"Not taking offense is 10 times harder than not giving it. Try going a day without taking offense when criticized." That is how Peter Enns ends off this simple but profound blog piece titled '6 thoughts–let’s call them tips–on publicly criticizing and being criticized' and while you should totally go and read the whole piece to see his explanations of each point, i thought i would simply share the six points he makes: 1. To write is [...]
i remember the day my pastor boss from the Vineyard church in Stellenbosch asked me something along the lines of: IF YOU COULD DO ANYTHING IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE? and my answer really seemed to impress something upon him, as he brought it up on many occasions after that, but it was something like: THIS. THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO. we like the idea of being 'called into something' [us christians [...]
When I was young, I always dreamed of being married & having children. Today I am a proud wife & mother of 2 beautiful boys. Its is only by the grace of God that we are now able to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary on the 1st May 2014. As with any marriage, there are many challenges and yes most of them not easy, but even though we were caught up in our problems [...]
As a nation we are celebrating 20 years of democracy and while there is still a lot that has to be done in this country of ours that bears the horrible scars of Apartheid, I am still proud that we are here. It means something because at least we are not where we used to be. There are still many conversations that still need to be had, of course and the sooner we get talking, [...]
Every day we wake up we have a world of opportunity ahead of us [within our particular context, although if you are reading this on a computer, tablet or phone then your choice options are pretty huge compared to most] - there are a whole bunch of things that are set that we cannot affect, but there are also a whole bunch of choices and changes that we can definitely make. Each morning when I [...]
Would you notice if they were yours? Wow, heart tug video of the weekend... Would i have done any better? is the question of the moment... Do i look? Do i engage? Do i take the time to hear and share a story, or even a meal? Not every time necessarily... but some time. And at the very least do i at least acknowledge the person'ness of the person? Wo!
Would you notice if they were yours? Wow, heart tug video of the weekend... Would i have done any better? is the question of the moment... Do i look? Do i engage? Do i take the time to hear and share a story, or even a meal? Not every time necessarily... but some time. And at the very least do i at least acknowledge the person'ness of the person? Wo!
I started out by inviting a bunch of my Single Friends to share some thoughts they really wanted their Married Friends to hear, consider, think about and respond to and some really great posts came out of that, which you can read over here. When someone gets married, the dynamic between them and their single friends always changes, sometimes more than others. especially when it is the friendship between a guy and a girl [yes, [...]
Hello. I'm Shana, and I have a husband. He's Carl. We haven't been married very long but we are married nonetheless. I'm not really a writer, so I'm not really going to make this sound good or write particularly well, but over the past 2 and a half years of marriage I've been putting together a mental list of things I'd like my single friends to know. Here goes (all harshness unintended): 1) When your [...]
Sometimes good intentions aren't enough. Take the New York Police Department, who in an attempt to foster better relations with the public decided on this great plan: "Do you have a photo with a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on our Facebook," the department posted on its NYPD News Twitter feed, hoping to fuel a feel-good, low-cost public relations campaign. Or how about that time in [...]