i am busy trying to get inspired to write some more of my book which looks like it is heading towards the end quadrant of it’s being writtenment [just for you, Lisa!] and i have half an eye on Twitter where @sharnefinn and @mattnixonjames are keeping me well upto date on how well the DA is doing most places… my other half eye and click finger keep bouncing to the game of http://www.news24.com/maps which has a map of election results which shows you who is doing what where in terms of winning different wards and cities and provinces.

[my best at the moment is Amahlati [Stutterheim] where in the middle of these regions where 74000 votes have been counted and 36870 votes have been counted, it says “The ANC is leading in Amahlati with 48.72%” which sounds really impressive until you carry on “of the 312 votes counted thus far.” – is it a tiny region peoplewise or are they just counting really, really slowly i wonder?]

and then i decided to get properly inspired by picking up my purple Bible and reading on where i’ve been reading in John. i have been reading more recently than i have for a while which is great cos i went through a bit of a not-getting-round-to-it patch and then was quite inspired recently by a bunch of big name Christ-following writers who have been talking about working through one of the gospels in their time with God and so i decided to go for John and try read a few chapters at a time and it’s been great.

and also contained the answer to who i voted for, which is why i assume you were reading this in the first place.

John 13 must be one of the most powerful pieces of Scripture in the Bible and the kind of passage that backs up the authenticity of the Bible to me – if you were going to be making up or fabricating a religion to try and con a bunch of people into following you, you wouldn’t write John 13.

This is what got my vote: ‘Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.’ Before that, it describes the actions that are about to happen by saying, ‘Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.’

The passage continues with this command from Jesus: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

And a little bit later: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, if you love one another.”

In John 14 Jesus makes His party statement, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” But He has already set up His party ethos and strategy and it is an enticing one.

And so Jesus gets my cross. Fitting, really, since that’s the call He makes on my life and yours – “If anyone would follow Me, He must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.” [Luke 9.23]