in the space of a week we go from the craziness surrounding the public 'investment' into the news, gossip and views surrounding the Oscar Pistorius case [where everyone had an opinion, a judgement, a Barry Bateman courtroom tweet to retweet and an emotional or political response] to the 3am [in South Africa] screening of the Academy Awards Oscars ceremony which is a few minutes away from starting... there seems to be a lot of similarity [...]
in the midst of all the recent focus on murder and rape and negativity that has been jamming up the media and our minds and social networks, i figured it was time to seek out some inspirational life-giving stories of positivity and hope - what a gem to begin with: Just 23 years old, Nicholas McCarthy also appeared at the 2012 Paralympics 'although McCarthy’s moment of fame came as a musical performer when he played [...]
instead i got to hang out with my buddy Uel Maree for about an hour, catching him up on my story for the last two years and getting to hear some of his. Just over a year ago now, Uel Maree, helping out a girls group on an adventure camp, dived into a river in a spot he knew well as one where they launched canoes regularly, but this time something was different. He has [...]
crawling through the desert on my hands and knees, torn jeans clinging desperately to my legs, shirt mostly in tatters, hanging loosely off my shoulders... eyes darting to and fro, hoping to catch sight of, a quick glimpse, the hint of, a water source, river, stream, oasis of sorts... some type of cactus with juicy flesh waiting for me to discover in its hidden caverns the satiation for my current devastation, even temporary relief for [...]
a few years ago i visited new york with a good buddy of mine, justin paton, and one of the touristy things we came across was the Charging Bull, a 3,200-kg (7,100 lb) bronze sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that stands Wall Street in Manhattan. being a touristy symbol, we had to wait a fair amount of time to get a picture with it and so naturally when we did i had to be a [...]
i want to take a moment to honor Catherine on this and am so super amped that she shared this story and know it has taken A LOT for her to do so - but both pornography and especially masturbation have largely been seen as a guy issue for so long and it was at a summer camp a bunch of years ago that i really got to see the depth of the problem and [...]
and i move on to psalm 26, and another psalm of david clearly set before the little bathsheba incident [2 samuel 11] where he starts by proclaiming how good and righteous he has been and inviting God to 'examine my heart and my mind' [vs. 2] which is a great practice to take from this psalm [altho maybe without the assumption of being clean and pure and righteous, unless it's been a good week for [...]
it is 29 minutes til my birthday... well, for me anyways, my south african family and friends have been celebrating it for hours already, as have the few contacts i know in Australia and different friends across Europe... have not heard from so many UK friends yet, but they'll be waking up soon and joining in... and then when i sleep and wake up, americaland will have caught on and i will finally be able [...]
Yes, I said 'Live' not 'life' cos 'Live' is a verb. and cos it's me. my friend and former wedding photographer Bex Meissner sent me this link to a great article on the top five regrets people have before they die and it is well worth reading the whole article, but just to whet your appetite the top five regrets people mentioned are: 1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true [...]
stumbled upon these video clips of spoken word from a guy called David Bowden which i thort were too powerful not to share... this is the first one... and this second one on scripture i think is even more powerful Take ten minutes and enjoy and be inspired and challenged.