Archive for the ‘blog carnival’ Category
living with strangers
Posted on: November 30, 2010
- In: blog carnival | my life
- 4 Comments
they say to watch the company you keep because you tend to become them or something. i always try to surround myself with good people, and i think i’ve done very well so far. god has brought some super awesome people into my life.
sometime this year i was going through some hectic spiritual stuff – lots of doubt, which i’d never really experienced before – so it was really scary, but the people from church helped me through it.
str
a few years ago i read donald miller’s blue like jazz and shane claiborne’s irresistible revolution and fell in love with the idea of living in community. i decided then that i didn’t want to live alone anymore – at that point i was living in a batchelor flat all by my lonesome. anyway, the following year i moved in with my friend lindri and that was really good. i think i needed that transition of moving in with just one person first to get me out of my “bubble” space mentality…and it was a really huge bubble. anyway, by the end of the year i was so used to lindri coming to my door all the time to talk that i’d so miss it when she wasn’t around. i got to a point where i didn’t just put up with being around people but i actually wanted and craved to be around other people.
the next year i moved in with 2 strangers. even more growth. atleast with lindri we’d been friends before we moved in together so i kinda knew what to expect but with these new flatmates i knew nothing. i only met them once i’d already moved in. and although there were some disagreements here and there – mostly about housekeeping: washing the dishes, cleaning the bathroom, etc etc – it was a really cool group of people so it all worked out in the end.
i just moved into a new house last week that i will be sharing with 4 other people – eek. 4 stragers. i lucked out though because they all seem like genuinely great people and we get along quite well. i actually went away with one of them this past weekend – after only knowing her for a week – to a music festival…she’s also a fan of music and dancing – yayness!
i think my biggest problem this year is going to be being farther away from my church people, especially since my flatmates aren’t Christians. i think i took that for granted while i had it. lind would always come to my room when she got something new from the bible and share it with me and we’d have hectic chats on the Bible and God and pray for each other and stuff. and last year, while that didn’t happen, knowing that my flatmates where Christians and being close to my friends whom i could always call on for coffee and a chat when i was feeling down or whatever was really encouraging.
i think church attendance and cell group are going to play an even bigger role in my life next year. i’m gonna be more dependent on that christian fellowship. and i’m gonna try to remember not to take it for granted but to really appreciiate it.
================================
this post was written for the one word at a time blog carnival. this week’s theme is “fellowship”. Click here to read other posts from some awesome bloggers.
Blessed
Posted on: November 16, 2010
this past sunday at church we watched the Louie Giglio dvd on prayer (remix or something like that). anyway he was talking about how often when we pray it is so me (or us) focused – God bless me, God be with me, God forgive me, God keep me safe and watch over me…he used a trip to florida as an example: when we go somewhere we always pray that God will bless the trip and go with us and keep us safe and watch over us (and forgive us our many sins – maybe as a precurser to all that’s gonna happen in florida…ha ha…Louie is funny.)
anyway the dvd was about remix’ing prayer…so not praying in the same way we always do. instead of asking God for blessings, how about we bless God. “God, help me a blessing to you on this trip”…
Ephesians 1: 3 says “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” and 2 Peter 1: 3 says “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” we’ve already recieved the blessing – he gave us everything we need to live a godly life – 2000 years ago. all those promises of blessing in the old testament, they were culminated in the person of Jesus. instead of running around asking God for more blessings, maybe it’s time we said thank you for the greatest blessing he could give. maybe it’s time we use the blessing he’s given us to bless him…
Praise the Lord, oh my soul! Praise the Lord!
=============================
this post was written for the one word at a time blog carnival. this week’s theme is “gratitude”. Click here to read other posts from some awesome bloggers.
BAD10: Clean Water
Posted on: October 15, 2010
- In: blog carnival | thoughts
- 2 Comments
Today is Blog Action Day and this year’s theme is Clean Water.
For the month of September, 30 bloggers came together for 30 days to raise $30000 to for clean water through charity:water. Here’s some of the posts:
=========================
from Katdish.net
I take a lot for granted…
The list is endless, really. But in the interest of space, I’ll stick to something that not only do I take for granted, I rarely even think about:
The access I have to clean drinking water. It surrounds me. Just within the confines of my home, I can go to one of six sinks, turn a handle and clean water flows from the faucet. Walk out to the garage, and there’s the mop sink, next to the second refrigerator with ice and water in the door.
=========================
from max vs max
I know we hear this stuff all the time. We see the poverty and despair on the news and in commercials, and – after a while – it just becomes “noise”. We’re oblivious to it. We know this crap is out there, but with so many people begging for your money it becomes hard to discern the real charities from the shysters. Eventually we tune it all out.
However, every once in a while you hear about a charity that is doing something really cool in a unique way . . .
==========================
from tyler stanton.com
Every day I write about things that don’t matter. That’s what this blog is about. I love doing it, and I’m going to keep doing it for as long as you’ll keep reading. For one day a year, though, I want to write about something that actually does matter – more specifically, about how you and I can join together to do something that matters.
During the 30 days of September, 29 other bloggers and I have joined together to see if our different communities could collectively raise $30,000 for charity: water, to provide clean water for people who don’t have it
===========================
there’s more…i believe there’s a list of all the other bloggers on those posts so you can read through them all if you wish.
This is what I wrote about it then.
in the end $11, 474 was raised, which will help 573 people with clean water. although the initial amount wasn’t met, something was done to help those who are less fortunate. those of us with clean water take it for granted, while others die for it. this campaign made me proud to be part of such an amazing blogging community and it challenged me to do SOMETHING, just like blog action day does every year.
so with that in mind, let’s use what we’ve got to help those who don’t have.
And be sure to stop by the Blog Action Day site to read the other blogposts.
Multilingual like me
Posted on: September 7, 2010
- In: being Christ-like | blog carnival | likes | my life | thoughts
- 10 Comments
one of my hobbies is collecting translations of the word “hope”. why? cos that’s my name. it’s a pretty useless collection…i’d need to actually know other words in the language to need to use the word. also, my name is tsholofelo. i can’t go around introducing myself in other languages, it would be too confusing.
anyway, here’s what i’ve committed to memory so far
Hope – English
(south african languages)
Hoop – Afrikaans (also Dutch i believe)
Tsholofelo – Setswana
Tshepo – Sesotho
Themba – isiXhosa/isiZulu
fulufhelo – tshiVhenda
(other african languages)
Tumaini – Swahili
(european languages)
Esparanza – Spanish
Espoire – French
Speranza – Italian
Tikva – Hebrew
Von – Icelandic (thanks sigur ros)
Hoffnung – German
(asian languages)
Xi Wang – Mandarin
if you know of any more translations please let me know.
————-
i really like the word hope – and not just because it’s my name.
i feel like hope is that thing that keeps us holding on when everything about us is crumbling. my hope rests in christ and in his work on the cross and in his love. when all about me is falling and it feels like i’m falling with it, i remember that the father loved me enough to send his son to the cross and i am comforted. that’s not to say i think that everything will work out as i want it to, but i know that it will work together for my good – when things don’t go the way i want them to, i remember that he is in control. and that’s how i face life’s trials and tribulations. i keep looking to him, and trusting that he knows best.
my very first blogpost reads:
“I always wanted to go into full-time ministry (i.e. work for the church) and I thought that if I ever did i would call my ministry “hope in love”. Why? 3 reasons:
1. We find hope in His love for us
2. Because of His love for me and my love for Him, i bring hope to others
3. I, Hope (my name translated into English), am in love with Joshua Davidson
And for those wondering who Joshua Davidson is: Joshua or Yeshua is Jesus in Hebrew, and Davidson is the son of David – or a male born in the lineage of David.
So yea, I’ve decided to use this space to document my growth (or lack thereof) – spiritually (and maybe maturity-wise if that ever happens) and I figure by putting that on the web I’m inviting billions of people around the world to keep me accountable, and to call me out on it if I become hypocritical – which I tend to do. And because the people who will be reading this are most probably all total strangers, I have no need for masks therefore I can be totally 100% honest. Scary thought. And so here begins my ministry – not what I imagined it to be all those years ago but hey, anything short of sin, right.
I’m not a professional blogger nor do I consider myself a writer, but if any Christian reads anything I’ve written here and thinks, I want my walk with Christ to be better or if any non-Christian reads anything I’ve written here and thinks, maybe this Jesus Christ guy isn’t so bad – I’d like to get to know more about him, then this exercise is all worthwhile.
Keith Green put it perfectly when he said “I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!”
So let the journey begin…”
===============
this post was written for the one word at a time blog carnival. this week’s theme is “hope”. Click here to read other posts from some awesome bloggers.
This post is part of a weekly worship blog carnival, so do stop by the worship community for more setlists and sermon recaps from around the world…
======================
Evening service
———————–
O come let us adore Him – John Wade,John Reading
All who are thirsty – Brenton Brown, Glenn Robertson
Glory – Rueben Morgan
O praise him – David Crowder*Band
How great is our God – Brad Klynsmith
How great is our God – Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash
Kev led. Acoustic set with just one guitar and a djembe.
Very few people tonight – next week is test week so students busy preparing.
Anyway, the preach was on friendships.
1. Discipling in a non-Christian context (go and make disciples of all nations)
2. Discipling in a Christian context (teaching them to obey everything i’ve taught them)
3. Mentorship – intentionally pouring into someone, and being poured into.
Someday…
Posted on: August 24, 2010
- In: blog carnival | thoughts
- 2 Comments
i plan to have 2 kids. i plan to be the best mother ever! God willing, the plan is to have 1 biological kid and adopt 1…and depending on finances (and my husband will probably want some input on this one) i might even foster a couple of kids. and if i don’t get married, then i’ll just go the adoption route. i have names already picked out – the boy will be Crowder-Morgan (there’s this guy in the band “Surrender Band” named john-morgan who – i think – totally looks like david crowder, and i once said to my friend that i liked his name and my friend said it would be cooler if it was crowder-morgan instead of john-morgan…and after thinking about it i agreed) and the girl Anberlin-Mae or Anberlin Emery (which are all the names of 3 really cool bands: Anberlin, Mae, and Emery – still debating whether to tell her that’s where she got the name…what if she hates the bands?). i once played around with the name Corban (Mark 7:11) which i think is an awesome name, but i got impatient and named my guitar Corban…and i don’t want to name my kid after a guitar…
i remember when my little brother was little. he was the cutest thing ever! i used to babysit a lot cos my mom worked nights so while she slept in the afternoons i watched my little brother. i was there for his first word and his first steps. and we were really close. i also remember the changing of the stinky diapers, and him crying at night while i was trying to get some sleep [my dad had to drive my mom to work and somehow my brother thought that the moment the car left the parking lot was the right moment to wake up and cry his little lungs out but eventually he'd fall asleep in my arms and he'd look so angelic i'd just melt].
there were moments, to be honest, where i felt cheated cos while other kids got to go to malls and such after school i had to come home and watch my brother. but i also knew that my parents were struggling financially and needed me to watch my brother so i did. so i’m not thinking motherhood is going to be all roses. i know at some point my kids will become teenagers and will drive me crazy. i know that i will have to watch them grow up and know the pains they will face and know the world will try to mess them up. i know that i won’t always be around to protect them. and i know it will cut me up to see them hurting.
but i look forward to being a mommy. someday. hopefully.
This post is part of the One Word at a Time blog carvival. Read more posts on the theme of “Children” here.
Thoughts on laughter
Posted on: August 10, 2010
- In: blog carnival | thoughts
- 2 Comments
my laughter has gotten me in trouble a few times. well, maybe not trouble, but my firends have been embarrassed by it a few times. i have a very loud and robust laugh. so when we go out we usually end up either making a lot of new friends who join our group because we seem to be having so much fun, or we end up being “that table”…you know, the one with all the loud drunk people…except we are not drunk.
i love to laugh…seriously, i keep telling people that my spiritual gift is laughter. i feel good when i laugh at someone’s joke and it causes them to feel good about themselves because it makes them think they are funny. sometimes i laugh at the fact that the joke is so not funny. i often laugh at other people who are laughing – even when i myself don’t get the joke. my favorite sound in the world is of a babies laughing…does it get any cuter?
i’ve had people look at me like i’ve gone crazy because i’ll walk down the street and remember something funny and start laughing all by my self. i guess i’d think other people were crazy if they did the same. on that note, don’t listen to the audio version of stuff christians like while walking by yourself…YOU *WILL* LOOK CRAZY.
i love movies/series that make me laugh out loud (oh, just watched “it’s always sunny in philadelphia” this past weekend, and wow did i laugh) and i tend to read blogs that make me laugh.
i have a friend who laughs when she gets bad news. she says she’s always done this – her own special coping mechanism. i love that about her actually, cos i react badly to bad news, but when she laughs, it makes it easier to take…kinda like it’s not that bad. it’s weird, but it helps me deal.
i have another friend who hardly ever laughs out loud. like sometimes he’ll just smile and you know he’s actually laughing on the inside, but it just never transfers into audio…and then there’s those few times when he does laugh and it’s like whoa…except it’s never at the jokes that i think are all that funny…weird.
i have another friend who loves laughing out…quiet. she laughs…you see her laughing…you see her gaping for air…but no sound comes out…which ALWAYS makes me laugh.
one of my pet peeves is when you tell someone a joke and they say “that’s funny”…i don’t get it, if it’s funny why didn’t you laugh. seriously, i’d rather you say that wasn’t funny than you say that’s funny and not laugh…and i know different people react differently, but it just doesn’t seem right to me.
another thing i dislike is when someone says “hey, you should watch/hear this…you’ll totally laugh…it’s your kind of humour” cos then i feel pressured to laugh. i don’t enjoy the joke as much cos i’m thinking “is it really funny, or do i just think it’s funny cos i was told that i’d find it funny”…i know, way weird.
============================
This post is part of the One Word at a time blog carnival. Check out more posts on the theme of “Laughter” here.
Worship Setlist – August 8th, 2010
Posted on: August 8, 2010
This post is part of a weekly worship blog carnival, so do stop by the worship community for more setlists and sermon recaps from around the world…
======================
Evening service
—————-
Our God is an awesome God – Rich Mullens
Our God reigns – Delirious?
For who you are – Marty Sampson
Glory – Rueben Morgan
I could sing of your love forever – Martin Smith
Hallelujah (Your love is amazing) – Brenton Brown
Take my life – Frances Havergal, Louis Hérold, Chris Tomlin
Awesome God (Your voice is) – Vicky Beeching
Ronel led worship. Small group today. When the service started we had about 6 people in the congregation and at the end we had about 10 – but it was a good service nonetheless.
Chris the pastor gave the preach today on Jesus the Way – all about how, as important as it is to think about what Jesus would do (WWJD), it is also important to think about how he would do it (HWJDI). He used the story of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin and the crew going to the North Pole and related that to how sometimes we see heaven as the end point but we don’t think about the journey there and how Jesus is the way and he has shown us the way to go. And he also touched on discernment and testing the spirits: we need to know that the way we are following is actually God’s cos sometimes we can follow a way that “seems” good, but it’s not God’s will and stuff.
Reads of the week – 2010 – 25
Posted on: July 17, 2010
blogs of the week:
=====================
One word at a time blog carnival: summer (One word at a time – Bridget Chumbley – @bridgetchumbley)
Audience of one (I wrote this for you – Please Find This – @pleasereadthis)
How to get some sleep at night (Donald Miller’s Blog – Donald Miller – @donmilleris)
Red or yellow, black and white, is your team’s color just right (Ragamuffin soul – Carlos Whittaker – @loswhit)
quotes of the week:
==================
In the fictional universe of Soap Operas, do you think Soap Operas exist? Most movies acknowledge that movies exist. Most TV families own a television. So do Soap Operas play against a backdrop where somewhere in their universe on television a Soap Opera is playing? And if so, don’t you think at one point in the history of the genre, somebody on a Soap Opera would have pointed out that their life was just like one? “Wait, the priest that married us is the father of our twins? This is exactly like…like… something that would happen to us! I’m sorry, I thought I had a point to make!!” – John Mayer
where there is poverty and sickness, where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done. our work is for freedom for all. after 90 years of life, it is time for new hands to uplift the burdens. it is in your hands now. – nelson mandela, hyde park, london, june 2008
tumblr of the week:
===================
http://jhnmyr.tumblr.com/post/805620978/simple
tattoo of the week:
===================
http://tsholo.tumblr.com/post/814722913/thenothingthatkills-fuckyeahthrice-via
Hottest day of the summer
Posted on: July 13, 2010
- In: blog carnival | my life | thoughts
- 6 Comments
thinking about summer reminded me of my family’s big move in 1995. as you know, summer in the northern hamisphere is winter in the southern hemisphere. in august of 1995, while it was still winter in south africa, we got on a plane and headed to the US. we boarded the plane wearing jeans and turtle necks and huge winter jackets and doc martens on our feet. we had a couple hours lay over in hong kong where we had planned to find a place to take a shower and get refreshed, so we carried an extra set of clothing to change into then, but that didn’t happen.
none of us (me, my younger sister, or my mom) had never come across chinese food before…ever! so on the plane we were served strange food with strange taste and strange smells. and our stomachs couldn’t handle it – especially my mom, who was 8 months pregnant at the time. so we flew from south africa to hong kong with no food and upset stomachs. as soon as we got to the hong kong airport we went on a mission to find a restaurant we recognised, that served food we knew. we finally ran into a mcdonalds and we gobbled that down. but the time it took to search for the restaurant and eat and stock up for the next plane ride took up our lay over so we didn’t have time to go refresh…
we got back on the plane – our next stop: los angeles. it was hot. not unbearably so, but hot. my dad was at the airport already waiting for us, and we hadn’t seen him in a while so the heat and all of that took a back seat. anyway after the “hellos” and “how has your trip been so far” and “wow hong kong is weird”, we got back on the plane and headed for nevada.
we stepped out into the reno airport – in america – to a group of complete strangers we didn’t know, holding up a welcome sign in my home language – tswana. so super surreal. apparently they had asked my dad how you say “welcome to america” in tswana, but he didn’t know what they were planning. so our little welcome party at the airport was a complete surprise – and a beautiful one at that.
anyway, we soon found out that our luggage hadn’t made it to the US with us…and as we walked out of the airport we were greeted by a heat wave – 105*F, hottest day of the summer so far – coming from the cold south african winter, dressed in our cold-winter clothes.
and that was our welcome to the Nevadan summer…unforgettable.
===================================
This post is part of the One Word at a time blog carnival. Check out more posts on the theme of “Summer” here.
