67 Minutes

Pretty good for finger paiting, eh?

We were in Cape Town south Africa when Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday occurred.  Amazingly and coincidentally his birthday fell on International Nelson Mandela Day ;).

The day was observed by almost everyone in South Africa participating in the campaign called, "67 minutes".  The 67 came from the 67 years of Mandela's public service.  Everyone was encouraged to spend 67 minutes that day doing some service to mankind.  Many people were proud to tell what they did.  One lady proudly reported on a major radio station that she had spent 67 minutes on facebook and tweeting about environmental issues as her observance.  Hopefully, many people's service was a bit more substantial, but maybe I underestimate her impact.

The degree of participation is a tribute to Dr. Mandela.  He has become legendary here, even before his death, which I expected some days earlier.

But several people raised the issue, why does it take a national campaign to get people to serve others?

Mark 10:45 and other verses tell us that we OUGHT to be continually serving one another, not just one day, not just 67 minutes.

But at least that's a start.