Making the switch and combining forces...

Okay everyone, I have decided to move my blog to wordpress....but the catch is that I am gonig to take my current website and keep that address. My decision is because with Word Press, I can basically combine my website and my blog....into one site! Hopefully this will be easier to update! I will keep this address for a little while as I work on transfering information from my website to my new blogs site.....when all is said and done, you will be able to find me at www.aaronshands.org.

Seek first...

I was thinking today about that camp/youth group song of "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God"....I know all the words and know that it is almost scripture verbatum....in fact, that is one way I used to memorize scripture was through songs. Anyway, I was thinking about this because lately I have been contemplating two different but related things:

• My spirit as oposed to my soul
• the Kingdom of God

In the last two weeks I heard three sermons about the body, soul, and spirit and though I am familiar with them all, I have really received some new revelation and have begun to seek more about the application of it. It started with Staff meeting two weeks ago when John Bevere (on video) talked about having a strong soul and a weak spirit and the tendancy to live out of your soul. He talked about how hard it is to tell the difference until you really get squeezed and that is when you can see if you really have a strong or weak spirit.... yikes!

So, I started thinking, journeling, meditating, and praying about this.....and it has been something good to chew on for weeks. I have also had a desire to SEE HIS KINGDOM on EARTH as it is in Heaven. This isn't a new concept for me, as I have been a casual observer of this type of thing for a few years.

This weekend when I was on a little personal retreat I was praying that God would show me how to strengthen my spirit and that He would also show me the Kingdom. I saw a few things I have never seen before- one was the 1st Beattitude in Matthew 4:3

"Blessed is the poor in spirit, for he shall see the Kingdom of Heaven"-

Woah...did that just say that HAPPY or BLESSED is the one who is POOR in SPIRIT and that person will SEE the Kingdom??

I took it a step further and did a little word study of Poor...and do you know what it means in the Greek? Yep- Poor! But poor in the really poor sense....the defition was " poor and helpless; one who in his abjectness needs lifting. One who had falledn from a better state. So poor that he can only obtain his living from daily begging"

Then tonight I was reading more about the Kingdom and I came across the "Seek first the Kingdom of God...."....So I think it turns out that I am in the right place...poor and humbled to a state where I have never been before....and seeking the Kingdom.

Who new that the old camp song would be so personal and real to me...so many years later.

Circus- South African Style

(Yes....the C is not lit...so we really went to the ircus!)

Well, believe it or not, the Circus came to our little town of Harrismith. We decided to go and so most of the staff that are here and all of the interns loaded up after work on Tuesday to the "Greatest Show on Earth".....well, not exactly, but it was something to do!

We were so excited to go and eat circus food, see circus acts...and laugh....and laugh..and boy did we. The BIG act was the Two Tigers and one Lion....who really just moved around and ate meat. Really, though there were some good acts...Balancing and very Flexible Chinese Ladies, a Swinging dare devil and a man who ran around the "Wheel of Death"! There were of course clowns, wearing strange costumes with poor dialogue..but they were clowns.

One of the highlights was when one of our own was called up for one of the clow acts. Matt, one of the interns, was a good sport. I will say, that we were the typical "Loud Americans" clapping, whistling, screaming and generally enjoying the show......and trying not to BE the show...which is hard in our small town!

Here are a few pictures....my roommate and I (I am the one with the Big Red nose).....

And this is all of the girls with Martinez the Swinging Rope Guy....I wonder where the guys are...they must have been scared off by his costume! :)

Great Fun...Great Fun indeed!

Pronounce This....

The word is XYLOPHONE......

How do you pronounce it? Well today I was talking with an "unnamed" friend who shares my office and she said that " The hold music sounds like the X-Xylophone".

and I stopped in my tracks....I said, "the what?"

"The X-xylophone" and she looked at me funny....

So I took a pole of all the interns and staff in the immediate area....yes, I was right...she was pronouncing it wrong....or like a Canadian...which is basically wrong in my book (sorry Amiee and Kristy, and AJ...geez I know alot of Canadians!)

So, my unnamed friend that I share an office with, took it as a learning experience and wondered if her whole childhood was a lie....because noone told her all this time that she was saying Xylophone wrong!

BTW- she did have a point...why is it the example for the letter X in the alphabet when you are learning....not very phonetic...SHAME!

Blank Blog.....Cooking...Cold Weather...

So, why don't I blog more? Well, I simply don't think of things that happen in my life as "blog worthy"...AND..I am terrible at taking pictures which are really nice to add to a blog.

So...for a little run down on internesting tidbits.....

• I joined the interns last night for one of their prayer nights...it was amazing...10pm-1am....worship, prayer, and ministry....I love when God uses me to minister to others...what a Great God we SERVE!
• The clouds rolled in today and it started getting cold....and rainy. The high tomorrow is 47..and this is Fall.
• I made Chili for the first time today....and I added a secret ingredient...and it is really good! Who knows...maybe I will turn out to be a cook..after all.
• It is mating season....and the deer like to keep us awake with their noises....

You know you live in South Africa.....

when you get excited that the scheduled power outage was only 1 hour 45 minutes instead of 2 or more!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words....

This one says "Hey...glad to be home!" What does it say to you?