On the Cover

In this Issue

• Be a kingdom builder.
• The monk who sold his Ferrari.
• Forgiveness is all about you.
• A healthier you makes a happier you.
• Listen to the beath of your heart.
• Walking with Lions.
• Building His house in crunch times.
• Let's shine for Jesus.

Be generous and make a difference

(Letter from the editor)

Our launch issue was received with open arms and all indications are that the magazine could become an important vehicle for promoting CRC activities and milestones; and, at the same time, be instrumental in spreading the Gospel. If you haven’t bought your copy of the first issue yet, be sure to contact us so that you do not miss out on this historic issue, the first-ever Christian lifestyle magazine for our Church.

This second issue is all about giving. Giving to others, and giving your tithe to support our Church in its endeavours to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By giving our time, finances and assistance we open the door to those who need help.

On 18 July this year, Nelson Mandela, better known as Madiba, celebrated his 93rd birthday. In November 2009, this day was declared “Nelson Mandela Day” by the UN General Assembly in recognition of his contribution to the culture of peace and freedom. The main purpose of the day is to inspire people to take action to help change the world for the better.

Following this, the Nelson Mandela Foundation called upon all people to devote 67 minutes of their time on Madiba’s birthday to helping others. All over the world people contribute to helping others as a way to mark this special day. Like everyone else in the world we want to celebrate his birthday in some small way by focusing in this issue on people who, like him, give back to others – not only for 67 minutes a year, but people who devote their lives to helping others.

Madiba remains the ultimate example of leadership and service to people. But our own leader and icon, Ps At, is another example of a person who cares about others and who understands the joy it brings when you are doing something good for another person. We provide you with an extract from his inspiring book, Become all that you possibly can (page 3).

Live a YES! Life.

In this book he writes about living with an attitude of generosity. He also describes how and why we should life a live of generosity to others; and to go the extra mile with people. We also focus on other people who are making a difference. These are ordinary people who make a real difference in the world by helping others unconditionally and by devoting their time, experience, knowledge and money to making life easier for others (pages 6, 8 & 11). We will continue in Devoted to focus on these people as they are an inspiration to us all.

I have recently returned from a visit to Romania and in our launch article on our new travel page, aptly called Destination, I focus on the tourism potential of this romantic country. During my trip, I was privileged to visit a number of very old churches and monasteries, some of them still in use today. I had heard how the population contributed willingly to building the most beautiful buildings of worship and to maintaining them so that today, hundreds of years later, the community (and visitors) can still appreciate their beauty.

I had heard how the communities went to great extremes during the First World War to dig tunnels around the foundations of the churches in order to save them. How this was done I do not know, but what made an impression on me is the fact that the community went to such extremes to ensure that their places of worship remained intact.

This made me wonder if we as CRC members are as committed to building our churches to the glory of God. If we contributed willingly, it would not be necessary for Ps At to remind us of our obligation. Do we understand the importance of creating a legacy of beautiful churches for other Christians to enjoy in the years to come – a place where they may worship proudly? I truly hope so.

It is with a sense of pride that I bring you our fist testimony (page 14) from none other than Pierre Spies, hero of many. Pierre is indeed an inspiration to us all!!

I hope that you find this edition of Devoted a good read.

God bless!

Gerda