My Real Family and True Freedom

Sorry I have been so quite for the week. Life has been a little crazy, to say the least.
I am writing late tonight, and I really shouldn't because I seriously need to get up early tomorrow, and we all know just how much I HATE MORNINGS! But I just had to share something wonderful with you.

We had a public holiday across South Africa today as the government wanted everyone free to go do their voting. To me this is pure foolishness, both on the part of the government and the part of the people who vote. I cant really blame them, we do need better rulers, we need a better system, but what they don't see is that as long as humans are ruling, we are not going to get better ruler-ship, we are not going to get peace, security, housing, jobs and so on. For those who claim to be Christian and yet still vote, well that is downright hypocritical, because Jesus himself said that his kingdom is no part of this world, and his followers are no part of the world (John 17:16). As for me, its a no brainer that I didn't vote, I never have, and never will. Actually wait, I did once, but that vote counts for all time! I voted for God's Kingdom by dedicating my life to him. If I were to vote for a human government, no matter what party, it would be as bad as voting twice in the same elections!

But enough about that. What I wanted to share with you today is a positive note. I spent today with a group of people that I call my friends, in fact, I even can honestly call them my family.

You see, although I have many cousins and aunts and uncles, many of them have immigrated or live very far away. Most I never hear from, so to me the idealist thought that "blood is thicker than water" is the biggest load of hogwash ever to be promoted. Half of my relatives I wouldn't recognise if they walked past me in the street. Heck, I learnt via the grapevine last week that my aunt, uncle & four cousins who have been living in Aussie for the last 6 yrs were in South Africa (in my city!) and didn't even bother to contact us. Really, I don't care and apparently they don't either. I wont say it doesn't sting a little. But the reason I can get on with my life without caring is that I have a family who does care about me.

Most of my "REAL FAMILY" is not related to me by blood or marriage. Many of them don't even have the same skin colour as me. A lot of them don't speak the same language. Few of us have anything in common, except one thing - we are ALL JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.

It may sound crazy, but we have broken down barriers that mankind has made to become a happy family. And that is what I did today, while the rest of this country were choosing which corrupt person they want to have rule over them and steal their money, I was in a peaceful nature reserve with +-50 of my closest friends. My brothers and sisters.

We were from varied backgrounds, some who had been chased out of their villages with just the clothes on their backs 20 years ago by extremist ANC members who would have murdered them because they refused to vote, some who spent 3-6 years in prison 30 years ago because they refused to pick up a gun and murder innocent people because they were a different skin colour for the AWB. We were of differing ages and skin colours from my zulu brothers & sisters from Umlazi, to the indians from Isipingo, and us whiteys, from little 2 year olds all the way up to the 70 something year old gogos. We went hiking to look for the zebra, but made too much noise and pretended to be lions and wolves in the wilderness. We cooked about 50 kilograms of meat on a small fire, and shared food and smiles. We danced traditional zulu dances and then sang beautiful bible based songs. We kicked a pogo-ball around like a soccer ball and exchanged phone numbers.
We cried when we had to leave, not because we wont see each other again, but because for now, we had to leave this paradise with no bad people, with no pollution and city, just a bunch of friends who are as close as family laughing and having a good time together. That we had to go out again into a world that pretends to have broken racial and language barriers, but is still just as messed up as it was 10, 20 and 50 years ago.

Tomorrow is another day, and what will happen in the future of South Africa's politics will get worse, no matter what people try. What will happen in the future of all the governments and the world powers is going to get much much worse. But I know that I have a family who cares about me, a family who I can trust and who can trust me to always love them. And for that, I thank God and I thank my family.

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