Is there a safe space to make mistakes? Yesterday i wrote a post in which i shared this inspiring piece of writing with the phrase 'Fiercely Kind' which cautioned us against letting our anger turn to meanness. And spent another one of THOSE DAYS on the internet experiencing in a variety of places people not doing so well at that. Ah, ye olde Internet Fight... Where can i go? It is true that [...]
Fiercely Kind? What an interesting concept... i saw this on the social medias this week and absolutely fell in love. Keep me Fiercely Kind! That line jumps out at you! Ooh, i love that. Who would have thought to put the words 'fierce' and 'kind' together in a way that somehow mysteriously carries so much power? [Edit: i have since found out it was Laura Jean Truman who came up with this @LauraJeanTruman] [...]
There is a beautiful story in the Jewish Scriptures of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt towards the Promised Land God had called them towards. The Israelites were being seriously oppressed in Egypt and so God called on Moses to rescue them and lead them towards a place of refuge, safety and abundance. Their journey ended up being a forty year ordeal through reasons of their own making, and despite continually turning against [...]
The internet can be a confusing and scary place to try and figure out race vibes [or parenting/immigration/religion/sexuality and so on...] - if you're brave then check out 'Ozzy Man reviews Arguing on the Internet' because it is harsh but funny and sadly not too far from the truth. Trying to figure out race vibes offline can also be counterproductive if the people around you are more echo chamber than collaborative sounding board, which [...]
As the army was deployed into certain areas of the Cape Flats and beyond many of us watched with dismay... This is the narrative the rest of the country is given of an area facing tremendous odds. Communities still trying to crawl themselves out of the mess that apartheid and forced removals and lack of local government focus left them in. What good ever comes out of the Cape Flats? is a question that [...]
Here are the next five tips in a series of 40 tips for people wanting to follow Jesus better...#31 Be different.Or as Peter Storey put it the other day, 'Be different. If we aren't different, we have nothing to offer the world.'One of the easiest ways to discover that you are failing is if you look just like everyone else who doesn't share your faith [sadly, with a lukewarm compromising church the same can often [...]
#6: Interrogate the words you sing. When i mention the word 'worship' the majority of us in our minds go straight to 'the songs we sing in church' which is true but no the whole truth. Worship is so much bigger than just songs but for the purpose of this tip i am going to be referring to worship as the singing part of the service. My definition of a worship song is that [...]
i have just started reading - and almost finished - Austin Channing Brown's 'I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a world made for whiteness'. i highly recommend it. While 'White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism' by Robin DiAngelo was super helpful hearing ideas, challenges and analogies from a white woman, so 'I'm Still Here' has been profoundly challenging and helpful, hearing the story from the perspective of [...]
My dream is that i will one day live in a nation where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Sound familiar? i am busy reading 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.' and so that has been influencing me quite a bit. But that really is my heart. And to that end i don't want white people to feel guilty or unincluded or [...]
This past week has been tough. Sitting with a R40 000 bill over our heads [alongside the more manageable R12000 to fix our car] for driving into a BMW is not to be found on the list of 'Ten Ways to De-Stress your life'. But, we are surrounded by people who know and love us and there is no way conceivable to us that tbV [the beautiful Val] and i are going to find ourselves [...]
