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  • 2019 has been a crazy year. I’m grateful to have been able to document it in this notebook. It’s a Leuchtturm1917 B5 composition notebook. 2020 will be starting with a Seawhite Travel Journal. No lines because 2020 is looking like it will be a crazy year.

    → 3:58 PM, Dec 31
  • One of the best things I’ve learned about reading the Bible is that what’s more important than being consistent with your Bible reading plan is being consistent with picking it up again when you miss a day.

    → 5:19 PM, Dec 30
  • My wife managed to get a photo of my kids’ hands in the mittens that I knit them for Christmas this year. Note to self: next time you’re knitting for all of the kids, choose something that doesn’t come in pairs!

    → 3:21 PM, Dec 29
  • My first time making baguettes. They turned out so much better than I thought they would!

    → 1:14 PM, Dec 28
  • Fave8 2019

    2019 was a year full of highs and lows. The first seven months were spent in Liverpool doing ministry in a hard place. I studied biblical counselling and how to see the smallest positives as examples of God working in big ways.

    Taking my son, Liam, to his first ⚽️ match was a huge joy and won me over to the beautiful game.

    I had a surprise day off and the weather was beautiful. Tracy, Owen and I took the opportunity to spend the day in Liverpool One while the big kids were in school.

    At the last minute, we were able to book a holiday home in Cornwall for the May holiday. It ended with Owen being very unwell and a 10-hour drive but it was an amazing time in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

    One of our favourite things to do in Liverpool was walk down the road to Stanley Park so the kids could burn some of their energy.

    It was also a year where I found myself unexpectedly separated from my wife and kids. August and September were the hardest time of my life. I had no way of going to see them and had to spend my days reading the Bible and praying about ministry opportunities in Europe while we wait the 12 months that are required before I apply for a new visa to the UK.

    My first week back in 🇺🇸 was actually kind of nice. Tracy and I got to travel without the kids. It was a joy to have uninterrupted conversations.

    I left 🇺🇸 and landed in 🇵🇱 in mid-September. Since arriving, I’ve learned a lot about working with different church cultures and a lot about how to sing in a foreign language. Benny the Irish Polyglot talks a big game about how Polish isn’t that difficult to learn but he is so very wrong.

    Tracy and the kids joined me at the start of October. Since then, we’ve been homeschooling and trying to see as much of Warsaw as we can by public transport.

    In November Tracy and I celebrated 11 years of being married. We called this year the Spinal Tap year because we’ve gone to 11.

    It’s a strange thing to be missing Christmas traditions from two different countries while we live and serve in a third. It was a quiet day and the kids played with their toys all day long.

    This was not the year I thought it was going to be. Not by a long shot. But, in the end, it was a good year.

    Here’s to 2020.

    → 11:30 AM, Dec 27
  • The trouble with retention and removal

    I read an article that was written in response to this one from Christianity Today.

    It is no secret to those close to me that I have disapproved of Trump’s election since the beginning. I found it entirely laughable that he was even running. It made as much sense as Kanye West proclaiming that he was also going to run for president.

    I’ve been fortunate enough to have left Twitter behind a while ago so I have only seen the president’s tweets within the context of quotes. While admitting that his excessive use of caps lock is consistent with people who don’t actually understand technology, I think that the greatest act of patriotism right now would be for an aid somewhere to disable caps lock in that phone. (It’s right there in keyboard settings, it’s really easy to do).

    But that isn’t why I find myself compelled to write this. The main issue that I see happening with regards to the current discourse on this subject is that Christians in support of Trump are assuming that the ends justify the means.

    We don’t laud a father who is completely absent from his children’s lives because he is addicted to his job and providing a nice lifestyle for them. At least that father’s children don’t laud him.

    If you’re in the same camp as me, theologically, you don’t speak well of churches that are only filled because there’s a great show with no content. You speak against the pragmatism that says “but so many people are hearing the gospel!” You speak against it because you know, in reality, those people aren’t hearing the gospel.

    If it is true that the President of the USA has abused his power, he needs to be removed from office. This is only a partisan issue because we live in a time where facts and truth have no place in the public conversation. What we have here isn’t simply two sides arguing over who gets to be king of the castle.

    Incidentally, the most childish statement that I have read so far about this whole thing comes from Peter Leithart for First Things:

    There are times when you have to oppose something just because you shouldn’t give the satisfaction of victory to its supporters.

    This isn’t an appeal to Christian morals. This isn’t even trying to ignore the facts of the case. This is, pure and simple, stupidity. This is a child who destroys their toys because if they can’t have it, nobody can.

    It is true that there will be a huge amount of public unrest if Trump is removed from office. But if we are only keeping him in to keep the peace, we are admitting that the truth doesn’t actually matter.

    What I want to know is what we will be willing to let slide next.

    → 10:05 AM, Dec 21
  • I own and heavily use a single-column ESV journaling Bible. My wife got it for my for our anniversary (all my other Bibles are either in storage in Liverpool or in my parents’ basement in America. I also just bought the ESV Digital Scripture Journal set and I have zero regrets.

    → 8:45 PM, Dec 19
  • Our church had a Wigilia(Christmas Eve) party this past Sunday. 🎄

    → 4:09 PM, Dec 17
  • I don’t believe I can overstate the fact that Pinterest has made a significant chunk of online search completely useless.

    → 1:35 PM, Dec 17
  • Homemade eggnog, courtesy of Serious Eats, chilling in the fridge. I swapped out the rum for bourbon and decided to do the cocktail shaker version instead of the meringue version because I do not have the time to whip egg whites by hand. 🎄

    → 3:24 PM, Dec 16
  • Christmassing. 🎄

    → 9:54 PM, Dec 15
  • Christmassing. 🎄

    → 4:18 PM, Dec 14
  • If I time things just right, my commute home (a journey which takes 30 minutes in the other direction) takes about two hours. 🤦‍♂️

    → 2:54 PM, Dec 13
  • → 2:37 PM, Dec 13
  • I got the first draft of my sermon on Ephesians 2:1-10 done today. It’s my first time preaching Paul and my first time preaching with a translator.

    → 3:09 PM, Dec 12
  • We’ve got a 7-year-old on our hands!

    → 1:42 PM, Dec 10
  • Sermon prep for the first time for our church in Warsaw. It’s still so crazy to me that I was absolutely horrified by the idea of speaking in public a year ago and now I’m preparing my fourth sermon this year.

    → 10:23 AM, Dec 9
  • I learned that I have a built in table for a cup of coffee.

    → 9:47 AM, Dec 6
  • This feels really nice. 🎄

    → 3:51 PM, Dec 4
  • One day I’ll get the hang of this watercolour thing…

    → 8:42 AM, Dec 4
  • I have to say, I don’t think I’m a fan of sunset being at 15:30.

    → 2:20 PM, Dec 3
  • One of the best parts of being an adult is no longer needing permission or justification for eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 🥣

    → 8:18 AM, Dec 3
  • I lost a battle with a cheese grater for the first time since I was a kid. 🤦‍♂️

    → 4:48 PM, Dec 2
  • American Bird Grasshopper, referencing a photo from Wikipedia.

    → 2:21 PM, Dec 1
  • I desperately miss Christmastime in the UK, but this was a nice surprise to see when I went grocery shopping today.

    → 2:01 PM, Nov 30
  • First and only shawl/kerchief of 2019, modelled by my 8yo daughter. This was also my first time making it up as I went rather than starting with a pattern. Hoping to knit some more in 2020.

    → 9:59 AM, Nov 30
  • It’s been a couple of months since my last drawing. Was a nice way to spend a bit of the evening.

    → 6:35 PM, Nov 22
  • It is no small thing that, although many centuries have passed since the Scriptures were made known, there has been continuing agreement regarding the obedience which is owed them.

    John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

    → 10:54 AM, Nov 21
  • It’s been a very rough few days, complete with a couple of days where I just didn’t write anything. Hoping to try and make up some ground this evening while my wife reads the Mistborn Trilogy.

    → 7:31 PM, Nov 12
  • It’s been a really stressful week that’s resulted in only managing to get a total of a thousand words over the last three days. What happened???

    → 7:45 PM, Nov 9
  • Somehow, I’ve actually managed to write over 10k words so far this month. I’ve never made it this far in NaNoWriMo before.

    → 9:15 PM, Nov 6
  • Wednesdays are my days for studying. I really miss working through the BCUK course and I hope to start the second year of it next year. In the meantime, I’m finally getting a chance to work through Calvin’s Institutes as well as a book on leadership that I was meant to be going through with a couple of the pastors at Trinity Church Everton.

    → 11:20 AM, Nov 6
  • Something I was expecting to happen so early in writing for NaNoWriMo this year was to actually experience the characters taking control of things. I actually put work into the plot and an outline and then my characters decided that it needed to happen differently.

    → 7:00 PM, Nov 5
  • It feels pretty good to have reached this point in my word count.

    → 9:14 PM, Nov 3
  • I hadn’t anticipated the affect that helping someone move today would have on bring able to reach my word count for NaNoWriMo. To be completely honest, getting more than a thousand words feels like a win.

    → 8:30 PM, Nov 2
  • This is from a week ago and I’m posting it as form of procrastination from getting further with the novel I am supposed to be writing right now.

    → 2:24 PM, Nov 1
  • I’m making the ill-advised decision to attempt NaNoWriMo again.

    → 12:52 PM, Nov 1
  • Still life.

    → 9:50 AM, Oct 19
  • → 6:21 AM, Oct 10
  • As someone who has now experienced multiple international moves, I really feel like using an e-reader of some sort is just a better way to consume books. Especially if you’re in a similar situation.

    → 2:23 PM, Oct 7
  • I try not to post pictures of food because my blog isn’t Instagram, but I just had an amazing vegan pastrami (I’m not vegan or vegetarian) sandwich from Krowarzywa, a vegan burger place near where I’ve been staying in Mokotów, Warsaw.

    → 5:46 PM, Sep 30
  • → 3:48 PM, Sep 29
  • Spent the day being a tourist.

    → 5:10 PM, Sep 21
  • It took coming to a country I had never considered moving to before to finally try tonic espresso. The upshot is that I can actually afford it here. This one is from MOKO kawiarnia.

    → 2:33 PM, Sep 18
  • My parting gift from my mom was a Savage Industries EDC One that she has been working on for the last six months. It’s a beautiful bag made more so by the knowledge that she made it with her hands and that the cloth it’s made from used to be a sail out at sea.

    → 9:28 PM, Sep 14
  • → 3:30 AM, Sep 14
  • My time in 🇺🇸 is almost done so it was a race against the clock to get these done. These are both for my wife who I miss so much and can’t wait to see when she and the kids get to 🇵🇱 from 🇬🇧.

    → 1:52 AM, Sep 13
  • I’m moving to Warsaw

    We finally have a way forward for my to join my family again. Over the course of this next year, I will be serving with a church plant in Wilanów, a district of Warsaw. I leave Saturday and arrive there Sunday afternoon. I’m really excited about this upcoming year but I’m still so sad to not have the chance to say goodbye to our church family in Liverpool. If you’re interested in following along or supporting our work to help reach the 30k people in Wilanów, visit our missions website.

    → 10:53 PM, Sep 11
  • Does this count as a still-life?

    → 2:29 PM, Sep 10
  • Went for an evening ride that took me through old suburbs, river front, protected wetland and farmland all in under an hour.

    → 11:16 PM, Sep 7
  • I went to my nephew’s first ⚽️match this morning. The sun was very bright and I forgot to bring a hat.

    → 8:23 PM, Sep 7
  • → 4:01 PM, Sep 5
  • Another sewing project today. I really like making these little project bags. 🧵

    → 12:40 AM, Sep 4
  • make the most of it while you can

    I’ve officially been away from my family for over a month now. It’s been really tough but I’m trying to make the most of the time that I do have on my own. I went for a 13-mile bike ride today and I just got done helping my mom sort some beans for an upcoming meal. Because I don’t actually know when I will be back in 🇺🇸 after I leave, it makes small things like this with my parents especially special.

    → 1:33 AM, Sep 3
  • → 8:03 PM, Aug 31
  • Day trip with my parents!

    → 2:52 PM, Aug 31
  • My first sewing project in ages. Wanted to make some knitting project bags while I had access to sales at the fabric store and my mom’s sewing machine. 🧵 🧶

    → 12:58 AM, Aug 31
  • I miss these faces so much. We’re working on missions opportunities on the Continent so that hopefully we’ll be all together again in a couple of weeks.

    → 8:25 PM, Aug 27
  • Another quick sketch while listening to Dear Hank & John.

    → 3:53 AM, Aug 27
  • I’m supposed to be recovering from jet lag right now, but I’m still in the States. I’ve tried to stay productive in a sense, even though the things I was working on are all in Liverpool. I did a quick illustration on my iPad today, though.

    → 7:22 PM, Aug 26
  • Familiar =/= Stable

    → 11:27 PM, Aug 23
  • An update on ministry in Liverpool and the UK

    I’ve been in the 🇺🇸 trying to renew my visa application. Today, I received the news that my visa application was refused.

    In the spring, a new law went into affect in the UK that states that those working in the UK on a Tier 5 Charity or Religious Worker Visa (the type of visa that I was on) must have a 12-month cooling-off period before being able to apply again. This is a crushing blow to our goal of doing ministry in the UK but more so for our family as I have been away from Tracy for coming up on 3 weeks and the kids for nearly a month.

    In my cohort, there are 5 apprentices and their families. 2 out of the 5 have been successful in their applications but the rest of us have been refused. For the immediate future, this means that I’m not allowed in the UK for a minimum of 12 months.

    We are still exploring what this means in terms of ministry. For now, we’re working to figure out what we need to do to be reunited as a family again. Our goal for now is still to do ministry in the UK but we may need to spend some time in Europe for now, particularly while Tracy and the kids are still entitled to live and work there without a visa.

    So please be praying for these things:

    1. Pray that we are reunited soon, as we have already been apart for too long.
    2. A path to continuing ministry would be made clear.
    3. Pray that there would be a way for the other apprentices to continue in ministry as well.
    → 4:18 PM, Aug 22
  • Fresh off the needles, the Irish Hiking Scarf. 🧶

    → 2:29 PM, Aug 19
  • Jesus knows what it’s like to be you.

    Tim Chester, Enjoying God

    → 12:47 AM, Aug 14
  • There’s a storm coming.

    → 7:24 PM, Aug 12
  • This quick painting was a race against the fading sunlight.

    → 1:12 AM, Aug 11
  • First pair of socks are officially off the needles. 🧶

    → 7:17 PM, Aug 9
  • I finished my first sock! 🧶

    → 1:31 AM, Aug 9
  • Making socks for the first time while I continue to wait for my visa and inbetween booking meetings with people.

    → 9:39 PM, Aug 7
  • Little Daisy is keeping me company while I miss my wife and kids (they’re all back in the UK while I await my visa).

    → 3:02 AM, Aug 7
  • I had a great time at a hymn sing with my friends from Cross of Christ Fellowship last night. It was a really lovely evening at the Naperville Riverwalk too!

    → 2:30 PM, Aug 6
  • I did not adequately prepare for how expensive my use of Uber while here in 🇺🇸 was going to get. Good thing I only need to do this a couple times or I would be going home completely broke.

    → 10:04 PM, Aug 5
  • The day before I arrived back in 🇺🇸 to renew my visa, there was a shooting at a food festival in California. Less than a week into my stay and there’s been a mass shooting in Texas. I really hope my visa comes back in time so I can leave again.

    → 10:41 PM, Aug 3
  • I went to a Blick Art store and got immediate and completely crippling decision fatigue.

    → 11:53 PM, Aug 2
  • Taco special from the The Jalapeño Grill.

    → 3:35 AM, Aug 1
  • Really big lunch at Colombian’s Taste with my dad.

    → 7:36 PM, Jul 30
  • MAN🛫ATL. Next stop is ORD.

    → 8:08 PM, Jul 29
  • Visa Renewal Mission, stage one has commenced with a 🚞 from Liverpool to Manchester Airport!

    → 4:23 PM, Jul 28
  • I’m getting on a plane on Monday morning and in the last two days, a new Hello Internet and a new Bonanza dropped. Not dreading the travel as much now.

    → 4:53 PM, Jul 27
  • Been trying to practice boats. Slowly getting there. Need to work on how the boards are placed still, but I’m pleased with how the overall sketch turned out.

    → 10:11 AM, Jul 26
  • As I get ready to spend nearly a month away from my family to renew my visa, days like today do a lot to give me good photos to look at while I’ll be missing them. Mike Skinner was right when he said memories are times we borrow for spending tomorrow.

    → 5:06 PM, Jul 22
  • The kids have their last day of school today and I cannot believe how much they’ve grown up since their first day.

    → 12:15 PM, Jul 19
  • Memories are time we borrow. For spending tomorrow

    The Streets, Everything is Borrowed

    → 5:35 PM, Jul 17
  • The weather has been gorgeous which means we’ve been at Stanley Park two evenings in a row! This evening we had a picnic before letting the kids play on the playground. Then it was a walk by the lakes to see the duck families. These flowers are all over the place.

    → 6:15 PM, Jul 16
  • The amazing Tom Scott just posted a new video about how we’ve managed to make intonation happen in our typing.

    → 7:29 PM, Jul 15
  • As far as education goes, particularly regarding independent study, we live in such amazing times. Looking at this as a Christian, the sheer number of good books and lecture series on Bible teaching that are available to me for free is just mind-boggling.

    → 2:56 PM, Jul 15
  • Have started to prepare my tech stuff for travelling. I’ve never done the short-term international travel before (I seem to prefer moving instead) so it’s interesting trying to find the balance between I need this for this trip and I would use this daily.

    → 1:08 PM, Jul 15
  • Daddy Date With Chloe

    Took my younger daughter out for a date in town!

    → 3:06 PM, Jul 13
  • → 6:42 AM, Jul 12
  • It hasn’t been a thing for that long but I’m already so tired of the Enneagram.

    → 8:13 AM, Jul 10
  • playing ⚽️

    The pain that I’m going to experience over the next 48 hours is completely worth the fun I had playing ⚽️ with the guys from Trinity this evening. I learned a few lessons:

    1. The shoes are the way they are so that you don’t spend most of your time slipping on the grass
    2. Playing at the park with our bags as goal posts is more fun than playing on proper pitches
    3. It really is a heck of a game
    → 8:35 PM, Jul 8
  • The big kids and I were in Southport with our church for a day-away a couple weeks ago. The youngest was at home recovering from pneumonia with my wife.

    → 8:25 AM, Jul 8
  • I’ve been back in the office today. It’s been nice, but it’s also been one of those days where my brain just feels like it’s in a fog.

    → 2:03 PM, Jul 1
  • It’s been a rough few days, but this with a coffee is a welcome reprieve before getting back to things.

    → 8:22 AM, Jun 27
  • Preaching on Luke 11:14-32

    A couple of weeks ago, I got to preach at Trinity Church Everton again. The text that I was given was incredibly difficult to get a handle on because there’s enough material there for a minimum of 2 sermons. If I was the one to divide things up, then I would have made it more like 4.

    But I digress… Here’s my sermon on Luke 11:14-32.

    → 1:15 PM, Jun 25
  • I don’t know if this is my favourite album of 2019 yet because of the Middle Kids one that was released, but it’s got a shot.

    → 6:20 PM, Jun 23
  • It’s 23 and sunny at Stanley Park! ☀️

    → 4:11 PM, Jun 22
  • Wires.

    → 4:39 PM, Jun 21
  • Sometimes, even though you planned your journey home around the fact that Bon Jovi is playing the stadium at the top of your street, it still takes 40 minutes to complete a 2-mile journey.

    → 10:41 PM, Jun 19
  • One heck of a view for my study day today.

    → 12:03 PM, Jun 19
  • Every Christian community must realise that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship.

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

    → 7:04 PM, Jun 18
  • 🎶 Come on, grab your friends… we’ll go to very distant lands… 🎶

    → 6:36 PM, Jun 17
  • I spent about ten minutes doing some drawing and noticed three things.

    1. I prefer mechanical pencil to wood-cases
    2. I really like sketching with a blue lead
    3. I need to spend more time drawing.
    → 2:11 PM, Jun 17
  • When we grow weary, God does his work.

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

    → 1:44 PM, Jun 14
  • Getting ready to look through the next part of Christianity Explored with a guy today. It’s both comforting and frustrating to know that the Word of God is what does the work of convincing.

    → 11:38 AM, Jun 13
  • New house blend from Manumit Coffee. Really looking forward to this one. It smells amazing in the bag.

    → 6:36 AM, Jun 13
  • The office tonight is this slab of hot metal while I help out with the launch BBQ for a new program our addictions ministry is running. Haven’t manned a grill like this for a few years now.

    → 5:46 PM, Jun 11
  • Mercy is so engaged by the beauty of the big things God is doing that it doesn’t have time to focus on things that are of no consequence.

    Tim Lane & Paul Tripp, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making

    → 6:52 AM, Jun 11
  • Casio (and a couple of Youtubers) have the audacity to call this a timepiece.

    → 6:43 AM, Jun 11
  • Cornwall Holiday

    We were in Cornwall a couple weeks ago. It was lovely.

    → 4:22 PM, Jun 10
  • Without a doubt, this is my favourite music release of 2019. I adored Lost Friends and this is such a great little follow up!

    → 7:38 PM, Jun 4
  • There are few blessings like having a wife who welcomes you home after a long day and tells you to lay down watching YouTube for a bit because you’re brain is completely fried.

    → 4:15 PM, Jun 4
  • Working on sermon prep, a response paper and discussion notes at Liverpool Central Library today. Quite possibly the best library.

    → 8:51 AM, Jun 4
  • Need not last forever

    Something that has kept me from opting to use ordinary fountain pen ink is a worry about something disastrous happening to my notebooks. In this instance, that catastrophe is usually water-based and being a dad makes me think about these things. I started keeping my journals with the intention of them actually being read. Jamie Todd Rubin wrote a great article on journaling and one thing I identified with was his desire to pass his journals on to his kids.

    While I would like to ensure that I do everything I can to have them available for them if they want them, I have started to feel a bit less precious about how to ensure that. I could scan my notebooks if I wanted to so that they were searchable, but I barely have the time to write in them in the first place. I guess what I’m beginning to adopt is a more fatalist approach to things that aren’t entirely in my control, at least material things. It will be really nice to have them to hand down. It won’t be the end of the world if something happens to them.

    → 7:04 PM, Jun 2
  • This article about turning off Niagara Falls is fascinating.

    → 1:17 PM, May 24
  • → 10:02 PM, May 23
  • It's not what we had hoped

    We had hoped that more people would show up.

    Right now, we are primarily holding to the truth that it’s worth doing even for just one person. And that is what is now happening. When we launched the group, there was the potential for seven or eight people to turn up. But there ended up only being the one.

    The following week, when we were getting ready to meet again, my wife became ill and so we had to cancel for a week. After that, when we got ready for it again, we ended up having nobody show up.

    I had cooked for a crowd so we’ve been eating the leftovers for the last few days.

    The one guy that had turned up ended up not being well and also not having enough credit on his phone to send me a text to say he wouldn’t be able to come. He’s a guy that I have been meeting with one-to-one for a while now and it’s been quite a task, trying to move the conversation toward the gospel.

    Anyway, my pastor and I decided the best course of action for now is to continue meeting with just this one guy to go through the material. My sincere hope is that his eyes would be opened to the truth that he still cannot see. He keeps asking for evidence but doesn’t seem sure what that evidence would be. My prayer is that I can be patient and remember that I too was once blind and unable to believe.

    → 12:27 PM, May 20
  • Christ cried to a Father who was silent as he let him die, so that you could cry to a Father who will hear you and give you what you need to live. - How People Change by Tim Lane & Paul Tripp 📚

    → 1:05 PM, May 15
  • Surprise Day Off

    Had a day off in the week because I’m working on Saturday. It’s been a good one.

    → 12:15 PM, May 14
  • It’s springtime in Liverpool!

    → 7:55 AM, May 14
  • Really enjoying getting to read a book that I don’t have to read. 📚

    → 1:01 PM, May 12
  • Catching up on some reading for my Biblical counselling course in a nearly-empty Caffé Nero. Seeing how sitting in the sunniest seat upstairs does for me after a very long, stressful week.

    → 1:58 PM, May 11
  • Just took the recycling out and found these guys (and a few more on the side of the wall) enjoying the light rain.

    → 9:37 PM, May 9
  • It’s a sad day when you finish a bag of Manumitv Coffee but didn’t order a refill in time.

    → 8:22 AM, May 9
  • Sometimes, you just need a bit of avocado toast in the morning.

    → 6:55 AM, May 8
  • Preaching on Luke 9:43-62

    On Sunday, I did something that I have been terrified of doing for a very long time. Over the course of 15 years of working toward being in full time ministry the one thing that I never really considered being something that I would do was preach.

    But this past Sunday, that is exactly what I did. Even two years ago, speaking in public was something that still felt beyond me. I would do it every other week as part of leading worship at Redeemer Fellowship but it was only in 30-second chunks. And I had my guitar to hide behind. This time, the only thing I had in front of my was a music stand holding my iPad. And I didn’t even die!

    Anyway, here is a link to the audio from the sermon that I preached at Trinity Church Everton.

    → 9:09 AM, May 7
  • A Day Out

    I’ve got thoughts still brewing on how things went on the first night of Christianity Explored, but before I share thoughts, this…

    It’s the Early May bank holiday and it was my eldest daughter’s turn to go into town with me. We had a great day in spite of the rain.

    We took the bus to Queen’s Square instead of our normal bus to Liverpool One.

    Our first stop was the World Museum. We checked out dinosaurs, ancient Egypt and the new exhibit from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

    It was very rainy for most of the day. The sun didn’t come out until we were on the bus home!

    We finished up with afternoon tea at 60 Hope Street! It was a really nice way to spend a day off and it was especially nice to spend some time with my daughter.

    → 3:48 PM, May 6
  • Doing some more studying while I roast a chicken. We’re starting this group up tomorrow and I’m really excited and more than a little bit nervous. This on top of sermon prep this week has made it a very Scripture-filled week. I am both overwhelmed and overjoyed.

    → 5:00 PM, May 1
  • “Your speech reveals your heart.” - Dr. Tim Lane

    There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” (Mark 7:15, ESV)

    → 1:40 PM, May 1
  • Really excited to give this a go. It’s coffee roasted by people who have been freed from modern slavery.

    → 6:53 AM, Apr 30
  • Evangelism in our home

    I’m really excited about starting this group up at our house this Thursday. It, like participating in the inter-faith dialogues, feels like the reason why we moved to 🇬🇧. If you’ve been following along as I’ve shared a bit about this, do be praying for the people that join us as we look at Mark’s gospel and learn about why it is such good news.

    → 2:24 PM, Apr 26
  • One of those dark and stormy night when the bus decides it doesn’t need to show up on time.

    → 8:40 PM, Apr 24
  • → 8:28 PM, Apr 24
  • This book I’m reading for my biblical counselling course is really making my brain hurt, but on the plus side, I’m marking it up with a Muji pen. My first time using one and they’re amazing.

    → 12:25 PM, Apr 24
  • The Bank Holiday

    Something that I have really, really appreciated since we have moved back to Britain is the existence of bank holidays and the fact that I am fortunate enough to be doing a job that allows me to take advantage of them. We had originally planned on making a trip to the Wirral today but have instead decided to just spend it near home in Stanley Park walking around and playing football.

    → 12:36 PM, Apr 22
  • It’s been a few weeks since I’ve painted. I always forget how nice it is to spend half an hour making something from start to finish. 6035DF3D-706E-49FA-8D50-1CC863C604A5.jpg

    → 2:29 PM, Apr 21
  • Day off in town! Just after paying £2.50 for a 99p Flake! 9F3BF1A4-3BED-4EDB-B63F-FA754FC793BA.jpg

    → 2:48 PM, Apr 20
  • Blue skies over Liverpool! AF6D15D3-D0C6-47D9-B585-B5BEE38F0661.jpg

    → 10:46 AM, Apr 19
  • Current status: starting to kind of get into opera and Bowie at the same time.

    → 11:58 AM, Apr 18
  • A brief reflection on making videos

    I’ve spent the last couple of weeks working on videos for our church’s Good Friday event. My thoughts as I look back on it are:

    • Making videos is fun
    • I want to get my own camera to keep doing this
    • iMovie is quite a lot more capable today than it was when I first used it

    It’s funny how some if the hobbies I’ve had in the past are proving to be really useful in my current ministry context.

    → 5:04 PM, Apr 15
  • Up until a year or so ago, I thought of myself as a musician. Listening back to old recordings feels really weird now, especially as I don’t even play guitar every week anymore. It’s still fun to listen to these old songs though.

    → 9:08 PM, Apr 14
  • I’ve got the party machine setup for our church Easter Quiz! 28C4080D-4CE6-4B1C-92FD-50022150A5B4.jpg

    → 6:39 PM, Apr 13
  • Today, ministry included doing some very basic stop-motion animation for a promo video our church will be sharing soon. 90AE6CAD-EF2F-4BF5-A4EB-4712ABFCC639.jpg

    → 3:36 PM, Apr 11
  • A black hole that is 500 million trillion km away still feels like it’s too close.

    → 1:38 PM, Apr 10
  • I’ve been in 🇬🇧 for a while now but have only just today been to Nando’s and I wish I had been sooner.

    → 8:28 PM, Apr 8
  • The Anglican Cathedral

    I was in town for a meet-up of other AT3 apprentices on Thursday and Friday and we were taken on a Liverpool church history tour by our director and founder, Ken.

    Fun facts are:

    The Anglican cathedral in Liverpool was only completed in 1979 in spite of the fact that it looks centuries old.

    JC Ryle, Liverpool’s first Bishop is buried there even though he was against building a cathedral in favour of planting churches instead.

    Lord Derby, who was also Lord Stanley (as in the Stanley Cup) is also buried there.

    It was a really good time getting to hang out with other Americans who are here for the same reason and hearing from Mark Pickles, director of the Northwest Partnership, and Michael Reeves, the president of Union School of Theology.

    → 6:19 PM, Apr 7
  • Considering I’ve been interrupted by my 2-year-old son, a grocery delivery, some friends picking up some stuff we stored for another friend and my wife getting home after helping out with a craft for Trinity Tots, I would say I have had a good writing day so far.

    → 11:49 AM, Apr 4
  • Normally, Thursday is a study day. For a couple of weeks it’s a dedicated writing day as I think through cultural adjustment and how to help prepare new AT3 apprentices for how it will affect their time in 🇬🇧.

    → 7:50 AM, Apr 4
  • That fact that I’ve stopped dreading Mondays still astounds me.

    → 11:32 AM, Apr 1
  • Getting a little bit better each time. This one is based on a house designed by Eric at 30x40 Design Workshop.

    → 3:55 PM, Mar 31
  • Time to do some sketching.

    → 2:17 PM, Mar 31
  • We did some furniture rearranging and now I’ve got a desk in our lounge. Now I can take advantage of the sunlight during the day.

    → 6:24 PM, Mar 30
  • → 8:18 AM, Mar 29
  • You can have all the text editing tools in the world but sometimes the words just don’t want to be written.

    → 11:44 AM, Mar 28
  • Doing a bit of sermon prep today for Bible-teaching training that will be happening on Saturday. Really enjoying writing out the text over a spread in my Leuchtturm1917 Master Slim. Working with the equivalent of an A3 sheet of paper is super-nice.

    → 10:44 AM, Mar 26
  • Got to take one of my boys to the LFC Legends charity match today with our pastor and his son. I get football now.

    → 5:39 PM, Mar 23
  • Today is the day my 6-year-old and I get to see our first ⚽️ match.

    → 1:05 PM, Mar 23
  • This post by Stephen Altrogge is a really good reminder about why we don’t feel like we have peace when we pray about our anxieties.

    → 1:31 PM, Mar 20
  • There’s a bingo night every week in the community centre where our church’s offices are kept. I’ve somehow been trusted to be left alone in a room with all of this.

    → 12:45 PM, Mar 20
  • ”What feeds us as we journey is the word of Christ. Good pasture can be found today in the Scriptures, for it’s in the Scriptures that we hear the voice of the Shepherd.”

    From The Glory of the Cross by Tim Chester.

    → 6:52 AM, Mar 20
  • Some thoughts on the interfaith event

    I’m a day or two removed from the interfaith event that was held at the local Ahmadiyya mosque. It was a really interesting time, particularly the addresses from respected scholars, a group which I somehow found myself in as a representative of Christianity. We heard from the local imam as well as the regional imam. There were representatives from the local Jewish community, city councillors, a vicar as well as people sharing about the charity work that they do.

    I really do believe that there is something to be said for dialogue between people of different faiths. What is essential, however, is that an actual dialogue is happening. With this event, it was primarily a series of monologues. Everyone was given an opportunity to speak but there wasn’t anything meaningful happening during that time.

    The real heart of the experience was actually spent before and after the event. Spending time talking with people and sharing a meal is where dialogue happens. I was able to have a conversation with a veterinary surgeon while we ate. Under any other circumstances, a conversation like that isn’t going to happen.

    Above all, what this experience helped cement in my mind is the very same thing that I have spent the last 12 weeks studying, relationships. Real, gospel ministry primarily happens in the context of conversations with people, not during keynote addresses. The ministry of the preached Word is absolutely essential to the life of the church but so is the ministry of Word being spoken of around the table. If we want to have a real, effective method of evangelism then I think that is going to happen in the context of personal ministry. Outside of that, we move too quickly to shouting for our voice to be heard above the din.

    → 12:15 PM, Mar 19
  • Nothing quite as nerve-wracking as trying to finish up a difficult paper the day before it’s due and being unsatisfied with how the paper actually turned out.

    → 8:28 PM, Mar 18
  • Cathedral.

    → 7:12 PM, Mar 13
  • ”The quality of my faith or repentance is not what counts. What counts is the one to whom we come. And I’ve come to Jesus.” - Tim Chester

    → 8:59 AM, Mar 13
  • I’m really enjoying this devotion book from Tim Chester right now. Also featured here is my beloved Kaweco AL Sport that I won in a Jet Pens giveaway a few years ago.

    → 9:35 AM, Mar 12
  • It’s been a very rough week and weekend, but finally getting a chance to do a bit of painting has helped a bit. 🎨 DF69B3D0-0829-4831-867B-8C579D340286.jpg

    → 4:43 PM, Mar 10
  • Sometimes you only need another 15 words for a paper, but sometimes those words just don’t seem to be there…

    → 3:38 PM, Mar 8
  • Working in Procreate again for another women’s event flyer for Trinity Church Everton.

    → 1:05 PM, Mar 8
  • Page one in my new Maruman Croquis S163. I think if the paper was 20-30g heavier, it would work really well for on-the-go watercolour. Not that that’s going to stop me. 29E033A2-CD1C-4F8A-902C-B2E781C2F5BB.jpg

    → 10:42 PM, Mar 7
  • Time to play around and hope that I don’t end up completely sick with whatever my kids have.

    → 9:31 PM, Mar 7
  • More showering of birthday presents!

    → 3:47 PM, Mar 7
  • My best friend/arch-nemesis wrote a beautiful poem for Ash Wednesday.

    → 10:20 PM, Mar 6
  • Getting ready to begin this with my family tonight. Really looking forward to it.

    → 6:08 PM, Mar 6
  • It’s a heck of a day when a friend gives you a book for your birthday. And then, finding out that it’s a book like this is just something else. D2B1F0AE-3DD4-4CC0-9E36-60C418E0DA2F.jpg

    → 9:42 AM, Mar 6
  • I’ve never really done anything with Lent before, but this year I’ll be reading through this and meeting weekly with one of the guys from church. I’m really looking forward to it. F92C30C1-83B1-468D-B633-8D5FA2863075.jpg

    → 7:25 AM, Mar 6
  • It’s Pancake Day!

    → 5:14 PM, Mar 5
  • There’s nothing quite like being in an office that smells of both burgers and Christmas.

    → 2:32 PM, Mar 4
  • Today is the day I began playing D&D.

    → 7:30 PM, Mar 3
  • Drawing again. Decided to signup for Skillshare after being beat over the head by ads for them. Turns out, it really is worth it.

    → 8:50 PM, Mar 2
  • If I had to use one word to describe the new Cactus Blossoms record, it would be:

    flawless

    I’ve been listening to it while walking around this morning and I really can’t find anything wrong with it. Some people were a bit unsure about the new sound, but I think it’s a really good evolution from You’re Dreaming.

    → 10:32 AM, Mar 2
  • Today was one of those days where you get to the end and you know something happened between the start of the day and now, but you can’t figure out what it was.

    → 11:49 PM, Mar 1
  • “God is willing to wait.” - C. John Miller

    → 11:38 AM, Feb 28
  • ¾ of my kids four years ago today. Our youngest was still a couple years away at this point.

    → 9:40 AM, Feb 28
  • Match.

    → 9:23 PM, Feb 27
  • How to avoid lazy praying

    I just read through this article and find it really helpful and practical, especially as it says a lot of what I am finding through my counselling course. The biggest idea of which is that the more specific you get in working through an issue, the more intense and lively your prayers will be.

    → 11:14 AM, Feb 27
  • One of my favourite things about Micro.blog being my main place on the internet is that people link to original content rather than publish it with attribution.

    → 9:00 AM, Feb 26
  • On evangelism across multiple cultures

    I’ve spent most of the day doing research on how to approach the topic of Serving Humanity. In a couple of weeks I will have the privilege of speaking during an interfaith event at a local mosque. Right now, the biggest challenges seem to be:

    1. Remembering that I am in a culture not entirely my own
    2. The same goes for those who will be attending
    3. The topic is way too broad

    This is all still really exciting because it’s exactly what my family and I came to Liverpool to do.

    → 3:29 PM, Feb 25
  • Nothing takes me back to the first year of being married to my wife like this song. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist came out the same year and quickly became one of the first films we both loved as a couple.

    → 3:07 PM, Feb 24
  • It was a joy to sing with our family at Trinity Church Everton this morning after a week away.

    → 1:00 PM, Feb 24
  • Quick little drawing based on a tutorial by Christopher Hart. My Master Slim notebook again; the initial sketch was done with a Blackwing 602, line art with an 03 Micron and then the Staedtler Noris coloured pencils that my kids say they use at school. This is fun!

    → 1:24 PM, Feb 22
  • no market, so bookstore

    The Friday market was woefully disappointing so I walked back into town and picked this up from the used bookstore, A Reader’s Dream. They haven’t got a website or anything, I don’t even think they have a phone number available. In any case, I really enjoyed the first book in Lawhead’s Pendragon cycle so I’m looking forward to this one too.

    → 11:41 AM, Feb 22
  • → 9:36 PM, Feb 21
  • A lesson from the internet: 1. it is impossible to exaggerate just how dramatically any statement can be taken the wrong way and 2. sometimes the misunderstanding is wilful rather than incidental.

    → 12:39 PM, Feb 21
  • Just graphite this time. Cheap Ryman 2B lead in a Rotring 600. Using my Leuchtturm1917 Master Slim. It’s been a good way to spend the evening.

    → 9:47 PM, Feb 20
  • Analog art is hard, but I don’t hate this and it was a good way to spend 45 minutes this evening.

    → 9:03 PM, Feb 20
  • The Country Park

    Today was a day with nothing planned so I took my 6-year-old to the park so he could burn some energy. I love Liverpool but it is nice to be spending some time this close to these views.

    → 4:24 PM, Feb 20
  • Making some more progress on the The Isla Wrap. I forgot how much I enjoy knitting.

    → 9:39 AM, Feb 20
  • the rural capital of food

    It’s our first family holiday since we’ve arrived in the UK and we are back in our old stomping grounds, Melton Mowbray. We lived here from 2010-2011 and it’s nice to be back.

    It was strange how little the town seems to have changed in the eight years since we were last here, but that’s kind of the way rural market towns are. A few shops have changed but we watched changes like that happen during the year that we spent here.

    Today, besides the kids going to the cinema with their grandparents, was about visiting the cattle and farmers market.

    The kids really enjoyed seeing the sheep and cows as well as buying toys from the market stalls. My highlight, besides picking up a copy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s massive book on raising and cooking meat (at the end of this post), was this sandwich.

    The pork was raised in nearby Rutland by Farmer Lou and came complete with stuffing and apple sauce. It was a very heavy brunch indeed.

    → 7:51 PM, Feb 19
  • Knitting for the first time in a year!

    → 12:37 PM, Feb 19
  • There’s something special about writing while listening to sad piano music and seeing the British countryside from my seat on this train.

    → 5:02 PM, Feb 18
  • February is a big birthday month for us. This time, it’s Chloe’s turn to be 8!

    → 8:07 AM, Feb 14
  • Did some baking. 🍞

    → 9:11 PM, Feb 8
  • a farm, a firehose and a broken dream

    The more time I spend away from traditional social media, the more I realise that these places are just the absolute worst at accomplishing what they originally set out to be. It’s one thing to exist as a farm/firehose for data. It’s another to be the sort of place that actually encourages the kind of thoughtful communication we seem to have completely lost.

    I see this the most when I look at what is happening right now in the battle between the pro-life and pro-choice movements. There is this endless stream of vitriol spewing forth and it’s just exhausting to see now.

    Personally, I am pro-life. I don’t talk about it much online because that’s the worst possible place to try and have a reasonable discussion about the issue. I keep seeing friends posting link after link after link to all of these horrible statistics and I keep wondering what the point is. For the most part, they are only connected with people who believe the same things.

    So all that happens is another shout into the echo chamber. If you want to do something like change someone’s mind, you’re going to have to do it in meatspace. The internet isn’t where change is ever going to happen.

    → 7:08 PM, Feb 6
  • And just like that, everyone at Casa De Alcantara is battling the same cold.

    → 7:51 PM, Feb 5
  • I cannot believe my eldest daughter is 9 years old now!

    → 4:48 PM, Feb 3
  • I’m not yet 30 years old but I still bought a shopping trolley today.

    → 1:55 PM, Feb 2
  • I really want to start a TinyLetter but I have no idea what I would even write about in it. I can barely come up with stuff to write here and the only reason I seem to be able to continue doing so is that it’s a place to put things.

    → 8:52 PM, Jan 30
  • “The soul is a complicated thing. The soul is a wormhole, multidimensional, polyhedral. We have outer space inside of us. And we think we can manage this? Give this thing a religious pep talk here and there?” - Jared C Wilson

    → 10:44 PM, Jan 28
  • I’m giving time tracking a try but my biggest issue right now is that I just worked an entire day and completely forgot to track the time. 🤦‍♂️

    → 7:17 PM, Jan 28
  • Blackwing 602s smell like cumin.

    → 11:48 AM, Jan 28
  • Red Bull & Hennessy by Jenny Lewis is the single I wish Fleetwood Mac was still capable of producing.

    → 7:12 PM, Jan 27
  • This little guy is 2 today!

    → 8:49 AM, Jan 25
  • I think I’m addicted to cortados.

    → 9:35 AM, Jan 24
  • One from the weekend. 5B6845DD-302C-4376-882C-4C01ABB901C1.jpg

    → 6:09 PM, Jan 23
  • And just like that, I finished reading Bird Box.

    → 11:03 PM, Jan 22
  • Of an evening. 8449848E-5323-4074-94BB-33BC6F6BE1BC.jpg

    → 8:30 PM, Jan 22
  • One of my biggest challenges with all the drawing that I have been doing lately is remembering that photo-realism isn’t the goal.

    → 3:38 PM, Jan 22
  • The community centre where our church offices are located is starting a Tuesday afternoon social club and I get to work on making marketing materials for it!

    → 2:23 PM, Jan 22
  • I took the big kids into town so that my wife could have some quiet and a chance to rest while she’s not feeling well. It was a 5 miles of walking kind of day spent making holograms at FACT and looking at modern art at Tate Liverpool. Today was a good day. 5E01D036-4CBA-4480-A004-937ECFDC6C8A.jpg

    → 4:12 PM, Jan 19
  • Nothing like having a bunch of people over for a prayer meeting on a Friday night. Now it’s time to unwind with the new season of The Grand Tour and then maybe a few more chapters of Bird Box.

    → 9:43 PM, Jan 18
  • It’s snowing in Liverpool!!! ❄️

    → 11:16 AM, Jan 18
  • Having one of those days where I seem to only get a third of anything done.

    → 2:54 PM, Jan 17
  • Regarding the reading plan again, it is really helping me to be familiar with books of the Bible that I otherwise would only read once or twice each year. Constant rereading is proving to be very helpful.

    → 7:07 AM, Jan 16
  • The early morning belongs to the Church of the risen Christ. At the break of light it remembers the morning on which death and sin lay prostrate in defeat and new life and salvation were given to mankind. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

    → 9:37 AM, Jan 15
  • Currently reading: Bird Box by Josh Malerman 📚

    → 11:07 PM, Jan 14
  • It’s a very grey day and it’s been perfect for working through reading the second half of a book for my counselling course.

    → 2:37 PM, Jan 10
  • The reading plan - a week in

    I’m about a week into the new reading plan and so far my favourite aspects of it are:

    • My wife is following along with the same plan so we get to talk about what we’re reading and help each other grow in understanding.
    • This really accelerates becoming familiar with a text. If I was to go with a standard, in-a-year reading plan it would take me 20 years to read through Philemon or 3 John as many times as I have in the last week.
    • My kids are seeing my wife and I read the Bible more often. We keep the Bibles that we are using for this plan in our living room and are often reading while the kids play.

    I hope this continues as we start to make our way into the longer books. Right now we’re sort of going from shortest to longest but as the next couple of years progress, I may decide to jump into a particular book that is interesting me the most.

    → 11:16 AM, Jan 8
  • “The very reason we pray is because of God’s sovereignty, because we believe that God has it within His power to order things according to His purpose.” - R.C. Sproul. Does Prayer Change Things?

    → 10:24 AM, Jan 8
  • It’s been a couple of years but I’m actually installing some stuff via the Terminal.

    → 9:07 AM, Jan 8
  • Your Friday isn’t funky enough until you’ve had this in your life.

    → 8:05 PM, Jan 4
  • truth in love

    When communicating in person, one of the things that I have always struggled with is the love part of speaking the truth in love.

    Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. - Philemon 8-10

    As I go through my reading plan for 2019/2020, this passage has stuck with me. It kind of feels like the first time I’ve been able to see how to speak the truth in love.

    → 3:06 PM, Jan 4
  • If we respond (to hardships) with, “I don’t understand all this, but I know that my Father loves me, and I trust him,” we will live with purpose, hope and perseverance. - Ed Welch, Side By Side

    → 3:45 PM, Jan 2
  • And the first new 📚 of 2019 that I’m starting is Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I figured it’s probably time to give him a go.

    → 10:21 AM, Jan 2
  • I made a pie!

    → 7:06 PM, Jan 1
  • Happy New Year, Micro.bloggers! It’s 2019 in Britain!

    → 12:14 AM, Jan 1
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