The Sunday Edition — 11.23.25

Happy Sunday once again, dear friends! I hope you had a truly magnificent week. My week was crammed full of meeting new people, discussing life as a mid-30-year-old father, and finding some clarity on some problems I’ve prayed about for 2 years or more. When those answers come to you after such a long time, there’s almost reason to celebrate.

My wife and I have long wanted friends. Friends we could connect with over being parents. Friends we could connect with over our professional lives. It was a hard go — we spent our late teens, all of our 20s, and the first 3rd of our 30s studying, working multiple jobs, starting our family, and establishing ourselves. Throughout that time, my wife especially prayed for friends to connect with during the grind.

There were times when this felt hopeless. Perhaps it was a combination of unreliability and poor social skills on our part. Perhaps the right people didn’t come through our lives. But one thing was very certain: We were always apprehensive to be the people to reach out — to take the chance at starting something new.

We’ve made a concerted effort over the last two years to remove our apprehension and take the chance. If someone crossed our path at church, we’d offer to host them and their family for supper. If something landed our hearts to say something encouraging to someone, we ignored the potential awkwardness and just delivered the encouragement. And most importantly, if someone asked us to do something, we’ve as often as possible said “yes”.

This is the key. Say yes. Say yes to that person reaching out for help. Say yes to that person sitting on their own in the corner at church. Say yes to the organization asking more of you.

We’re not perfect at this — there’s still only so much time in our days, and I’ve still had to say no to volunteer roles in recent memory. I want to say “yes” to everything. It’s just not possible.

But making “Yes” your default over “No” has paid dividends to my wife and me in our social connections this last few years. Our prayers have been answered. We have had the chance to meet so many new people over the last 24 months. We’ve traveled with friends to a far-off city. We’ve connected with new families from church. And we’re discovering new friends with shared interests and hobbies — just this week, I’ve met a friend who shares my current and past hobbies in stationery, Apple hardware and software, productivity, and more.

Connecting with people has been just one of the greatest blessings we’ve encountered this last 24 months. If you’re ever apprehensive, just do it. Just say “yes”.

Weekly Meditation: Love the sinner, hate your own sin.

You’ve surely heard the Christian quip, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” The idea being that you should always love the person, but understand they make mistakes, are of a sinful nature, and that you must love them into the Lord. There’s much good here, though the action of going about living in this manner often results in folks being pushed away.

Our pastor a few weeks ago altered the quip in an evening course, and I can’t help but smile from ear to ear. He corrected the individual who said “Love the sinner, hate the sin” and said “Actually, I think a better way to look at it is to love the sinner and hate your own sin.” That one small change acted as a giant “AHA!” moment, and I really think this is how we ought to live going forward. Jesus makes it extraordinarily clear in Matthew 7:3-5, which seasoned individuals will have read a gazillion times:

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Christ’s statement comes on the heels of the famous “Judge not, that you be not judged”, which is used as a “Gotcha!” comment to stop a faithful person in their tracks. I’m not going to get into Matthew 7:1 today — most people misunderstand the verse.

But verses 3 to 5 are pretty clear, and it changes the focus from focusing on others to focusing on yourself. I think there’s a great difficulty in living this kind of life — you are taught to be compassionate to others and not be selfish, but that you must focus on your own sin and not on the sin of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am a sinful man. And my steps forward will be to focus on me — how I can transform, how I can ensure my home is a home for the Lord, and that my family shines with Christ’s life. Beyond that is out of scope.

Obscura: Leica M10 Review – Patience and Practice

I have this wonderful chance — because I said “Yes!” to one of those social connections — to discuss photography with a curious friend. Overall, they seem pretty new to photography, and it represents this super cool chance to guide and advise with 15 years of experience and 15 years of could’ve/should’ves. Ultimately, I am sure this person will end up with a Leica in their hand after 15 years. For now, though, I don’t think a Leica is a good place to start.

The above article explains why Leica isn’t a good place to start. There’s something absolutely magical about the photos in this fantastic review. There’s something equally magical about the largely analog nature of the Leica M system.

But if you’re getting started, don’t start here. Start with a Fuji, or a Sony A7, or a slightly older Canon EOS-R. If you want smaller, take a look at Olympus.

Just don’t start with Leica.

The Second Cup

You don’t understand how well Bananza is doing

I finally (finally!) (finally?) finished Donkey Kong Bananza this week. I’m still not sure if I’m actually done. There seems to be more story even after knocking out the big baddie (no spoilers here). I can’t believe how this game just kept going and going and going.

Bananza is one of my favourite games of all time. It is up there with Diddy Kong Racing, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, Goldeneye 007, Pokémon Yellow, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, for me at least. I will be playing this game over and over again in the future, guaranteed.

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