Wearily upward

Do you think you've changed in the last couple of years? I certainly have. My physical appearance has significantly changed (hair colour, hairline, wrinkles, etc.) which is an inevitable sign of the beautiful blessing of living and aging, albeit one that can sometimes be embarrassing or unwanted. I see myself in photos taken in my 20's and I wonder how such a big change happened without me noticing... Mentally I've changed as well: the wonderful school of experience we all attend, whether we want to or not. I've realised that I think differently about things now than I did in my 20's. Which is often good, because I was an idiot in my 20's. Now I'm just an older idiot with more experience, I guess. Being a husband and a father makes me think differently about risk and danger. And income. And health. And what is most important. It also makes me think more about the future. Or rather how the present - and the decisions I make in the present - will influence the...

It was, funnily enough, the most helpless I've felt in decades. My wife and I were really excited about the UK's International Travel Update until the moment I saw the list of countries coming off the red list. South Africa was not on it and that broke my heart. We've not been to Southern Africa to visit family for more than two and a half years because of the global pandemic. Fair enough. Different countries handle the pandemic differently. Also fair enough (even though it doesn't always make sense). We were unable to go with South Africa on the red list because of the regulations on coming back. We simply can't afford the mandatory £2250 per person stay in a government hotel for 11 nights. So when the data analysts and commentators predicted that South Africa would be one of the countries coming off the red list we were well and truly excited. But then that didn't happen. The list of eight countries coming off the dreaded list did not include South Africa or N...

Have you ever heard of Mary King? I'm not referring to the British equestrian athlete who represented GB at 6 Olympic Games. I am referring to another Mary King. I'll give you a hint: Charles Spurgeon wrote about her. Any ideas? No? Well, I would be really surprised if you knew who she was. She was a cook at a school where Spurgeon was an assistant teacher and a devout Christian. She influenced the great preacher and theologian to such an extent that he wrote: "From her I got all the theology I ever needed." When I moved from South Africa to the UK to join the Worship Central Academy I had big dreams of becoming a songwriter and recording artist. I wanted to write songs that would help people worship God. I wanted to write and record albums known around the world. Thank the good Lord that He didn't allow that to happen. This later evolved into a desire to write books and become a number one bestselling author (or something like it). Again, probably more because I ...

A couple of weeks ago I tried making lemon curd. Those who have made lemon curd before will know how easy it actually is. Only a few basic ingredients are needed to make something delicious -which are the kind or recipes I like to try. But only if you follow the recipe. At one point I was stirring the mixture of butter, lemon juice and zest, sugar and egg without anything happening. The recipe said to keep stirring until it thickens, but mine wouldn't. So I started to panic. Did I do something wrong? Dit I forget to add something? Did I get the measurements wrong and messed up the whole thing? Is the recipe even correct? After some more stirring the mixture suddenly thickened beautifully to a custard-like consistency. Perfection! I was overjoyed! The recipe was correct, I did everything right and all the ingredients were where they should have been. The proof was literally in the pudding! All it took was some time doing what the recipe instructed me to do. I often feel like that in...

I try and stick to the rules as much as I can. It's not always convenient or popular, but I do it anyway. That means I'm usually the guy going 22 mph in a 20 mph zone with a string of cars behind me all wanting to go faster. My mom once said (about driving on the highway) that if there's a speed limit, there's a reason for the limit. I've learned that I don't have to understand why a rule is in place to follow it. Not even when it is inconvenient. So today, while driving to the grocery store, it was rather refreshing to be stuck behind a car going 20 mph in a 20 mph zone. There were no cars behind us, but it still felt liberating to not have the responsibility of sticking to the speed limit while others wanted to go faster. It felt like I wasn't the only one sticking to the rules. I almost wanted to pull up next to that driver and thank them for their wonderful driving. It reminded me of a Bible passage:  "And let us consider how we may spur one another...

I started making sourdough bread in 2020. This was basically because of a shortage in baker's yeast and boredom being confined to quarters for a long time, but only after I was able to get some flour. I'm sure many people would have experienced this for themselves. I had a lot of great plans and ideas, but sourdough wasn't one of them. I had other goals that I wanted to work towards, but didn't. There were some things that, all of a sudden, were of greater importance than what I wanted or planned. There were things that was lost completely - things I thought was an absolute necessity, but turned out to be things I can do without. Friends passed away and I was unable to say goodbye, grieving from a distance. Some people left and it didn't seem right. Issues were raised that I would have preferred to ignore a little longer from the comfort of my perfectly planned future. Things changed unexpectedly - my work, my daily/weekly/monthly pattern, my wasteline. Again I susp...