Kelly Corder

I have lived in Africa for almost 4 years and I have yet to celebrate my birthday in South Africa.  Somehow I always seem to be out of the country at this time of year.  Twice I was home in the states and twice I was in Botswana. Today I am celebrating my birthday in Swaziland.

It’s kind of ironic though.  People that live near me know that I love to throw parties.  However, I have yet to have a birthday party in South Africa, with my friends from Thrive.  But I think we make up for it with all our other parties throughout the year – Superbowl, Cinco de Mayo, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving and the list goes on.  And I usually end up with some pretty fun birthday stories – last year my birthday started with the house alarm going off (thanks, Jody!) and included swimming (one of my favorite pastimes), getting creamed by my birthday cake and being treated to a new african-style dress from my dad.  Who knows what could happen today?!

Anyway, I’m 24 today.  That number seems so small but I feel like I’ve lived a lot.  Maybe that’s how everyone feels.  Somedays I feel my age, somedays I don’t (sometimes I feel like a nut…).  I wonder what year 24 will bring.  I guess theres no way to know, but one thing I know for sure – it’s gonna be a good one.

The second installment of Photo Fridays presents…

Huh? Saw this sign outside of a convient store. I was tempted to climb it.

Today I’m heading to Swaziland (a small country just north of South Africa) with the interns for an outreach trip.  We’ll be back on April 10th, but in the meantime please pray for:

• Road safety as we drive 6+ hours to the country and then while we are traveling within Swaziland

• For the interns to really experience what it is to SERVE another ministry

• For us to effectively bless Bulembu ministries (bulembu.org) as we do work projects in thier area

• Good attitudes, stong hands, and lots and lots of fun!

The other day Cassie and I heard that we may or may not have a Monitor Lizard on the property (the game farm we live on).  So, after a bit of research to figure out just what, exactly, is a Monitor Lizard we decided to hunt one.  Now, by ‘hunt’ I mean pour a cup of coffee, kick on some flip flops and leisurely walk around in the area it was supposedly spotted.  I use the word hunt loosely.  We had heard that this is a small one so we weren’t too worried.  However, the whole time we were tracking the monitor (which we affectionately dubbed ‘the dinosaur’) we were coming up with contingency plans of what to do if we did happen to find it and if it did happen to attack.  So, don’t worry mom :)

Shockingly we didn’t find any dinosaurs that day.  But we didn’t loose hope either.  Over the last week we have been peeking into the tree line whenever we drove by just to see if we could spot him.

Well, today I got a call from the friend who ’spotted’ the dino last weekend.  He said he had something to show me.  As it turns out, dinosuars do still exist and here’s a picture to prove it!

Last week I blogged (put didn’t publish) this:

“I never realized sin had so many hands. Or that its reach could go so far. It’s not simple and forgiveness doesn’t always seem like enough. Does forgiveness change how their sin will affect my heart? If I forgive does that mean I shouldn’t hurt from it anymore?

I see no end to the wakes of unwanted change that continue to crash against my heart. But I know that God is strong enough to keep me from washing away. To stop these waves from deteriorating me down to broken remnants of something once promising.

God is bigger than the affect of sin. Hallelujah.”

It’s amazing the difference between then and now. I read that I remember the hurt and brokenness that I felt when I wrote it. The Lord has recued my heart and today I am optimistic about the continued healing and growth He’s promised me.

No matter what I am experiencing (good or bad) the Lord is with me. No matter how I feel about a day when I wake up I can know that He walks with me and has great plans for this moment.

I am so grateful that I serve a God whose abilities are so endless, that when I look into the future and have a hard time finding hope I can know that He sees what I do not. And that what He sees is good.

Here are the Lyrics to a song I found on a friend’s iTunes a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve been listening to it basically non-stop ever since.

I Will Overcome

Charlie Hall – Joel’s Window

And I can see that my hands are trembling, I can see that my legs are weak
I can see that my head is spinning, but I will overcome
And I know that my heart is hurting, And I know that my soul it aches
And I know that it seems I’m failing, but I will overcome, yeah

Chorus:
O Lord I’m strong in You, O Lord I am wise in You
O Lord I can see in You, so I will overcome
O Lord I’m loved by You, O Lord I am free in you
O Lord I’m complete in You
So I will overcome, I will overcome, I will overcome

A few weeks ago I was out in Qwa Qwa and happened to have a camera with me so I decided to go on a picture hunt.  Here are a few of the photos I shot.  Enjoy seeing Qwa Qwa through my lens!