My adventures in South Africa are set to continue with a new venture.
For this I need a new blog, so please follow the link to stories anew!!
http://trailblazinginsouthafrica.blogspot.com
See you there!!
Saturday 25 July 2009
Thursday 20 November 2008
Monday 3 November 2008
Half term
Half term is great if you are a child or a proper fully-paid up teacher.
It is rubbish if you are a supply teacher, because it becomes a week with no work or chance of salary.
However, it was nice not to have to go to school.
Even so, I'd left my previous position as 'child management professional' in Birmingham because of a promise of a job in Nuneaton. So I was looking forward to a new challenge of teaching Spanish. Yet somehow God has closed that door and this morning, Monday, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands and without a lot of money. But, hey ho, I've got lots to do for Kid's stuff at Church and so in the meantime I might as well get busy for God and trust Him to provide for the bills and food etc... THIS is yet again living by faith.
It's most frustrating to not get a job that I can settle in and then at the same time it's really exciting because God has to come through with a miracle to provide, and THAT is what I'm looking forward to this week.
Philippians 4
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. [...] I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Well, I'm learning in any case. Not quite there yet, but I'm on my way.
It is rubbish if you are a supply teacher, because it becomes a week with no work or chance of salary.
However, it was nice not to have to go to school.
Even so, I'd left my previous position as 'child management professional' in Birmingham because of a promise of a job in Nuneaton. So I was looking forward to a new challenge of teaching Spanish. Yet somehow God has closed that door and this morning, Monday, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands and without a lot of money. But, hey ho, I've got lots to do for Kid's stuff at Church and so in the meantime I might as well get busy for God and trust Him to provide for the bills and food etc... THIS is yet again living by faith.
It's most frustrating to not get a job that I can settle in and then at the same time it's really exciting because God has to come through with a miracle to provide, and THAT is what I'm looking forward to this week.
Philippians 4
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. [...] I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
Well, I'm learning in any case. Not quite there yet, but I'm on my way.
Sunday 5 October 2008
one minute...
... one minute I am blogging away merrily and the next I start getting emails from people asking what's happened to my blog....
I AM still here and alive, I've been a bit busy over the summer doing, amongst other things:
I AM still here and alive, I've been a bit busy over the summer doing, amongst other things:
- a week of soggy camping at New Wine where we had to move my tent on day 2 cos it was in danger of flooding, and we taught Antonio (from South Africa) that English summers are indeed colder than your average Durban winter day, that the sun doesn't often visit in August and that we the Brits taught the world how to do BBQs!!! (only joking, it's a Braai.) On the plus side, Jonny (lovely boyf) got to meet and greet lots of church folk and we heard some amazing teaching from all sorts of great speakers like Heidi Baker, Bill Johnson and the like. Awesome stuff and for that reason alone I shall forget about the rain and be back next year.
- Testing out the NHS as a mystery patient. Firstly, I got ill enough to check their weekly care in a ward of Warwick Hospital, then I spent a great deal of time phoning round the various departments to try and ascertain just when I was going to get an operation, then I managed to convince the nurse in pre-op that neither I nor anyone in my family has CJD (I thought it was fatal in any case?) before finally testing out their anaesthetic during a brief but major laparoscopic choltestectomy (check out the big words!). In other words, they removed my gallbladder by keyhole surgery. Truly it is a miracle. Apart from feeling like I'd been shot or an elephant had accidentally trod on me, which took about a week to improve, I was absolutely fine and can now manage a fish and chip supper with no bother whatsoever. The wonders of modern medecine eh! At least I can now enjoy houmous again.
- Following on from this excitement, I went through a brief period of self-pity at my state of unemployment before landing a supply teaching job in the lovely Birmingham borough of Handsworth. I say 'lovely', but it's your classic race riots, gangland area where several of my pupils have lost friends to gang-related shootings and drugs are rife, although thankfully not in my school. I feel relatively safe though because my classroom is on the third floor of a tower block with kiler stairs. No one is going to bother climbing them to attack me, not even Ofsted inspectors last week could make it up there. Pupils need several minutes to recover from the hike, although it doesn't stop some of them taking it out on each other with a few well-timed punches being thrown. Modern teaching eh! I'd forgotten how much fun it could be!!
- And then my lovely boyfriend Jonny moved over to Leamington to be nearer me and that's been a blessing and a challenge. Suddenly I have to stop being selfish and consider someone else for a change, which is quite tricky when you have a bad day at school and just want to do nothing but watch yet more 'Friends' on E4. He's still without a job and needs one soon, but God will provide, we have no doubt. It's just that a lead would be nice... It is brilliant to have him over though, and definitely a step forward from a long-distance relationship to a proper 'normal' relationship day-to-day.
So that's me for the moment. I'll try to blog more often, I need to get back into the habit! Remind me if I forget and you miss me ;-)
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Old Testament time
For some reason, on the way back from London I started reading the book of 2 Chronicles.
It was fascinating. I must have been in the mood for taking in all of the different names and information therein, as I continued reading it yesterday and this morning finished it, read all of 1 and 2 Kings and drew lots of pretty charts listing who was king of Judah and Israel at each moment and which prophets (major and minor) go where...
And when you start looking into it, a lot of things click into place. It's clear that God was quite obvious when he gave out laws and rules and yet the Israelites seem to fail on the first one before even looking at the rest of the commandments. The Kings went from a good one who set up the temple, sought God's face and followed his laws through a variety of less good kings who allowed, encouraged or tolerated idolatry and then along comes another good king who sets things right, and then he's followed by an even more evil one who destroys all of that and sets up idols again. Is it any wonder that God might get a bit tired of all of this, after he sets up a clear covenant and mandate and then people just do their own thing?!?
And then suddenly all the doom and gloom, and yet also the hope, in the minor prophets makes more sense. There are some great stories in these books, I suppose with hindsight we can see how stupid some individuals were and also how clever God is in dealing with them. And yet throughout it, God maintains His promise to have an heir to David on the throne and so he allows crazy and evil kings to continue so that they produce an heir until eventually we get the exile, which I guess had to happen sooner or later given the circumstances.
Fascinating stuff, why has no-one made a movie, or epic tv series of all of this?
Anyway, I wonder if we're not so much different today. God sets out clearly what we are supposed to do. Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength; loving our neighbours as ourselves. Fixing our eyes on Jesus and living for him. Being transformed by the renewing of our minds; Healing the sick, raising the dead etc etc. And yet so often we get distracted or we rebel, like those early Old Testament Kings, into following 'other gods', and then we wonder why we end up in a pickle.
Thank goodness for grace. That God is patient and tries to correct us when we fall down or run away. But the challenge remains in our lives to 'destroy the high places' and commit ourselves to follow wholeheartedly the way of the Lord. To have a heart like Josiah (who gets very little press really, despite being quite cool!)
2 Chron 34v2-3
'He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. In the eighth year of his reign, WHILE HE WAS STILL YOUNG, he began to seek the God of his father David... '
And all of that was fulfilling a prophecy spoken about him about 300 years previously, when the Israelites were rebelling and breaking away from Judah. 1 Kings 13v2
God's always got a plan. There's no fooling Him. And that's the best bit about being in the Kingdom of God. (well maybe not THE best bit, but it's pretty good all the same.)
It was fascinating. I must have been in the mood for taking in all of the different names and information therein, as I continued reading it yesterday and this morning finished it, read all of 1 and 2 Kings and drew lots of pretty charts listing who was king of Judah and Israel at each moment and which prophets (major and minor) go where...
And when you start looking into it, a lot of things click into place. It's clear that God was quite obvious when he gave out laws and rules and yet the Israelites seem to fail on the first one before even looking at the rest of the commandments. The Kings went from a good one who set up the temple, sought God's face and followed his laws through a variety of less good kings who allowed, encouraged or tolerated idolatry and then along comes another good king who sets things right, and then he's followed by an even more evil one who destroys all of that and sets up idols again. Is it any wonder that God might get a bit tired of all of this, after he sets up a clear covenant and mandate and then people just do their own thing?!?
And then suddenly all the doom and gloom, and yet also the hope, in the minor prophets makes more sense. There are some great stories in these books, I suppose with hindsight we can see how stupid some individuals were and also how clever God is in dealing with them. And yet throughout it, God maintains His promise to have an heir to David on the throne and so he allows crazy and evil kings to continue so that they produce an heir until eventually we get the exile, which I guess had to happen sooner or later given the circumstances.
Fascinating stuff, why has no-one made a movie, or epic tv series of all of this?
Anyway, I wonder if we're not so much different today. God sets out clearly what we are supposed to do. Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength; loving our neighbours as ourselves. Fixing our eyes on Jesus and living for him. Being transformed by the renewing of our minds; Healing the sick, raising the dead etc etc. And yet so often we get distracted or we rebel, like those early Old Testament Kings, into following 'other gods', and then we wonder why we end up in a pickle.
Thank goodness for grace. That God is patient and tries to correct us when we fall down or run away. But the challenge remains in our lives to 'destroy the high places' and commit ourselves to follow wholeheartedly the way of the Lord. To have a heart like Josiah (who gets very little press really, despite being quite cool!)
2 Chron 34v2-3
'He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. In the eighth year of his reign, WHILE HE WAS STILL YOUNG, he began to seek the God of his father David... '
And all of that was fulfilling a prophecy spoken about him about 300 years previously, when the Israelites were rebelling and breaking away from Judah. 1 Kings 13v2
God's always got a plan. There's no fooling Him. And that's the best bit about being in the Kingdom of God. (well maybe not THE best bit, but it's pretty good all the same.)
Monday 21 July 2008
work update
On the days when I am not being a supermodel (see previous post), I've been busy looking for more jobs...
I'm now officially registered unemployed. Its so odd to go to the jobcentre and pass the bouncers to sign on, but the characters one comes across in the jobcentre could provide inspiration for a number of best-selling novels...
Since signing on, I've been head-hunted by 2 supply agencies and also have a job interview on Wed for a completely different job, working with people affected by HIV. It could be very interesting, despite the commute to work, it's a fair way away. Anyway, we'll see what happens.
It's funny though because people say you should take time to adjust to being back in the country after working and living abroad. The official stance is that it takes half as long to recover as the time you spent abroad, which means normal service will resume for me in October... I didn't really relax when I came home from Africa and my recent stay in hospital and sick leave gave me the opportunity to chillax and that's what I've done. All worries about needing to rush into a job have vanished. I know that God will provide and I don't need to get anxious or guilty about enjoying some free time. For goodness sake, I worked loads of 'overtime' in S.Africa and need to recover from that... I'm doing ok at adjusting though, sometimes there are good and bad days.
The strangest thing is that I seem to have lots of friends around here, but my social life has become family-orientated... This needs some attention I think. It's always hard to return to your old town, people move on. It's even harder when you have a long-distance relationship going on at the same time, thankfully it will become a closer-distance relationship very soon when J moves to Leam in September, then we have to negotiate the new game of couple-dom....
I'm now officially registered unemployed. Its so odd to go to the jobcentre and pass the bouncers to sign on, but the characters one comes across in the jobcentre could provide inspiration for a number of best-selling novels...
Since signing on, I've been head-hunted by 2 supply agencies and also have a job interview on Wed for a completely different job, working with people affected by HIV. It could be very interesting, despite the commute to work, it's a fair way away. Anyway, we'll see what happens.
It's funny though because people say you should take time to adjust to being back in the country after working and living abroad. The official stance is that it takes half as long to recover as the time you spent abroad, which means normal service will resume for me in October... I didn't really relax when I came home from Africa and my recent stay in hospital and sick leave gave me the opportunity to chillax and that's what I've done. All worries about needing to rush into a job have vanished. I know that God will provide and I don't need to get anxious or guilty about enjoying some free time. For goodness sake, I worked loads of 'overtime' in S.Africa and need to recover from that... I'm doing ok at adjusting though, sometimes there are good and bad days.
The strangest thing is that I seem to have lots of friends around here, but my social life has become family-orientated... This needs some attention I think. It's always hard to return to your old town, people move on. It's even harder when you have a long-distance relationship going on at the same time, thankfully it will become a closer-distance relationship very soon when J moves to Leam in September, then we have to negotiate the new game of couple-dom....
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