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Reflecting on 19 years of Public Speaking & Preaching

Thinking of the fact that, 19 years ago, since early days of 1993, I began speaking – Motivating, Encouraging people, Teaching and Preaching. It has been quite a journey, and one thing that has been evident in all these years of speaking to people is that, I have always wanted to encourage – seeing people in a better place than where they find themselves. Believing the best for everyone each time I get the opportunity to impact lives. Whether I do this on stage or one-on-one, this has been my passion.  Few people have been part of that amazing journey with me. I will mention some. I remember once I spoke on “You are Special” as my title, and from that day, whenever we would go out, with the group I was part of, into the community and different schools, my High School principal, MR RG Khutsoane would say, “Don’t change your message, speak about ‘You are Special’. That works!”. I am forever grateful to that man who played a massive role in my speaking career and life as a young man passionate about Life and The Kingdom.

Today, I look back and reflect – that’s what I have always tried to tell people in many ways. That they have what it takes to become all they were created to be, Where they are now is not the destination, There is more to life than where they find themselves, even when they think they have arrived… The best is yet to come for them, Not to give up on their dreams, To persue their passion & life calling, No one else will do it unless they stand up & get on with it and many more.

I remember my friend Matthew Molobeng used to tell a story of how – a man took a ‘scuftin’ (lunchbox) to work having Pap and Nato (aka Masonja/Mopani Worms) in it. To his surprise when he got to work, the Mopani Worms had eaten the whole pap! Can you imagine? – AND we would say, be careful of the company you keep, they may just destroy your future. He and I used to be ridiculed a lot by our peers telling us we think we were better – when we seemed to be doing things differently than everyone. We dreamt together! It is sad to say, unfortunately some of them we still find them as ‘mahlal’ ekhoneni’, still standing by the side of the street. On one occasion, we approached a guy organising a fashion show at High School to be part of the show. The guy simply said “Lona…Le ntse jaana?!” (basically, You…? You gotta be kidding me!), and he left us standing there wondering what he meant! Hahaha! Well, Mr Prefect, in the same year, at the annual awards, I was called to receive the “Smartest looking boy in the whole school!”

This has been the story of my life. Always pushing boundaries and doing what people say, cannot or shouldn’t be done, and even pushing through what life throws at me towards the achieving my dreams. I work on encouraging and teaching others to do the same.

Another man, Mike Cowie, somehow believed some prophet from Cape Town, who I thought, at the time, spoke ‘strange things’ I would be doing in the future, and kept encouraging me how true it was. Mike opened many doors for me. He’s still involved in my life even today.  I work on opening doors for others.

Today I am living part of the dreams. Here’s to 91 more years of touching lives…one person at a time. (Apparently statistics say today the longest living person will live up to 116 years. I will leave the last 6 years to resting) | J