3 years into our Walkerville Adventure... And here's what I know (part 2)

With 3 and a half years under the belt since we emigrated moved to a farm 30km south of JHB, I thought a review of some of my biggest lessons to date, might make for a worthwhile post... but you can be the judge of that. Because I'm such a good student (or rather have a lot to learn), I've shared my top 10 lessons to date - broken down into 2 posts. The 1st 5 lessons were covered in part 1 (my previous post), with the remaining 5 covered here below...

• 6. God Cares - Our 3rd child, Izabella-Joy, is adopted. She's almost 3, and about as much work as both the boys put together. This of course (as I have come to discover) is a girl thing. She knows exactly what she wants, when she wants, where she wants, and how she wants it (with cheese). I'm trying to take this in my stride, but to be honest, the only thing that gets me through some days, is the fact that I'm going to get a whole lot of lobola for her (this of course is a hidden benefit of adopting a black daughter in South Africa!). 
• Anyway, one of Dannean's biggest concerns about adoption, was how we would know who our child was meant to be. After all, it's not like going shopping at PnP! My concern on the other hand, was less about choice, and more about the cost. The solutions to our challenges came in what can only be described as God's care packages. In the run up to us adopting, Dannean had placed little pairs of shoes all around the house, as a reminder for the boys that she was 'heart pregnant' (not tummy pregnant) with their baby sister (we had decided on a girl by then). 
• After a couple bumps in the road regarding finding the right adoption facilitator / process, we eventually came across Susan. At our 1st meeting she informed us that there was a little girl we might be interested in... with a slight proviso - she was born with clubbed feet. "Did someone say feet?! Because we've got a whole lot of little girls shoes decorated all over our house!" (and so it was that our daughter found us). Regarding the cost, well that's another story. Suffice to say, a Kruger Rand that Dannean was given by my gran 10 years prior, and which (up until that point) had somehow (miraculously!) been entirely forgotten about, was what got us through in the end. Go figure. Lesson 6: We adopt, God places, God pays.

Izabella-Joy in looks and personality... Front and centre!

• 7. Church is optional - At the end of 2017, I presented my (then) church elders, with a vision document describing and motivating for a church with different priorities, practices and principals (http://www.called2conquer.org/). By then the writing was already on the wall (or perhaps I should say on my heart), and not long after we left our church family (and many special friends) to explore a different expression of the faith. In this instance, in search of one built and centered more intentionally on the cornerstones of biblical discipleship and community. One year later, and not much has changed since then... We're still not in any formal church structures, and we continue to pursue the implementation of the same vision - even if it's only a handful of us doing so. But the lesson here has been an interesting one...
• Over the past year, our faith and love of God has not diminished at all. In fact and on the contrary, not participating in the numerous church gatherings and services we previously did, has forced us (me in particular), to take a healthy measure of responsibility for Dannean's and the kids' spiritual well being. This has forced me to be more creative and intentional in my role as 'priest' (lead discipler) in our home, as well as provoking me to become even more disciplined and proactive in my discipleship journey with other brothers and spiritual mentors. At the same time, it's been quite liberating to know that our lives would not fall apart without the 'covering' of a local church, and that God is big and good enough to make provision for the exceptions - especially where the desire is to see a more fruitful and faithful version of His Kingdom come! Lesson 7: Loving the triune God - essential, church membership - optional.

• 8. God replaces - God gives, and He takes away (Luke 19:24), but my experience has taught me to phrase this truth a little differently. That is to say, God is good, and he's in the business of giving out good gifts (James 1:17). However, sometimes to enjoy a new gift, we have to give up/away an old gift first. This is something I have experienced a great deal of over the past 3 years - although at times I honestly wondered if God and I were even in the same universe (never mind on the same page!). The answer to this question, has almost always been the same... And it's got a familiar ring to it - given that I use the same phrase on almost a daily basis to my sons... That is, have a little patience pal!! 
• To prove my point, here are a couple of examples (obviously with the benefit of hindsight!)...
1. My job with my previous employer (abruptly) ends, but is replaced the same day with a better job in my friend's company...
2. We leave our church in the north due to conflicting theologies about the poor, and our replacement church (in the south) asks me to head up the ministry to the poor...
3. My Jetta TDI's engine breaks, and is replaced a week later with a double cab my father bought me (without even knowing about my broken car)...
4. Our previous landlord evicts us from his property, only to be replaced with a lease at the amazing community farm next door - the very same month we had to move out...
5. We eventually sell our Sandton flat because we simply can't find a tenant, only to use the money to totally revolutionize the way we now manage our finances, while at the same time having the resources to invest in a series of special projects and people close to God's heart... 
• Anyway, you get the point... one minute we're left wondering, Huh? The next day / week / couple months... it's all 20/20 vision. Like I said... replacement theology! Lesson 8: God takes away, God replaces, God is good, God knows best.

My double cab that carried 11 of us to Angus' prayer meeting last week (thanks dad!)

ps. it woudn't have been quite the same in my Jetta ;)

• 9. Entrepreneurs#%t - Excuse my table manners, but anyone who has bought a ticket for the roller-coaster ride that is becoming an entrepreneur, will understand where the s#%t is coming from! At last count, that is since moving out the city, I have started up 5 different businesses - motorized bicycles, vegetable farming, online business mentorship, online picnics, and most recently (at least in theory) hand stitched leather production. I've included the associated costs / inputs of these industrious exploits of mine here below; 
1. Motorized bicycles - R50k / 200 hours 
2. Vege farming - R10k / 300 hours 
3. Online mentorship - R30k / 300 hours
4. Online picnics - R40k / 500 hours
5. Hand stitched leather - R0k / 16 hours
• In summary... Total (input) costs = R130k + 1316 hours. And total outputs... Wait for it... Well, as my old friend Dion Wessels would say, they closed down at the opening sale! But please take note, that at least by business number 5, I've learned to close the business BEFORE spending any money! Anyway, my point and lesson in all of this... Starting businesses ain't for sissies (or dummies - like me perhaps), but there's really only one way to get better at it (as 1st famously quoted by John Maxwell) - 'learn to fail forward'. 
• So why am I hammering on about starting a business anyway? Well as we already know, so much of our country's challenges and legacy issues, hinge on unemployment (in all its shapes and forms). But there's more to it, because this plays out very badly in the majority of South African households. Not to say that having a job is the silver bullet to all our social issues, but I would say, having a job AND being able to live at home, probably is. The 2 graphs included below (as extracted from The State of SA Fathers report) have reference, and underlie one of the gravest ills facing our society today - that of absent fathers.

• This therefore remains my one main motivation to startup business no. 6... That is to create a job and be a business mentor. However, it's going to take a whole lot of us already engaged in the economy, to turn the rudder on the titanic that is our current state of families without dads. Just think, that's 2 out of 3 kids (and their moms) in SA, that know little to nothing of the provision, protection and presence of a father (or husband) in their lives...
• By God's grace we haven't hit the iceberg yet, but if the ongoing unemployment and migrant labour rates are not divided by at least 2 (ideally by 4) in the next 5-10 years, this Titanic is going down. Lesson 9: Start a business, fail forward, create a job, send a father / husband home.

• 10. Mentorship Majors - Ever since I stumbled upon mentorship some 15 years ago - as a volunteer with the AEC (providing township kids with bursaries and mentors) - I've fallen more and more in love with the concept, practice and proof, that mentorship changes lives. As a totally under-exposed and over-privileged product of the very new South Africa, I moved up to Joburg in 2003. I had never set foot in a township, let alone played mentor to a 14 year old kid from Alexandra Township. In hindsight however, this dramatic immersion, into an unknown world, would become one of the foundation stones of the life I know and live today.
• And so even as I write this, I am immensely grateful to God, and some very special men, to be involved in an organization called The Character Company (TCC) - which has as its focus the raising of boys (with absent or no dads at all), to be good men - (https://www.thecharactercompany.co.za/). Currently, I find myself involved at multiple levels in a boys home / shelter located in Berea, JHB city, which we have partnered with, in providing (those boys who want to be mentored) mentors. The lessons in this regard, have come thick and fast, but here's my no. 1 takeaway...
• Ironically (but very biblically) it's been in embracing these 'costly' exercises or activities, of sacrificing some of myself for someone else, that I have received a different perspective on (South African) life. A perspective which has actually protected me from a hardened heart (in an often divided, stigmatized and ignorant society). Actually, in some ways serving those in genuine need works a lot like being inoculated as a child... That is, if we remain unexposed to the 'sicknesses' around us (think poverty, abuse, racism, inequality, etc), we never actually allow ourselves to become 'infected'... And thus immune. 
• In the same way, how can we ever hope to become united as a nation, without sharing and investing in one another's lives? Choosing a life of service has totally altered my perspective and appreciation for how much I have to learn, and how much I have to give. And herein I am convinced, is so much of what it actually mean to be proudly South African, and advancing God's kingdom. Lesson 10: Serving one another is our inoculation against our 'sick' country.

https://www.thecharactercompany.co.za/

On camp with youngsters form the boys home we've been able to support

So there we have it... 3 years down in our Walkerville adventure...10 more lessons in the bag. Please forgive me for any overshare or opinion projection - but I guess I'd rather have my heart in my mouth, than my foot (even though it's probably both) ;)

In Summary:

Part 1 - 

• Lesson 1: God loves faith, honors His Word, and always provides. 
• Lesson 2: You don't find time, you make it, you don't lose time, you waste it. 
• Lesson 3: God loves courage, protects His kids, and commands His angels. 
• Lesson 4: Budget, with faith, give loads, buy cash. 
• Lesson 5: Write it down, dare to walk it, maybe someone follows (or maybe not)

Part 2 - 

• Lesson 6: We adopt, God places, God pays. 
• Lesson 7: Loving the triune God - essential, church membership - optional.
• Lesson 8: God takes away, God replaces, God is good, God knows best.
• Lesson 9: Start a business, fail forward, create a job, send a father / husband home.
• Lesson 10: Serving one another is our inoculation against our 'sick' country.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! 
- Psalm 27:13-14

3 years into our Walkerville Adventure... And here's what I know (part 1)

With 3 and a half years under the belt since we emigrated moved to a farm 30km south of JHB, I thought a review of some of my biggest lessons to date, might make for a worthwhile post... but you can be the judge of that. Because I'm such a good student (or rather have a lot to learn), I've shared my top 10 lessons to date - broken down into 2 posts (with 5 lessons per post). Here are the 1st 5...

• 1. God provides - this one comes to mind 1st, probably because if it weren't the case, I wouldn't have very much to write about. Blogging also doesn't feature very prominently on maslow's hierarchy of needs, and so clearly we still have a roof over our heads, and food in the refrigerator. I guess it's easy to take something for granted when you play by the rules. The fact that my idea of generating income outside the city, was to sell motorized bicycles and grow vegetables, is testimony to the fact of God's providence - given that neither of these brainwaves earned a single cent! In this case, my good intentions really had to be enough for God to work with, because there wasn't much else in the offering basket! 
• In practice, I have been blessed with two 18 month contracts which I have been able to fulfill as a business mentor and glorified off site administrator, on my terms, and in my hours. In truth, the most perfect work solution that I could never have orchestrated. Let me add, that having a contract, has not always meant having money in the bank, and so the number of times God's providence (through a combination of friends, strangers, SARS, and other unlikely sources) has carried us through (in the most unexpected ways), is simply actually the fulfillment of God's promise, to provide for his kids... Matthew 6:33 - "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (that you need to live) will be added to you." 

Lesson 1: God loves faith, honors His Word, and always provides.

• 2. Time is key - shortly after arriving in the south, God reminded me of one of the reasons we had initially decided to move... Time. That is, my desire to own it (rather than sell it), and to invest it (rather than squander it). This ultimately translated into a step of faith by electing to take a Friday 'Sabbath'. i.e. no work, no pay, plenty rest, plenty pray. (That rhymed nicely didn't it). But the truth is, what this redirected investment of 1 full day a week has brought into my life, over the past 3 years, is difficult to exaggerate. Quite simply, it has been life transforming, mostly because I've been able to allocate the time required to use and explore many of the talents, gifts and resources God has entrusted to me. There's a lot more I can say, and have said, about taking a Sabbath here:http://walkervilleadventure.blogspot.com/2016/10/its-about-time.html?m=1 - Suffice to say, it can only ever be done in faith, and is intended to supernaturally refresh / rejuvenate our spirit man. 
• My parting thought on time, is that it's the great tester. That is - as is the case with money - what we spend our time on, is a much more accurate measure of what we desire and believe, than what we might think or say. It truly is a tragic day for anyone, most especially a believer, when we have run out of things to do with our time. For the needs of people have never loomed larger, and the love, creativity and resources of Christ to meet these needs, have never been more abundant. 

Lesson 2: You don't find time, you make it, you don't lose time, you waste it.

• 3. God Protects - moving out the city definitely caught us off guard. Not that it was unexpected but wide open spaces, with lots of dark places, is the stuff an over active imagination feasts on - especially when mixed up with farm murder headlines, and our no handguns household policy. Sure we've had some stuff stolen, but it was just stuff, and no one has ever entered our house who hasn't been invited. The move outside the city, also enabled us to face a fear so many in South Africa live with on a daily basis - crime. By face it, I mean we were left with no other option, other than to rely on God's protection. Let me explain...
• The farm we initially moved on to had a broken electric fence, with our homestead having no alarm, no dogs, and no weapons. To be honest, I don't think we slept for the 1st 3 nights at all. It took me 6 weeks to build up the courage to sleep on my (preferred) left hand side, knowing my right (exposed) ear doesn't work as well as my left ear. But it was during this scary period, that we were left with no choice but to trust God for our protection. Does that mean we're immune to violent crime? No, I don't think we're immune to anything that God can use for our good and his glory (Romans 8:28), but I do know He hears our prayers and orders his angels to take care of His kids. Three years later, we now have dogs, alarms and an armed guard on the farm, but that's just precautionary, because God has already shown us where our help comes from (Psalm 121). 

Lesson 3: God loves courage, protects His kids, and commands His angels.

• 4. Master Money - When I think of Jesus ministry there are a couple things that specifically stand out for me. One of them was his attitude toward money, and His teaching about money. In fact, I recently wrote another blog post on this topic in a bit more detail here - http://www.called2conquer.org/c2cblog/wealthy-to-be-or-not-to-be - however if you'd prefer the executive summary, please read on... The bottom line? Master money, because if you don't, it'll master you (and it's a very cruel master).
• Dannean and I are blessed, because as much as we come from 2 families who are at polar opposites (in almost every respect) on the money spectrum, we have been able to unite in our approach to taming the money beast. In this regard, there are 3 cornerstones to our money philosophy, which have been tried and tested these past 3 years. They have not failed us yet (not even close!).
1. Maintaining a meticulous and faith-filled budget - meaning every single cent is accounted for, and faith is clearly evident in how we spend / allocate it.
2. Sow with our heart, reap with our head - simply meaning to try and give away what we don't need, to those who do. Granted there's a little more to it, but I'll write a separate post about this shortly.
3. No debt - this may sound impossible, but it's not. Who said you can't rent, or buy a 2nd hand car? And if you can't afford it, accept that God doesn't want you to have it (and if you can, be sure that your neighbour doesn't need it more than you do...)
• Currently, we rent and have no plan to buy. This means that we are not limited in anyway by bond / bank related financial responsibilities (and you might be surprised to learn that renting can also be a more profitable option than buying - http://www.stealthywealth.co.za/2016/10/is-it-better-to-buy-or-rent-and-why-we.html). My current car was a gift from my father (so that doesn't really count), but we have no accounts in credit, although we keep a credit card for cash flow purposes. Holidays are 'cheap' because they're almost always at our friends' or parent's place, and we still camp, which remains arguably the best value for money in learning how not to kill to love your kids and still enjoy our amazing country.
• In conclusion, money has the power to define our lives - that's why Jesus spoke about it so much. It is strong and deceitful enough to easily muscle you or me right out of God's Kingdom if we're not really careful. Managing a budget, giving it away, and avoiding the banks golden handcuffs, are key weapons in slaying the beast.

Lesson 4: Budget, with faith, give loads, pay cash.

• 5. God leads - I always thought it was me who was supposed to lead. Not that God had to follow (although I'm sure I'd have no problem with that), but rather that I needed to have a plan, and that plan needed a man, and no guessing who's the man. For example, I have drafted 2 relatively comprehensive vision documents over the past 3 years, and distributed them quite liberally, hoping and expecting my 'followers' to emerge...  Well, this hasn't exactly been the case. In fact, my only real 'followers' currently are my wife and kids (and that's because they have to be!). Not to say that there's no merit in what I've envisioned, but rather a very good lesson... And that is...
• It's one thing to theorize, contemplate or debate a subject, but it's another thing entirely to actually put what you believe into practice - that is to walk our talk. In other words, if I really believe what I'm spouting, then what am I actually doing about it? I've come to learn that God leads in practice, not in the classroom, He leads on His terms, an not on mine, and He loves to know how much of my talk I'm actually willing to walk? Which brings me to my current walk, and...
• Called 2 Conquer (C2C) is a vision for a different type of church, but in keeping with the New Testament definition of Church, this presupposes a vision for a different type of Christian... Anyway, you can read all about it in the link below, but suffice to say, I've had to move beyond the theory of a different kind of Christian, to actually sweating / becoming it myself... In reality, it's mostly about getting back to basics, and trusting God at His Word - which is really the story this blog is supposed to tell. A story of finding freedom and significance beyond the status quo, that is walking with God by living lives of faith, rooted and grounded in the love of the Father, and the promises of His beautiful Son.

Lesson 5: Write it down, dare to walk it, maybe someone follows (or maybe not)

http://www.called2conquer.org/

Part 2 follows here>>>