Chapter 1 entry 1

Chapter 1

Life Begins

I was born in Robertsham, a suburb south of Johannesburg in October of the year 1965 and shortly after that my parents decided to move to Blairgowrie, a suburb in Randburg. They told me later in life that the reason for this was they wanted better opportunities for me.

A life of a middle class family and stringent discipline surrounded my father growing up. His father disowned any responsibility toward him so he never knew his father. He grew up with a step-father I knew only for a short time of my life, he was known to me as Clandy. My dad was highly motivated and driven by sport, in particular soccer, where he played as a professional for Brothers at the age of seventeen, I had an amicable relationship with him and he drove me to achieve in the sports arena, from as young as I can remember he spent endless hours with me in the back garden kicking a soccer ball. My father has since passed at the young age of sixty four, who could have known! God knew that is for sure; “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” He now awaits the judgment of God, as hard as that is for me to mull over, it nevertheless is true, I wonder what his outcome will be, once again God Knows!

My mother gave birth to me at the tender age of seventeen and we lived in Blairgowrie for ten years up until the time they separated. During this period of my life I and my two sisters Yvette and Laverne had what you could call a normal upbringing, it was not a life full of wealth but neither did we want for anything, I also remember my feet as hard as nails from all the barefoot running around I did in the streets. We were brought up with a catholic influence in our lives as my grandmother was Italian and a staunch practising Roman catholic. We all went to catechism up until I was to be confirmed, but on the way to confirmation I remember my mom asking me what I was about to do and because I had no idea of what they had tried to teach me she stop me from getting confirmed. Which I am thankful for! Religion is a very dangerous carry out if not taught correctly, it is like going to the doctor for a vaccination, you get just enough of the virus so that you will not be infected by it.

As a young boy frequenting my school, Craighall Primary, I remember always actively being involved with sport but never paying much attention to school work, which is just the way it was. I found great relief in sport and the recognition I got from it was good for ones ego, pride is taught from a very early age in life.

At the age of ten my parents got divorced and my mother met a man who within a short time became my stepfather. We clashed as I now had to deal with these new parameters in my life; I was not ready for this! Today I can honestly say he has become very dear to me but then my rebellious streak caused war between us. I felt that I needed to escape my present circumstance so sport became my god. Having to face your parent’s parting at the tender age of ten is never an easy thing for anyone to deal with, however you slice life, one is not unequal to this confrontation, no matter who you are. I agree some deal with it better than others but it will affect all confronted with this type of adjustment in their lives. To prove my point that year all three of the siblings failed, I was eleven, Yvette was nine and Laverne seven. Granted I was never very attentive in the classroom, but Yvette was!

Without trying to sound esoteric I recall a vivid memory and because it was my experience and I have purposed to be honest and frank in my deliberations in this my memoirs, I would often escape and lose myself playing soccer or cricket in the nearby streets. I had a best friend at the time, Johan Le Roux, the park was not far from where we lived and often we would make our way there on foot. One day we were running around the streets of Blairgowrie, whether we were on our way to the park or just messing around in the streets I cannot say, I nevertheless can vaguely remember not paying much attention to my surroundings, I was on the oppose side of the road to Johan and I needed to get to where he was. This event from here on in is so lucid in my mind that I remember it clearly, as quickly as possible and without a thought I reacted to my impulse to get across to the other side alongside my friend. In a running motion without looking left or right as I had been taught countless times, I gave no thought to the lesson and as my foot hit the road it stopped dead in its tracks. I heard a voice with volume and in clarity call out my name, “TYRONE!” as my name had just been bellowed out I stopped dead in my tracks. At that exact moment, a truck drove passed missing my face by centimetres, one more step and that would have been the end of me. Obviously I was relieved and rather grateful and thanked Johan for the warning. He turned to me and said “what warning!” He never heard a thing!

Although we went our separate ways and lost contact with one another we did however cross paths a few years back and I questioned him to see if he recalled that event, he didn’t, but why would he, as it didn’t influence him but impregnated its memory on me. There are many unseen things to our lives that we know nothing about, all I can tell you is this incident was not a figment of my imagination it was real and I now do understand that even then, although I had not repented and confessed the Lord Jesus as Lord of my life, I do understand that the grace of God had a part to play in my life even from that young age. In fact our lives have been mapped out from before the beginning of time or at least prior to creation. I now have also come to appreciate that God’s grace covers all, both righteous and the sinner alike, while there is breathe to our lives it is God’s grace that enables all to breathe and live. But this was far deeper than God’s general grace to all mankind, what if I had died, I was a young boy already accountable for my actions before God, If that be true, then I would have opened my eyes in hell, what a terrifying thought! Yet before creation God had written a book with names in it, the bible gives this book a name, the “Book of Life.” “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:12)

There are other books that record all our action both good and bad, all those secret sins we have committed and think no one knows about them, they have and are still being recorded in heaven to be recalled at the “white throne judgement of God” where all who have not repented and believed in the name of the only Son of God will all stand independently and be judge by God. King Solomon teaches this in the book of Ecclesiastes; “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

This is another truth the bible teaches, whether you believe it or not does not mean it will not come to pass!

God in His immeasurable wisdom and sovereignty is in control of all of His creation and all that abide in it. Never believe for one minute that He is not in comprehensive control. So even before I was born God has had His eye on me and has looked out for me in spite of who I am and my rebellious heart, but rather because of His will and mercy I now am still alive and breathing. I owe Him everything, even though I could never begin to repay Him for His grace and mercy in my life. Because of one man’s sin the penalty for all of humanity is hell. I have now understood that, all deserve to go to hell with me at the top of the list, and all because of sin but back then I hadn’t comprehended this truth. Many today have not understood this truth, but the bible is clear with what it teaches, mankind is doomed for hell because of their sin, yet God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die on behalf of all who would repent and believe on Him. If we do not believe that we are sinners and need a Saviour and prove this by repenting and believing on Him we will end up in hell. Why can I not come another way you may ask? The answer is obvious; no other god has paid the price for your sin. It is only the Lord Jesus who bled and died on Calvary paying the price so that sinners might go free. It was not Buddha or Mohammad or some monk or some other religion and especially not the pope that will free you from God’s judgment, they did not lay down their lives, it was only the Lord Jesus who is God, who lived on earth as a man without sin and then died as a sacrifice to free every sinner who will call upon His name, if you choose not to believe this then you will spend all of eternity in hell, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. The bible is clear on its teaching on this subject. Now if you chose to ignore the bibles warning that is your choice but then you must suffer the consequences.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

At this frail time in my life I was void of understanding, I had not yet responded to the call of God upon my life. God may have chosen me before time began but His effectual calling had not yet taken place in my life, in other words I had not yet deliberately responded to His call upon my life. How thankful I am that God spared me that day!

Where do you find yourself even now as you read my account, are you an unrepentant sinner and yet you believe in God and know that the Lord Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life but you feel you still have time on your side and maybe you will live a little and then repent and serve Him as Lord. How do you know what tomorrow holds, today may be your very last, it may be that your time will be up soon and the consequence of that will be catastrophic, I dare not even mention your outcome, it will be so horrific! Today is the day of salvation, repent turn to Jesus call upon Him and you will be saved, this is also what the bible teaches. What will you do I wonder? I am thankful to God that he has opened my eyes and I can now see. Salvation is an act of God not a choice of man, having said that when we are given life and are able to see by understanding that GOD IS and what He has done for us, then we must walk in obedience to His will. I did not always believe that, but by grace I now understand that to be true. Therefore I have made up my mind to serve Him; nevertheless I have also chopped and changed like unstable water in my obedience to my almighty heavenly Father. His tolerance with me has been phenomenal and for this I am also forever thankful. I cannot express with words how grateful I am that He has this attribute to His being. When we walk with doubt as our companion we are unstable in every area of our lives. We are tossed in the wind by every wind of doctrine, one day we believe some fade and before long we hanker after another. Like I said in my preface but by the grace of God I stand. I once again have urgency in my soul to please my heavenly Father. May the riches of His mercy fall upon you so that you also feel an exigency to call out to Him? Do not delay I say! How many times in your life have you come close to death and yet you still breathe, or maybe your experience is different but one thing we are all sure of is that death is eminent for all. Have you stopped to consider why you still breathe whilst other have died prematurely?

Have you been called, have you been chosen from before time began, respond positively I urge you!

I have also come to understand that all those who will reject this message love darkness rather than light and will not come to the light because their deeds are evil. If you feel that on your own merit you will enter heaven you are horribly mistaken, that is not what the bible teaches, it concludes all under sin and it puts it like this; “as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10)

Once again if you choose not to believe the bible may that be to your own peril. God’s general call has gone out to all!