Inspiration from Petra Pierre - Robertson

"..man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1Samuel 16:7 Yellow, juicy and sweet...! The season was soon coming to an end. We were savouring the remnants of the mangoes. It was called starch. It was yellow, juicy and sweet. We portioned off the last set we had. He passed by with a particularly yellow unblemished mango in his hand. Yellow and unblemished! I couldn't resist asking, "Can I have that one?"  Unhesitatingly, he graciously gave it to me.    "Are you sure you want to give it to me?" He loved mangoes even more than I did, yet he unhesitatingly responded:    Yes. No problem. I will take this small one right here." I looked at the mango he selected. It was spotted and looked blemished. It was also smaller than the one I had. Small, spotted and blemished  We both bit into our individual treasures.  Look at this? I blurted out in consternation. The inside of my mango was discoloured and hard. I had to take a ...

“Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” (John 13:9) Not just my feet... "Can you clean my car for me before I head to work? Just the outside. The inside is clean. It shouldn't take too long". It was a quick request. But he wanted to return to bed. Exams were over. His brain was tired. Yet he couldn't bring himself to refuse his mom's urgent request. Normally he or his dad cleaned the car for her. But he had been particularly busy with exams, and the Sahara dust was having a good time with the car. When mom surfaced, dressed for work on a spanking new Monday morning, the body of the car was shining and spotless. As she walked towards the car she noticed it. The tyres were dirty. Dirty tyre He was already ambling to the bathroom to have a shower before crawling back into bed when she pointed it out to him. Still sleepy, he uttered, "You said you wanted the car clean, not the tyre." She had no choice but to burst out laughing even a...

For I know the plans I have for you (Jeremiah 29:11) I was given an interesting topic for a presentation to an honor society. The topic was 'Password To Your Keepsake Account'. It was rife with symbolism. I mulled over it trying to determine the best symbols to apply to the keywords in the context of the audience of young students with a possible uncharted future before them. While this was written for the youth, it is also for anyone with an as yet unopened keepsake account for which a password has been provided. If you haven't yet used it then you need to verify it and activate your account! The link is there waiting for your click. Don't let it expire! Your keepsake account is you! What account is that? Your keepsake account is YOU. You are full of potential. God, is the original that the keepsake is representative of. God owns you (Ezekiel 18:4) and entrusted you with talents, gifts and abilities (Matthew 24:14-30). Yes He did! Stop underestimating yourself! You...

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work... until he be taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7) I have always been fascinated by the constantly evolving and morphing technology. Cyborgs sent me writing on the theme of memory and consciousness in a book chapter entitled 'What it Means to be Human'. The recent public discourse surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI) sent me in a tailspin. Sydney, the chatbot and her intrusive questions, the darker side of AI, the hesitancy, the resignations, the fears, the concerns and the need for ethics and control to name a few. What particularly caught my attention was the discourse surrounding the darker side of AI, the shadow-self, AI gone rogue. AI gone rogue As I was mused on this, another discourse popped up. The mystery of iniquity. Lucifer and the angels were trained by the same God and grew up in a perfect environment, Lucifer rebelled and convinced one third (1/3) of holy angels to do the same. How did that happen? The my...

Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. It was a demonstration for a class. It was set up in the library. It looked so cute I stopped to take pictures. I had no idea what the objectives for the lesson were, but as I took the pictures my own lessons, encapsulated in the title of the blog, came to mind So many voices! Have you ever been inundated with voices? All legitimate? Yet all giving conflicting signals? Or different instruction? And were you ever at your wits end wondering just who should you listen to? There are just so many voices, sometimes. And oftentimes what causes even more confusion is that these voices come from legitimate sources at home, church, school and society! There are just so many voices, sometimes! The still small voice I think of Elijah. He heard several diverse voices in the wind, in the earthquake, and in the fire. Yet, at that point of his experience, even though in other situations G...

Proverbs 14:10 Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy. The grate was meant to prevent accident or injury for us. In an unguarded moment we could misstep, or fall, spraining an ankle or sustaining other injury in the process. It was necessary. It also added to the aesthetics. I should also mention that birds share our habitat. We love having them around. The sight of them. The sound of them. We love the sight and sound of them On day one of the job, a bird was trapped. It found its way under the grate, probably lured by a bite, or out of curiosity. We saw it in time. It kept going further into danger, going up trying to escape, when it should be going down. We pointed it in the correct direction coaxed it and led it out of the trap. Trapped On day two another bird was not as fortunate. We saw it too late. We surmised that something caught its attention, probably a morsel and it poked its head through the grate and was trapped. The sight of it t...

...walk circumspectly... (Ephesians 5:15) I was clearing the car to properly vacuum it when I found a pair of slippers under the seat. It was a timely find since one of my slippers was damaged. I realised that one side of the slipper I found was also damaged so I decided to make a temporary pair with the good sides from both pairs of slippers. It was then I realised that the same sides were damaged; the right sides. And in the same way; the heel. Right heels damaged This could not be a coincidence. My brain immediately went into overdrive. I pondered on why this was so. It must be the way I walked. So I walked circumspectly. I paid careful attention to the way I walked. Realization dawned. I was favoring my left foot, by putting additional pressure on my right foot. Torn ligament It was because of an injury in my left knee. A torn ligament. I alternated between calling it my 'albatross' and my 'thorn in the flesh'. I sustained that injury decades ago while playing bask...