Ripe Mango Chronicles

On Saturday we took a whole bunch of the kids to the beach in SImonette. As usual I ended up spending most of the afternoon surrounded by the little kids. We were playing and splashing around in the water when I grabbed Steevenson and threw him into the water. This of course started a line up of kids who wanted to be “baptized” as they were calling it. So one after the other I picked them up and “baptized” them. When my arms got tired we went back to splashing around in the water and one of the little boys asked me what it means to be baptized. This sparked a whole conversation about baptism and what it means to accept Jesus. At the end of our chat I asked the boys if they had asked Jesus into their hearts yet. Some of them had already, but there were a number of them who had not. When I asked them if they wanted to they had lots of questions; what do you need to say, what does it mean, what happens to you afterwards. It was really interesting to hear their questions, and how their 7 y...

Death has a way of making us think about life. Our days are numbered, some of us are allotted many, while other are given just a few. We don’t get to decide how many we are given, but we do get to decide how we will spend them. John Fraser lived his days well. He truly made an impact on everyone he came in contact with. John was not allotted as many days as we would have liked. The quantity was less than we all hoped for but the quality was more than we could ever have imagined. We can all learn a little something from the way he lived. John lived with passion, loved immensely and overflowed with grace and wisdom. He made you laugh, he made you cry, he made you want to download random country songs and try on cowboy boots. John has been a huge part of my life, now that he is gone, I am beginning to see the influence and impact he had on my life on a regular basis. I miss him dearly, everyday. John was more than my pastor, more than my mentor, more than my friend. His opinion mattered...