PegLegs and Me

  Part I (by Danie) I had a very vivid and significant dream a few years ago. I found myself in a small rowing boat with both my wrists chained to the oars. My surroundings were thick, like mist, and dark, very dark. I could not see anything around me, but I could hear splashes and moaning. I was surrounded by other little rowing boats which were bumping against each other but not moving in any direction. The moaning was from the others sitting in their own little boats, chained to their oars just like me. Why was nobody doing anything? I waited a while, listening, observing, trying to figure things out. But my patience quickly ran out and I took hold of my oars and started pushing the others away from me to make room for movement. Using all the strength within me I started rowing, beating the water with determination, until I finally realized that I had moved away from the crowd of rowing boats. I continued rowing through the darkness, not knowing where I was rowing to, but also...

  Someone commented that a few of our blog posts are negative and blasphemous, however, it is not our intention to dissuade anyone from their beliefs. Remember, this is our story, our interpretation of our experiences, and every part of it is the truth. Part I (by Danie) Stockholm Syndrome became the name of a mental condition after a bank-robbery-gone-wrong which took place in Stockholm, Sweden. (There’s a brilliant 2019 movie with this name which we highly recommend.) On August 23, 1973, convicted thief Jan-Erik Olsson, 32, tried to rob a bank in downtown Stockholm while on furlough from prison. Police responded quickly, and a standoff ensued. Olsson, armed with a submachine gun, took four bank employees’ hostage and demanded 3 million kronor, a bulletproof vest and a getaway car. He also demanded that his former jail mate, Clark Olofsson, be released from prison and brought to the bank. Authorities agreed. The drama played out on live television in Sweden as police tried...

I am definitely old school, and I had the privilege of doing my mechanical training under real old school tradesman. The skills I learned as a young apprentice was what made me into a good mechanic. I was born to be a worker and I enjoyed it. I grew up on a small farm and loved every bit of it. School was not my happy place, on the contrary, I hated it and left when I was sixteen years old. My heart’s desire was to farm, but I ended up becoming a diesel mechanic apprentice instead. I soon learned that this was a hard trade and that tradesman were tough as nails and loved to curse. I had some amazing tutors (qualified mechanics) who taught me my trade. I quickly learned that it’s a really tough job and very often, an ungrateful job. There are many white-collar people who look down on tradesman and this is something I encountered many times, even as a business owner. But what would the rich and famous do if there were no tradesman and laborers? Do the job themselves? Growing up amo...

  I can say with all honesty that there are times when life sucks. There are many things that I need to deal with and I always try to keep an attitude of gratitude. Smile and Wave – that’s my motto. Remaining positive is not always easy but I try. However, I’m not going to be writing about my moods in this piece. Once again, I will be writing about old PegLegs. Danie once asked me whether I ever contemplated divorce. I can honestly say I never have, but murder has often crossed my mind. One thing I can say for sure, it’s not been easy but at least it hasn’t been boring. I’ve been married to Danie for thirty-seven years and have had plenty of time to learn and adapt to his health conditions and mood swings (which I’ll discuss below). He has been a diabetic since the age of ten which ultimately led to his current health challenges, including the amputation of both his lower legs, heart failure and Celiac disease . Thankfully it didn’t all happen at one time. In his trade as a diese...

  In all of our Blog posts we share a little piece of our journey. I’d like to continue sharing some of the experiences we had during our religious days and especially when we had our own ministry. People are very quick to judge us and criticize the methods we used to “save souls”. If we didn’t believe with all sincerity that what we were doing was the right thing TO do, we wouldn’t have done it. There are so many wounded individuals strewn over life’s battlefield and so few hands reaching out to them, not to mention funds with which to do something. The bible says in James 2 vs 14 – 26 that faith without works is dead. For us, doing the right thing was not just words, it meant putting our words into action. As mentioned before, we were not bench warmers. We lived what we preached. It was during the prison ministry days that I realized that most of the convicts with which I worked, were addicts. We knew nothing about treating addicts and if we were going to help these guys, we ...