There's a new hashtag in town. Followed by a yawn right? Cos who cares about hashtags? Aren't they just like 'groups' on Facebook? What is a group on Facebook? Someone starts a group based on some topic they feel passionate about such as interesting shapes of clouds, bonsai tree gardening or stuffed animals - you get an invite, you join the group and... NOTHING ELSE EVER HAPPENS. I dunno, maybe you're in better groups than [...]
[Tuesday May 13th] I am taking a break from a Share conference I am attending as part of Common Change... I really wish I could capture the heart and essence of the opening remarks and the morning's sessions, but I imagine I will fail dismally. But I will try out something together anyway because I really believe this is something we all need to be thinking about, reading up on, talking about and getting [...]
yesterday, tbV and i went to visit our friend Lilly Lewin in Napa for a morning activity of prayer, reflection and listening to God that she calls 'Time in the Vines'. one of the activities was selecting a stone with a random word on it and the word i picked was 'Gratitude' and one of the things i did while reflecting was write this poem: GRATITUDE as i drag my almost lifeless body one more [...]
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 [...]
Words have power! If you don't think that's true, try being hit in the face by a thesaurus. In the previous post in this series on different aspects of character, i took a look at the power and importance of living out your words. If there is no action, the words tend towards meaningless and ineffectual. i spoke about the phrase: "What you do speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying." In terms [...]
One aspect that strongly defines your character is whether the person you actively are backs up the person you talk yourself up to be. Another way i have seen that quote above written is like this: What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. And it is completely true. Another area that this touches on is that of consistency. Is the person you speak yourself to be also the [...]
i logged on to the internetweb late last nite after a busy day needing to write an article before i went to sleep and was greeted by the sad news of Philip Seymour Hoffman's passing... i did what i do any time i hear a famous person has died, which is type 'Philip Seymour Hoffman dead scam' into Uncle Google to check on the legitimacy of the news and sadly could tell pretty quickly that [...]
This felt like a really good week on The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] and so if you missed any of these, here is an opportunity to catch up: Monday was a joint post of the 'What Asian are you?' video clip which was both quite funny but also pretty inward-reflection calling and worth everyone seeing as well as the sequal to the K-MArt "Shipped my pants" ad i shared a while back. Tuesday became [...]
A friend of mine connected me to Jennifer's blog posts which she has just written and they are deeply moving and heart-breaking, but at the same time I think it can be so powerful for those who are going through a similiar journey to be connected in some way to others who have also walked or are walking this road. I really appreciate her willingness to let me repost her blog and encourage you to [...]
i refer to John 15.4 all the time: 'Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.' and i also love o use Psalm 46.10 which talks about being still and knowing that I [God] am God: 'He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I [...]