Remaining in the Vine
Written by Mike Verkaik As I sat in the beauty of Groot Constantia vineyard I soon became overwhelmed with the visual picture of Jesus’s words that were before me. My view of choice was a hillside patch of vines that overlooked much of the entire vineyard. As I looked at row after row of […]
Father Please Cut!
Driving back from dropping the team off at Cape Town airport I was thanking God for such a beautiful sunny day after so much rain. I was also recalling the chill in the air a few days earlier at vineyard and how the time spent there seemed way too short. As I was nearing the […]
Trusting the Gardner in the winter seasons
What is our world in desperate need of? Fruit! Yes, spiritual fruit that flows from the heart of a follower of Christ. We had a chance to spend several days with a high school team from the US talking about John 15, Jesus’ illustration of the Vine and the Branches. You can imagine Jesus and […]
“This is how I fight my battles”
Written by Mike Verkaik What has God used to prune you in your handling of adversity? For me it has been my many trips to South Africa. As prepared, as I believe I am for every trip, the airlines seem to always create a new scenario to grow my capacity to surrender circumstances out of […]
“When the Enemy comes in like a Flood…”
Patty and I had just crawled into bed on stormy cold South Africa night and there was a knock on our door-usually not a good sign. Thobeka, one of our team workers at the Retreat Center, frantically said you need to call the municipality, the sewer is backing up and back of the retreat center […]
A Jim Beam Skillet, $10 and the Wonderful Goodness of God
Jet leg hit hard coming back to Africa. For two nights I had a lot of time to think, pray, and contemplate our quick trip to the States as sleep was scarce. We had so many divine appointments and overwhelming gifts from God’s children-which left us humbled and overflowing with tears of praise and great […]
