I am only beginning to understand this, but you would not believe how excited I am about this "discovery".

Travel Mercies

We were totally overwhelmed by all the "travel mercies" we experienced traveling back! Everything from Christoph (for the first time in at least 7 flights) not experiencing ear pain when we landed (he even slept through one landing), to getting tickets to go through the express passport control (same as the cabin crew), to all three our pieces of check-in luggage being amongst the first 20 to appear on the conveyor belt . . . and more.

Thinking back at how smooth the entire trip went, I'm contemplating why we experience God's favor to such an extent? Is it because He gave JP "special" wisdom? Is it because of all the payer support? Is it possible the we were in His perfect will? I'm I busy trying to figure out God? How silly!

Now looking forward to take part in a missions exhibition at our local church this coming Sunday. Talk about timing!

Saigon City (Ho Chi Min)

Hierdie is 'n groter toets van geloof en vertroue as wat dit op die oog af mag lyk. Dit is nie toevallig dat my oë toe is nie . . .

Benoude boude in die Cu Chi tonnels. Na die bietjie wat ons gesien en gehoor het is daar geen twyfel in ons gemoed dat Amerika (of enige ander land) ooit daardie oorlog sou kon wen nie . . .

. . . vir die kinders was dit egter 'n "walk in the park"

Die Vietnamese gaan GROOT met hulle (Chinese/Lunar) nuwe jaarsvieringe en is definitief nie skaam oor die feit dat hulle 'n sosialistiese land is nie. Moet se mens kom dit nie regtig agter nie . . . behalwe dat die gastehuise, ens elke aand aan die polisie rapporteer wie by hulle geslaap het.