Apr 25 2019
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A pure gift – Romans 3:23

By Sodwana Bay

April 25, 2019 Verse of the Day But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. Romans 3:23 MSG

Apr 25 2019
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DECISION FOR CHRIST

By Sodwana Bay

DECISION FOR CHRIST “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” — Luk 14:27. NOTICE THE threefold repetition of these solemn words: he cannot be My disciple (Luk 14:26, Luk 14:27, Luk 14:33). There is a sense in which the Way of Salvation is easy. One look of faith in Christ, and we receive eternal life and are assured by Him that we can never perish; but that faith must carry in its heart the germ of discipleship, the tenacity, determination, indomitable resolve to learn everything that the Master has to teach. We are not only saved from sin, but we are saved to learn, redeemed to be taught. The education is free, but there are certain things which we must be prepared to forego if we would be entered in His School. The disciple must bring the unbiased and disengaged mind to the grace of God, which comes disciplining us, teaching us to deny ungodly lusts, and to live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world. What are the things which we must cultivate for discipleship? A supreme love (Luk 14:26). Our Lord does not ask us really to hate those related to us by natural ties, but to give to Himself so much love that compared with all else, it should be as sunlight to starlight; that for love of Him we should be willing to act as one who hates all other loves when they conflict with obedience. We are first converted from the natural to the spiritual, and then from the spiritual to the natural again. The denial of self (Luk 14:27). We are not simply to cut off this or the other indulgence, but to put the Cross of Christ between ourselves and the gratification of our own will. We must be willing to follow the Lamb, though the old Abraham cries out in grievous pain. Renunciation (Luk 14:33). We must be prepared to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. As a matter of fact, Jesus gives us back all that is right and beautiful to use for Him, but there must be a definite loosing hold on things, and the placing of all in His pierced hands. Abjuring our ownership, we must be willing to act as His almoners and trustees. It is this that gives savour to life, making it sparkle and resist decay. PRAYER Accept us as we now yield to Thee our entire being with all that we possess. It is our one desire to be utterly, only, and always for Thee. AMEN. 14:27 Whosoever doth not bear his cross,…. All reproach, afflictions, persecutions, and death itself, cheerfully and patiently; the Ethiopic version renders it, “of his death the cross”; it signifies whatever is trying and disagreeable to flesh and blood: and come after me; bearing his cross; as Christ himself was about to do, and which doubtless he had in view; cannot be my disciple; he is not so in reality, nor does he deserve the name.

Apr 24 2019
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Snorkeling Gear @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Just like having the right Scuba gear when Scuba diving, it is also very important to have the right snorkeling gear to have a great time. What do I mean by the right gear? We were snorkeling in Sodwana Bay in January 2019. Our very time Snorkeling in the sea with our new gear. The first problem we came across was our masks: The stuff was cheap and Universal. We thought we struck a bargain buying the Mask and Snorkel for the same price as what you would buy the mask separate for. Not long after we went Snorkeling for the very first time with our new masks we found that the things were leaking and also kept readjusting themselves after each swimming session. This is really annoying when you chasing a really cool fish or just enjoying the underwater world and all of a sudden you start getting drops of water dripping in you’re mask or like my fiancé’s mask it just completely floods if you just move your head from side to side. This can be extremely annoying. You have to come up every few seconds/minutes (depending on how bad the leak is) to clear your mask and go back under again. Solution: Don’t try be cheap like we were… Rather go to a proper dive shop where they can allow you to test out each mask and find which mask fits your face the best. Once you have established that you will never have problems with your mask, unless of course the strap breaks or something else goes wrong. But you at least you don’t have to worry about water getting in your eyes and nose. Another alternative that is newish to the Snorkeling market is a full faced mask. We have not tried this mask yet. But basically it has it’s snorkel on top of the mask and it covers your whole face instead of only your nose and eyes. If you have experienced sea water you know it burns worse than an over chlorinated swimming pool! Just remember nobodies Face is exactly the same, so not all masks will be work for you. Second thing that I had a problem with was my Snorkel: The problem I had with my snorkel (hence been a cheapy) was that I kept getting water in my snorkel, whether it be me blowing to hard on the snorkel or just moving to vigorously around. Very frequently I got a mouth full of sea water which is really unpleasant. Another problem that I encountered was I found a piece of plastic I assumed was part of the packaging of my snorkel by the mouth piece that lets out the air you breath out. That was a big mistake. That little piece of plastic was actually there to prevent water from getting into the snorkel. Although it didn’t do a very good job of it, it still helped a little. When I broke that plastic off my whole Snorkel was buggered and I could no longer use it. I ended up having to buy another more expensive snorkel that actually worked so much better than my old one. I still got a mouth full of water every now and than but much less than the previous one. Always test your snorkel that it doesn’t take in water before going in for a full on swimming session. That’s all for today. Don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel. Please Like and Subscribe!

Apr 24 2019
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First day of Traveling to Sodwana Bay @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

So the if you are traveling from Pretoria/Joburg you know that your travels could be between 8-9 hours. This is the most boring time you will have in your whole vacation period. We always consider traveling day as our first holiday day. We usually like to leave quite early in the morning to avoid adding time to our journey by getting stuck in traffic between Pretoria and Witbank. Here are a few tips on how to prepare for your trip that will get you there sooner and make life so much easier: First of all – Try make sure everything non-perishable is packed and ready to go the day/night before. What I mean by this is, if you have ever been in Sodwana you know most places are self catering, meaning you have to bring your own food water and drinks to the camp site. So stuff that can defrost and go off you would rather pack in the morning instead of letting it thaw out through the night and still have to stay in hot car or trailer all the way down to Sodwana Bay. Quick Tip: What we always like to do planning our trips to Sodwana Bay is start saving frozen foods and vegetables before going down. We always like to start buying what we call “Sodwana food” months in advanced, when ever we see a special or a cheap piece of meat we will buy it chuck it in our freezer and forget about it. Once we start preparing to go to Sodwana Bay we go through our freezer and find we never have to buy extra meat when we go down and often times end up bringing more than half of the food back. Trust me you do not wanna buy anything in Sodwana. The town spar in Mbazwane is insanely busy all day long with nobody respecting each other and very little variety of meats to choose from and the little Town heading to the beach is way to expensive with very little to offer it is better just to prepare before hand. Also never try buy Alcohol there, they will charge you nearly double to triple the amount you would pay here in the city. Try pack all clothes and snacks (non-perishable) the day or even weekend before you travel (depending on when you plan to leave). We find trying to rest the day before you leave to be the best course of action, as it is a really long journey to go down. Make what we in South Africa call Padkos (road food). You really don’t wanna go on an 8-9 hour journey without having something to eat or drink. I guess you could just stop at a restaurant or gas station and getting something to eat there, but there are two (2) reasons I would not suggest that – (1) Its less spending money for when you are in Sodwana Bay. You wanna maximize your spending in Sodwana where your actual holiday is not use it on boring restaurants along the road. Why not save a few bucks by making some great home made food that is anyway in your very own kitchen. (2) The second reason is you can save alot of time, instead of spending an hour to 2 hours in a restaurant you could rather take a 5 minute toilet break every once in a while and eat whilst driving or just stop and take 10 min to eat rather than add hours to your journey. Take a lot of Drinking water with you! Sodwana Water is not the same as city water, most camp sites use borehole water and as a result can upset your stomach if you are not use to it. Rather just bring your own water from home, whether it be bottled or tap water and also make sure to bring enough to last your whole trip until you come back. Keep cold and frozen things together. I have found if keep cold (Fridge) stuff and frozen stuff in the same container it helps keep everything cold and for the most part frozen for longer. So the last thing to do before traveling is to get a good nights rest. Before any long journey you need to be well rested up, so I would suggest the night before your big trip try get an early night in. It is the big day! You are mostly packed early in the morning just got the last few things to pack before locking up your house and off on your exciting vacation. One last check through your to do list and were off on our exciting journey. GoSodwana!!!!!!!!!!!! Once you arrive in Sodwana, you will be exhausted, but still have to pack out everything from the car, first thing is get all the food in the fridge and freezer. That’s done! Next go dump all bedding, bags etc. in the chalet/tent/house. After that jump back in the car and go claim that beach/sea once more. Maybe you don’t need to go swim that very first day but just to see the sea once more and to breath that clean air is just so amazing. Makes me wanna go back there right now! Explore this Website a little more, start at Homepage and discover some of our cool finds in Sodwana and check out our Youtube Channel (Please Like and Subscribe while you at it)

Apr 23 2019
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He is not here, but raised up.

By Sodwana Bay

They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words. Luke 24:6-7 MSG