Dan Alcantara

Stop making “the Bible in a year” a sacred calf

It's mid-January. Are you worried about your Bible reading plan?

The constrained freedom of a small diary

Right now, I’m in the early stages of my time in full-time, gospel ministry. It’s something that I dreamed about for a long time and got close to, with a couple of churches in a couple of countries voting on whether or not to bring me on staff.

the joy of the early hours

By my son’s standards, it’s still nighttime when I like to wake up. Though I’m just as groggy as anyone, rising early comes easier to me than some because I like to be up early. There’s a peace that comes with morning quiet, when everyone is

The Year of Establishment

I've finally got a yearly theme that matches up with what is going to be happening in the new year.

happy christmas!

God-willing, more writing to come in the new year!

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

our marriage so far

It’s our thirteenth anniversary today!

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

🏃‍♂️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,

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

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

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

an assortment of things - October 2021

A monthly assortment of interesting things I found recently.

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

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.

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

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

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

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