Live life to the full, says new Baptist pastor
ROB KNOWLES
INSPIRATIONAL words to start the weekend came in the form of a message of hope from the new Port Alfred Baptist Church pastor, Jason Currie, when he addressed the Christian Men's Association breakfast at the Port Alfred Ski-boat Club last Saturday morning.
Quoting his favourite Bible passage, John10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly,” Currie explained that this message has inspired him since the first time he heard it.
| INSPIRING: The new pastor of the Port Alfred Baptist Church, Jason Currie, shared his message to live life to the full at the Christian Men's Association breakfast at the Port Alfred Ski-boat Club last Saturday morning Picture: ROB KNOWLES |
Currie was born in Zimbabwe, but moved to KwaZulu-Natal with his family while still young. The family settled in at Empangeni and, after matriculating from Empangeni High School, Currie moved to Durban in order to take his BCom at the University of Natal.
"I was always getting into trouble as a boy,” he told those in attendance. "I didn't come from a church family. My dad actually used to tell me that he didn't care what I did as long as I got good marks at school. I really tried my best but always seemed to be doing the wrong thing.
"I remember one year, at the holiday club, stealing a crate of cokes and walking back to my room with the booty. In my head I always knew something was wrong.”
He said he was put next to a real nerd in school but, rather surprisingly, the two boys became friends.
"My nerdy friend's parents ran a Full Gospel Church, and I joined for something to do. My parents, religiously nonpartisan, were just glad I was doing something, but never considered I would ever become a member of the church,” he said.
"It was there I discovered we are all bound in sin, but that Jesus dying on the cross can set us free of that sin.”
Currie said he felt as though an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"From then on I was a different child,” he told the audience of around 50 men and women attending the breakfast.
"The closest church to me was a Baptist Church, which I began to attend. I even got my parents to attend a braai they were holding. After the braai I remember my parents saying that the people there were pretty normal. That was obviously something they weren't expecting. Eventually, God changed their lives as well.”
Currie's overall message was to live the life God has given you. He even paraphrased Mark Twain who said not to live with regret for the things you wish you had done.
"Life is too short to grumble. Live the life that God has given us to the full,” he said.
Currie is married to Kerryn, whom he met when completing his degree in theology in Johannesburg. They have "a wonderful daughter together, who is a busybody,” named Isabella.
