The Afterword

Tag: blog

  • What I Was Called to Do All Along

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    Peter
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    What job would you do for free? Some work pays the bills. Other work tells the truth about your life. I have been thinking for a while about what I would do for free. The answer, I think, is the work I was called to do all along. For all my adult life, in one…

  • What I Wanted at Five

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    Peter
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    When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up? When I was five, I do not remember wanting to be anything in particular. No fireman, no astronaut, no train driver. What I do remember is wanting to be out of school. I can still remember walking to school with a…

  • Going Deeper by Saying No

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    Peter
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    How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals? Probably not often enough. My mother’s summation of my life is that I take on too much. I have come to think she is right. I have spent much of my life assuming that I can fit one more thing in,…

  • A Kind of Flow

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    Peter
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    What activities do you lose yourself in? I lose myself in writing, walking, and sport, and each of them impacts me in a different way. Writing often gets hold of me. It can be an idea, a life story, a poem, a short story. Something catches, and once it does I can lose all track…

  • Dream Home

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    Peter
    in

    Write about your dream home. I have never really dreamed about a home. Maybe that’s because I value other things. Maybe it’s because I’ve been out of the market for most of my life. More likely it’s because a home, for me, isn’t meant to carry the weight of aspiration. A home embodies values. It…

  • The Hinge

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    Peter
    in

    Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end I’m a person with simple tastes. I don’t need much to have a good day. My ideal day is made of a handful of small scenes that, put together, feel like enough. I’m up at 4:30 or 5:00am. The house is quiet. I feed the animals…

  • A Measured No

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    Peter
    in

    What’s the thing you’re most scared to do?What would it take to get you to do it? Every now and then someone says they went skydiving on the weekend like it’s a normal weekend activity. They’ll say it casually—like it’s on the same level as trying a new café. I’m always interested and usually ask…

  • Amplifying What’s Already True

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    Peter
    in

    What would you do if you won the lottery? Well, I’d be shocked for a start, because I’ve never bought a lottery ticket. I’ve just never been drawn to it. Even with a ticket, there’s more chance I’ll be killed by a vending machine than I’ll win a major lottery jackpot. When I was a…

  • A Life Mission

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    Peter
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    What is your mission? I have dedicated my life to helping people grow. That has taken different forms in different seasons, but the thread has been remarkably consistent. I did it as a parish minister, walking alongside people as they grew in their knowledge and love of God. I did it as a husband, taking…

  • Playtime

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    Peter
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    Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you? When I was younger, play looked like sport. I was six when I first laced up football boots, and from that moment I was hooked. It was physical and technical, but it was also something more: it demanded that you pay attention, read…

  • My Biggest Challenge

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    Peter
    in

    What are your biggest challenges? New Year’s Day 2026 It’s tempting to name my challenges as problems to solve, but that isn’t quite true. They are frequently awkward, demanding, sometimes painful—and yet they keep asking something of me that feels important. So rather than list what frustrates me, I’ll try to name what I’m learning…

  • What Arrived This Year

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    Peter
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    Is your life today what you pictured a year ago? Is my life today what I pictured a year ago? The answer is yes and no. I lived on the beaches for thirty years, so my worldview is shaped by surf culture. One of the first things you learn is that you don’t control the…

  • Doing Less of “More”

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    Peter
    in

    What could you do less of? My mother has always said that I do too much. She may be right. If the blog prompt asks what I could do less of, the honest answer is this: I could do less of “more.” There’s something in me—an impulse, a reflex—that thinks I can always add one…

  • The Hidden Wins of 2025

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    Peter
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    What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year? It’s been a tough year in places. My parents are going downhill fast, and my mother is now permanently in a nursing home. It’s stressful for them and stressful for us, yet I’m grateful that the whole family has shown up in…

  • Five Things I’m Good At

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    Peter
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    Share five things you’re good at. Some people’s strengths are loud. Mine have always been quieter—subtle things that don’t announce themselves, but settle into the background of a room, or a team, or a community. They’re not the kind of skills that appear on a résumé, but they’re the ones that shape the way I…

  • Independence as Headspace

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    Peter
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    What technology would you be better off without, why? When we talk about technology we could live without, many people think of screens or apps. But the technology I would be better off without is much more familiar. A car. I didn’t always think this way. Like most people, I inherited the assumption that a…

  • If I Could Meet a Historical Figure

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    Peter
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    If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why? If I had the chance to meet a historical figure—even for only a couple of minutes—I would choose Henry Lawson. Not because he is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, though he is. Not because his poetry captures the hard, unvarnished truth…

  • What I’ve Been Putting Off

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    Peter
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    What have you been putting off doing? Why? Here’s a list of things I’ve been putting off: At first glance, it’s just a list of chores. But they form a quiet constellation — pieces of life I’ve postponed because they each deserve more than a rushed hour squeezed between meetings and errands. The boxes hold…

  • The Hardest Goal I Ever Set

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    Peter
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    What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself? It began with an idea.A flicker really — a connection I started to notice between my interest in creative writing and my practice as a preacher. Both, I realised, were about shaping meaning, holding attention, and opening space for discovery. I thought a doctorate might…

  • Nothing to Lose, Everything to Give

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    Peter
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    What would you do if you lost all your possessions? It’s a confronting question — one that sounds hypothetical, except it isn’t. For me, it came close to reality. I was caught in a scam. What I thought was a small, trustworthy investment turned into a complex trap. Over time, what had seemed solid dissolved…