When tbV [the beautiful Val] and i were living in Oakland about a year ago, we came across a book titled ‘Free’ by a friend of ours we had met over here, Mark Scandrette.

free

The tagline of the book is ‘Spending your Time and Money on What Matters Most’ and that really does sum up the book. We decided to gather some people together and work through the book over an eight week period. It really helped shake up our thinking and practice in a number of areas and ever since we returned to South Africa last August we have been plotting a way to work through that book again.

Our first week back in Americaland on this current trip, we organised a visit to Mark and Lisa and had a super rad time catching up with them and solving pretty much all the mysteries of the Universe [well the current ones anyways] and we left having purchased twenty copies of ‘Free’ to bring back to SA. Three of those are already accounted for by my mate Brian Louw in Durban and i suspect my friends at Westville Baptist might be interested in some of the others. But one of our plans going forward when we return to South Africa is to look at hosting another eight to ten week series of ‘Free’ book study at our place in Southfield.

This was a highlight of my life because it helped us to slow down and focus on what we believe to be our passions and specific calling in life. Then we took a look at how we spend our time and money and tried to align them with what we say is the most important thing in our lives. [Just stop for a minute even and consider that sentence: What would you say right now is the most important thing in your life? Does how you spend your time and money back that statement up? If not, are you prepared to do something about it?] 

From taking moments to slow down to focusing on different things to be grateful for each day to drawing up budgets to see how we really spend our money [not how we assume we spend our money] to spending time fasting something we enjoy to decluttering our lives and more, the ‘Free’ book study was an incredible time of doing a valuable life stock take which definitely enriched our lived, and we are ready to do it again.

Not only that but it was where we met some really good friends, including Aaron [aka Mr Lego – yes, his actual job involves playing with Lego or at least helping children to play with Lego well] and Sarah who we invited to live with us for a few months after doing ‘Free’ and in whose house we are currently living while we are back in Americaland for a month.

Who hasn’t got time for a positive life shift? Well tbV and i are planning to work through ‘Free’ with 8 to 10 other people some time after we get home in July. If you live in Cape Town and want to know more and see if there is space for you to join us, drop me a line on brettfish@hotmail.com and let’s see if we can make it happen. Otherwise go to http://markscandrette.com or Amazon and get a copy for yourself and run your own group with some friends. It is likely to radically change your life.

[For the Prayer of Abundance which kicks off the book and also a walk through some of the posts i wrote as we went through the book last time, click here]

[For stories from Five Years as a Spur Waiter, click here]

[For a Different Highlight from the growing 100 Highlights from my Life list, click here]