By the rivers of Babylon...

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered ZionPsalm 137:5-6.

Its evening, a cool breeze, smells of flowers in the air and right in front of me is one of the most beautiful sights the eye can behold or imagine, beautiful waters, teeming with fish, rivers lush with green grass topped with wonderful looking trees, it is the river of Babylon. It is a sight so good it would make an artist drool but I gaze down from where I sit with tears rolling down my eye, because I know for sure, that where I come from for so many reasons, is a lot better, I know that where I come from, I was free.

Its late at night, I enter a night club, music is blasting, people are dancing, I have this stunning lady by my side we walk to the bar, order a couple of drinks meet up with friends. Everyone looks like they are having fun. The music is good, the company is even better and my friends sometimes they are just the best. Not tonight though, tonight I remember the last time I was in His presence and I know for sure that tonight is nothing compared to that.

He looks so handsome in his wedding suit, dazzling smile on his face as he beholds his bride. Her wedding dress is beautiful, her walk so graceful. Everyone looks at her and then look at him, he is the envy of all the single men. All eyes turn back to the bride as she makes her way to him. If only they could look beneath the veil and see the fear in her eyes, if they could feel her heart beat fluttering in fear because she is so unsure. Am I doing the right thing? Why am I here? If only they could have a glimpse of her thoughts as she remembered the last time she was totally happy, with "that guy". He made her laugh, he brought her joy. She may have lacked a couple of things, but he made her happy.

Three different stories from three different times, the same meaning though, practically the same story line. I mentioned in my post Pillar of Salt about the effects of leaving a situation at the right time and leaving your heart in it. Today I am writing about leaving the right situation, sometimes unwillingly, most times by choice.
Babylon was a wonderful place, a beautiful city, beautiful land full of all sorts and manner of people. Does that remind you of similar situations and temptations that cross our path? Sometimes more money just isn't worth it, sometimes being more handsome or more beautiful isn't a high enough price to pay. So many reasons we give (really excuses) to walk out of different situations because we just feel that where we are just isn't worth it.

How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. Psalm 137:4-6

I read that passage tonight and I remember all the things I told myself when i was younger. No drinking, no smoking, womanizing being just a few. I kept all these until I got to my Babylon. I broke all my rules, every single one of them. One thing I know for sure, I had no peace, not for a day or a night all through that time. We make promises, we vow, make rules and we are so sure we will keep them. We make those promises long before we gaze on Babylon, long before we see beauty good enough to make our gaze, make our memories waver, make our steps falter long before we slowly begin to fall. Now the question is, what is your Babylon? Are you in a new place, a job, a city? Have things gotten a lot more interesting lately? There is a new guy/gal in the house and you just can't shake off that interest? You just made new friends that have brand new habits and you just one to try something new? You forget promises made, songs sang, the prayers made on knees not too long ago. You forget it all when you come face to face with Babylon.
I can assure you of three very true things;
Firstly, Babylon is no more, Mount Zion still stands. Secondly, Mount Zion has always been and will always be more beautiful that Babylon. Finally, you are not alone. Peter fell flat on his face several hours after he promised that he would stay true, it is what you do after you land in Babylon that matters.

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. Psalm 48:1-2

And I looked down at Babylon, remembered Zion and wept...

A time for everything... (A time to mourn)

When it's dark and cold, when the tears don't cease their flow,, when hope is cold, fears blazing, when despair perpetually knocks on my door. Help me see, help me know that You are near

I remember that morning, a morning from years gone by. I was young, in my early teens and that morning it was my duty to take the waste out and I did; two problems though, the dump was a 20minute walk from my house and it was about 5.30am in the morning. End result? I got myself arrested because unknown to me, the government had declared that area as unfit for dumping waste. Imagine this, a young teen arrested at about 6am in the morning, you can imagine how frightened I was (or was I?). But then imagine this, how worried my mother was when I didn't come home. A while after, my mum came to look for me, she found me kneeling down with several other culprits and my mum did something that today, brings tears to my eyes, she knelt beside me and told the officials (that is what I think they were), to take her instead. She pleaded, she begged and finally they let us go on the condition that we cleaned up the area. Today, many years later, that is what I remember, my mum kneeling beside me even more scared and worried than I was. My mum died on the 4th of April 2009. This is just one of the many memories I have of her.

I remember that afternoon, I was a student working over the holidays. I was driving and a colleague of mine, a student as well, was a passenger; he asked me to take him home to pick up some stuff. He lived in a part of town known for serious and most times brutal gang battles. The whole country knew of that area. I was freaked out that afternoon but I took him because he asked and because I believed him when he told me not to be scared. It was my first time in that part of town and till today I remember that afternoon, we talked, we laughed made the trip and got back in one piece. He lived with His grandma because his parents didn't stay in that town. I still remember that morning, the 1st of January 2007. I saw an elderly woman crying on TV while being interviewed, crying because the police wouldn't give her access to her grandson. That is how I got to find out that Clement had been shot dead that morning during a gun fight between the police and gang members. He was on his way back from church.

As a child I would never have understood what it cost my mother to see her son arrested or detained for something he knew nothing about, as a father I now do. As Clement's friend, knowing the life he lived while alive, there is no way he could have been a gang member, no way in my mind he would have deserved death, but now I know better. We live in a world with so many different memories, a lot of time we choose to shut out the pain, to act like we don't care. Sometimes we choose to dwell in the pain, in the hurt and we end up with heart breaks. I don't know which you choose but then I do know this, "there is a time to mourn and a time to dance". There is a balance. I chose two examples on this day to share and say this that no matter how dark it gets, light always finds a way to shine through. We mourn, focusing on the death, the reasons. We question God and sometimes we tend to stray towards losing our faith. There is a time to mourn and mourn properly not focused on the death, but focused on the lives lived here on earth. Then and only then can our mourning be turned into dancing again. Then we can focus on the light, the glimmer of hope that shines through the darkness and reaches out to us, then we can reach out to it and have our tears break up with smiles, joy and laughter.

Smiles of joy, tears of laughter,
Breaking through hearts in despair,
Rays of hope, myriads of light,
Shining through the darkest night.
A time to mourn, a time to dance,
The time is now, stretch out your hands
To healing, a broken heart,
To find your way, o lost soul
To revival, a wavering life

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Though we are many, we are one. We face the same fears for different reasons, we cry the same tears for different reasons, we find hope however for similar reasons, we find life for the same reason, the One who came to save us all, He is our Light, our Life, our Hope.

You will smile again