• the NEW updated LoKoP course by Brittney Serpell (Danny’s daughter talking about parenting children and teens of her own in this new technology era)

• Developing a leadership culture – great for business leadership

• People helping people – for any of us who support our friends or the community this is a great course on how not to ‘over care’ and have good boundaries

• Parenting sexuality – there are a lot of places your child can hear about sex, let them hear it from you.

• Successful confrontation – tools to break out of painful cycles, meet needs effectively and establish deeper levels of comfort and connection in your relationships.

• Priority of connection – tools for helping the children in your life to live powerfully and responsibly

• Defining the relationship – a 10 step journey to build a foundation for a powerful healthy marriage

• And more…

Danny Silk’s Life Academy has been an amazing experience for me. It is an online course that I have been completing and I would highly recommend it to anyone. There are so many incredible, practical life lessons and deep teaching from the word which reveals the very heart and nature of our God when it comes to our relationships, our parenting, our leadership, our actions and our love.

One of the things that stood out for me was from the Leadership Track, was where Danny illustrates the importance of connection with the people you're surrounded by and in relationship with. He uses an illustration talking about the California Redwoods, a vast forest of trees aged about 1500 years old, standing 30 stories high, lining the coast of California.

For centuries these trees have been hit year in, year out with winds and storms and hurricanes and haven’t gone down. The interesting thing about these trees is that the tap root of any normal tree is typically 30% of the height of the tree that means these redwoods should have 100 foot tap root. But the California Redwoods only have a 6 foot tap root. The reason why these gigantic trees are able to withstand such incredible elements is because they have a lateral root system which stretches out and holds on to each other, pulling tighter and tighter until there’s no wiggle room. When the storms come they don’t go down because they’re holding onto each other. There’s strength in their unity, their partnership and covenant with one another to hold onto each other and keep each other standing up. It’s an “I'm not going down because you’re not going down,” mentality. And a “You’re wellbeing depends on me hanging onto you and vice versa”.

This is a beautiful picture of what it should be like working with people in the workplace, church life, family, relationships and parenting. We can either hold each other up or pull each other down and it’s what we bring into our relationships that determines the strength of our relationship and covenant with one another.

Our lives and our wellbeing depends heavily on the people we’re surrounded by and are in covenant with, more than most would realise or choose to believe. It’s how we were created, to depend on each other and to need others to sharpen us, strengthen us and be blessed by.

God never designed us to be alone or to be isolated. In fact even after God had created the earth and all living things in it, including Adam, He says in Genesis 2:18, “...’it is not good for the man to be alone…’”. This was in a time before sin, where humankind had PERFECT relationship and harmony with God, where God was completely and readily available to us. Yet Adam’s aloneness was, in God’s own words, “NOT GOOD”. God creates Eve, founding human relationships and covenant. It’s this design of relationship and covenant with each other that completes creation in Genesis.

Proverbs 18:1 says, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire, he breaks out against all sound judgment.”

It’s not good for us to be alone, we need each other. Therefore our relationships matter, our connection to one another matters and our commitment to each other matters. The people around you and their idea and practice of covenant has an impact, for good and for bad.

We must not only choose those relationships wisely but we need to COMMIT to those relationships and covenants in order for us to become strong, powerful and healthy people. The strength and health of those relationships determine the strength and health of your life and wellbeing. The storms of life will not take us out if we commit to our covenant with one another, to hold each other no matter what is thrown at us.

Zac Wassenburg (Parklands Youth Pastor)