A WELCOME NOTE:
Greetings, and a very warm welcome to you. Thank you for taking some time to share in my philosophical foibles. It's my hope that within these entries you might find encouragement, challenge, laughter, counsel and companionship for the journey ahead. Carpe Diem!
Check out www.grantcyster.com for more details. Catch me on Twitter at: GACyster
Yesterday, along with others that I know of and numerous more that I don't, I chose to exercise my right not to participate in the South African elections.
This choice attracted fervent criticism from some, and a number of accusations were levelled against me. Now, as much as I don't owe anyone an explanation for the choice that I made, a choice which for all of us is an inherently personal one, I have no desire to fend off countless interrogations in the days or weeks to come. So, herewith follows a brief summary of my feelings on the matter, in response to criticisms directed towards me.
Good day boys and girls. I hope everyone is fine and dandy this gorgeous Cape Town day, or wherever and whenever it is in the world as you are reading this. I'd like to direct your attention to a freshly published article of mine. If you've ever been curious about trying your hand at a freelance career of some kind, you may find the following read useful:
I was thinking the other day about a couple of moments in my life that gave me a glimpse of the kind of person I desire to be. I dunno, I'm guessing we all have these kinds of experiences at some point or another? Not to say that I'm doing these ideals justice a whole lot of the time. God knows I fail dismally, regularly. Be that as it may, the fact remains that these moments were for me, indicative of traits and virtues that are worth aspiring to.
So a couple of nights ago I'm driving on the freeway. It's a cold night. It's snowing, and the road is slippery. I can feel it in the way my car is handling. I'm driving cautiously and staying focused. I'm on a dead straight section of the route...doing no more than 60mph...my foot is light on the accelerator...my hands steady on the wheel. It makes no difference whatsoever. My car develops a mind of it's own, begins to slide uncontrollably on the freeway, and in the end sends me spinning off the asphalt onto the median separating the lanes of traffic. And there I find myself...totally stuck...my vehicle unresponsive in conditions it was not engineered to be effective in. What follows is a 3 hour adventure getting towed out of there at no insignificant expense and eventually making it back home. So, I get to thinking...
How many times are my best intentions at living a honorable and moral life compromised by positioning myself in conditions or an atmosphere that are always going to be dangerous? If I keep counsel with the wicked...if I refuse to keep my eyes off vile things...if I maintain a practice of alienating myself from the transforming presence of God...then no attempt at subsequent integrity will provide me with any sustainable sense of progress or success. In fact...the dangers are invited and come with the territory. Perhaps my intentions and efforts at integrity would best be served when the overall climate of my life is surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. This means that I choose Him in the broad decisions that affect how I spend my time and who or what I allow myself to be influenced by, along with the ways I negotiate specific temptations as they arise.
Careful driving does little to safeguard my life when I willfully venture out in hazardous conditions.
There are a few simple things in life that make me feel like a million bucks. The kinds of things that, when they happen, remind me of the kind of man I always wanted to be. I was thinking back lately to some of these situations from my past.
A little 3 year old girl, hair as red, big and curly as a little Annie, a total stranger to me, seeing me from across a crowded room and running at top speed to wrap herself around my leg and not want to let go. To this day, I have no idea why that happened, but I know how it made me feel...trustworthy, innocent. Or like driving a beautiful girl home that I had just had a first date with, and seeing her fall asleep peacefully in the seat next to me, because she was totally convinced of the fact that she was safe in my company.
Or like in recent days, picking up and hugging a friend's little baby girl, and have her nestle her head into my shoulder and hold on close. These simple things are a beacon of light to me...an indication of the things that are worth aspiring to...of characteristics worth pursuing, of the kind of man that in the deepest part of me I hope to increasingly become. Noble. Gentle. Honorable. Thank you lady and babes...hint taken.
I often hear of the analogy made between the Christian life and the practical waging of war...and rightly so. Battle and war imagery used in depicting spiritual warfare is not a foreign concept when it comes to the Bible. One of the most recent struggles highlighted in Christian media has been the concept of "Every Man's Battle"...the struggle and fight for sexual purity and integrity. Of course, this is a conflict that applies to women as well, and one which has been addressed in similar fashion. And sexuality is but one of the areas where battle lines are being drawn in the name of righteousness and the advancement of God's kingdom. Believers around the world are being taught and challenged to wage war against carnal and ungodly desires including greed, unforgiveness and pride. So...I got to thinking one day.
Looking at lust as an example...which I'll define as a harmful, idolatrous, deviant and obsessive distortion of the beautiful God-inspired pleasure and gift we call sex: The nature of war implies a willful, deliberate resistance against a detestable enemy...an enemy whose ideals and intentions I am in complete opposition to. War also implies an authentic, passionate devotion to the values and characteristics of the entity to which I've pledged my allegiance...be that a king, a country, or an ideology. If this be the case, what am I to do when the alleged enemy I face is not only one I fail to hate, but one I've learned to co-exist with and tolerate...even indulge? What do I do when the kingdom who's interests I'm meant to enforce fails to rouse the previously mentioned passion and commitment in my heart toward it? How do I effectively and perpetually declare and wage war on the enemy of lust or any other demonic vice? It's my belief that this war, and a war it is indeed, is first and foremost fought and won or lost in the deepest reaches of my heart.
It starts with a heartfelt cry to my heavenly Father to be blessed with the supernatural gift of loving what He loves, and hating what He hates. It begins with me being grieved by my own sin in the same way that my sins grieve the heart of my God...and as passion for the glory of His name begins to run through my veins like an unquenchable flame. It is upon this passion that virtues like self-control find their strength. It's to the degree that my own desires are conformed to the will and desires of God, that I can expect a sustainable, genuine victory over the onslaught of depravity launched against me. The greater my hunger for purity, the greater my dedication to the fight for it. (Proverbs 16:26) If my desire for obedience to God is complacent and apathetic at best, my chances of resisting the seductions of hell are about as good as a snowball's chance of surviving in it.
