If the variety and chaos and lack of aggression of the Traffic in the Philippines is the first thing that hits you as it did me, because of how in your face it is, the Hospitality and Generosity of the Filipino people will hit you in your heart. i have always found it quite a hard piece to navigate when time after time in my life it has been the poor who have consistently [...]
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 [...]
About a week ago i was hanging out with a group of friends discussing some quite incredible stories of generosity that we had all been involved in this past year. Each person in the group was connected to a person in the story of generosity although the majority of the group didn't know the people involved. The stories ranged from educational assistance to helping start up a township business to paying for a vehicle to [...]
How do you spend your money? The forbidden, mysterious, never-asked question. i'm not quite sure why, but that's a subject for another post. In this one, all i want to do, is encourage you to be intentional with your money and to choose some good things and people to spend it on in 2017. Recently i wrote about five different areas we can look to be proactive in that will help us have a Super [...]
What a birthday! Started with breakfast with tbV [aka the beautiful Val, my lovely wife] and our former housemates from Oakland, California, Aaron and Sarah at Martin’s, a local bakery/restaurant just down the road from us. It finished with […]
There is a vicious rumour going around that you can’t meet people on the internet. That is completely true and some of my best friends at the moment are people i have engaged with online and never [or only recently – hi Trevor Black!] met in real life… Sindile, Linde, Felicity and so many more of you can attest to that – while real life is better by far, until you get there, it is [...]
On Wednesday it is my birthday. i am turning 42 which, according to ‘The Hitchkhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s Douglas Adams is the answer to the question, ‘What is the Meaning of Life?’ That’s right, i am literally going to be The Meaning of Life… years old. […]
i LOVE that description of Generosity - being open-handed. We experienced that this week. tbV had a conversation with one of the car guards down the road from us and found out that he had a baby daughter and some issues with getting formula for her. She stuck up a question on Facebook for her paediatrician friends and had a whole host of answers and suggestions [and volunteers of assistance and even resource-gathering] within the hour. [...]
When it comes to money and using it well, i believe this is something that relates to everyone, not exclusively Christ followers. But, writing as a Christ follower, i will give Biblical backing for the things i am wanting to share here, as i believe they are rooted in God's heart for humanity which looks very different to when we just let mankind get on with it by themselves. Two powerful stories comes to mind [...]
well, not really, but i think the permanent ADT guard who lives in a little wooden hut across from my buddy Dunc's house where i stay may be suspecting that's what i do... purely for the number of different cars of all shapes and sizes that he has seen me drive into 2 Smithers Road over the last two months... i am always friendly and i always wave at him [or hims, because i think [...]
