I love this challenging prayer, a call to the adventurous…

Francis Drake was England’s most famous sailor and explorer, he sailed around the world in ‘The Golden Hind’ in 1580 and led the outnumbered British Navy to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588.

This prayer was found in his ship’s diary, written on the eve of one of his great adventures:

—

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storm will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push us in the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.

Amen

I have just finished reading William Carey, which by the way I recommend to anyone to read it. This is the 7th Heroes of Faith series book I have read (I still have another 27 biographies to read). I’ve given away a few copies of this book because of the impact it caused in me. However, If you would like to purchase a copy for yourself, please let me know and i will post it to you. Alternatively you can buy it online at www.wordinspired.com or ywamstore.com  Retail price is £5.50 I have a few new copies to sell at £3.99 plus shipping. A NEW STANDARD HAS BEEN SET IN CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY!Each inspiring true story of a man or woman who answered God’s call is a testimony to a real-life adventure of faith and determination.William Carey, “the father of modern missions,” displayed a single-minded determination to bring the gospel to the people of India (1761-1834).This best-selling, missionary biography series - Christian Heroes: Then & Now - chronicles the exciting, challenging, and deeply touching true stories of ordinary men and women whose trust in God accomplished extraordinary exploits for His kingdom and glory.This book is also available in Spanish!

Ooh-ooh-ooh
The sky hides what I wanna see
Stars are like eyes, they’re watching the dark
Passion and fear run all over me
Night is a ghost accusing my heart
This life can be such a lonely place
I hear the laughter as I fall from grace
I fall from grace
Now I am branded with original sin
World without end

(chorus)

Ooh-ooh-ooh
Who’s gonna fight for innocence
When we’re always denying the proof?
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Who’s gonna fight for justice
When we wash our hands of the truth

Like to go back to a simple life
Be as a child in the Promised Land
Wish i could sleep when night comes over me
Dreaming of flowers falling out of my hands
But I’m woken by the cries of an angry crowd
Against a man whose love could save me now
Oh, save me now
I’ll drink the blood from your crown of pain
And they’ll call us insane

(chorus)

On USA Today which it was said to have Nelson Mandela’s on America’s terrorist list. Funnier than that? well I dont think it gets more than this..

Read more below

by Mimi Hall
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation “embarrassing,” and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

The requirement applies to former South African leader Mandela and other members of South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC), the once-banned anti-Apartheid organization. In the 1970s and ’80s, the ANC was officially designated a terrorist group by the country’s ruling white minority. Other countries, including the United States, followed suit.

Because of this, Rice told a Senate committee recently, her department has to issue waivers for ANC members to travel to the USA.

(…)

Members of other groups deemed a terrorist threat, such as Hamas, also are on the watch lists.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says “common sense” suggests Mandela should be removed. He says the issue “raises a troubling and difficult debate about what groups are considered terrorists and which are not.”

(…)

To read the integrality of this article, please go here.

It is in our very nature to want to be wanted, to seek safety, to know the known and tap into the unknown with confidence. I remember growing up, loving and admiring my dad and granddad and wishing one day I would grow up to be like dad and a having a sweet heart like my granddad. They made me feel so great, and as a BOY i felt a great MAN, One that could possibly do anything I wanted to. To discover, to conquer, to fight the good fight and win for what was right..

Well, sometimes I wonder, where in the world the thoughts in my mind that said: You CAN definitely do it, you CAN conquer, you WILL achieve, and so on… GOES.. You know what i mean? WHERE does it GOES? It is almost as if one minute you look at yourself and say: I AM invincible and the next you have doubts that you were even meant to BE. I know it has to do with all the junk of negativity that we face all day long and if we allow ourselves to hear THIS over and over and over again that, actually, I CANT. Then, its no long until I ACTUALLY start believing this big fat lie!

So before accepting all the lies that comes knocking my door, I must remember that I CAN do all things in the One who strengthens me. When any negativity comes my way I KNOW my father’s blessing.

For, In secret, a curse whisper in the young boy’s ears, “You will never amount to anything” In response, the father’s blessing loudly proclaims , “God has plans for you. Plans of hope and a future.”

In secret, a curse whispers in the young boy’s ears, “You’re rejected and will always be alone” In response, the Father’s blessing loudly proclaims, ” I will never leave YOU, and I will NEVER forsake you, and I WILL provide for you a friend that sticks closer than a brother.”

In secret, a curse whispers in the young boy’s ears, “You are weak and a failure. You will never succeed in this life.” In response, the Father’s blessing loudly proclaims, ” You CAN do all things in the One who strengthen YOU.

So again, before believing any lies coming your way, remember the father’s blessing.