Harmony of Grace

Image Source:  Robertina For some reason, whenever I return to East London from Pietermaritzburg (or vice versa), I find myself contracting a bit of a cold. We will shortly be heading back home to East London after a busy year and this got me thinking if there are any sure-fire ways that could prevent me from getting sick in the coming weeks. My first thought was the old proverb: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." I then thought back to all of the advice I have received over the years about staying healthy: "Take your multi-vitamins daily," "stay warm when it's cold outside," "make sure you dry your hair when you get out the shower," etc... Unfortunately, I don't have the one right answer and if I'm honest, I don't know that there is one. I think if there was any fool-proof way to prevent sickness, we would all be doing it. We often seem to have a similar experience in our spiritual journeys and no matter how hard we try ...

Image Source:  Jennifer Pallian I am not very good at baking cakes, but I am quite skilled at eating them. While most cakes are extremely delicious, not all of the individual ingredients that go into baking a cake are all that tasty by themselves. If I walk into the kitchen and my wife is in the early stages of making a chocolate cake, I would happily stick my fingers into the pot of melted chocolate, but you wouldn't see me going near the flour or raw eggs in any kind of rush. But something amazing happens when all of the not-so-tasty ingredients are put together in just the right order and quantity. After mixing all of the ingredients together and exposing them to extreme heat, they fulfil their purpose and form a wonderful new creation. Our lives are also made up of a large number of ingredients, not all of them tasty, that come together to make us who we are. Not all of life's experiences are enjoyable. Often we encounter difficulties or struggles. As we experie...

Those of you who know me personally, know that I am a gigantic Harry Potter fan. On our recent trip to the UK, we were in the midst of Harry Potter country. Not only were we in the area where the movies were filmed, we also got to visit the places where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration to write these wonderful tales. We made sure to use every opportunity to immerse ourselves in the Harry Potter fandom in the UK. We visited Kings Cross station, the Warner Brothers Studios, Tom Riddle's grave, the coffee shop where JK Rowling used to write her books (The Elephant Room), many of the castles that Hogwarts was modeled after and we even got to ride on the Hogwarts Express steam train! Needless to say, I was in my element. At the Warner Bros Studio Tour we saw how the film makers used amazing special effects to make brooms fly, dragons come to life and magic real. In one of the rooms (Shown in the picture above) they have a massive replica of Hogwarts castle that they use...