And That's a Wrap Folks!

10 years ago Dannean and I started this blog as a memoir to the biggest life decision we had made together since getting married... Our life relocation to the small agricultural community of Walkerville, 30km south of JHB.

This blog has subsequently documented many ups and downs, wide berths and close shaves, hits and misses, on our road less traveled. So in deciding the title of this last blog post linked to our 10 year vision, I wanted to try choose one that would encapsulate them all. 

Here is a sampling of some of the titles that came to mind...

- Following your heart will mess with your head!

- Perseverance is to vision, what wings are to a bird...

- Don't try see the big (long term) picture with a small (short term) lense.

- A good marriage pays the best dividends... And is also recession, depression and obsession proof!

- An honest apology, good question or great book, can change your day, year or life!

- A day without God's Spirit, is a day lived without wisdom or glory... Wasted.

- Life without the Bible is like buying a new car, and then never reading the manual... Sooner or later you're going to regret it.

In truth, all these possible headings have a story in their own right, however the title I chose in the end, remains true to why we started this blog to begin with... That is to document and share our participation in building a transformed community, as outlined in the associated vision that we drafted and shared 10 years ago.

Without getting lost in the detail, I'm not sure if we can even now, clearly define what this transformed community would or should look like... However, without complicating matters, I will try to simply review the theory above with the application below.

In this regard, and with reflection, one might say that the 3 red circles above are in fact the core outputs (fruit) in my mind, of a transformed community, being...

 - a community of families

 - led by faithful husbands and loving fathers

 - who work for themselves and provide for their families

 - who in turn are led by God the Father, Jesus the Word, and Holy Spirit.

The blue circles on the other hand, are more closely linked to what one might say are the building blocks or key inputs of such a community, and include...

 - growing food (farming),

 - educating kids (schooling),

 - transfering skills (training) and 

 - worshiping God in spirit and truth (church)

Accordingly, much of this has been the core focus of our efforts over the past 10 years, all with varying degrees of success. 

For example, over the years I have emersed myself in a variety of vision associated activities including; 

- Small scale farming studies and work (Farming God's Way and UCAN Grow)

 - Business start-ups (Mbuzi, picnics4all)

 - School start-up (Eduship), and

 - Church start-up (People of the Way)

On the news front, my contract as farm manager at the Field Berry Farm has been extended for another year, Dannean will continue homeschooling Connor and Izzy, and Tristan will start grade 9 at a private school down the road... and we have another dog called Jaxie! Who must be the cutest and naughtiness baby Jack Russell in the whole of Walkerville...

But Jaxie is more than just a picture of cuteness... in a way she's a metaphor of the vision we dared to write, and then dared to live... That is, much of what we have tried and tested has been fun, but also messy and costly. Almost like school fees in the transformation journey, much of which has been on a very personal and individual basis, rather than on a corporate and community basis. 

In this regard, I therefore thought it appropriate that I share some pictures from previous blog posts, that best capture both some of the inputs and outputs of our journey these past 10 years...

In conclusion I must say... My faithful wife, gracious God, and loving family, have given me the space and grace to scratch almost every itch I developed in the pursuit of our vision over the past 10 years. For this I am immensely grateful and indebted. 

I must also add, lest their be any confusion, that the majority of these scratched itches of mine, have resulted in little more than trial and error. Which in turn, has tested our personal convictions and relationships to the max - as also described and highlighted in numerous posts over the years. However, these have also been invaluable school fees in helping us continuously do better.

Finally, as regards the next decade, our hearts must first and foremost remain faithful and true to God. What this means for the work we have begun this past decade, I cannot tell, however what I can say with much faith (because Moses said it first), is...

Thanks for reading, and we can't wait to see (and maybe write about😆) what God is going to do this next decade... Until then...

Favor, grace and glory!