The Afterword

Tag: writing

  • Three Jobs if Money Didn’t Matter

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    Peter
    in

    List three jobs you’d consider pursuing if money didn’t matter. If money were no object, I’d choose work that feels less like a job and more like a way of honouring what matters. Each of these roles is about restoration—of stories, of people, of things we might otherwise lose. The Story GathererI imagine a workstation…

  • Ziggy’s Party

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    Peter
    in

    Yesterday we celebrated Ziggy’s 6th birthday. Ziggy, for those who don’t know, is a cavoodle who has left paw prints on the heart of our college since the day he arrived. His story is already legendary: at just 12 weeks old, his owner was encouraged to let him sleep outside. The fences were secure, but…

  • Lighthouse Keeper

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    Peter
    in

    Do I see myself as a leader? Yes, though I would describe my leadership differently from the way many might picture it. I have led churches and not-for-profits for the best part of forty years, but I am not the loudest voice in the room nor am I constantly chasing the next opportunity. My style…

  • Play and Encounter

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    Peter
    in

    I tried to answer the question, “What’s your favourite word?” but I couldn’t do it. One word isn’t enough. My world is held together by tensions. Not contradictions to be solved, but creative tensions to be lived. The energy is in the middle, in the space where both are true at once. So it makes…

  • Beyond the Podium

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    Peter
    in

    When I think about the athletes I most respect, it isn’t the ones with the longest highlight reels or the most medals. It’s the ones who carry themselves with character—the kind of people who lift those around them, who strengthen a team rather than outshine it. Here are some who come to mind: These are…

  •  The Vague Jar

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    Peter
    in

    I’ve decided I need a jar. Not for swear words, but for generalisations. Every time I say “that sort of thing” or “et cetera,” I’ll have to drop a coin in. It turns out I use those phrases more than I’d like to admit. They’re my linguistic shortcut, a way of sweeping a whole armful…

  • Terra Incognita

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    Peter
    in

    The furthest I ever traveled from home was everywhere.A round-the-world ticket—you can’t really get further away than that.I left with research in my bag and Duke Universityas my compass point. Duke was extraordinary.Magnificent buildings, gothic archesdesigned to look older than they were.Exceptional students and world-class teacherswalking polished halls that had been paid forby Methodist tobacco…

  • Fragments from a Conversation

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    Peter
    in

    Interviews don’t always flow neatly. Sometimes there are long silences, sudden changes of subject, and words that trail into the air like smoke. That’s how it was talking with Wendy. Her story is not linear, not polished. It comes in fragments, broken sentences, and pauses that say as much as the words. What follows is…

  • The Mirror and The Window

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    Peter
    in

    What I enjoy most about writing is that it lets me reflect on life—this wondrous, complex, ambiguous gift we’ve been given. To write is to pause long enough to notice, to respect the joy and mystery of it all. Writing is a mirror. It reflects what I hear, see, and feel. Every week I take…

  • For Those Who Want to Go Deeper

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    Peter
    in

    This blog began as a personal discipline. I found myself sitting in church, receiving a sermon like a consumer—“Nice sermon, Reverend”—and moving on. But something in me wanted more engagement. What if, instead of moving on, I stayed with the message? Sat with it. Let it shape something in me, or be reflected back through…

  • Free as a Brat

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    Peter
    in

    For many, the announcement of a “Word of the Year” might feel trivial, especially when the chosen word is “brat.” It’s not about war, policy, climate crisis, or scientific breakthroughs. It’s a cultural blip—mildly amusing at best, eye-roll-inducing at worst. The redefinition of “brat”—from spoiled child to a blend of chaotic confidence, hedonism, and emotional…

  • Top 30: Joy Edition

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    Peter
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    A Playlist of Things That Make Me Happy Mood: Grounded wonder • Quiet hope • Relational beauty Places That Stir the Soul People and Community Moments of Growth and Formation Nature and Beauty That Nourish Creative Joy and Surprise Simple Sensory Anchors

  • Quiet Joy

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    Peter
    in

    There’s a quiet joy that comes from doing the same things, again and again, with purpose. Each day closes with Scripture. After the meetings, the meals, the movement of the day, I return to stillness. The light softens, the world quiets, and I open the text—not out of obligation, but to let the final word…

  • Just Passing It On

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    Peter
    in

    It wasn’t really my kindness, not in the way people usually mean it. Two years ago, a student from China arrived at our college.Shy, polite, still finding his feet — and his English.One Monday morning he came to see me, agitated and afraid.The story took time to piece together:he’d been caught in an online scam,forced…

  • If You Can’t See Me

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    Peter
    in

    Picture a man at the edge of a crowd. Not trying to stand out, not trying to blend in. He’s the one scanning the space, not nervously, not passively, but like someone looking for a familiar voice. That could be you. You’re the one he’s waiting for. He’s a touch over six feet tall—tall enough…

  • A Name Given by the Tribe

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    Peter
    in

    You don’t name yourself, not really.That’s not how nicknames work. They arrive unexpectedly, quietly—like a stray dog that decides to follow you home.You might not even notice it at first.But the people around you do.They see something, say something, and suddenly, there it is: a new name.And if it sticks, it sticks. For me, it…

  • Letter to Myself

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    Peter
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    Dear Me at 70, I hope you’re still waking early,not out of duty, but because the morning offers something no other part of the day can—a soft kind of hushthat makes room for reflectionand lets you move gently into whatever comes next. I hope you still begin with the animals—their quiet reliance a steadying thing,a…

  • What Would I Change About Modern Society?

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    Peter
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    Not everything that matters can be measured. Not generosity.Not endurance.Not the quiet resilience of a young man who studies through grief,or the kindness of a woman who smiles even when she misses her mother’s funeral. In my eight years as principal of a university college, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside students who arrived…

  • Conversations with a Restless Library

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    Peter
    in

    I don’t curate.I don’t pre-select.I don’t build productivity playlists. I just hit shuffle on my entire music library and wait to see what sort of mood it’s in. Some days, it’s a model colleague — thoughtful, supportive, gently nudging me into creative flow.Other days, it behaves like a caffeinated record-store assistant with a point to…

  • Losing Track of Time—By Moving Through It

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    Peter
    in

    I’ve never been someone who loses track of time in stillness.Some people sit by the ocean and watch waves roll in like slow breath.They stare at the sky and say they’re thinking about nothing.I respect that. I admire it, even. But it is not me. Stillness makes me restless. I lose track of time when…