Two wolves

TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Cobble Crab August Newsletter

The arrival of spring often helps to inspire our creative minds as we absorb the beauty surrounding us. I wish you a season of splendor and trust it will be a great time of year for your writing
Blessings
John Bailie


"If a story is in you, it has got to come out." – William Faulkner

New Books:

Kelsey and the Giant by Lesley Shillinglaw.
As a young girl Kelsey went into the forest to explore and fell into a deep pit and she was rescued by the wonderful Giant of the forest.
Together Kelsey and the Giant began an adventurous journey during which she learnt many of life’s wonderful lessons.

simply church by John Bailie
Have you ever asked:
Why do I belong to a church?
Why do people belong to the church I belong to?
This book seeks to answer these questions- as simply as possible.

South Africa on the Brink of Collapse by Iain Peters
This is not a novel but a well researched prediction which is a mathematical certainty should government, industry, agriculture and society fail to take immediate remedial actions.

In that moment of time by Sally Moon
“In a world of confusion, chaos and darkness, a ray of sunshine breaks through as Sally moon brings the reader’s attention back to the standard of equilibrium that restores balance and healing, God’s word. Take hold of the Words of Life and Live.”
Pastor Bernie and Dalene Vos - Eagles Nest Ministry –Randburg SA


Popular choices:

 Discovering an Authentic Lifestyle by Dr.H.Leon Klein
 New Beginnings by Quentin Smith
 The Significance of the feasts of Israel By Peter Warner
 Who Replaced the Sugar with Epsom salts by Bruce Jack
 Now By Delme Lindscott
 Voices of the Heart By Festus Marumo
 Feed my Lambs / Laat my lamers Wei by Val Michelsen
 Max ….an ordinary Hero by Mandy Daly
 A Twenty Yard Stroll by John Bailie

July Newsletter 2010

“Cobble Crab Publishers is a non-profit company whose sole purpose is to assist everyday writers/poets to get their work into print.”


Welcome to the Cobble Crab Publishers July Newsletter.

At best, most people who want to write want to be read. And often they are discouraged and believe they’re wasting their time. Yet the more one writes, the more ones style and personality develop through ones words.

Blessings John Bailie

Join Cobble Crab at http://www.cobblecrab.co.za and receive discounts on books and our Creative Writing Course

Cobble Crab helps the Community……

True to our mission to encourage reading and writing,
Cobble Crab Publishing donated books to a Circuit in Bongweni, Kokstad to assist their Sunday school ministry.


Register now for the upcoming creative writing course and you stand the chance of winning free tuition. Every 10th student will be registered free of charge
Creative Writing News………


Meet Petshi Desire and Dave Dike, our latest graduates from the Cobble Crab Creative Writing course. Here’s what they had to say:

“The Writing course for me was, and will always be, the platform which makes me realise that there is a writer full of energy and imagination sleeping within me. To wake him up is only a matter of making time to be ready to navigate in a world where the only rule is: show don’t tell.”
Petshi Desire

“I have really enjoyed being part of the creative writing school. It has been lots of fun getting to know the others in the group, and for me enjoyment is a big part of anything that I undertake. For many years I have nursed the idea that one day I might write a book. When I retired I thought, but I can’t see that happening in the near future. So perhaps I should start anyway.
I had no idea on what subject or what type of book, but I just felt that I had a special gift with the English language, and that I had the ability to write something entertaining. The course has opened my eyes to the technical side of writing and the planning required to create a readable piece of work. Doing the exercises has given me confidence, and shown me my style of writing and the type of story that I should write.
Reading aloud what you have just written was a bit daunting at first, but is also a confidence builder. If I had been told in advance about the warm-up writing exercises, that is, writing a few hundred words on a topic you have just been given, I would have said that I couldn’t do that. But in fact I surprised myself. Once I had an idea in my head, the words just seemed to flow. I have learned a lot, and as a consequence I have started to expand a story that I wrote as an exercise, and I hope it will end up one day being a novel. My hope is that it will be published and that it will bring a smile to many hearts. “
Dave Dike

Bookshop
In Pursuit of Holiness by Charles l. Szente
Discovering an Authentic Lifestyle by Dr.H.Leon Klein
The Boot Brother’s Adventures by Lyndrea Huntly
Now By Delme Lindscott
Voices of the Heart By Festus Marumo
Feed my Lambs / Laat my lamers Wei by Val Michelsen
The Significance of the feasts of Israel By Peter Warner
New Beginnings by Quentin Smith
Max ….an ordinary Hero by Mandy Daly
My Simple Faith by Sean Bastible
A Twenty Yard Stroll by John Bailie
Op Pad Na Siloam by Pieter Liebenberg
Hope Waits by John Bailie
The God Inclusion by Quentin Smith
Who Replaced the Sugar with Epsom salts by Bruce Jack
Head, Heart and Hand, Adventures in the Biblical Meta-Narrative, Volume 1 by Jenny Hillebrand
The Quest for Smallholder Farmer Success by Gibson Kutadza.
Into Your Hands Lord by John Bailie
Daily Devotional Mathew by John Bailie
Daily Devotional Mark by John Bailie
Living in Grace by Delme Lindscott
Abundant Life in Jesus Christ by Alan White

Visit our website to view and order books:
Should you wish to be removed from this mailing list send your email address to: info@cobblecrab.co.za

Fastforward

Had some interesting feedback on the Forward or Backward thing.

Up shot of the thing is this:

Democracy, whilst not perfect and corruptible, gives me the freedom to say what I feel.
It also gives me the chance to put pressure on the politicians who want my vote.
After all, dictators serve themselves. Democratic elected leaders are aware of their vulnerability.

Never forget that!

Creatively, I would have no other system!

Forwards or Backwards:

A few simple thoughts on South Africa 12th April 2010:

Nations, at some or other stage all throughout their history, have faced the choice to either move forward or backward. In fact, this choice is symptomatic of the development of humankind.

No society stays exactly the same. Partly, because they collectively face new challenges. Partly, because they come into contact with other societies and are influenced by them. And partly, because human beings are constantly evaluating themselves and making adjustments.

What determines the choice is not, as we are sometimes lead to believe, historical settings, individuals or the influence of leadership. The choice is affected when ordinary people are moved by their own understanding of the need for change.

Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk did not liberate South Africa. And while they received the Nobel Peace Prize because of their leadership positions at the time, they merely represented our South African collective need for change. It was the everyday interaction of millions ordinary South Africans which lead to the change. Without this choice, we may still have found ourselves gripped by a destructive political and social system.

Within this collective choice, there is always going to be those who either sit on the left or the right. In all of history, in all of societal changes, neither of these have the ability to effect change. Yet ironically, they often have the loudest voice. And while they seem to have nothing to lose, the truth is that they really desire to gain power at any cost. This cost is to destroy the collective choice. They do however, enable the collective whole to examine and re-examine their position. And this examination is vital to the health of the collective whole.

A question, at this juncture, in terms of the South African collective whole, may be whether the recent events represent the left, right or the collective whole? If in fact they do represent the collective whole, then one would want to assert that the country has chosen to step backward. It is the path to more violence, destabilisation and ultimately collapse.

For ordinary people like myself as part of the collective whole, (I am not a member of a political party nor have I been to prison nor do I aspire to be anything other than an everyday person), I refuse to believe that these events represent me. I refuse to be swept up by the left or right.
Rather, I recognise that I am fulfilling my commitment to making the collective change of 1994 a reality. As a training Christian minister, I spent a year in a township, washed the feet of my fellow South Africans at Easter and continue to believe in the future for South Africa.

Despite this, the current events have shaken my, and I believe many others, belief in South Africa. I believe that we all have much work to do. This work must not be determined by political parties, the left or right but our collective examination of who we are. If we allow individuals the space to hijack our collective choice we will only have ourselves to blame when South Africa does not live up to her potential.

The new South Africa is almost twenty years old and I feel no guilt about the past, it only takes me backward. Rather, I believe, that we as a collective whole can, right now, choose to move forward and choose leaders who represent us.

I am not a decision maker so the best I can offer is to challenge my common sense and all my ordinary fellow South Africans, to continue to work at our collective whole. Fancy programmes, extreme leaders and quick fixes will do nothing for us. Rather, I chose to live as part of a collective whole facing the everyday challenges of daily living together. My faith determines that I should and it is really the only way for us to attain long-term potential as a nation. After all, any collective whole that can topple a destructive political system without violence must unquestionably be able to resist being hijacked by extremism.

Rev Dr John Bailie
Cobble Crab Publishers

Book Festival

It's amazing how great a miracle country South Africa is!

Forget what the politicians say, look around at everyday life and see the small miracles.

It's those every day things which allow us to find ourselves and each other.

And it's those stories which will help others in the present age and future age, find each other.

Writing songs, poetry or stories is a wonderful legacy because it captures forever who we are as a people.

So hey, keep writing!

Reading

The other I asked my teenage son whether he had read his matric set work.

No, he replied, he was going to watch it on DVD.

His answer shocked me! How could someone not enjoy reading?

As I thought about it more and more, I guess there are many folk, sadly, who don't read.

John Locke once said:

Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.

I believe it!