Marmanold.com

Analogue Mornings

While 2024 was a year of great things in ministry¹ and my personal health², it was also a year of a lot of stress and change in all areas of my life.

Because of this — and, naturally, my deep sinful nature — many of my good morning habits fell to the way side. Though I had banished social media from my phone, set it to B&W, disabled recommended videos & shorts on YouTube, and quite a few other things, by the end of 2024 my mornings were rubish.

My Dream Minimalist Setup

As is pretty apparent, I’ve been thinking a lot about digitmal minimalism here lately.¹ This morning on my walk, I pondered a little what my perfect device setup would be, and I think I’ve got it. Here’s what I want.

1. An iPad mini with the Daylight DC1’s screen.
2. An iPhone mini with the same screen, no app store (only Safari, iMessage, Apply Pay, Wallet, Mail, Calendar), and a single small camera.

The more I think on it, this would totally solve my many problems.²

The Fallen Apple

Over the last two years, I’ve completely rethought my use of technology and done a lot of work to simplify my life and avoid distractions and unnecessary stress. A major component of this change has been rethinking how my iPhone is configured.

As it stands today, I’ve deleted all social media apps¹, disabled all notifications, switched the phone permanently to silent, disabled the web browser, removed badges from app icons, and uninstalled Slack. Further, until 8a each day, my phone is set to black & white. As configured right now, I’ve pared my phone down to be an engine for sending texts, referencing e-mails, checking the family calendar, reading RSS articles, and taking photos.

Be Not Ashamed

Nashville is a tricky city for us Christians. On one hand, we’re Southern enough that the church is still expected and Christianity is not completely unknown. On the other hand, we’re metropolitan enough that the social norms and ideas of the secular world are fully engrained and lived in the society around us.

In Nashville it’s not necessarily completely odd that you go to church on Sunday or have a “spiritual” life, but it is very clear that proclaiming Jesus as “The Way” and expressing traditional Christian ethics out loud in mixed company is not welcome. Nashville is the type of place where no one bats an eye at someone being a Christian, but they are shocked when your Christianity affirms things like sacraments, resurrection, and a God whose holiness impacts even our most intimate moments. In short, Christianity is fine so long as it doesn’t impact your life or your worldview in any way whatsoever.

Remember Your Baptism

Now, for those of you who know me — and even for those who’ve just heard the last few seconds — I’m sure it’s hard to believe that I could be any odder than I am now. But, believe you me, I was a very strange and awkward teenager. Asthmatic, nerdy, Mormon boys don’t really have a lot of places to fit in in Alabama. Looking back, it’s a sure sign of God’s providence and protection over my life that I made it out of school relatively unscathed. Outside of God, there really is no reason why I shouldn’t have been mercilessly bullied each and every day.

1200 Miles in a Tesla

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to drive a Tesla Model 3 for 1200 miles roundtrip from Nashville to western Pennsylvania. It was a great trip and gave me some clarity around electric cars and what the future might hold. So, continue below and I’ll give you the good, the bad, and my thoughts on what the future of the American road trip might be.