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 [...]
As Christmas approached we decided to have a gift-related game and so together with The UnNamed Ones i played #TheGiftIGive: [The Story So Far: Every Wednesday at 1pm South African time [6am EST] an inspired and growing number of brilliant, creative and absolutely fun people from all around the world take part in what is called a Hashtag game. @AFrikkinHashtag [say it out loud] is South Africa’s #1 Hashtag game and is always a lot of fun. [...]
What does how we give our money say about us? There is a beautiful short story hidden at the end of Mark 12 that doesn't get enough attention. 41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43 Calling his [...]
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 [...]
So the other day i posted this post about my Grinchiness [or lack thereof] which highlighted that it is not so much Christmas that i don’t like, but how crazy over-the-top consumeristic it is, which in the face of so many people living without in the world, feels pretty horrific. […]
A community of friends who pool their money to meet the needs of people they know. That is what Common Change is all about. And that is the non-profit that my wife, tbV, and i work with and have been for the last year and a half. Almost every time we explain the concept to people and they get it, it excites them and they want to know more. But many people in that boat [...]
It started with a #neknomination [well, let's be honest - it likely started with a drunk Australian feeling like this was something he thought was a good idea for more people to do?] an online video'd drinking challenge game where you "film themselves drinking a pint of an alcoholic beverage, usually beer, in one gulp and upload the footage to the web" [wikipedia] and then nominate two other people to do the same, paying it [...]
for the last 19 months, myself and my beautiful wife Valerie have been living and working with the Simple Way Christian non-profit organisation in Philadelphia, Americaland and yesterday was our last official office day... we fly out back towards South Africa on the 30th of December... can't wait! but what next? well we hope to spend around a month and a half at home and then [providing we find the financial support we will need [...]
this year we got to be secret rooftop witnesses of this incredible act of Christmas mischief that Shane speaks about in this article and it was incredible hearing some of the stories from some of the people who had no idea where the money came from and yet for some of them it was a complete lifeline and life-changing moment for them: So here is the start of the article shane wrote but click on [...]
