about
my own journey
you have probably also been wrestling with some of the challenges that I have struggled with
... even as a 100% committed follower of Christ
- Deep frustration with the apparent superficiality and meaninglessness of so much of our 21st Century lifestyle.
- An ongoing, lifelong search for a deeper sense of purpose & "calling" to give myself to unreservedly.
- Disillusionment at times with some people, some business colleagues, even some of "the church".
- Then … totally shattered & utterly disillusioned with God, when He allowed my business to go insolvent through the dishonesty of others … I was totally unprepared for that!!!
- Utterly desperate and alone in my pain, not knowing what is happening to me, or, who I can possibly turn to in my crisis that, a) could really help me, and b) would not patronise me and make me feel even more hopeless.
- An overwhelming feeling of failure, and despairing fear for my future … while still feeling totally responsible for my wife and children’s wellbeing and future, plus my Staff and Clients, too!
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I have experienced some extremely desperate lows on this journey ... that sense that God is definitely not speaking to me ... if I ever even knew His voice, and ... if He even really exists?!
What some refer to as "the dark night of the soul" is REAL! And it sucks.
the truth be told...
the pain has not been in vain
this journey has empowered me to see everything differently and to Live increasingly out of that revelation
- The first massive breakthrough came when I was given a clear understanding of exactly who I am, based on soundly accredited science. Suddenly a whole lot of things started to make sense to me, at last!
- Knowing who I am not was just as empowering, as it permitted me to let go of a lot of the performance pressure that I put onto myself.
- But, even more importantly, I discovered real, practical "lenses" that instantly allow me to view so much about people and life in a vastly more constructive and relational way. That was BIG, and it continues to be, every day!
- And, here is the best part of it all - for the first time I was able to fully reconcile all of that with what God says about His purposes for us, right from His original motivation in creating humanity, through to our calling/purpose today. Goodbye to "cognitive dissonance"!
- And, on top of all that I finally had a real plan for stepping into a Life that made sense and I could give myself to without reservation.
- The real bonus has been the increasing pressure/coercion/encouragement from family, friends and colleagues to make this available to many more people. As my ex-partner in the coaching practice, Jacques van Heerden, said recently to me …
“Alan, you are a ‘Life Architect’.
Many, many more people can benefit from what you have.
Just get on with it now!
As I learn to function increasingly “in the Zone”, I am able to Live with passion and conviction, doing what I love and comes most naturally.
Out of my experiences and learning I am now helping others to do the same. Win! Win!
I am now focusing all of my energy into:
– empowering as many people as possible to benefit from the Optimal Life model that I have developed.
– writing on the subject, while developing a range of practical courses for implementation primarily through church groups.
Most of my time is currently dedicated to writing and to developing my Optimal Life programme further, but I love to Mentor & Coach,
so I do accept a few Private Clients.
We Mentor & Coach for Optimal Life…
never for "performance" - that follows naturally.
health & wellbeing
An entirely different facet, is my passion for an all round healthy lifestyle.
– completed my first Ironman 70.3 triathlon at age 60.
– have completed many half marathons and shorter running races, as well as various Cycle Tours.
– also educated myself regarding nutrition. I now follow a “fairly” strict, but not legalistic, Low Carb Healthy Fat approach to diet. Doing so, I lost 13kg of “middle age spread” and now race on ketones, not carbs.
– have had a lot of pleasure from helping others to lose weight, eat more healthily, and to train and race successfully, with much greater enjoyment.
born to soar
unafraid, clear visioned, focused, clear direction, high vantage, stress-free, strong
...in Christ
my current worldview
I deeply respect your need for me to "nail my colors to the mast", for you to know clearly the foundation of my entire approach to Life.
As a Christ follower, my worldview is the lens through which I see each aspect of my life, from beliefs, to purpose, values, priorities ... everything!
I have journeyed with the Lord “through thick and thin” since 12th April 1974.
A watershed has been learning increasingly to get the bigger perspective of God’s eternal purposes with mankind, and how to really live from there, always.
Yet, this has been an iterative process of zooming in to the details of a particular Biblical situation or concept, then zooming back out to see it in the huge context of His eternal purpose.
So much of God’s purposes with mankind was magnificently distilled down from the whole counsel of scripture to a few clear principles in Jesus’ profound “high priestly prayer” recorded in John 17:
- Before even space/time existed, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit lived in perfect relationship (“perichoresis” – the divine dance) on the basis of primarily two things … love and ”doxa” – translated as “glory”, or, a very high level of "honor".
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In that context God said, “Let us make mankind in our image”. It seems that “image” was primarily the ability and purpose to have a relationship with Him, and out of that, with one another, also on the basis of love and honour.
A glorious and profound mystery!
We perform best when we know how to do Life.
with that as context for God's intended relationship with us...
- After an undisclosed period of walking in that perfect relationship with God on earth, Adam & Eve abandoned that relationship, as well as their innocence, for the knowledge of good and evil.
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This was at best utterly futile and self-defeating, as God’s ways are incomprehensibly higher/better than our ways are, as stated in Isaiah 55:8,9
actually, billions of light years higher! -
Every one of us, even the greatest, wisest theologians, get mere fleeting glimpses of God, at best; which is extremely good to understand. This will be so for as long as we are mortal – i.e. until we see Him face to face and know as we are known by Him. 1 Cor.13:12
This profound truth forms a foundational part of our Optimal Life approach, as it has huge implications for the way in which all humans do every relationship ... - “Because, this is how God loved the world (‘kosmos’ – the physical earth and its inhabitants) ... He gave His one and only Son, so that whosoever puts their trust/faith in Him will not die, but will have eternal life. Because, God did absolutely not send His Son into the world to condemn the world (kosmos), but, so that the world(kosmos) may be saved through Him." John 3:16, 17
- “… because Christ’s love compels/preoccupies us … so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and woke up from death; so that we, from now on, see/perceive nobody according to their physical form … And, all things are from/out of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has then given to us this ministry of reconciliation, just as God was through Christ reconciling the world (kosmos) to Himself, not reckoning their lapses/deviations/errors against them, and has entrusted to us the word of reconciliation. Certainly/accordingly, we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, exactly as if God were calling you nearer through us – we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God!” 2 Cor.5:14-20
- Out of relationship with God through Christ, and compelled by His love, we are His mandated custodians of this earth, and we are His agents of reconciliation of all to Him ... until He returns to finalize and consummate all that He planned before the beginning of time, and is steadily implementing.
