tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148290352024-03-13T01:47:59.217+02:00Interesting TimesThere is an ancient curse, it goes "May you live in interesting times"Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-89736505302026617462015-09-24T07:00:00.001+02:002015-09-24T07:00:53.679+02:00Gratitude, expectation, entitlementA man was hungry; on the streets.He approached a fish merchant to beg for small change.The fish merchant took pity and a fish.The pity touched his heart and the fish he cooked for the man.The man's heart swelled with gratitude.A man was hungry; on the streets.He approached a fish merchant expecting a fish.The fish merchant recognised the man.Pity was joined by friendship and the fish was once Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-30479050454933715822015-09-17T07:13:00.001+02:002015-09-17T07:13:37.578+02:00A Wedding FeastAnd on the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when the[a] wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine!” 4 And Jesus said to her, “What does your concern have to do with me,[b] woman? My hour has not yet Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-73050916427391476342015-09-15T07:08:00.001+02:002015-09-15T07:24:32.186+02:00Moments of Wonder
Occasionally I experience a moment of wonder. That moment where i realise that i am here and this is now. That "here" is Germany. That "now" I am riding a bicycle through the German countryside, with nature - so different from Africa - surrounding me.
These moments never occur when I am busy. Seldom when I am at home. They happen unexpectedly. When I have time to free my mind. When Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-6995288358020689012015-09-13T09:22:00.001+02:002015-09-13T09:22:31.686+02:00Reboot....again....
I feel inspired to write more. I think I might do that here in my old Blog space. So here come the reboot of Interesting Times!
Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-1066149863915845782013-03-27T11:19:00.000+02:002013-03-27T11:20:08.847+02:00Retreating from discipline
Over the next month I will be experiencing 2 retreats: An organization one and a personal one. Why? Well my organization leaders decided that it's important for us all to go on a retreat. Isn't that why we do things? Someone else decides what is a good idea spiritually? Oh and my personal retreat? I'm doing that because a guy wrote about how important that is for spiritual growth. Again, I'm Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-84045251569129929742013-02-27T14:37:00.002+02:002013-02-27T14:37:48.138+02:00Reflections on God52
I must admit I've fallen behind on the God52 weekly posts and exercises. This has partly to do with recent events in my personal life and partly with my own procrastination and has lead me to think about the God52 process and it's impact on me, personally.
I think the idea is great! Each week a new discipline being challenged. A new focus for spiritual development. Behind the idea is the Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0Rondebosch Rondebosch-33.967363 18.473595tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-530774320988424972013-02-13T19:47:00.001+02:002013-02-22T11:06:29.824+02:00Reaching out...
Ultimately the goal of our Christian walk is to go and make disciples - after worshipping and loving God of course. I suspect I am not alone in feeling inadequate in this area. The first evangelical challenge of God52 was therefore a big challenge, not just for me.
I take some consolation in reading about the efforts of other bloggers in the challenge of praying for a non-believer. Many of thePaul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0Brummeria Brummeria-25.739312 28.283201tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-23197562198213387552013-02-08T11:42:00.000+02:002013-02-08T19:42:58.795+02:00Desire vs WillIt is interesting to me how often things coincide in my life. Different aspects, from difference sources, come together at the same time. So it was when God52 called on us to fast 1 day in the week, OM also called on us the fast in the same week. Thus a 1 day fast became combined with a 3 day pray & fast.
Food has never had much of a hold on me. I eat when I'm hungry, but have never had a Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-78479796559091812212013-01-29T13:41:00.002+02:002013-02-08T19:42:59.685+02:00Humility?This should be an easy task for me... Do something for someone else without telling them or anyone else... Easy!
See most of my job is exactly this. It's what I thrive on; Serving others. It has been a hallmark of my ministry for years. So I don't see how this can be a problem task.
The thing is, it WAS a problem task. Many of the God52 bloggers encountered the same type of problem. See, while Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-424803137404046632013-01-27T18:31:00.001+02:002013-01-27T18:35:17.974+02:00Prayer #FailPrayer has never been a strong point for me. This challenge really highlighted that. The task was to focus prayer on just one thing for the whole week. Jesus taught that we should be persistent in our requests to God, even when we did not seem to be hearing an answer.
I started the challenge strong, as always, but quickly faded as the week went on. The discipline to set aside large chunks of Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-13207256913734613072013-01-25T12:33:00.000+02:002013-01-25T12:33:05.266+02:00God52 Updates?
I haven't given up on God52.
I've had an extremely busy week-and-a-half and have not got to writing my thoughts into the Blog. I'll do some catching up tonight and on the weekend. So be prepared for a flood of updates on:
Prayer
Humility
and Fasting
Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-54428215903477209772013-01-15T10:51:00.002+02:002013-01-15T16:07:44.534+02:00God52 - Extravagant Giving
The first challenge for the year was extravagant giving. Push yourself to give until it hurts.This caught my attention immediately and sparked my interest. All through December I was being challenged about where my priorities lie. What do I spend most of my time and money doing? The answer was pretty clear: My computer & computer games.
Now there is nothing basically wrong with Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-62209652834715587672013-01-14T10:53:00.000+02:002013-01-15T16:07:18.942+02:00God 52
What is it?
The original idea comes from a Blogger who is setting himself 52 spiritual challenges, one for each week of the year. The idea is to challenge your faith, discipline, and preconceived ideas about Christianity. I got interested in this at the first week of 2013 and have decided that this will be a good exercise for my soul. Check out the original idea here, God 52 - The Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-59857953550965522262010-05-19T11:27:00.000+02:002010-05-19T11:27:41.783+02:00The Gospel according to John the BaptistI have got into the habit of reading Dr Richard Becks blog, Experimental Theology, lately. He has some very thought provoking insights drawing from Psychology and Theology in an attempt to understand more of scripture. Recently a post of his "The Gospel According to John the Baptist" caught my eye as it is something I have never really thought much about before. What is the essence of what John Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-41724681709046201722010-05-06T11:04:00.000+02:002010-05-06T11:04:57.268+02:00Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him!
"I'm going to have a party, but I don't think,that I'll ask Hooper Humperdink.I'll ask Alice, I'll ask Abe.I'll ask Bob and Bill and Babe.I'll ask Charlie, Clara, Cora..."Hooper Humberdink, this was my favourite book when I was little. I identified so well with poor Hooper. I shared his pain at not getting invited to parties. Always being the last chosen for sports sides. Living socially at the Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-10853538138911486422010-04-20T10:40:00.000+02:002010-04-20T10:56:31.815+02:00GratitudeThe recent announcements by various Internet Service Providers now offering cheap uncapped Internet accounts have to be one of the biggest steps forward for South African Internet in many, many years. The aftermath of these new products, a few weeks on, has left ripples throughout the time continuum. One such ripple has touched me and had a profound effect on my outlook in life.
I feel old! Yes,Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-267600684412289872007-08-31T11:27:00.000+02:002007-08-31T11:43:42.195+02:00Free website hostingOk, so there's no evidence of God working in this. In other words this is not something I specifically prayed about and God answered. But it's cool non the less and it's something I just stumbled upon.I have found that I can offer free website hosting to anyone that wants. No catch.... okay maybe a little catch. You can't use your own custom domain for your website and your webpages get a Google Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-29194802195231006722007-08-24T06:12:00.000+02:002007-08-24T18:36:24.855+02:00Buying a car [part 2]They say all good things must come to an end. I guess that's true most of the time. It was true for my Suzuki. It was fun to drive, but eventually I had to admit that it was not very practical. For my IT support work I needed a more practical vehicle. One that could carry a decent load. And so the "zook" had to go.Now, I hear you saying: "People buy cars all the time. Why bring God into it?" WellPaul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-8474566984286712612007-08-17T10:39:00.000+02:002007-08-17T10:56:58.553+02:00Buying a carSo how does God help in buying a car. Sure he can miraculously have someone donate you a brand new one. Or he could prompt someone to give a large cash donation toward one. Or he could just do the unlikely as I have discovered twice now in the last year....On returning from Turkey I was really keen to get involved with off-road rescue. Before going into mission work I was very involved in Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-27131220429746923272007-08-16T00:35:00.000+02:002007-08-16T12:50:25.628+02:00The returnAfter a long break from blogging I've decided to return and continue my journey through interesting times. We so easily get busy with other things that the simpler things, like communication, fall by the way. So to continue my journey I am going to start documenting some stories here of how God has worked in my life. In the little things and in the big things.Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-1160061371551557032006-10-05T17:06:00.000+02:002006-10-05T17:16:11.560+02:00A really busy weekAfter returning from a hectic week on the South Coast I face another hectic week here in Jo'burg. Monday I took a rest, but since Tuesday I have been working non-stop. The most important task was to get my breakfast invitations out. This was top priority as the breakfast is only a few weeks away.Apart from that I have many other things to keep me busy: Compiling photos from the out-reach into a Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-1159981370254568222006-10-04T18:45:00.000+02:002006-10-04T19:21:43.016+02:00Transkei OutreachI just got back from a week on the South coast. We took a group of students from the Baptist Theological College (BTC) on an outreach. The goal was to give them exposure to mission work and at the same time help a local ministry. We joined up with Crusade for Christ (CFC), which is based just south of Margate. For a couple of days we worked on their new farm, helping with some physical labour. InPaul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-1158307217022407912006-09-15T09:38:00.000+02:002006-09-15T10:00:17.033+02:00Long nights and hard workThis week has seen long nights and lots of work. Since joining up with 3D-Outreach my work-load has increased rapidly. Most of the work involves the logistics of preparing ourselves for the outreach ministry to follow later. But I have not forgotten my true calling.This week I had my first training experience. Chalkie is a missionary friend of mine from Operation Mobilisation (OM). He, himself Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-1157632127285444262006-09-07T14:27:00.000+02:002006-09-07T14:28:47.293+02:00 Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14829035.post-1157631711224450542006-09-07T14:14:00.000+02:002006-09-07T14:21:51.236+02:00Long Break4 Months down the line and I finally get to post here again. Leaving Turkey threw out a lot of my routines and so I haven't been as diligent as I should be in keeping this site up to date.That changes now though. Once again I'll keep this site updated with what I am doing and where I am going. My new beginnings with 3D-Outreach mean that there are many opportunuties opening up for me. And I'll Paul Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13169750450917247584noreply@blogger.com0