Like most of my posts these days, it's overdue and hardly packed with eye watering developments... But then again, the vision the Lord gave us was a tree, and that's hardly action packed viewing either! Instead, life carries on, albeit in a very different world to the one we started our Walkerville adventure in 7 years ago!
By a different world, I'm not only referring to a post-COVID, post-truth, post-paper, post-petrol, post-peace and post-private world... I'm also referring to myself, and how much I've become a more post-political, post-public, post-performance and post-predictable person... In a nutshell, the world I once admired, and the person l longed to be, are in many ways gone. Without going too far down the philosophical bunny hole, I think everyone's better off for both. Let me explain...
At a societal level, I believe the sooner we realise we're made for more than this post-everything existence, and that our deepest need for divine love and acceptance, can only ever be found in and met by God, the better. If you don't believe me, spend a little time reading Solomon's Proverbs, and you'll quickly concede that there really is nothing new under the sun, and in the end, we're but a flower in the field, and all is vanity and striving after the wind... Make that a double barman!
From a personal perspective, and coming back to our vision for a transformed community (the big tree), 7 years later the real transformation has in fact been much closer to home... By God's grace, my underwhelming results in multiple business and life ventures, has aided me greatly in taking myself less seriously, and finding my identity above, and not in my popularity or performance below. Of course, it's one thing to wax on about failing forward and the university of life, but it's quite another to not take failure personally, and prevent the seeds of disappointment growing into fields of weeds.
A further challenge, and associated revelation in this regard, is that while our bank account (cash currency) has certainly run low on numerous occasions, it's never dried up, and we remain debt free, well clothed, housed and fed. The revelation herein for me, is just how wealthy I actually am, when measured by relational currency instead. That is, starting with my 15 year marriage to an amazing woman, add 3 precious kids, an abundance of incredible friends and acquaintances, and lastly a personal relationship with the God of the universe... Seriously, how blessed am I!? Here's a recent reminder for me, and example of what Rands can't buy... Tristan's baptism.
Practically, we're still living on the Berry farm in the south of Joburg, happier than we've ever been, and chasing the prayer of bringing some (small piece of) heaven to our community. In this regard, some wonderful pieces of our faith puzzle have recently come together, including being a part of starting and growing a vibrant faith community (we do church in a man made cave!), and continuously being able to testify to God's amazing grace and truth. On this note, I recently 'preached' on the mysterious subject of God's Word and Spirit, and how they actually work together. Here's the vid if you're interested...
Eduship, the community school we (unsuccessfully) went public with last year, but (successfully) continued privately with our sons this year, has been a great personal milestone for us. That is, both Tristan (11) and Connor (9) currently benefit from a mix of the best that homeschool and private school has to offer. The balance hereof hasn't been easy to find, but D continues to do an awesome job as tutor, and I thoroughly enjoy managing sports (as player coach), and overseeing the mentorship, apprenticeship and ambassadorship streams.
What exactly will come from this (Eduship) for us or our surrounding community, only time will tell, which I regularly remind myself, is in much bigger hands than mine. Here are a couple pics of our most recent bush camp and soccer game... ps. For any 'I'm bored' kids at home, here's an Eduship holiday pack
On another note, a few more recent personal highlights include; Dannean and I passing the 15 year marriage mark, me passing the 25 year post-matric mark, we passing the 1 month stock-pilling (food) mark (#Eishkom), and me relaunching Strive2Thrive (a young adults training and mentorship programme) which I founded a couple years back... Only this time for a post-COVID (virtual) world. If you know any 18 - 35 year old's running low on hope, motivation and job options, this is for them...
Lastly, on the work front, my desire to generate an income from something I actually believe in / am passionate about, burns stronger than ever. And so while I remain incredibly grateful for the past 5 years of corporate assessments and reporting, the Lord knows I've paid my independent contractor dues! My heart's desire remains to be doing (full time & paid for) community development in a shape and form that facilitates real transformation. One year into Season 4 of the vision (below), I do wonder where we're going to end up, but for now, the Lord holds those cards, so we'll just carrying on watering the tree (vision), and let him take care of the growth.
