I have the privilege of meeting people from all walks of life, on a regular basis. I have met friends in the strangest of places as well. I have met friends in shopping malls, bars, churches, barber shops and even public toilets. I have made friends on a bus to Namibia; I have made friends in a public transport taxi. I have made friends almost everywhere.  Some are weird, special, interesting; some are normal, mediocre, plain. Some drink. I have friends in different parts of the world also. I have friends in America(mostly), the UK, Botswana, Malawi, Switzerland,Holland, and all across South Africa.

I have friends in high places; I have friends in the slums. I have friends who takes me out to fancy dinners and invite me to dinners, and I have friends who send me voice notes as reminders of what I've meant to them. i have friends who judge me, and then those whom I can run to to gossip about the judgmental type. Tonight, under the same sky, I have friends under warm blankets, snuggling up against a loved one, and friends curling up under a piece of card board.

 I love having friends. I think friends are important, after family, of course. I think friends are worth fighting for; friends are worth risking lives for. We have to let friends know how much they matters; how much we value them. I'm sure that a lot of you have a much more diverse group of friends than mine, but I'm also 200% sure that a lot of you have only friends like you. friends you can relate to; friends who understand you; friends that won't embarrass you.

Tonight, I feel for my friends under the bridge. I feel for the ones whom this cold night have to meet alone. I feel for them as raindrops falls like stars fall beside and all over them. I feel for my homeless friends sleeping on the doorstep of the post office in Somerset West. I hope and pray somehow, warmth will meet them in their sleep, and won't leave them till the sun take its proper place.
On behalf of those friends of mine, I appeal to you to help us spread love, wrapped in a blanket, to them. It is possible, and it is true. Love is cold without something to keep you warm. Try sleeping this winter on top of your duvet, with the heater switched off, for only one night, and we'll get a glimpse of what it feels like for my friend, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

If you have ANY extra bedding, warm clothing, or anything that can make love practical to my friends this winter, would you please give me a call at0736876069 or you can email me at ivor-swartz@live.nl. Or if you know of companies that would be willing to take part in showing practical love, please let me know. I would really appreciate it.

StayAliveFriend(s)

StayAliveSister

About two weeks ago I posted a blog about this one sister of mine. you can go read the blog at www.ivorswartz.blogspot.com. I was talking about what a draining process it is for her to take care of such a big family all by herself. I was talking about the fact that she's questioning God at this stage in her life, because no matter how hard she's trying to serve Him, nothing good ever comes her way. She believes our family is cursed. Go and read the full blog.

Over the weekend I received an sms from her saying she's done, she's giving up on believing that God can somehow redeem her family from whatever curse they're under. A son went on a crazy rampage, stealing everything of value in their home, sell it for next to nothing, to buy drugs. He's only 18 years old. An eighteen year old causing the very person he was born out from so much grieve to the point where she don't want to exist anymore.

My sister was taken up into a mental institution 4 times already, prior to this morning. Its not because she's crazy, insane or out of her mind. It is because she can't handle the pressure. She can't cope with what's happening in her home. All the years serving God, or trying to, has come down to this. She's depressed, and God doesn't notice it? I bet you'd all disagree with me, and I'm okay with that but that's my question. I have no answers to these questions and I hope i do get answers someday, but for now I need something to give my sister to hold on. Unfortunately I can't use the God-card because in her mind, He failed her. In her mind, nothing that relates to God would be of any comfort to her.

In many instances like hers, religion, or anything that comes with it, is the last thing they want to hear. it is the last thing they wants to be encouraged with. It is in those moments, where God seem to be too out of our reach; when God seems be sitting with earphones, listening to loud gangster-rap music. It is in those moments that people need to hear that if God is not out there for them, we are. We are here to encourage them to StayAlive. We will be the hopeful. We will be their Jesus. We will remind them of the good they are; the worth they have, and the storms they face are not theirs to carry alone.

For the sake of hope, you have to StayAliveFriend. You have to StayAliveSister.