Author: Schulter Etyang

Echoes of grace in the Springboks Rugby World Cup Win

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5 min read South Africa’s national rugby team known as the Springboks or the Boks arrived from Japan with the Webb Ellis Cup. They defeated the English Roses with an emphatic 32-12 win. They made history. Siya Kolisi was the first black captain of the team. This was a momentous achievement. You need to live in South Africa to know what this meant to the nation and especially to black South Africans. Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe were the first players in rugby history to score tries in a final. It hadn’t happened before. The Springboks were also the first team in history to have lost their first game against the All Blacks and gone on to win the main cup. A lot of firsts.  When they landed at ORTIA—the O. R Tambo International Airport, jubilant South Africans from across the nation met them. It was a glorious homecoming. I watched on TV the scenes unfold at the airport. Jenny was on her laptop finishing some work. Bad! As usual, I see grace; I see …

Trippin’? Here’s some good news for you.

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4 min read Pop psychology tells us to do this—believe in yourself, all you need is inside you, look within you. We are constantly being bombarded with images and stories that tell us if we believe in ourselves, we would get the promotion at the workplace, or become a better spouse, or do well at school, etc. In our age of social media, insta-influencers post pictures, videos and write inspirational blog posts on the power of believing in yourself. Pop psychology teaches us the ills we see in ourselves and in the world are because we don’t really believe in ourselves—that we have low self-esteem.  Now Peter one of Jesus’ first followers tried pop psychology and….  Here’s the story.

Rebel against the status quo

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4 min read A few days ago, l listened to Tim Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church talk on personal prayer, and in his message, he made this statement that “Prayer is an act of rebellion against the status quo.” This line of thought seemed out of place with the rest of his talk because his subsequent points did not match. The thought stood out on its own like a sore thumb, like a socket out of joint. The feelings it provoked in me, though, were stunning almost breathtaking, blows to the gut feelings and yet restful and comforting. Think of this, most Christians consider prayer a nuisance, an interference, a waste of time, a break in the stride. Why pray when I could just solve this problem, when I can just send that email, tweet or Facebook post, when I can just take my wife on holiday and our marriage will come right, when I can just kiss the ring and I will get the promotion, when I can just sleep with him or her with no commitment, when …

Have no doubt

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5 min read There are no Bible verses that have suffered more at the hands of charismatic preachers than these I’m about to share with you. There are many of them but these rank as the worst. These Bible verses are a staple among charismatic Christians—a movement I belong to and cherish. The misinterpretation and misapplication of these Bible verses have produced three kinds of charismatic Christians. Those who have seen their prayers answered because they did what these verses told them to do. They have tremendous stories of things that have happened in their lives. They applied the principles taught in these verses and voila, everything changed for them. And then there are those who prayed and prayed some more, and nothing happened. The ones who eventually left the charismatic movement, disillusioned by having no results in their lives. And there are those who still pray, pray and pray some more, hoping their persistence will pay off. They are desperate. They will hang in there until God blesses them. Like Jacob, they will not …

A mother and her two sons

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6 min read Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” Matthew 20:20-23 (NLT)  Oh, mothers and their sons. They will do anything for their sons. James and John’s mother is one suburbanite lady who is always looking out for their best. She gets her sons into the best …

Great Jehovah by Travis Greene

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5 min listen This song “Great Jehovah” is from the yet to be released album titled Broken Record by Travis Greene. The album is set to be released on October 11, 2019. You can buy the song on Apple Music. Go get it. This is a grace-full song. Travis Greene makes much of grace. Yes. Before there was life You were seated on high From there You spoke time And we were already on Your mind Can’t explain your love Without performance You called us Your own Couldn’t afford it So with Your blood You bought our freedom Can’t explain Your love Ruler of Everything Worthy of all that we could bring You are Great Jehovah All power is yours Without performance You called us Your own Couldn’t afford it With Your blood You bought our freedom Can’t explain Your love You are Ruler (Ruler of Everything) You are (Worthy of all that we could bring) You are, You are Great Jehovah All power is your No song we sing (No song we sing) Can explain Your …

Don’t Take It from Me: Reasons You Should Not Marry an Unbeliever by Kathy Keller

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3 min read This is a short post by Kathy Keller, the wife to Timothy Keller, founders of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York.  Kathy writes a straight to the point poignant post about the challenges faced by two people of different faiths. In this case, Christian single people seriously considering getting married to a non-Christian.  If you are a Christian single man or woman, you should really consider the valuable wisdom Kathy Keller shares in her post. You could be saved from a lifetime of misery and heartache. She writes, Marriage is HARD ENOUGH (emphasis mine) when you have two believers who are completely in harmony spiritually. I ask, what about two people who don’t share the same faith? A million times harder.  Check it out.

9th lesson learned​ in our 8th year of marriage.

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6 min read Last year, as Jenny and I celebrated our 7th year anniversary, I wrote on the 8 lessons we’d learned in our marriage. These are tough humbling lessons we’ve learned by observation and experience. You can read last year’s post here. In keeping with this tradition, this is what we’ve learned in our 8th year of marriage. YOU CAN BE BOTH RIGHT AT THE SAME TIME.  Time and time again in our 8 short years of marriage, Jenny and I have had to make decisions, be they simple or complex ones, and both of us were right, at the same time. Let me share two examples.

Sleep is your superpower | Matt Walker

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5 min read. 20 min video. One of my earliest blog posts was on sleep. The heading was/is, Grace and the beauty of sleep. You can read it here. I had stumbled on this truth about sleep—that within the Christian scriptures, God spoke to people in their sleep. God, very few times spoke to people who were wide awake. The message of the post was to encourage us to relax a bit. Take it easy. Go to sleep and let God do the night shift. Sleep is a fundamental gospel truth, and this truth is a thread that runs throughout the Christian scriptures. In my earlier post, I highlighted instances of sleep and the results. For example, in the garden, when God wanted to give Adam a wife, he put him to sleep. When God wanted to give his son, Jesus, a new wife, he put him to sleep. Jesus’ last act was sleep—death—and in his sleep, the new creation (bride) was born and fully became operational when the Holy Spirit descended on the bride …

The poor blind guy

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6 min read Mark and Luke wrote this fascinating narrative about three men who came to Jesus and the different responses Jesus gave to each one of them. These writers, through these real-life stories, share with us who gets to experience God’s grace—God’s unconditional love.   In two previous posts, here and here, I wrote about the good guy and the Christian guy. Jesus had contrasting responses to these two.  This post is about the third guy in the narrative—the poor blind guy. Who was he? What did he do that made heaven ground to a halt? And what do we need to do as good moral people or as Christian people to get heaven to act on our behalf, especially when we are in need? Let’s find out. Who is this guy? Mark, names him. His name, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. As Jesus and his entourage near Jericho, fresh from meeting the good moral guy, they meet Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus sat by the road. He was blind and poor. As Jesus passed by, Bartimaeus heard …