The Waiting Lounge

The Waiting lounge….

 

 

 

 

 

I worked out the other day that over the last few years of being with YWAM that I have spent over two weeks of my life in transit, waiting for a plane or a train or a bus to arrive. Some of those have been on concrete floors, using a back pack as something to prop your self up against. Others of those times have been in stations, on plastic chairs, the ones that are bolted to the ground with fixed arm rests that only allow you to sit up straight, which is not bad, since it probably promotes good posture, but after time it gets rather uncomfortable. How ever I have also been fortunate enough to have had on occasion access to airport lounges, where there are comfortable couches, food, and refreshments, and space to lounge out.

But through all of this there has been some commonalities.

Expectation.

You never seem to fully settle down, or rest, knowing that you might miss the plane, bus or train. Even times where I have had 8-11 hour lay overs, and people say to you “Oh come on that’s enough time to sleep” I havent been able to, the expectation and the excitement of knowing that things are about to happen seems to keep me on edge.

Reflection

I am a people person, I enjoy them, I like getting to know new people, I enjoy verbally processing my thoughts with others, and of course hearing others thoughts and picking up things from them. But in these places of waiting, I have spent most of my time by myself, and being able to reflect. Go internal, just me and God and my thoughts, sometimes those times have been enjoyable, other times God has exposed aspects of my character that have taken a longer time to work through. It’s in the waiting lounges that I have often picked up on things that I have missed in the business, and it’s those lessons that are often the ones I learn from the most.

Patience….and Impatience…

Some of the waiting lounge times have been very easy, others not. Some I have enjoyed and been patient, and been comfortable with the wait. Other times, I have been asking the question “Can we go already?!? This waiting sucks!!!!” Times I have thought that the waiting has been to short, a chapter that I wanted to read, a coffee I wanted to drink, a conversation I wanted to finish, an email I wanted to write… Other times, I have been eagerly waiting hours wishing time could fly, sitting watching the seconds tick by. And like they sometimes like they say in the cooking world, looking at a pot waiting for it to boil will always take longer. Looking at a clock, seems to make the seconds tick slower…

Wondering what the next destination will be like…

If it’s a place I have been to before, or one that’s completely new, I always seem to wonder, try visualise what it could be…who I will meet, what I will get up to, what new exciting and challenging ventures would be had. What God is up too, and how can I play a part in it.

The present….

At the moment I find my self in yet another waiting lounge scenario. I am waiting for a Visa to be processed, for the next stop in ministry. I have been accepted to work on staff at a YWAM Base in Europe and more news on that will follow soon. But I am stuck in SA waiting, I have left YWAM Muizenberg, and now am in a season that feels a lot like a waiting lounge… I find my self going through similar feelings, motions and experiences. And unlike in those times where you have a ticket with a date, time and location on, this time I do not know how long I will be in this season for. But its one that I realise it’s a part of my ministry that is crucial.

Please continue to pray for me, as I figure out what this season looks like, back home in South Africa…

Steve

 

Ce Va?

Who needs door numbers...when you have a dude like this

 

Due to popular response from my last news letter….here is another round of…

An African in Europe…

If you are traveling to France here are somethings you should do and shouldn’t do…

In a taxi, or a bus, or a car…the amount of seats that are there, are for the amount of people…there is not always space for one more…and every one wears seatbelts…and drives on the right side of the road…which is indeed the wrong side, but its on the right.

 

Go for a Champaign cellar tour…it will cost a lot to drink what you see getting made, but its an amazing experience! Or do what I do…just enjoy the glass that they give for free at the end of it…

Go down to the Paris Subway, buy a ticket, pick a line, pick a stop, and jump out and just walk around…you will always find something new and brilliant…and a bakery!

 

The Vuvuzela is not a popular instrument in the rest of the world. People look at it with this curiosity, thinking “Is that it” and when you blow it…they are not that curious any more, in fact they are angry with you. I heard some one say the other day that “No-one in the world had any idea what the Vuvuzela was…and then the world cup came around and every one in the world wished that they didn’t know what a vuvuzela was or how it sounded.”

 

Europe in general is a great place to own a bicycle… and in France.they know how to deal with them. Plus some of the villages, you want to walk around, or ride around….if you in a car you would miss it!!! They that small…

 

That rumour about… Dont speak English in France… it’s not that bad. I mean one or two people might not help you, but in general they will do their best to explain to you what you need to do using hand signals, and speaking in French! Which makes sense…if some one came to South Africa and asked me if I spoke another language, and in broken English asked me to go some where…if I don’t know their language I will do my best to explain where to go using hand signals and speaking English! The French are a wonderful culture!

 

walls are meant to be painted

Sit back on a park bench in Paris, and enjoy the number of street performers. Or find a big station, and just walk around, you will come across the most amazing street musicians. Who needs to pay money to see a big concert, or watch a play, you can see it all for free!

But what ever you do…don’t let some one tie something around your wrist and start making a string bracelet thing…in fact if you see people doing it, don’t make eye contact. They will expect you to pay for it…and you didn’t even ask. Thankfully I didn’t make that mistake…but I saw a lot of arguments happening with people who did.

 

More to follow…soon.

Students and the School…

This is what I see if I look up in our classroom

 

The School

 

What a great bunch of Students!!!! I am looking around the room where I am writing this, and all the students are around also. And you just see how nations, languages, generations have come together, and if you would have to spend one day with them you will observe such a unified family.

Some one asked me the other day what I like and dont like about doing what I do…

 

I dont like having to say good bye to close friends that you have made from different nations, either because you have worked with them, been part of a school with them or just met them on the base. And having to have this 3-9 Month friendship circle rotation is sometimes stressfull on you as a person and on you and your frienships…

I absolutly love meeting new people from different nations every 3-9 months, and building great friendships with them and being able to know that every country God sends me to, or people who God sends to where I am working.

Mikael...one of the students leading a prayer time

 

This month was once again a Birthday extravaganza…with two Birthdays being celebrated! One was a dress up with the uglyist thing you could find, and the other was a Karioki night… Now normally I am not 100% keen for staring at a computer screen, sining along to bad covers… So diving into it knowing that I would have to do it was going to be interesting… on arrival I was all excited, voice was warmed up, and I had my game face on. Elvis, Beatles, Walt Disney… I was ready for what ever was drawn…although I thought I was…

 

Dress up!?!! birthdays are always fun

 

I dont know why I didnt think of this before…But the longer I stayed, I realised that all of the songs they were singing were French… and I didnt know any of the songs… Thankfully there were some English songs that I could sing a long too. I refuse to name them, but I did end up singing about 2 songs in French…It might not have sounded French, but I gave my best. I dont think many people heard me singing…because most of them were laughing so loud!

 

I could not have asked for a better group of people to have around me. My fellow staff are incredible. And the students are amazing, I have become great friends with every one of them. Some of them we have conversations in broken English, and others…really really broken French and Charades and hand signals. But we still have a great time, and often are in laughter. Sitting with they guys watching the football/Soccer final the other week was great! And I learnt some new French words I haven’t heard yet…

 

Please keep the school in Prayer. They are getting ready to go on there outreach. They still need about 3000 Euro for this phase of the school and we are all trusting to see the Money come in. They also super tired, its been a very busy time for them but I know they have the capicity to finish well…

 

Students on Prayer outreach at a War Memorial in France

 

05 Twenty11 News

The light after the rain...A view from my back yard in France

Its been two months since I have been in this fantastic country! And I am really enjoying it. The language is still difficult, the culture is always fascinating and the summer days are getting longer and longer… My family asked if I noticed how different the night sky was between the northern and southern hemisphere? My reply was…I have no idea…the sun goes down very late…and I am not awake late enough to wait for the stars to come out…

The last two weeks were super busy. Our school had two open weeks, meaning that people from the outside can come sit in with the students in class and here the lectures. The two weeks were very different. The first week we had a lot of people from the various churches in the area, and the second we had mostly every one in YWAM France arriving and sitting in. I must admit it was a fantastic time for me meeting new people, who have also come from other nations into France and joking about the difficulties of the language, simple culture shock and all agreeing that France is an incredible country.

I am doing really well. I am realising that more and more Europe is a place that I want to spend a lot of time in doing ministry. The hard part is finding out where. I know a lot of you, who do pray for me are wondering where to next? At the moment I can not give you a full big picture, but there are some things I do know. I feel that God is calling me to have a bit of a break! And I am going to do that in July. I will be back home in Pietermaritzburg, so if there are some of you around those parts, and would like meet up and have a cup of coffee please drop me an email or just reply on my facebook or WordPress. During this time I will also be asking God where to from here?

I am returning to YWAM Muizenburg on the 1^st of August to just sit with my leadership and fellow workers there and also pray with them about future direction.

Europe has definitely opened up my heart to see change in this continent. I can see Gods heart for this continent, and would like to spend some more time doing ministry there…but how that is going to look like will be something that needs to be discovered. Please pray for me, as I wrap things up here, and also for the next steps as I return back home.

Thanks for your prayers, questions, and just keeping up to date with how I am doing.

God bless

Steve

© WirthwhileContemplations 05twenty11

 

 

April News: No…I don’t speak French…yet

The Notre Dame: I took this after exploring it during their good Friday service. Its an interesting place...

My First Impressions of the French Culture!

There food is amazing!!!! Their understanding of flavour in small portions is great.

There coffee….yeah not good. I went up and down the aisle of the super market just trying to find something from Italy, because coffee is definitely not their major gift to the culinary and beverage world.

Apparently like most of the world….they drive on the wrong side of the road! It took me awhile to get used to crossing a road just remembering which way to look first. But just riding around on a bicycle a bit has helped me orientate myself to their system of driving.

I was able to escape to Paris for a weekend. And yes it is Amazing!! God gave me permission to be a tourist and just relax. Even though I didn’t see that much, because I was hanging out with the people from YWAM Paris a lot, the little bits I did see were great. What has struck me is for the first time being in a culture that is so super old! South Africa is such a young country compared to places in Europe, and for us our “old buildings” are still pretty young compared to the ancient architecture that is around in Europe.

My highlight was going into the Notre Dame during their Good Friday service, I didn’t join in, but they were allowing tourists in. The church its self is amazing! The little details on the walls and just little nooks and little side chapels that you can just sit in and just enjoy was fun. But to hear the pipe organ being played, and knowing that the piece of music was written before the revolution, when Christianity was still prominent in France and God was moving was incredible. I had a moment with God during that time, it has definitely been my tourist highlight so far. And that famous tower…Table Mountain looks better!

When I first arrived, one of the students said “Steve there are two statements in French you need to know to survive here…they are; I don’t understand and I’m hungry”

It is taking me awhile to adjust to European culture. I am definitely an African boy!! Meetings here start 5 min before the agreed time of starting, they leave houses unlocked, you can walk down the street with headphones on, and playing on your cell phone with out the fear of being mugged. Transport arrives on time, trains don’t break down. Internet is very fast, systems work, and they have this thing called indoor heating which confuses me to bits. I woke up one morning, saw that the sun was out, it felt very warm inside, so I put on my board shorts, a t-shirt and some slops (jandels, flops, sandles) and walked out side and got the shock of my life at how cold it was!!!! I forgot that indoor heating keeps places warm and confuses those of us who have never had it before, who judge the temperature outside by how it feels inside.

But my heart for Europe is growing, and I am definitely looking forward to doing more work in this incredible continent, and getting to know more of it. Gods heart for Europe is incredible, and seeing his heart for France and being able to be apart of seeing it realised is an opportunity that I am grateful for.

God bless

Steve

April News: A bit about the SOIP

The Class!!

Let me tell you about the students!

The puzzle of our names together with Ezk 37: 1-14 which is the verse for the school

 There are 10 of them. They come from all over, which is great. We have people from France, Canada, America, New Caledonia, Switzerland, Chad. The staffs are from South Africa, France, Switzerland, Togo and Cameroon. Three of us are full-time staff but we have some brilliant people just coming in and out to help out.

 The class is doing well. They are so much fun to be around. The youngest is 19 and the oldest is over 60. So there is also a great diversity in the class age wise, and culture wise. Something that stood out for me and really made me laugh is that I am like the 4^th tallest person here! Out of 15 there is only one staff member, and 2 students that are taller than me. And bear in mind that 6 of the students are guys! I laughed so much when I realised this, because those who know me are aware that I am not the tallest guy, actually in South African culture I am considered short. More and more I believe it when they say Napoleon was not the tallest guy around.

 We are going into week 4 of lectures this week. And I am really happy for the progress of the class. Last week we had a very special moment, one of the students had his 35^th Birthday, and he came from a Family that was not the best to grow up in. And he said that this was the first time he had ever had his Birthday celebrated in the Traditional way that we have become accustomed to. And when we bought a Cake out with candles on it he just looked at it for about a minute, realising that this was another first for him. That moment bought water to most of our eyes as we witnessed a man starting off a new chapter in his life, knowing that he has a new family around him in this school. I am glad its a small school, because it’s really clicked and become a great unit. I will be sad when I leave.

 Please Pray for Finances! There is still about 5000 euro’s that need to come in to cover both the lecture and outreach phase for the students.

April News: How Im doing!

My room is the second story closest to the left...I share with another dude from Africa

Bonjur!!

 So its been about a month since I have been in France working on the YWAM base here, staffing the School of Intercessory Prayer. And what a crazy month it has been. The base is situated in Rural France….very rural France, very very Rural France! The town is so small that it doesn’t even have its own bakery, That is like an American town with out a McDonald’s, a South African Town with out a Spaza Shop, an Italian Town with out a local espresso shop or an Asian Town with out a 7/11… yes it’s that small!!!

 But I am enjoying it here. I can understand that this is where God has sent me. And just the crazy breakthrough by getting all the finances I needed to prove to the French Consulate that I can support my self, and get my ticket, and then get my Visa with in two weeks! It was just a super time of mixed emotions getting ready to come here.

 I am doing OK. French is really hard to learn, and there is very little English spoken on this base. The students are great, and they translate a lot for me in there broken English. I have yet to string a sentence together of French, but I am sure it will come soon. I have found myself understanding a lot more than I can speak. But its a language I am interested in learning. And yes it does sound romantic…except some of their romantic phrases directly translated don’t seem romantic at all!

 My major Prayer request right now is health. Its spring, and there are about 4 massive fields, probably about the size of 2 football (soccer) fields each, full of these yellow flowers that are making me for the first time in my life get allergies. This is outside the staff accommodation. I went to Paris last weekend, and my body was actually happy to be back in polluted air! I didn’t sneeze once or feel all clogged up in the city. But as soon as I got back into Le Gault my sinuses went crazy. So please pray that I get over it.

 Thank you all for your prayer and support.

 God bless

Steve

Friday pic

Me trying to book an interview with the French consulate in cape town….only to get engaged tones…even after fifty times CALLING. Please pray i get through to them

This is a great Story

How I got to see U2

This is just one of those stories that you have to share…

It was Friday, the day of the U2 concert in Cape Town. The first time the band has played in the city since 1998. And I remember hearing my Uncle telling me about that Pop Mart tour, that and the great T-Shirt they had for that tour. But now it was so close, my turn to live the U2 concert experience. I own a few of there DVD’s and trying to picture that sound live was something I could experience in reality. One problem…No tickets.

 

But after a whole 2 weeks of trying every method to get some, my self and this mate called Wade decided that we would just go stand out side and listen. I mean I wanted to hear U2 live, seeing them would be a plus, but with this band I am more interested in the sound of there instruments, one song in particular…Where the Streets have no name live…that introduction is still one of my favourite intro’s of all time.

 

So it was about 6pm, every one I knew had left, well except Janko who had a ticket but we were both involved in the Friday night open time at Bethesda House. And the thought of getting on a train and riding to the stadium was a bit much after the long day. Janko asked our team leader if we could borrow his car, so he could go and wade and I could stand outside and listen. He said Yes! What a blessing! But even better…we didnt have to pay for petrol (gas). So we get into the car and head to the waterfront, which is the closest parking to the stadium…plus you can grab a beer and it is just a great place!

 

So its a sold out concert, and every one probably parked at the waterfront. I know during a world cup game it was near impossible to find a parking spot there, never mind the fact that there would be over a 5000 people standing on the field so the chances of finding a space to park the car became dramatically less! But I went there any way to find a parking place. And decided to try the cheapest one there. I know every one else probably had the same idea, but I am either stubborn or optimistic. When we arrived I just said a simple prayer. “Jesus can we have a parking place”. We drove in, and the first bay on our right was open!!!!! We were all like “Wow Praise God!”.

I then just asked Wade, “Bro how much do you think you can spend on a ticket?” He gave the same answer that I felt I could spend… “200 bucks bro”

 

Next stop…a cold beer. It had been a long week, and the idea of just sitting back, relaxing and enjoying a beer at sunset was a good one. I said “Guys Im keen for a beer hey”. The others agree’d. On our way to find one, a lot of people were walking to the stadium, and suddenly out of the stream of people a woman pops out and says, “They wont allow us to take these into the stadium…do you want some free cans of beer?” We were laughing at the timing, and with a smile on our face said “Yes”,the bonus was they were still ice cold!

 

So we sat down, and sipped away and discussed how we as Christian musicians need to get to the standard of some of the bands out there. And just talked about life, worship and U2. Janko looked at the time and said “Well gents, its time to leave you…Im off to go inside.”And Wade and I walked with him to the security spot where they were checking tickets etc. While Janko went through, we started testing wind direction to see which part of the stadium would be the best to stand at in order to get the best sound, and plus what would be the most comfortable!

 

While we were checking out our options…wade spotted a dude selling tickets! We thought about it and went to find out what it was all about. He had seen them live already, and basically bought to many tickets, and was like “I thought I would just try sell them” We felt OK about it and said, “Bro all we can give you is 200 bucks each”, he looked at us and thought hard…and said “Yeah OK, I probably will be out here all night trying…” so we went in with him and his brother. Making friends with them and hearing there stories of how they have seen them all around the world. And how he was totally stoked that he literally gave his tickets away for free to musicians who were fans. Wade and I walked to our seats after saying cheers to our new mates. And when we sat down, we realised we had just been blessed with tickets worth 950 bucks each. I asked him if he as ever experienced something like this before…and he smiled and said “never”. I equated it to some people buying economy class tickets and getting upgraded to first! It felt like that. I watched U2, and my favourite part of the concert was singing Amazing Grace with a Full stadium…and as it ended, hearing that introduction of a song I have always wanted to hear live…

 

Now some people who have heard this story just say, wow you were lucky, or hahaha you were just in the right place at the right time. Now I am sure you can think that way too… but I refuse to equate any of that to Luck or “Right Timing” except saying that God rocked our socks off and I loved those small blessings! To be honest I think Luck, Karma and other things have gotten to much glory, and because of that people start thinking that God blessing you with a parking place, beer, ticket is not “theologically” correct….maybe it is because glory is being focused in the wrong direction that more people are starting to doubt the works of Gods hand…and only give God glory when something “Big happens”. And more and more, Fate, Luck, Karma, Universe, Timing….are beginning to be bought into the picture…

 

Does God always answer my parking place prayers? Yes….sometimes its not right at the front of the destination…other times I have not looked hard enough when he did…and other times he wanted to show me something along the way as I walked to my destination or other lessons like being patient. But I refuse to equate it to something superficial…because God works in small ways, fun ways, strange ways and also BIG ways and I love seeing it…I just wish more people saw it too.

 

 

Bono was the Worship Leader

 

Bono...leading us

Hands Held High around the Stadium

 

The Worship Leader was…Bono

 

Yes I went to U2…and me getting there is a story in it self, but we will leave that for another blog…which will probably be posted shortly after this one.

 

This is a continuation blog from “The worship leader was drunk” Please read that first to get perspective on this one… www.stevewirth.wordpress.com

 

I looked over a stadium packed with 80 000 people, all singing a long to a song, with their hands held high, voices in unison, singing as loud as they could….there was one particular song where Bono sang the first line, stepped away from the Mic and heard the whole stadium sing the song back to him…he stood there hands on his heart and before kicking into the second verse said “Thank you”. I mean my biggest dream is to have a stadium of people sing a song that I wrote…and people worshipping through that song.

 

What was the difference between Bono’s reality and my dream? It was a question that I felt God ask me during that time as I gazed around the stadium at this point. Bono is a worship leader, no doubt about it. He facilitates people worshipping. Worshipping of what? Could be the question here. I suppose the only difference between my dream and Bono’s reality is that my heart for that dream is to see people worshipping God through a song I wrote. But as soon as I wrote that sentence, I just remembered people saying “I have worshiped God to U2” which I suppose is true. Bono loves Jesus, and there are some songs that are just epic God focused songs. I have even read of a church that has formed a communion liturgy around U2 songs.

 

So how was this worship session in a packed out stadium in Cape Town…

It wasnt God focused. There are some times that I was like “WOW this is brilliant” and I am sure there could have been some times where people could have seen a redemptive side to the song and worshiped God through it. I have done that many times in Clubs, Gigs etc. But there was still something missing….I could happily say that there were people who were not Christians. And we were all created to worship something, and I am fully convinced they were worshiping U2. And putting them up on this major pedestal.

 

I heard things like; “words can’t describe how awesome that concert was”, “I was lost in the moment, the vibe of the stadium with that many people all singing along was incredible”. “I had so much fun, I cant remember when I just had fun like that”. “The music moved me…the lighting and the sound was just incredible.” “it was such an incredible experience, I have never seen something like that before…”

 

But I look back to what I heard people say after an amazing God focused anointed worship time…and you hear the same response from people.

Which leads me to a couple of thoughts….

 

Our vocabulary is limited.

 

Awesome, Indescribable, Amazing, Wonderful, Words can’t describe,

 

If we use those words for worshipping God and a response to who God is, and then use them to describe Bono… either we need more words in our vocab or are we equating God to Bono?

I know this is a point that has hit me, and I am going to install a thesaurus on my phone to help me learn more words.

 

We lead by hype and emotions

 

Now I must admit, the lighting, the sound of Edges guitar tones, the bass and drums, all coming together at full volume was a great experience of how sound should come together to make an impact. I was thinking, “Woah!!! That sound….” And I know a lot of guitarists who would dream to have that sought of sound being produced by their guitar. And having listened to a lot of U2 I have always wondered what “where the streets have no name” live would sound like. I still think it is one of the most epic introductions of music I know. And there was something in me that was moved to respond with a shout of happiness. In the same way I would respond to seeing my football team that I support score a goal, or hopefully South Africa winning the Cricket world cup and not getting a ball stuck in our throat and choking again…

 

But there is just something about conforming to an atmosphere and doing what every one else is doing. At some particular point in the concert, Bono instructed the stadium to put their hands in the air and move them from side to side…and I would say 70% of the stadium did it… If we did that in some churches, depending on what church it is, you would either be called to religious or to radical.

And of course unified action, unified voices, unified response is going to cause Unity. And people are going to feel like they are sharing a moment together. And they walk away having had their emotions stirred up by the hype… And yes I have seen this been done in some Christian gatherings too, where they left having been stirred up by the hype rather than by the Spirit of God.

 

 

We just feel more free to worship bands than we do God…

 

And to be honest the more and more I identify band leaders that were created to be worship facilitator or worship leaders, what ever you prefer calling them. I see that they have a lot more freedom to lead people into worshiping something through their songs. In reality, their are no rules, no expectations, no religious stuff etc. There is such freedom at some of these gigs that I watch. And even at a U2 gig, I know that the person standing behind me, swearing, drinking away and dancing and singing the songs at the top of there voice didn’t care at all what I thought. He paid a lot of money for his ticket and was making sure it was worth every single cent.

 

Should we start charging people money to come to a Christian gathering? I can tell you some of the most amazing God times I have had, had been at events I had to pay to go to….it cost me something.

 

But as a looked around, I saw either a lot of conformity or a lot of freedom or a bit of both. I can honestly say the people around me didn’t care about how I responded, and I know they didn’t care what I thought. And there was freedom…to just be themselves. Did that freedom last, I don’t think so…but for that time they were lost in a moment, hands held high waving from side to side, facing the band, singing at the top of there lungs….worshipping….