I’m a quarter Scottish. You never know, in these days of Brexit uncertainty, and political absurdity, that might come in useful. I remember going to visit my grandparents in Aberdeen as a child, and seeing in their hallway the Scott clan crest with the clan motto ‘Amo’ (Latin for ‘I love’). At the time, even before I’d seen Braveheart, I was a bit disappointed that the motto wasn’t something rather more adventurous (though reading about the Scott clan on Wikipedia now, their history is far from peaceful). As I got older though, and as I came to know Jesus personally, the motto of my clan meant (and means) a lot to me.

The health benefits of running to work for 20 minutes through Central London are probably mixed at best. Whilst on the positive side I’m getting exercise, but I’m pretty sure that the fumes from the traffic and air-conditioning outlets are not working wonders for my lungs. Still, it is much much much nicer than being squished on the Central Line, and a pair of trainers a year works out a lot cheaper than taking the Tube twice a day.

Running through Central London, something that strikes me is the number of people sleeping rough and living on the streets. Numbers have definitely increased over recent years. Being a chicken, and someone who will happily avoid awkward situations, it’s all too easy to run past people who are asking for money. I feel challenged by this every day, and I feel even more challenged having just written about the money that I save each year by not taking the Tube. What exactly am I doing with that money…?

Living in Essex and working in London, I spend about 3 hours a day travelling to and from work. Adding up all the hours I’ve spent commuting over the last 15 years, I could look at this as a massive waste of time, but another way of looking at it is that this is a big chunk of time that I’m able to do something with and more importantly, that I could be spending with God.

Here’s what my normal journey to work looks like: 

• 6.00am – Alarm
• 6.05am – Another alarm
• 6.15am – Often still half asleep, run to the station. My phone sometimes insists on tracking this as a morning walk, but I am definitely running.
• 6.29am/6.40am – Get on the train. Timing is important here; if it’s the 6.29am I squeeze myself into the little space by the doors to the next carriage. No one wants a sweaty person sitting next to them.
• 7am(ish) – Run from the station to the office and restore personal hygiene by having a shower.