There are a number of times I get asked what the 7th Element is, why did I chose it and where does the idea come from … well parts of the journey go something like this:

I grew up travelling around mining towns with my parents & siblings all over Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia & Botswana), and never really spent long enough in one place to build life long friendships. I always busied myself playing sport and cruising around, when I got bored I got off my butt and went to do something, anything really. There were a number of people who partook in these activities with me, but the friendships never progressed beyond a certain level. At home, the family dynamic was not a totally healthy one, and certainly not one that I understood at all, all I knew is that I didn’t always fit in … for the record, my parents always provided for us really well and did the very best that they could and for this I am always grateful! I did not appreciate the complexity of adult relationships, living etc … another story all on its own!

As I went through the younger years of my life, I made many mistakes and was not even sorry for some of them. It wasn’t that I had no regard for the consequences, it was more of an attempt to seek out some love and acceptance by getting noticed in the situation. All the moving around and change was pretty fun in some respects, but going to boarding school aged 13 was a major shock to my life! I took about 9 months to settle into it and accept the whole process. I grew more distant from my parents and learnt that I needed to be OK on my own … no amount of words spoken would make it easier.

After high school, I went to study and after this came the working world … and that is here to stay for a while I guess. Throughout this journey called life, with all the ups & downs introduced by circumstances and change (seemingly the only constant thing too), I came to know that there was another constant element that was always there, regardless of the change and how things were going, also not based on my performance as a human being too. This constant was the Lord, and it’s not something that I shout out to other people, trying to get them to see / believe / trust in Him, it’s my own personal relationship! For you that’s your journey and it a very personal one too. It’s certainly steadied and helped me all the days, I would not say it’s been easy, but it’s mine and I own it.

So that forms the God part of my journey. A number of years ago I wanted to get a domain registered (not even sure for what at that stage to be honest, seemed like a good idea) and spent about 2 months trying to find something smart, something memorable to others, and then it all dawned on me that I was looking in the wrong place. It had to be about me and my journey, something personal. The Lord has and will always will be a cornerstone of this journey I am on, so this would have to be a major piece of the puzzle, and to represent that I always think about the number 7 being His number.

For me the journey has not always been consistent from my side, I grow and change, what goals motivate me, what I am focussed on and what I aim to achieve also shifts through the course of life. Outside factors, relationships, there are just too many things to take into account, and that introduces the variability in life. We all have this variability, whether or not we like it or can manage it. This is where I drew the element from, and this elemental aspect of my life certainly had an impact on my walk. It will always too …

The Lord will always be constant, I will always work to have better balance and sometimes I will get this waxed and other times not so much. In the end, there will always be an element of the Lord at work in my life regardless of how well or badly my life is going, and this for me is the 7th Element.

It’s personal, it’s mine, and I love it!