Esto Vir Dei - Men's Movement

24/03/2026

24/03/2026

Faith

When life is comfortable, faith can act as an antidote because it challenges complacency. It nudges you to grow, to take risks, to trust beyond what feels safe. Comfort can make people passive, but faith pushes against that by asking, “What more is possible?”
When life is uncomfortable, though, faith becomes a steroid. It strengthens resilience, gives meaning to struggle, and helps you endure uncertainty or pain with a sense of purpose. Instead of being crushed by hardship, faith amplifies your ability to keep going.
So in both cases, faith disrupts the default:
Too much comfort → faith stretches you
Too much discomfort → faith strengthens you

14/03/2026

Will You Answer the Call?

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Then said I, Here am I; send me.”
— Book of Isaiah 6:8 (KJV)

This morning I was doing my long run.
The plan was simple: 15 km at an easy pace with almost no elevation.

Everything went according to plan until the 12 km mark.

Then my phone rang.

From experience, I knew this was not a call to ask how I was doing or how the run was going. This was a call to step up the game, to change gears and raise the plan to another level.

I had a choice.

Do I ignore the call, or do I answer and step up?

I answered.

The plan immediately changed from 15 km to 19 km uphill.

As usual Helgo said,
“Run back until you meet me and then we run up to Waterstone.”

I wanted to cry.
I wanted to pretend the signal was bad.

But I knew something.

This call left me with a choice:
Back down, or step up.

So I stepped up.

And I ran the 19 km.

⸻

Life is the same.

As men, we are constantly called to step up.

A man who answers the call says:
“Yes, send me.”

But the man who says “Send me” must understand something:

Obedience will lead him to the battlefield,
not to the balcony.

When a man accepts that he was not placed on this earth to strive for comfort, but for growth on the battlefield, he begins to answer the call of God.

And on that battlefield, his character will be tested and forged.

⸻

So the question remains:

Are you ready to start answering those missed calls from God?

Are you ready to step up and say:

“Lord… send me.”

26/02/2026

It is never to late.

The book of Haggai tells us how God’s temple was neglected, while other luxury things received priority. And that neglect caused God to turn away from the people.

But when the rebuild the temple thins changed. Even if it was not nearly a awesome as the old temple, God's glory was greater than inbthe former temple.

You might look at yourself today; Thinking that it is too late...things went too far...you reached a point of no return. That's a lie!!

If you will start fixing and building youself as the temple of Holy Spirit, you will feel and see how God’s glorious power assist you and fills you with His presence.

Start today

21/02/2026

“Come on! People

This was when we had to ride up Spookbult for the fourth time in Zone 4. Now look, understand me clearly. If you know me, you’ll know that by that point I want to get off my bike and break the nose and dislocate the neck of the guy saying, ‘Come… come.’

But when we become familiar with the motive behind the ‘Come… come,’ then you can endure it and work together. Because the ‘come-come man,’ aka Helgo Hohenstein, has one motive: to make me as strong as possible so I can ride that ghostly hill faster and more easily.

My wife is a ‘come-come person’ in the mornings. If I don’t lift my backside quickly enough when my alarm goes off, I hear her: ‘Come on, Pellie, we’re not going to win like this.’

When I run farther than my legs can carry this heavy body, I hear Michelle Matthews May: ‘Come on! Leendert, we can’t walk now, we have to run.’

In life it’s the same. We can’t pedal for each other, but with sincere hearts and motives we can encourage one another with: ‘Come… come, you can make it to the top!’

And sometimes we snap back at the ‘come-come people’ in our lives. I do it almost daily. But over the past three years I’ve learned that these people have one goal in mind: to help me win against who I was yesterday. They don’t grieve and comfort me when I moan and groan… they don’t accept my excuses.

Throwing a tantrum won’t make you stronger to reach the top. Just keep pedaling, and take the motive of the ‘come-come’ people in your life as positive—and use it as fuel.

So I ask you: Do you have ‘come-come people’ in your life, and are you also a ‘come-come person’ for others who are struggling to reach the top?”

15/02/2026

There is a true story of a man who survived 84 days in Alaska. It was sometime during the war in 1940’s when the plane, that he and four other men was on, went down. All died, except him. For 84 days he survived. Not because the forest became soft on him or made it more bearable for him, but because he did a few simple actions and followed a process he developed.

He decided to guard the fires he made by sleeping in intervals. He ate whatever he could find. He managed his mind the same way he manage his body. He developed daily structures to follow, walking…sleeping…gathering wood and food.

One thing that struck me during his interview, is what he said: “If you think you are going to die, you will die” He never gave that thought an entrance to his mind.

We are all in some sort of “Alaska”, but you are only lost in it if you decide you are lost. We are equipped with a mind of the greatest “Survivor” of all times. One who even survived death and crucifixion.

Reality check: This world will not get easier, life will not go soft on you. Our only way to survive is to become stronger. Sink and die or swim and live.

13/02/2026

I hear men saying they are protected by Psalm 91. Psalm 91 power is for the man standing on the battlefields of life. Men who face their giants and struggles face to face, not blaming circumstances or their past.

Men who took their responsibilities to grow in every area of their lifes as men of God. They are men who left the soft comfort of the couch and view from the balconies. Who stood up and stepped out on the battefields were a thousand on one side and ten thousand on the other side is raging against them. But fiercely they are standing their ground a fighting with God, side by side.

08/02/2026

J-Rooting

Soms vind mens in die plante wêreld dat sommige bome of plante net nie kan groei nie. Hulle lewe, maar hulle strewe nie. Hulle bly klein en agter met die ander bome om hulle en dra ook nie vrug soos die ander nie. Tog is hulle in dieselfde grond geplant, kry dieselfde water en kunsmis, maar kom net nie voor nie.

Hierdie simtoom word gewoondlik veroorsaak deur iets wat fout lê by die wortels. Die oorsaak is gewoonlik die pen wortel van die plant na bo gebuig of gevou is. Hulle noem dit "J-rooting". Wanneer die plantjies of saad te vlak geplant was of by die oorplant in te harde grond of the klein plantgat gedruk was.

Hierdie skade of probleem vind plaas by die kleintyd van die plantjie wat eers ervaar word wanneer die plant moet opgroei tot 'n boom en vrugte moet dra. En dan blameer ons die boom en kap dit uit, terwyl die eindlike probleem of skuldige een die planter was.

So word groot mense wat moet sterk en groot wees en vrugte dra weens hul ouderdom, nog agter en kom net nie voor nie. By die saai en planttyd was die wortel wat moes diep moes afgroei om water en kos en standvastigheid te bring beseer of gebuig. En die hoogte van 'n boom word bepaal deur die diepte van sy wortels.

Aan so boom kan die tuinier niks doen nie, maar die Tuinier van mense kan so mens wel herstel, indien hy of sy bereid is om omgespit te word sodar daar by die wortel van die probleem te kan kom. Medisyne kan die simptome van so "J-Rooted" mens verlig, maar die Here kan die oorsaak van so "J-Rooted" man of vrou hertel, as let wel as, hy of sy bereid is om oopgegrawe te word sodat daar gewerk kan word met wat onder die grond aangaan.

Ek wil jou wat hierdie stuk lees bemoedig. Miskien was jou wortels as klein seuntjie of dogtertjie dalk beskadig. Miskien was die grond te hard waarin jy geplant was. Jy is nie onherstebaar soos daardie lemoenboom wat se wortels wat gebuig is nie. As jy braaf genoeg kan wees om opgegrawe te word deur om jou te spit en jou wortels(opinies en sieninge) te laat buig kan jy herstel word tot oorwinnende groei.

Jou "J-Rooting" probleem kan na "Jesus-rooting" herstel word, en in Hom sal jy veel vrug kan dra.

Seën-groete
Leendert