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

Apr 18 2019
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PROFIT AND LOSS

By Sodwana Bay

PROFIT AND LOSS “Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee! Jesus answered, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the Gospel’s but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time and in the world to come eternal life.” — Mar 10:28-30. THE PRINCIPLES of this world, and those of our Lord are widely different. The world is set on grasping all it can accumulation, self aggrandisement, the piling up of fortunes, the gradual or speedy climb up the ladder of fame, the gathering of hosts of friends. Looking after “number one” is the readiest way of expressing this principle of life! But it is unsatisfactory and disappointing. The soul which is the centre of its own circumference is doomed to realize that there are more forfeits than prizes, more bitterness than success, more dark hours than bright ones. On the other side, Christ’s principle of life is to give, to trust, to bless! His measure must be always pressed down and running over. The cloak must follow the coat; the second mile must be gladly thrown in with the first. To be willing to surrender all for the sake of others, is the ordinary claim of the King on those who own Him as their Lord. In every age there have been thousands who have gladly accepted this as their rule of life. Peter and the rest of the Apostles were the leaders of a host which no man can number, who have left all to follow Jesus. He had nowhere to lay His head, and they have been homeless, wandering in the world, with no settled abiding-place; He was poor and they have gone amongst their fellows, saying: “Silver and gold have we none, but such as we have we give.” But how great has been their reward. Before we can understand what Christ is willing to do for us, there must be not only a taking-hold, but a letting-go. We must step out from the boat, and withdraw our hand from it. It is even good, like St. Paul, to need all things, since by faith we come to possess all. Read the wonderful series of paradoxes to which he gives utterance in 2 Cor. 4. The Lord promises eternal life as the crown of all. When we kneel at the Cross, and see Jesus as our own Saviour, we have eternal life, but we cannot realise all it implies until this mortality is swallowed up of life. PRAYER Thou hast called us to minister and witness, to go amongst men as our Saviour went, bearing in our hands the balm of Gilead. May we not be disobedient to this heavenly vision. AMEN. Matthew 19:27 Then answered Peter and said unto him,…. Peter observing what Christ said to the young man, bidding him sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and he should have treasure in heaven, and come and follow him, lays hold on it, and addresses him in the following manner, behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee. Though their worldly substance was not so large as the young man’s, they had not such estates to sell, nor that to give to the poor, he had; yet all that they had they left for Christ’s sake, their parents, wives, children, houses, and worldly employments, by which they supported themselves and families; and became the disciples and followers of Christ, embraced his doctrines, submitted to his commands, imitated him in the exercise of grace, and discharge of duty, denying themselves, and suffering many hardships on his account: wherefore it is asked, what shall we have therefore? what reward for all this? what part in the Messiah’s kingdom? or what treasure in heaven?

Apr 18 2019
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Don’t be misled

By Sodwana Bay

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8 MSG

Apr 18 2019
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GOD’S PROVIDENTIAL CARE

By Sodwana Bay

GOD’S PROVIDENTIAL CARE “Seek not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” — Luk 12:29-31. AT THE time when our Lord spoke these words, the fields of Palestine were carpeted with wild flowers, and the air was redolent with their fragrance, bespangling the pastures, clustering in the hedge-rows, and hiding in the woodland glades. Theirs was as careless a life as that of the birds which were flying overhead. “They toil not, neither do they spin.” For some plants, like the exotics of the greenhouse and nurseries, there must be extreme care and expense in their cultivation, in the provision of heat and the experienced skill of the horticulturist. But our Lord was not alluding to these, but to the flowers of the grass, which grow amid the wilds of nature, or in the gardens of the poor, and to Him these were very beautiful. This prodigious growth teaches us that God loves beautiful things, and expends thought and skill in their production. He might have made the world without a daisy, and human life without the beauty of childhood. But since He clothed with beauty the short-lived flowers of the wilds; the ephemeral insects of a summer day; the shells of the minute creatures that build up the solid fabric of the rocks—surely this prodigality, this lavishness, this prolific superabundance of creativeness, must mean that He can and will withhold no good thing from them that trust Him. Of course we must fulfil our part! We are not to be careless and improvident; we must certainly sow and reap, and toil and spin; but when we have done all, we must rely upon our Heavenly Father whose good pleasure it is to give, believing that it is vain for us to rise up early, and sit up late, and to eat the bread of sorrows, for our God will give us all that we need, even whilst we sleep. He will not allow His trusting children to starve, or to go unsheltered, unclothed, and unshod. “Fear not, little flock,” says the comforting voice of the Good Shepherd, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” PRAYER Gracious Lord, grant to me, Thy poor needy creature, sometimes at least to feel, if it be but a small portion of Thy hearty affectionate love; that my faith may become more strong, my hope in Thy goodness may be increased, and that love, once kindled within me, may never fail. AMEN. Luke 12:29 And seek not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink,…. That is, in an anxious and distressing manner, with a tormenting and vexatious care; otherwise food is to be both asked of God every day, and to be sought for and after in the use of proper means: neither be ye of doubtful minds; questioning and distrusting that ye shall have any thing to eat or drink: be not fickle, unstable, and inconstant, and wandering in your thoughts about these things, like the meteors in the air, which are carried about here and there; let not your minds be disturbed and distracted about them; or be anxiously solicitous for them; See Gill on Mat 6:31.