Well, I had a corporate golf day planned for Friday the 27th of August, so last weekend Wends says to me………..”maybe I can come with you to your golf day and we can spend the night at the hotel for our Great Date Experience“………….I paused for a second and then replied…..WOW!

Well to cut a long story short, we have just returned from an awesome night away where we were able to spend some quality time together (after the golf of course). We were able to relax in the warm spa pool and sauna, and basically just got to hang out together as a couple. We took our “We Marriage” date booklet with us to breakfast this morning and had a great time together.

Thanks MarriedLife for pushing me to do something I know is really important, but often gets left off the schedule. I can’t wait to tackle our next Great Date in September when we will go on a romantic picnic.

This is Romantic Rob and Flirty Frieda signing off until next time! (Derek & Wends)

Instead of having our usual Wednesday evening, our Community Group met at Rainbow House, a home for up to 12 abandoned children in Goodwood. Afterward, one of our members remarked, “I think we got more out of it than the kids!!”

Our group loved the experience and have decided to make Rainbow House a regular once a term visit. We are reminded of how much love we experienced as children from our parents and want to be able to help these children experience some of that love.

It was also very encouraging to see so many other churches attending that are seeking to be so much more effective in reaching the future generation.

If you missed Wednesday night’s event or want to share Reggie’s message with other parents or team members, then click below to listen or download the ‘Reggie Joiner Talks Orange’ message..

• Reggie Joiner Talks Orange
• Reggie Joiner, 25.08.10
• Download audio file (20100825-Reggie_Joiner_Talks_Orange.mp3)
• Download

Way to go Southpoint, you ROCK!

John

Most of us want to spend time with our spouse, but most of us don’t spend time with our spouse. When we do get time together, a lot of us experience the classic, “What do you want to do? I don’t know, what do you want to do?”

At the MarriedLife Live event this past weekend we handed out a great new tool called ‘The Great Date Experience’. This is an amazing tool to help you have a great date with your spouse. Each date is complete, yet you get to choose the options. Be sure to send your friends the link below so they too can have some great dates…

The Great Date Experience – http://marriedlifelive.co.za/great-date/

Download it now..

Download it now..

1. The colour white originally symbolised purity at a wedding. ~ False (actually symbolised joy and happiness)
2. If you have a titanium wedding band and your finger swells, they will have to amputate your finger. ~ False
3. On average, a woman takes on 7 more hours of housework a week just by having a husband. ~ True (according to a University of Michigan study)
4. Rice thrown to wish newly-wedded couples well can kill birds by causing their stomachs to expand. ~ False
5. The tradition of bridesmaids dressing the same as each other and in similar style to the bride comes from ancient days when it was believed that evil spirits have a more difficult time distinguishing which one is the bride and putting a hex on her. ~ True
6. Wearing gold wedding bands originated from the Egyptian culture. ~ False (gold came from the British)
7. Celebrity Zsa Zsa Gabor has had 9 husbands. ~ True
8. Henry VIII had six wives and no male heir. ~ False (Jane Seymour, Henry’s 3rd wife gave birth to Edward VI in 1537)
9. Tying shoes to the back of the newlywed’s car evolved from the Tudor custom where guests would throw shoes at the newlyweds. It was considered lucky if they or their carriage were hit. ~ True

If you haven’t got your tickets yet then be sure to go here to find purchasing information. If you want to invite your friends then go here to fill out a form to send them an invite. Dont forget to follow up the invite with a phone call sometime.

Here is a little more info from the MarriedLife website which, if you haven’t yet, should check out sometime..

MarriedLife Live is an event created for couples to encourage and empower their marriages. The two-hour program includes music, creative programming, and a relevant message. Each event is centered on one of our six MarriedLife Essentials:

Trust God – I need to let God have control of my life.

Hurry Home – I will make our time together a priority.

Cultivate Communication – I should understand before I can expect to be understood.

Nurture Romance – I need to remember that YOU have certain needs.

Celebrate Differences – I will love you even if you never change.

Finish Together – Because I will stay with you, we can work out anything.

I’ve been running the business since 1998 and for most of that time cash flow was an issue. It’s not that the business wasn’t doing well, we were generally growing in excess of 15% per year and our assets always exceeded our debts. But we were always short of cash – it was always tied up either in stock or in debtors and the end of the month was always a trying time. We spent a lot of energy balancing who we should pay next.

I tried a number of different solutions. I had be taught early on to avoid sureties – which basically means that you can’t get an overdraft. So I brought in partners – they’ve been great but there’s a limit to which you can keep asking for investment without paying it back. I read a book that showed how to use credit cards to raise capital – and before I knew it I had in excess of R100k in the credit card capital in the business – but the repayments just added to the overheads!

As a family, we have always been pretty regular at giving, but about 5 years ago Joy & I started to implement the principles laid out in the financial teaching (living with margin) received at Southpoint Church in a bigger way – and it showed in our finances. Joy had been challenging me for some time about giving from the business – and eventually I decided to listen & try it. The decision was made more complicated by the fact that some of my partners are not Christians; but we committed to give away at least 1% of our monthly turnover.  At the point when I made this decision we were not making a profit. It was a step of faith.  It now compares to approximately 10% of our profit.

I don’t know how God does it, but within the year we had paid off all our credit card debt, we were able to pay out our first dividends to shareholders in 10 years, our suppliers are all paid up on time, we sit with cash in the bank in excess of the next months overheads – and we have over R100k in savings!

God had spoken to me about being a conduit – everything we have is His and He is looking for channels to feed His blessing to others. However He can only bless others through us if we keep the conduit open. Water will only flow through a pipe if it’s not blocked. If it’s blocked the water in it will gradually become stagnant & the pipe will rust.  And it’s all about trust – having the faith to step out and just do it, even though everything around us screams that it doesn’t make sense. This is God’s economy – to this day I can’t explain how He does it – but He does it.

Simon

After visiting South Africa, Kendra from our partner church, posted a great blog re the amazing work that Sonshine Kids Africa is doing labelling Allison and Liz as real heroes, and who would disagree? Check it out at <http://insidenorthpoint.org/kids/2010/03/03/real-life-heroes/> So I thought I would share a little video I made of our heroes, not the best but I don’t think it is bad for a first try! You see, Jesus had to give up His life for us, and there are Christians in the world today who are losing their lives for their faith, but this is not so for us as we live in relative peace. None the less, we still battle for the souls of the many people who live in the same house as us, next door, in our neighborhood or in our city. A real life and death battle. So when these heroes get down on their knees and plead for the kids that they will meet again on Sunday, when they are that familiar face that is reassuring kids of Gods great love and grace, when they show up with a friendly smile for the person who comes for the first time or if they give of their time to press some buttons or move some furniture so that those who visit will feel comfortable to come back; they are fighting a real life and death battle. These are people who have a story to tell of how they were broken and dying, but who have experienced Jesus on a personal level and have found hope and restoration for the most impossible situations plaguing their souls. These are the soldiers of God, ambassadors of the God of the impossible, and these are just a few of the 150 odd that make Southpoint irresitible.

Southpoint Heroes

I want to start by saying a Huge thank you. I have spent my whole 35 years in South Africa. I have traveled overseas, I have done charity work, I give to the poor and yet I have never been to an Orphanage let alone into a location.

Giving from a Distance always seems the safer option. I really felt like I was out of my comfort zone today in Khyalitsha, the sad part being that it took a group of Americans interested in helping OUR community to get me there.

You must understand I went with great hesitation as I have a knack for attracting and collecting stray animals, and I was not sure if I could trust myself with 100 orphaned children. I am so relieved to say that I have come away from there not wanting to save these kids, as it was shown to us how well they are taken care of, there is so much love and warmth there. There are definite needs that need to be met and I would love to get involved to help where I can.

I am very troubled with the thought that there are child headed homes and I think this is what God wanted me to hear today. I am extremely happy that Rossie is going to be concentrating on this in the near future and I would love to help out here.

Once again thank you and to all from Atlanta, it was a really true experience, one I will never forget.

Regards

Kathy