A brush with greatness

A while ago I read that I live in the second most desirable climate on earth. Realising how deprived I was from awesome ocean sunrises, I vowed to go and see one at least once a week.

Timing is essential, because about 45 minutes prior to sunrise, there is a bright red glow on the ocean which is not to be missed. As the season turns, this time slot shifts. Sometimes it only lasts the briefest of moments. Getting it right is so rewarding.

No artist can really copy that scene and no camera can see what the human eye sees when the red glow appears. This doesn't diminish the actual sunrise, but adds to the experience. A touch of awe. A brush with greatness.

Watching that ball of fire slowly rise from the ocean horizon untill the deep blue changes to sapphire diamanté stills the soul and revives the spirit. 

Not surprisingly, everyone else seemed to be there for the same reason: a brush with greatness. 

Without diminishing our Creator, I just need to say that where people converge for the same reason, sometimes an earthly brush with greatness  happens too. 

And that is exactly what happened one morning when I was "walking the glow". I passed a lady walking two unique Frenchies (French Bulldogs), one was engaging me visually with intent and the other was in a doggie "wheelchair". 

The owner allowed them to greet me. They were on their best behaviour and loving the attention. We all went on our way, and I couldn't help but feel something extraordinary just happened. 

Much later after sunrise I was on my way to leave when I passed the same dogs and owner ready to get into their car. She was busy removing the "wheelchair brace" as the other dog immediately ran to me, very excited to see me again, getting up on my knee with one paw while looking straight into my soul. Words cannot describe the connection. When I looked up the owner smiled and after a quick chat we said goodbye.

The brush with greatness lingered, and that evening I realised this person was a really important person's assistant and well known in our country. The way she carried the full life experience of the close working relationship with this VIP just touched my soul. 

A brush with greatness transcends all differences in that moment and you become aware of the fleetingness of the human existence. It instantly reduces everything to the most important basics of life. It triggers a decluttering of the soul and the awakening of the spirit. 

God's got this..... He always does.

Bread

We describe the birth of a baby as a miracle, but when that baby grows old and leaves this life, we fail to see a miracle in that.

Yesterday I went to a life celebration of someone I have befriended over the last three years. Gerhard was a baker. Ciabatta. An authentic believer in delivering a product of utmost excellence.

The rarity of such passion was infectious and the bread addictive. The reason for that only disclosed itself after a while when Gerhard handed me my bread one day, saying: "The Bread of life is why I do this". 

A couple of days later I was in church and the pastor read from the Message: 

John 6:35&38 "Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.

And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own agenda but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.""

This is what Gerhard meant when he said the 'bread of life'. To me, this is what I experienced without even knowing it. It was as if I was fed by Jesus. Gerhard did exactly what this scripture says.... he mirrored Jesus and never followed his own agenda except to follow the will of God his Father.

The miracle of his spent life we celebrated yesterday lies in die linger of the real Bread of Life. To know Him and make Him known was Gerhard's creed, this fire now burns in our hearts. 

May we draw from this and continue on the same path, feeding Jesus through what we do. Thank you Gerhard for teaching us and thank you God for using Gerhard. Now, please use me.

God's got this.

Another World

Give me a world where wise old men walk the streets without fear, revered for their wisdom. A world where children can pick up a little shiny stone and play with it without realising it is a diamond.

A world where looking people in the eye matters. A world where inhale and exhale actually reminds us daily of the God who created us.

A world where awe is still awesome and wonder is still wondrous. Where shouts of joy aren't frowned upon and loud laughter really heals the soul.

It really isn't surprising how money has swallowed time in one big gulp. These two words house worlds we cannot even comprehend.

The best Acronyms I could find were:(this is money talking)

M Many shall die for my sake, O Only a few will have me, 

N None're happy without me, 

E Everyone loves me,

Y Yet l am the root of all evil.

and

T Technical

I Instrument for the

M Measurement of

E Existence

Both hold experiences, both reveal the presence of God, Who is the Treasurer of time and money. This is where the key is to be found to complete and utter happiness. 

Finding peace diminishes money to a mere tool.

To have peace elevates time from a measuring tool to existing with purpose.

Give me a world where waiting for the sun to rise should be mandatory for all before the day starts, a world where business is conducted without clocks and wallets, where the soul and spirit are considered the best investment anyone can ever make.

Maybe then, money will let go of time and release a whole lot more of the goodness of God  on this planet.

He really has got this.

Neuroplastic

Diary of a brain aims to prompt neuroplasticity to the extent of sublime joy, wonder and deliberation of the life we're living. 

It is an AI free, completely subjective and unabashed version of my own brain's observance of what we call life. This is my neuroplastic journey, celebrating the wonder of sensory living, while learning along the way.

Speaking of which, neuroplasticity is the most recent "up there" buzz word. Why would that be? Maybe because we have never been challenged so much and encountered such competition to our physical neuro design such as now. It is 2026. 

In the same way our lungs need oxygen, our brain does too. And both also need water. Both elements are crucial to our survival. 

A brain cannot live without the body because its oxygen and hydration is breathed and ingested by the body before it gets to oxygenate and hydrate our grey matter.

Neuroplasticity hinges entirely on the provision of these elements. The elements of life. They cannot be created by man, they are gifted from our Creator into our biosphere. Combine that with human blood which also cannot be copied, and you get a virtual self sustaining unique life form like no other. 

Transformational. Regenerative. 

Incredible.

While man can extract oxygen from other elements such as water, and water from other compounds, the core molecular structure of both are extremely difficult to reproduce. Especially in vast quatities such as creating a planetary atmosphere.

Maybe we cannot make them because some things weren't meant to be man made, copied or human-generated at all. 

That's all there is to say.

Take a moment to just let that go a little deeper.

God's got this because He authored our neuroplasticity in the finest of details.

Zoom out

AI is the new thing, right? Ummm..... One has to wonder though. To me, AI has so far generated more conundrums  than there are answers for in this AI revolution.

For one, the overriding of our unique human brain and all its wonderfully designed qualities is seriously being undermined and it doesn't seem to bother anyone.

Much like the way the injections overrode our bodies' immune system during the abominable virus lockdown.

Let's swing the pendulum over to the world of superheroes and villains.

Have you ever noticed all the villains have a PhD? There's Dr No, Dr Doom (really?) and don't forget Dr Hannibal Lecter who won our sympathy because he was a forensic psychiatrist (nervous chuckle). All of them a little off-kilter.

On the flip side, the heroes all stopped at a Master's degree, like Master Miyagi, Master Shifu or the Chuck Norris of the hero/villain world, Luke Skywalker himself!

A farm boy turned Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker is a cultural icon representing hope and the triumph of good over evil.

Their "qualifications" aside, all of the above are characters feeding human imagination on the world entertainment stage. 

As all things, it originated from reality and portrays good and bad in a sort of surreal unrealistic way. The life way.

My point? The human brain has evolved into its own extinction pattern. We are slowly replacing the superior  neuroplasticity qualities our brain needs and don't even realise it.

It is already happening and we have AI to thank for it. Welcome to Big Brother era: don't think, we'll do it for you.

AI has already begun to reverse the triumph of good over evil in such a way that hope won't bother us too much in this faceless world. 

I feel like I need to say it again.

Both the hero and villain world are driven by personal passions, pain, and moral choices, while an AI world is defined by efficiency, optimization, often cold rationality and diluted accountability.

I'd rather be a Luke Skywalker whose brain is into problem solving and critical thinking, fighting for a human race who has forgotten to live like there is no tomorrow. 

Life was created by God and He put us in it for a reason.

So zoom out and réálly take a step back. 

Keeping it real has never made more sense than now. Remember, we are living on a blue speck inside a vast cosmic universe far surpassing AI.

God's got this.

Friday 27 March 2026: Lockdown: Looking Back

Today, exactly 6 years ago, we woke up to a quiet world: It was "deep lockdown". 

No runners, cyclists or dog-walkers in the streets, no frustrating school run traffic (apart from the essential services). 

We weren't allowed outside,  alarm clocks went off a little later. Work-life resumed in sweats with a long day of zoom calls for the dad and student sharing our matchbox living.

I decided to post a blog every day, after I realised my job was an utterly unsuccessful online disaster. 

Resigned to being the chief cook and bottle washer, I honed my baking skills for morning and afternoon tea breaks when the men stepped out of the screens they were operating in.

After we realised this wasn't over at the end of the first 21 days, life sort of settled into an unorthodox rhythm of blurred lines as we all attempted the new normal of "@worklivesleepeatsocialise" all in one space. 

Fortunately the human race (especially in South Africa) posesses the ablility to joke about happenings such as this. 

My fellow matchboxers were called my Quaranteam and Antisocial Distancing became the new avoidance excuse.

The day we heard we were allowed to get takeaway coffee, was widely celebrated. My coffee friend Natasha and I were like cowboys, constantly dashing to new coffee stops serving takeaways, yearning for a little interlude of real people connecting.

Other things deserving a mention is the toilet paper crisis, all the criminal-looking people in the supermarkets and discussions in the queue about the 'strip-and-wash' routine after shopping trips. On day 1 we discovered the refusal of sales in the electronics and shoe departments after our brand new microwave broke and junior realised he was out of stokeys.

All of us have stories of where we were when we heard and what we felt throughout. This is the unifying factor literally every single human being can identify with when looking back to Lockdown.

On this day 44 years ago, my journey with the love of my life started when he visited me for the first time. Little did we know we would experience such a thing as a lockdown in this lifetime. 

Looking back helps to focus on the way forward. May we all stretch out to what is yet to come, with our God firmly in the driver's seat. He really has got this.

Monday 23 March 2026: 6 years

Exactly 6 years ago, also a Monday, the abominable virus elicited a lockdown  announcement which was implemented four days later. 

I distinctly remember first thinking, "aaaagggh they won't go through with this" and then, "how bad can 21 days really be, we all need a good rest"......., ha - ha.

As the four days flew by, my  brain was screaming,  "Brakes!!!! Put on the brakes!"

I wondered if anybody ever stopped to think about this, I mean really think about the ridiculouseness of what they were about to do.

Today I am wondering if any of the people who started it actually look back now and realise the incomprehensibility of shutting down the world. 

That is, of course, 

assuming there was no distinct plan of getting the whole world to be só scared of an abominable virus 

they would actually agree to the most preposterous thing ever in the history of mankind.

In retrospect not even one regulation of this world shutdown ever made sense. Even more so, none of them actually worked. 

For me, the only valid thing was to alert people to the importance of washing your hands properly / sanitising.

What I rather would want to remember is the amazing ability of us normal people who had to survive no matter what, with a special salute to all those in essential services!

 

So here's to the ones who literally beat the virus and  those who helped them do it, the ones who reimagined themselves and their businesses (both online and physically) and those who stood their ground even with the birth and rapid takeover of artificial intelligence.

Despite the obsessive hoarding of coffee, chocolate and preferred alcoholic beverages, we managed to come out of this a tad less serious about life in general.

And we learned to trust the One who is still eternally changeless, our Light in the darkness:

God, who still has got this.