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The Year of Establishment
I've been following along with the Cortex for a few years now and so much of what I've heard from them has helped me in various areas of work and life. Whether it was trying to juggle two jobs, a family and church ministry as a volunteer or getting my head around how to track my time once I started in ministry full time, there has been something they've covered that has helped with this.
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on your doorstep
It had been too long since I’d seen scenery that wasn’t the farms around our house, so when my wife told me to text a friend to try and do something with our sons, it was very welcome. Alastair Humphreys spent much of the last year exploring a map that he had printed up of the area on his doorstep. When we’ve figured out where we will be living long-term, I hope to do the same thing.
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our marriage so far
13 years
5 babies (4 with us, one with Jesus)
4 countries
I wonder what’s in store for the next thirteen.
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an assortment of things - November 2021
It's time for some more things that I found interesting, entertaining or something in the previous month.
How Personal Policies Can Help You Fight Decision Fatigue - Redeeming Productivity
Decision fatigue is a really big deal. I get to the end of the day and it's even an effort to decide what we want to watch on telly. This is a helpful way of avoiding it.
An Oral History of The Office
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🏃♂️running in the rain
The weather continues to get colder while the mornings and evenings are getting darker. Here in Scotland, it’s getting wetter as well.
After nearly a month off due to getting sick, I finally got to go running again this morning. As I stepped out the door, it was gloomy, windy and starting to rain. In a word, it was perfect. Well... it was perfect for staying indoors.
I, slowly, put one foot in front of the other.
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ephemeral notes, or writing on a bunch index cards and recycling them before copying down all of the information
I preached at church this past Sunday and decided to try a slightly different approach to organising my study time. Because I'm at the beginning of this whole journey of Word ministry and preaching, I'm regularly experimenting with how I try to get the work done.
For some, the thought of figuring out how to make a system happen seems like torture. For me, with a background in logistics, systems are kind of a comfort zone.
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a ferociously crippling cold
Over the last week or two, I’ve learned that it’s possible for all creative output to suddenly stop. I’ve written zero words. Made zero notes. I even broke my nearly-100-day streak in Day One.
When I caught my youngest son’s cold, it seemed like it would just be one of those things that lasts a few days and then tapers off.
In the end, I’ve still got it and I’m typing this while laying in bed because I’m still not as well as I want to be.
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how I’m reading right now 📚
I do a decent amount of reading as a part of my work being a missionary and ministry apprentice. There’s a certain joy in knowing that reading is a part of my vocation but it does lead to reading feeling like work.
I’ve been actively trying to combat that feeling by doing a couple of things:
1. Read what I want, not what I shouldThere are always lists of “important” books or books that should be read.
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an assortment of things - October 2021
Welcome to an assortment of things. I work slowly to figure out what might be interesting. That's why these are only monthly.
The concept of a file is something that I've never actually stopped and considered. It's strange to think that my kids will potentially never need to think about what a file system is or how their data is stored.Learning to identify birdsongs is something that I've been wanting to do since finding myself living in the countryside where there are actually birds.
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About
I'm married to Tracy and daddy to Sophie, Chloe, Liam and Owen. This is where I write things.
The Alcantara FamilyA family on mission
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a voice like a babbling brook
Raonaid looked out at the sea of blue jumpers and wondered how, after years discovering new plant species in the field, she had ended up doing supply teaching. It wasn’t that she was unhappy, but there were days when she wondered if she’d missed something. The children in front of her were silent, save for their quiet breathing.
“Can anyone tell me what happens when it rains?”
They looked back at her with their big eyes, waiting for her to answer her own question.
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it’s nearly here 🍂
The sun is no longer rising at 4:30am. Sunset happens before 9pm. I stepped out of the office to grab a coffee and see the bright blue sky, but was greeted by the beginnings of a chill. Almost crisp.
It feels like meeting Scotland for the first time again. Autumn had only just begun when I stepped off the train in Glasgow Central Station.
🕷Rowan trees are laden with berries that are begging to be turned into a jam, infused with rosemary.
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As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - reflections
What is there to say about this absolutely gorgeous book?
I first learned about it from watching Alistair Humphrey's My Midsummer Morning. On that adventure, he followed in Laurie Lee's footsteps by busking his way across Spain for a month. Mind you, Alistair had the added challenge of being unable to play the violin six months before his journey began.
Before this book, I found myself in a bit of a reading slump.
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For the love of local libraries
When we lived in Poland, one of my big struggles was being able to find books to read. I didn’t learn enough Polish to even read a children’s book, just enough to be able to have polite interactions in shops and to be able to lead sung worship in both English and Polish (po Angielsku i po Polsku). And, I didn’t want to buy a bunch of books because we would only be there a year.
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the surprising usefulness of lacklustre tools
One of the great troubles of becoming the kind of person who tinkers with things or tries to figure out what the best tool for the job is the resulting, endless search for the perfect tool for the job.
It's something that makes perfect, logical sense. If there's a job that needs doing, then it makes sense to use the best possible tool. The trouble, however, is that the perfect tool tends to be the one that you don't have.
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good enough
I’ve had the task of recording a video for our support raising efforts looking over me for a couple of weeks. My hope had been to have a script memorised and to film it in 4K on my phone while outside with the countryside in the background.
But all that happened was procrastinating.
“Get the script right.”
“You need to have good weather.”
“You need to use your microphone...”
But then I finally ran out of time.