A ROCKY FOUNDATION

                                     When David Livingstone began ministry, some of the native tribes opposed him. One afternoon word was out that the warriors were outside the camp. They were going to kill everyone when it got dark. Livingstone wrote in his journal that night on January 14, 1856. “It is evening; I feel much turmoil and fear in the prospect of having all my plans destroyed by savages who are just now outside the camp. But Jesus said ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and earth and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the earth’. This is the word of a gentleman of sacred honor, so that is the end of my fear. I feel quiet and calm now’. They did not attack that night. Later the tribe was brought to faith in Christ. Years later, Livingstone asked the chief of the tribe ‘that night ...why didn’t you attack?’ The chief said ‘when we got close to the camp we saw 47 warriors surrounding your camp with swords in their hands’. Livingstone was baffled, they di

                             During the American war general George Washington was irked by what some of the drummers in the army were doing. Each drummer would just drum in his own way and sometimes “out of the blue” just to show off their own ability. This was sending out mixed signals to the army. So Washington sent out this order, “the use of drums is a signal to the army. And if every drummer was allowed to beat at his pleasure the intention is entirely destroyed, as it will be impossible to distinguish whether they are beating for their own pleasure or for signal to the troops. Washington was telling those drummers “listen if we are going to be a successful army you can’t just drum whatever or wherever you want. We have to sacrifice our own preferences and send out unified signals, if we are going to stand firm together as an army and win this war (Shawn Thomas). In Philippians 2:1-2 Paul tells the saints of the Philippi church to guard against internal conflicts in the ch

  On 6 July 2007, Marion Bartoli caused one of the biggest shocks in the Wimbledon history. The 22-year-old French tennis player ranked No. 19 in world women tennis faced world No. 1, Justine Henin, in the semi-final. It took Henin barely 22 minutes to win the first set 6-1 and it looked like it was going to be a quick end for Bartoli. She was under enormous stress. It was at that stage that she saw Pierce Brosnan in the crowd. Brosnan has played James Bond in a number of films and he was one of Bartoli’ s favourite actors. She saw him clapping for her! That was the bottom line of her hopelessness. She says “I tried to forget who I was playing and where I was playing and I started playing very good”. She steadied her game by winning the second set at 7-5 and 6-1 in the third set! She stunned the tennis star by winning the game (Caroline Cheese, 2007). God took Ezekiel to a valley of the bones in a vision (Ezek. 37). The valley was so dense with human bones that it was described a

    Eric Liddell was immortalized for his surprising gold medal victory in the 400 meters during the 1924 games in Paris. A year after his triumph Liddell went to China where he spent the last 20 years of his life as a missionary teacher and rural pastor. There he ran the greatest race of his life against opponents we all know –difficult circumstances, war, uncertainty and disease.   Crowded in a Japanese internment camp with 1500 other people, Eric lived out the words from 1 Corinthians 13. He loved and served others in the camp. When he died of a brain tumor in February 1945, one internee described him as a man “who lived better than he preached”. In the most difficult race, Eric Liddell crossed the line victorious through love. 1 Corinthian 13 is often called the love chapter of the Bible. It was written by Paul to a church that prided itself on possessing flashy spiritual gifts but had little love. Paul wrote about the spiritual gifts in chapter 12 and chapter 14. Sandwiched