Our God is an Awesome God July 7, 2008

I had my first day of work in Cambridge today and it was not too bad – many thanks to everyone who has prayed for me and continues to pray for me. My colleagues were friendly, it seems like a good company to work for, and we get to play Mario Cart during our lunch breaks! I’ll admit that yesterday I was having slight panic attacks as I was packing my things to come to Cambridge, and not just because the Wimbledon final was so incredibly tense! Which reminds me, before I go any further – yay Rafa!

Excellent. Well done Rafa! It was a good sporting day yesterday actually, what with Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix too. Anyway, where was I… Oh yes. I was panicking. I was just so worried and scared about the future I think, the new job, the new place, the new people… So once I finally got on the road to Cambridge, I started to pray. And as I did, I began to remember all the wonderful things God has done in my life over this last year. The incredible experiences I had in America. How much He taught me about Himself, and about myself. How much I can trust Him to carry me. I thought about all the awesome people I have met this year. And all the old friendships that have been rekindled. Of all the words and gestures of love and support there have been from the ridiculous number of wonderful people my heavenly father has placed into my life. Yes, there have been difficult times, tears, worries and heartache. That is all natural in this fallen world, and it isn’t easy. But my Lord has never let me down. He will never leave me. I am in the complete care and love of the greatest father there could ever be (and that’s no slight on my earthly Dad at all, who I love very much!).

 

By the time I arrived here I had calmed down completely. And whilst there were a few nerves this morning on my way to work, the panic has gone. God is great!

I don’t feel like dancing. June 20, 2008

I feel like the Croatian football team.

Tonight, they played Turkey in the quarter finals of Euro 2008. After 90 minutes of normal time, and 28 minutes of extra time it was 0-0 and heading for penalties. Suddenly, from nowhere, the Turkish goalie got off his line, entirely out of position, and Croatia struck. Joyful celebrations ensued. 1-0 with barely a minute left to play. Simply the added time onto extra time. One minute. They were in the semis for sure. Until Turkey took it all away. Levelling in the last second of play. 1-1. Croatia were crushed. They lost 3-1 on penalties. So much effort, they got so close… but all for nothing.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been on various job interviews. I have driven backwards and forwards to Cambridge more times than I can recall. There was this one job I really wanted. I went for one interview… I was called back for a second… they asked for a reference… I did psychometric testing… my second interview lasted two hours. Yesterday I heard that of the two candidates they had already seen, I was the preferred choice. That just left one. I was so close. It looked like I had it. But then they took it all away. So much effort, so close… but all for nothing.

The disappointment is almost made worse right now by the really positive feedback they asked the agency to make sure they passed along to me. The people who interviewed me said I was an excellent candidate, it was a really difficult decision, I really shone and if anything else comes up they will automatically seriously consider me for the position. But even all that wasn’t enough. There wasn’t any more I could do… makes me wonder how I can ever get a job I really want.

There is a bright side though. I have been offered a different job by another company. A 6 month contract which doesn’t pay as well, and honestly idoesn’t seem all that exciting or challenging for me. But any job is better than no job, the people were nice, and it’s within good walking distance of my new house, so I’ll save a packet on petrol at least! It could well be a good thing for me. It’s just hard to see it clearly right now when I had been so focused on the other.

Happy Bunny October 13, 2007

WORLD CUP FINAL!!! BRING IT ON!!!

Ahem. For those who may not have already ascertained this fact…. the England rugby team somehow did it again today, and defeated the French 14-9 in the semi-final of the world cup. I am stunned, excited, amazed and feeling as patriotic as I ever do right now! I am proud to be an Englishwoman. Not a pretty performance but it was absolute determination and refusal to lose that saw them through. Sheer guts and violence. I honestly felt sick for almost the entire duration of the match. My stomach was in knots! Thank heavens for Jonny Wilkinson.

Though my personal favourite moment was Paul Sackey and Toby Flood combining to take Sebastian Chebal into touch. Awesome. Goodness knows how I’ll fare next Saturday – I may greatly resemble a gibbering wreck. You have been warned!

Oh, and since this time I was actually able to watch the match, I can only conclude it must be the underwear…

A question October 8, 2007

I was reading through some of the sports updates on the BBC website and I happened upon the report of James Toseland taking the World Superbike Championship title for the second time. As I read through it, one thing he said stood out to me:

“This is what I live for, this is the only thing that matters, getting this trophy.”

Now maybe it’s just me, but does that not strike you as a particularly sad statement? Maybe he wasn’t being entirely serious, or didn’t mean it in the way I take it, but say that’s true. Say that winning that title is the only thing that matters to James Toseland. What kind of a life is that?

It set me thinking though – what am I living for? What matters to me? And if I say I’m living for God then do my actions show it? Or are they just empty words and an automatic response because I consider it the “right” answer? How can I make sure that Jesus is what and who I’m living for? I guess it comes down to priorities, like so many God related things. If Jesus is my number one, then everything else should flow from that. If Jesus is top of my list then I won’t want to do any of the things He doesn’t want me to. I will want to help others and live following Christ’s example. It’s so basic – if Jesus is my Lord and King he belongs at the front of my mind, in the number one position, over everything and everyone else. Where I mess up and slip up and get tempted away is when Jesus stops being my priority. When I push Him down… put other things above Him. I need to get my priorities right.

What are you living for?

In a world gone mad… October 6, 2007

Today something amazing happened. No actually something utterly astounding happened.

England beat Australia in the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup.

They are now through to the semis, where they’ll play France who (equally incredibly) dumped New Zealand out of the contest!

I can think of three possible explanations for this unforseen turn of events:

1) I was unable to watch the match.

2) In my talk last Sunday, I used the England rugby team as an illustration, and said they weren’t winning anymore.

3) I wore my Union Jack underwear today.

Today’s results really have thrown the whole competition completely off balance! Out of the other half of the draw I would say Argentina and South Africa are favourites to come through (although I would dearly love it if Scotland could cause an upset). I would probably call France as the favourites at this point, especially with the confidence that will come off the back of beating the All Blacks. That said, morale in the England camp will also be sky high! It’ll be a pretty rough match on Friday. Still whatever happens, we’ve at least done ourselves justice, rescued a little pride, and put up a decent defence of the title. Far more than I honestly expected we would manage when the tournament began. Hurrah! Jonny Wilkinson is now also the man to have scored the most points in the world cup ever.

Also today: Andy Murray won in the tennis and is through to the final of an ATP tournament in Metz – his first since February, Amir Khan defended his Commonwealth Lightweight title, and Lewis Hamilton qualified in pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. If he wins, he will take the World Championship title in his rookie year – the first driver ever to do so.

Not a bad day to be British! :p