The Render Family Adventures : Need a little help.

The Render Family Adventures : Need a little help.: Hello. Please allow to take a minute to introduce you to a friend of mine. Her name is Shantelle April. Her friends call her Nelly. I m...

madrap bliss: simple things that make me happy

racing crabs on the beach

cloud shape spotting

blowing dandylions

madrap wisdom #14: 2012 new year's resolutions

things you shouldn’t stop being just because you’re grown up:
Being honest; as children are honest, with themselves and with those around us, saying it for how it is.
Being silly; just because you’re all grown-up doesn’t mean you must stop the child in you
Being small; appreciating the small joys of life such as blowing a dandelion, playing thumb way
Being stubborn; setting your mind on what you want and not stopping till you get it!
Being simple; when you’re little like is simple and uncomplicated – keep it that way, don’t clutter your life with things that are unnecessary.

LX October Newsletter

Open publication - Free publishing - More discipleship

madrap bliss: simple things that make me happy

blowing bubbles, including bubbles in the bath

jumping in big rain puddles (only when in warm Zululand rain)

a perfect cup of tea made by a friend

so fast

Do you also find yourself saying, “life is going by so fast, I wish I could slow it down!”? Finding yourself in life’s rat race where days, weeks, months or even years might pass by before we take the time to raise our heads above the scrum and evaluate where we are now and where we’re going.

In the two weeks just past I decided to eliminate all that stuff that was causing me to rush through life and be ‘bogged down’. I went on one big fast! I fasted from food (even tea!), sport, social events and I traded it with reading, walking and praying. Being the first time having ever done something like this I had no idea what to expect, all I had was the certainty to do it. Initially I tried keeping it private because I found it to be an incredibly personal journey that I was on, but I soon found out that not eating, playing sport or socialising starts raising some eyebrows. So the private idea changed and the few times I shared a little more elaborately on what I was doing I felt inclined to write about it too.

I found the whole experience to be quite profound! My primary purpose was to simplify and focus. I never expected one of the most powerful lessons of the battle of wills within myself. When temptation to break my fast crept in, like when there was a little bite sized cookie left on the table that no-one would notice if I nicked it, or at home when I had some yummy food stashed in my fridge, it became a glorious battle! I had a dialogue that went something like this, “what would it matter, no-one will really notice, no-one would really care, what difference would it make to eat or not to eat; and then came the counter. . but wait, remember why have I decided to do this, what do I want to see happen here, what do I want these days to look like when I reflect on them afterwards?” And often, quite suddenly, the temptation would dissipate completely. And through this self-talk cycle I created a habit of resisting temptation and keeping my eyes on the target, the end goal, and maintaining a strong focus on how I want it to look when I get there. It was amazing to see how my actions would fall in line with my vision when my vision became clear.

I was asked if I had found, reached or got to what I was hoping to see come out of these two weeks? Because, to be honest it would have been great to be able to say I had some big life revelations, or epiphanies, but I didn’t. Cos don’t we all wish we could just have it all figured out! What I do have now is a clearer vision, a healthier set of priorities, a knowledge and habit that my self-control can be stronger than my selfish will and I have a greater sense of peace that I haven’t had in many years.

Transformation of Youth at Risk: rocktober

Transformation of Youth at Risk: rocktober: by Mandy Rapson: I picked up the guys and their luggage from their homes in Ocean View where they said goodbye to their families for the lon...

madrap wisdom #13

"Our lives are controlled by our minds, so lets start being mindful about our lives." Cobus Oosthuizen

Agapate: Craziness, I know! That is why I wanna do it!

Agapate: Craziness, I know! That is why I wanna do it!: The first thing people say when I tell them about the 250km self sufficient desert race I am doing in October is, "are you out of our mind!...

sustainable change

This is part of LifeXchange’s coined slogan; Holistic sustainable transformation of youth-at-risk.  But, it’s very hard to measure a point at which this is reached, it’s not a tick in a check box or a graduation from a 3 month life skills programme, so how does one know when you’ve reached it?  We have a complex list of developmental criteria which helps us know this, but so much of it is only known when the youth are ‘put to the test’ in a situation which previously would have turned out very different, here’s an example:

Three guys were asked to play in a team for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament at UCT.  It just so happened that there was no-one around who could go with them on this particular occasion, and so I had to hand over the responsibility to them.  It felt like the moment when a parent takes the training wheels off and lets the child ride for the first time without them.  You realize at that moment that suddenly the room for error is so huge! 

On this big day, they woke up on time, met with their inbound lift, managed the money I gave them for their train and taxi rides back, they found the team they were meant to be playing for, made friends, of course being the brilliant athletes that they are they played brilliantly.  They also performed successfully as part of a team, they communicated well, they responsibly turned down offers of beers and smokes during and after the games.  They were polite, well mannered, looked people in the eye and said their thank you’s and independently made their way back home.  But, even greater than that…..they did this without one single instruction or mention of what was expected of them.  THAT is sustainable change!  So exciting!