Thinking about direction as much as I have recently its surprising (to me at least) that I've only just got around to paying any attention to where I had envisioned myself in years gone by. So here is a somewhat clouded record of where I thought I would be.
1. Youth - Well, by youth I mean aged 3-16, but you can include a variety of careers in that from astronaught and submariner, to architect, engineer, racing driver, fighter pilot.
2. High School - Here it got a bit more compicated but I was still thinking fighter pilot and architect.
3. Sixth Form - By this point I made choices of subject that plunged me firmly down the line of politics, history and geography. If anything I was drawn most to geographical careers. Vulcanology, meteorology, hydrology. All of these I found facinating and it seemed like a great idea to think about a career in one of those. However, one bad exam result (which it turned out eventually was very much a one off) and the need to apply for Uni before I knew my overall result led to me applying for history.
4. Uni - So as I started Uni I was a history student and knew only that I would like to leave Uni with a good job, well paid, probably in government. Even having become a Christian that idea of a well paid government position stayed firm in my mind and as I entered my last year I was all for working for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in an embassy somewhere. And yet, before I knew it God was working in my heart and changing my career direction all in one. Certainty was replaced by doubt and I was led into my masters degree.
5. MPhil - I began my MPhil thinking that it would lead into a PhD and ultimately academia. And yet, through circumstances no-one could envisage it all of a sudden became a simple MPhil and once more my immediate future seemed in doubt. More and more as I grew as a Christian the doubt grew, until it began to be shaped into a clear belief in serving God. This took the path at first of applying for the Relay training scheme, only for that door to be closed as I became overwhelmed with an MPhil that was far more of an undertaking than I could ever have imagined. And that brings me to now.... continuing to desire to serve God but trying to determine how best to do that.
The only certainty through all of this is that God has changed my perspectives and desires for the future in a way that 6 years ago I could not have forseen. In a way its been frustrating and difficult to see doors close and horizons seem impassible but its also exciting to know that God will and can continue to shape and mold me and my future.
The picture is from Calderstones Park, Liverpool.
1. Youth - Well, by youth I mean aged 3-16, but you can include a variety of careers in that from astronaught and submariner, to architect, engineer, racing driver, fighter pilot.
2. High School - Here it got a bit more compicated but I was still thinking fighter pilot and architect.
3. Sixth Form - By this point I made choices of subject that plunged me firmly down the line of politics, history and geography. If anything I was drawn most to geographical careers. Vulcanology, meteorology, hydrology. All of these I found facinating and it seemed like a great idea to think about a career in one of those. However, one bad exam result (which it turned out eventually was very much a one off) and the need to apply for Uni before I knew my overall result led to me applying for history.
4. Uni - So as I started Uni I was a history student and knew only that I would like to leave Uni with a good job, well paid, probably in government. Even having become a Christian that idea of a well paid government position stayed firm in my mind and as I entered my last year I was all for working for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in an embassy somewhere. And yet, before I knew it God was working in my heart and changing my career direction all in one. Certainty was replaced by doubt and I was led into my masters degree.
5. MPhil - I began my MPhil thinking that it would lead into a PhD and ultimately academia. And yet, through circumstances no-one could envisage it all of a sudden became a simple MPhil and once more my immediate future seemed in doubt. More and more as I grew as a Christian the doubt grew, until it began to be shaped into a clear belief in serving God. This took the path at first of applying for the Relay training scheme, only for that door to be closed as I became overwhelmed with an MPhil that was far more of an undertaking than I could ever have imagined. And that brings me to now.... continuing to desire to serve God but trying to determine how best to do that.
The only certainty through all of this is that God has changed my perspectives and desires for the future in a way that 6 years ago I could not have forseen. In a way its been frustrating and difficult to see doors close and horizons seem impassible but its also exciting to know that God will and can continue to shape and mold me and my future.
The picture is from Calderstones Park, Liverpool.
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