Living our Passions

Last weekend CJ’s Horse Riding School – Camelot – hosted a Show Jumping Event, at Cape Hunt and Polo Club in Durbanville. It was open for all horse riders in the Peninsula. The event started with poles on the ground, for the beginners and inexperienced riders up to an 80cm high Show Jump Competition for the more advanced riders.

Both Josua and CJ competed in this event. Though the day started out miserable, cloudy, windy and cold, after a Saturday that was the sunniest, spring day this year, we decided the little ones and I would also attend the event.

CJ competed in the 70cm Speed class and the 80cm Show Jumping Competition. In the 70 cm speed competition they had to clear 10 clear jumps in the fastest time possible. Now, let me tell you (and this may shock you), a jumping event is at its very best, boring! But this round was totally different. It was a nerve wrecking round from the start. Some very competent, experienced riders competed in this class and you could sense that they all had their eyes on the first prize. Every new rider entering the arena was watched (and timed) with great anticipation. With skill they compete in getting their horse to the jump as quick as possible, get over the jump with the greatest accuracy and complete the round in the fastest time.

CJ finished his round in 1.19 min. The very next rider finished hers in 1.15 min. Right after her was a 1.13 min. (The previous rider’s daughter!) And that was the course - one after the other there was a new leader. The winner ended with a time of 1.04 min and CJ shared the 5th place with another rider.

The 80cm Show Jump was the final competition and the highlight of the event. It was a two leg competition, some prize money was involved and we knew CJ had actually put his hopes in winning this round. The same riders, of the previous round, competed in this round and I was just praying for the safety of my son (in the previous round he did some hair raising tricks to get Silverball over the jumps fast enough) and that he would enjoy it.

Here you could see, getting the horse over the jumps itself, was the challenge. Very few riders completed this class with a clear round and a lot of riders fell off their horses in an attempt to try every thing in their power to get their horses over the jumps. Nobody was injured seriously though! One of the challenges of Cape Hunt’s events is the grass surface. The surface at Stellenbosch - were CJ competed with great success in the past - was sand. On a grass surface the horse very often ‘glide’ through the jump, due to the speed with which the jump is approached. It takes a lot of skill to give the horse the right speed, angle and footage to be able to clear a jump. Then the horse has to be kept steady to get over the 80 cm high jump. The rider needs to know his horse very well and has to be in total control of his horse. All this, while the crowd wave and cheer from the side.








When it was CJ and Silverball’s turn I could just pray, I reminded myself to breathe in and breathe out and trusted the Lord with every breath I took. A few times you could see the hesitation in Silverball to get over a jump, but CJ was in total control and just knew how to get him over the jump. Great (and loud) was the joy of all the Camelot supporters when CJ finished with a clear round.

This meant he needed to do the second leg, the jump-off at 90 cm, in the shortest time without knocking off a pole. Eish! Wasn’t the stress for the day more than enough, now to go through another round?! To our surprise there were only three riders that finished with clear rounds! For me that was enough, he didn’t need to do the jump-off. He would at least be third, and that was more than what I hoped for. But who am I to say anything – CJ has a very competitive spirit.

He competed second, but I was so bound up in the jumps, that I didn’t register the first rider or CJ’s time, I was just thankful that he went through the jumps in a clear and safe round! I didn’t know what to expect and almost lost my balance when the third rider finished his round and I saw everyone started to congratulate Christo, who was taking photos a few meters away from me. Did CJ win the final round…? Next they announced CJ as the winner! Wow! All his supporters (me being the biggest) were overjoyed with excitement! This was the first time CJ had clear rounds at Cape Hunt and on top of it, won the most important class of the day. I’ve never before seen my son so overjoyed!

And while I’m writing this, I’m filled with thankfulness towards the Lord. Thankfulness that my son is discovering and starting to live his dream, his passion, his calling in life, at such a young age! He already went through some tough challenges with his dream of horse riding. Read more about it here and here.

A few years ago, Bruce Wilkinson, our mentor in discipleship, wrote a book, The Dream Giver. The bottom line of the book is that God has a calling on your life – a dream for you - and you must do everything to fulfill that calling, to live you dream, your passion. In his book he compares following your God-given Destiny with a journey. A journey with some tough challenges, a journey through waste lands and valleys of giants, but if you endure this journey, you will reach your dream and thrive. Until you decide to pursue your Dream, you are never going to live your life the way you were meant to.

Yet, millions of people never take the first step towards their dream. People are so caught up in the demands of life. In my opinion the biggest lie is people believing they cannot integrate their job with their calling or dream. People believe they must work and earn money to make a living and put their dream on hold for later. That is not what God intended for us. He wants us to integrate our job with our passion. It is so much easier to endure the hardships in your job if it is your passion, your God given dream. That is why God put us on earth in the first place!

And it is possible. Christo is now living his calling, his dream, and his passion for 10 years. God put the dream in Christo to educate and heal people through healthy eating patterns and natural medicine. God receives the glory since people are taking better care of their bodies, the only body He gave them to serve Him with. Since it is Christo’s passion he can endure through hardships. God put this calling on his live and therefore he can also provide for his family. For when you are in your calling, you are in God’s will and then God bless you and you will be fulfilled.

I’m also living my calling. My passion is teaching. Where can I make a bigger difference in the world, than teach my own children – the next generation? Compare with my passion of teaching, the nurturing, mother heart of God, which is present in every women and I can endure the hardships of home schooling and training my many blessings. (What is your passion? How can you use your passion, alongside the nurturing, mother heart of God, to raise Godly children?)

There is only one thing we want our children to understand before they leave their nest – They must know God’s calling on their lives, their passion and dream and pursue it. In doing so they will find fulfillment in life and do great and mighty things to the Glory of the Lord!

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:10