The problem with writing the blog late in the day is that I have quite often forgotten some brilliant idea that I may have had for the blog earlier in the day. That seems to have happened today. I was thinking of something earlier on and thought it would be a great blog to write, but I have now forgotten what it was.
Never mind, it will come back to me sometime. It is okay to forget.
Today has been a pretty balanced day. I went to gym and walked for 6 minutes ( I got there a few minutes later than usual). Then I did the Grid for 30 minutes before cycling 10km. I came home and had breakfast and then a half shower (showering in cold water quick quick). By then work had piled up and I was able to do a couple of hours. Julian was still in town, but out working. The plan was he will come for a very late lunch, which he did. We had coffee after and then I took him to the airport.
In between all of this we were watching cricket! The poor Australians have just completed one of the worst weeks of their cricketing history. I write this for the future generation who may read it. It has been a ball tampering storm that exploded last Saturday 24th March and swept across the cricketing world, leaving the Australian cricket team in shreds. Nine full days have passed and the event already has its own Wikipedia page. We were watching and as the events unfolded we were so shocked. For South Africans, the Australian cricket team has certainly been the team we love to beat the most. We have suffered long and hard at their hands. Of 91 test matches since October 1902, they have won 50.
So when this ball-tampering scandal first hit, we were hugely critical. I don’t think anyone knew how big an outrage would follow. Great fire balls of venom was spewed from all western cricket loving nations. No one kept calm and simply followed the ICC’s ruling of banning Steve Smith for one test. No! The Australian public’s outcry was like a volcanic eruption, catapulting burning coals all over the cricketers involved namely, Australian captain Steve Smith, vice captain David Warner and relative newcomer Cameron Bancroft. Cricket Australia’s top-bods boarded planes and headed to South Africa to find out what their naughty boys in green had been up to. It was overwhelming and hugely embarrassing. The long and the short as you will read on the Wiki page is that Smith and Warner were both banned for a year, while Bancroft got a 9 month ban. Furthermore, Smith will not be able to captain Australia for two years and Warner will never be able to captain Australia in cricket again.
It has been a real smear on their careers.
So much good they have done for the sport, all in tatters because of a ridiculous, foolish poorly thought through stupid idea that was a monumental lack of judgment.
And yet, while it was all unfolding, there was one thing that went through my mind over and over again – this too shall pass.
They have not killed anyone.
There are so many disasters in the world today, that roughing up a cricket ball with a bit of sandpaper just falls down the list of catastrophes. It doesn’t even feature as a tiny blip on the world radar of serious issues. Seen in perspective, it is very minor indeed. It’s like saying Australia has stubbed its toe and the whole world is in uproar over it. Meanwhile 1241 civilians were killed in Syria in March and it hardly made a headline.
The world is in a mess – so much suffering that is hard to understand. That’s where faith comes in. I know that this is not all there is. God is in control. I will trust Him when grotesque things happen that are beyond understanding.
The Bible verses I’m putting on my blog this year are the ones that are in my 2018 diary. Today’s:
Romans 5:3-5
We rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.
And so we can rejoice in our sufferings.
#617 of my 1000 thanks is for the little things in life, like gooey chocolate brownies that were in place of Easter Eggs this Easter.
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx:)