Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved
I
never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.
- H.D. Thoreau,
1817-1862.
I once used to envy the wealthy and the rich
for their lovely homes on the western and eastern seaboards of our long and
rugged South African coastline, curling its way around Table Mountain in the
South where the two oceans, the Atlantic
and the Indian, meet at Cape Town,
picturesque home of the annual Two Oceans Marathon and Cape Argus cycle tour, with as many as 35 000 cyclists taking part.
Chief venue for the making of the film Invictus by Clint Eastwood, the story by John Carlin of the game that changed a
nation starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, the gutsy Damon even tried his
hand (or would it be his foot?) at the Cape
Argus and entered the race with his brother accompanying him on a tandem
bicycle; we were there when they crossed the finishing line to the cheers of
the enthusiastic crowd.
It so happened that we also went to holiday
at Pennington near Durban last year, and what a quaint little spot for a
relaxing holiday away from the hustle and bustle of Pretoria, here on the
South Coast of Kwazulu-Natal, land of King Shaka, legendary king of the
Zulus. Durban is a picturesque province, with its Valley of a Thousand Hills and the green sugarcane fields of the sugar barons. Pennington too, is a beautiful little beach,
quite secluded and private, and I would recommend it at any time it to the lover
of the sea clamouring for a quite holiday ‘far from the madding crowd’. It has a large tidal pool and a charming little beachfront-restaurant where a delectable
Sunday-lunch is served at weekends to the sound of Acker Bilk’s Stranger On The Shore, the song that accompanied the crew of Apollo10 on their epic voyage to the Moon in 1969. What more could a
man from my generation (b.1947) want?
The problem is that, so near to the coast,
my eyes eventually start to burn with the incessant wind blowing in from the sea, apparently
because of its high salt content. It is
during times like these, with sand in the pants and between the toes, salt in
the eyes and what appears to be mini-monsoons almost spoiling an entire week of
sight-seeing, that I again began to long for the hustle and bustle of the Highveldt
of my own province higher up North, home to what has been described by so many
as probably the most perfect climate on Earth.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day all that
matters for all of us is the ‘peace of God that passeth all understanding’, no
matter where the home is. I have read
about soldiers who enjoyed this unique peace in the trenches of the First World War, or about prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps of the Second, just ask Victor Frankl, Corrie Ten Boom and many, many others. In the end all that matter is that Jesus Christ sits
as Master of the Universe, with this precious promise:
Behold,
the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is
with me.
These
things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye
shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John
16:32-33 KJV).
(Peter
P. Bilhorn, 1865-1936)
There
comes to my heart one sweet strain,
A
glad and a joyous refrain;
I
sing it again and again ‒
Sweet
peace, the gift of God’s love.
Thru
Christ on the cross peace was made,
My
debt by His death all was paid;
No
other foundation is laid
For
peace, the gift of God’s Love.
When
Jesus as Lord I had crowned,;
My
heart with this peace did abound
In
Him the rich blessing I found ‒
Sweet
peace, the gift of God’s love.
In
Jesus for peace I abide,
And
as I keep close to His side,
There’s
nothing but peace doth betide ‒
Sweet
peace, the gift of God’s love.
CHORUS
Peace,
peace, sweet peace!
Wonderful
gift from above! (above!)
O
wonderful, wonderful peace!
Sweet
peace, the gift of God’s love!
Bibliography
1. Andrews, Allen
(1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books.
Hamlyn
Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2. Peterson, John W. (1966) Great
Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Sweet Peace, The Gift Of God’s Love’. Singspiration. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Publishing Group Ltd. London.
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