What time zone is it?

Countries visited in 2009;

Scotland, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Finland, Norway, Sweden (2), Switzerland, Wales, Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, Holland (2), Colombia, USA, Thailand...

Outer Hebrides, January 2009
Minefield, Burundi

Bujumbura, Burundi

Silver back Gorilla's, Rwanda
Northern Rwanda
Finland

Minefield, Lebanon

Petra, JordanStaying with friends, Cyprus

Caratagena, Colombia

The Old Town, Cartagena, Colombia

5th Ave up, New York
Empire State, New York

"When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.”

Autumn walks...

I think Autumn is the one season I missed most all the years I was over seas. Yesterday morning we decided to get up early and catch what remains of it this year.

(Emma - my wife!)

Moments in time

I am beginning to appreciate more and more the quality rather than quantity of time we invest. My wife is good at teaching me that (she rocks!)

Four years ago in Darfur I met a friend from Yorkshire, we've stayed in touch crossing paths in Khartoum and Geneva, she now lives in Myanmar.

Three years later, in Manchester I made a friend from France.

At the start of this week I said to my French friend (Fred) let's get a beer on Friday, "cool' he said, "but I'm only around until 6.30" before meeting his sister from the airport. Today, my friend from Yorkshire who lives in Myanmar got in touch to say "I'm in Manchester today, but only from 5.30-6.30" as she was flying back to Asia. Both these people met 10 years ago long before I ever met them, so for that brief 30 minutes our lives all crossed only to disappear in differnet directions. I hate missing my train and getting the bus home, walking further than I need to, tonight it didnt matter because the quality I found in the randomness of that event made my night.

Slow down....getting more out of doing less

Following a fellow blogger led me to this interesting article ' Slow down - Getting more out of Harvard by doing less' by Harry R Lewis, Dean of Harvard.

Practical application is always the challenge with these things but one must first be reminded of why to change and the benefits it can bring, these quotes helped me to remember;

'You may balance your life better if you participate in some activities purely for fun, rather than to achieve a leadership role that you hope might be a distinctive credential for postgraduate employment. The human relationships you form in unstructured time with friends may have a stronger influence on your later life than the content of some of the courses you are taking. '

'You are more likely to sustain the intense effort needed to accomplish first-rate work in one area if you allow yourself some leisure time, some recreation, some time for solitude, rather than packing your schedule with so many activities that you have no time to think about why you are doing what you are doing.'

'For most of the rest of your life you will be reading a book or playing an instrument or going to a lecture in the evening simply because it is interesting and fun. Get yourself in that frame of mind sooner, and you will be a happier and more interesting person later. Empty time is not a vacuum to be filled: it is the thing that enables the other things on your mind to be creatively rearranged, like th empty square in the 4 x4 puzzle which makes it possible to move the other 15 pieces around. '

Get outside

There are few better ways of forgetting the busyness of life than getting into the hills. This weekend I was humbled by Marin Trail, particularly the ascent to join the trail from Betws-y-coed but 5 hours later there are few emotions I prefer than the elation of a day in the outdoors having left the stresses of life far behind.

(Not one of mine!)

'Have a bigger dream'... 'Ignore the voices that say it can't be done'

My Church (Ivy Manchester) is going through a challenging and exciting season. Lead by Anthony Delany we seem to be pulled, on a weekly basis, out of our comfort zones and challenged to think, and importantly act, on what God is saying and where God wants us to be.

I made a note of the following quotes, from the last few weeks,

'Things on earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace" - a real challenge to getting dragged into daily personal concerns

"To be great in Gods Kingdom you must become a servant"

"surviving is no way to live, be alive!"

"Ignore the voices that say it can't be done"

In our lives we will be in 1 of 3 places: 1. A time to serve, 2. A time to wait, 3. a time to go.

Looking at Moses in Exodus Moses made God wait 40 years until he reached the point that he had sufficient confidence to trust that Gods call was right and to step out. I don't have 40 years so this chapter of life is about finding out what God is saying I need to be doing and then doing it.

We're going to be Uncles and Aunts!

So the other night I received a text message from my little sister; "Hey Bro, just at John Lewis, can I pop in for 10 mins", I'm always thrilled to see my little sister so bounced back a response "hell yeah, come on over". The next thing Jane arrives (looking a bit sheepish on reflection) with her spouse David. She declined a glass of wine (not like her but becoming but more of a coincidence of late...as I again reflected) and sat down. Next thing "So, how do you fancy being an uncles and Auntie!"...yyyyyyyeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh! I am thrilled, my Dad would be thrilled and the whole family are delighted to have more children to hang out with.

This weekend I was visited by two friends that I made whilst working with Tearfund managing the Tsunami response programme. The almost two years out there were a formative period of life, I met a girl in the UK, got engaged and came home to get married - but that's another story!

This story was one of reflection and encouragement as we caught up with one another. Sometimes outworking your plan for life and being inspired to raise your game and step out of the boat isn't found in hours of prayer or reading but in seeing how others out work their dreams and throw away comments that you catch. Mark's a guy if it all ended tomorrow I'd think - 'that dude lived!', he's also got himself a great girl to travel this journey with out in Indonesia / East Timor - keep going.

10/09/2009 - 30 Not out!

Last week I turned 30. After such an eventful 20's this might seem like a random time to decide to start a blog. The challenge I am therefore setting myself is to strive and seek to make the next 10 years as interesting and adventurous as the last, this blog is meant to document if I have 'walked the walk' as it were. With that said I am quite happy to avoid being kidnaped in Darfur or battle storms in a tiny plane above Aceh, Indonesia but I do want to live a decade that reminds me I am alive and fulfilled, lets see what we can do.

So, to celebrate turning 30 my wife managed to pull off 2 (!) surprise parties in 1 night (part 1 with all my family for dinner & part 2 many of my friends at a local bar) this was then followed by an beautiful weekend in the Lake District mountain biking. Arriving home sun burnt, tired and fulfilled it was nice to conclude that the first step was in the right direction....so far so good.

Part 1 of the surprise...

(Happy Birthday to my Mum too!)

Grizdale forest, the Lakes.