University

I've written about University on here before, though it has of course generally been in the form of frustrations regarding my thesis, or thinking back with great fondness about the friendship and fellowship that being at Uni has furnished me with. This post however is going to be something different. Its going to be the first critical analysis I've yet written about Uni and its pros and cons in my life.

Firstly the pros. Well, Univeristy certaintly achieved for me the great awakening of my mind - so to speak. Academically it challenged my preconceptions, introduced me to wide-ranging topics and ideas that I could never have encountered if not in that context, challenged me to challenge those who before hand I certainly regarded with a certain amount of deference or even awe. In a spiritual sense too it transformed my life, allowing me to explore and then grow and grow and grow into a true faith and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, a faith which now is the central tennet of my life. Without Univeristy it is hard to see how that faith would have come about.

Uni also gave me access to a world of friendship, fellowship and lessons in life which have blessed me so incredibly. Indeed, in many cases the use of the word world is significant there as I have been able to meet and live with people from all over this planet of ours, absorbing culture, learning about nations and traditions that if I'd remained in St Helens prob wouldn't have happened at all, or at the very least would have taken forty years or more to occur. Amazing! Through CU, church and living in Hallville I have been blessed with incredible, life-long friends, times of great laughter, excitement, exploration as well as many experiences that at one time I imagined would be available to me only via tv or books.

Finally, it was through Uni that God blessed me with a relationship with Steph. For that, and for so many other things I give thanks to God for my six years at University.

But of course, there are definately cons, though they are cons that I don't think the University is in itself to be blamed. University, for all its wonders, for all that it provides acadmically and relationally, is a bubble, a bubble that protects those attending Uni from the outside world. Now, I am speaking here of my University experience (Liverpool), of my course (history), and what you mind find in the UK system. I realise that if you did a vocational course, went to a different Uni, or went to Uni in the US then it is in many ways very different. But I think for many who go to Uni, you live in a world that furnishes you with so much academically and skills wise, but then effectivly dumps you out at the end thoroughly unprepared for what comes next. Indeed, what I am finding is that in the 'real world' you find yourself poorly qualified for even the most basic positions, and because University brings together people from everywhere, if you leave then you find your close friends are no longer as close as you would like.

In essence you emerge from Uni unqualifed, unskilled and without good support and friendship, at least as the 'real world' sees it. My uncle used to tell me this all the time, namely that 'Uni is a waste of time that graduates are a load of rubbish' and I used to get frustrated with that. I still do to be honest, the bit about graduates being a load of rubbish especially. But he is right in that I don't think Uni is what we are told it is going to be. University is sold as the means to achieve whatever you want in life. No uni, no prospects. And yet it just isn't. Not anymore, not right now. I'm not saying that I am disadvantaged from going to Uni - that would be self-pitying nonsense that is in itself a lie - but I am saying that the blessings that I have been given at Uni seem to have no meaning to those who run the world as we know it right now and that is exceptionally disheartening.

What I must do though is remember this. God is sovereign. He blessed me in sending me to Liverpool, blessed me in so many areas of my life while I was there, and He will continue to guide me in whatever way He sees fit in the future. And from that I can give thanks that I have been to University.

Taking Stock

Phew! As I write this I am a little shell-shocked to be honest. Steph has just left - well, when I say just it was about four hours ago that I last bade her fare-well and she boarded a plane to go back to the US of A - and I now sit a bit lost, having just lost my central purpose for the last few weeks (spending time with Steph) and contemplating having no upcoming deadlines or trips to take. Tis strange.

Its been a busy few weeks though, and by and large a great few weeks. The run up to Steph's arrival had been a bit crazy in its own right - a major and much needed spate of decorating consuming all before it and sending any semblence of a life-style into a bit of a spin, and a new beginning of a sort with an intro to some volunteering I shall be doing whilst looking for work. Steph arrived almost two weeks ago exactly, and since then its been a bit of a whirlwind. We have been blessed with some great trips out - to the Lakes, the Peaks, Wales, Liverpool, and of course, St Helens - as well as great and unexpected times of friendship and fellowship (hanging out with the mighty Moll before his marriage and move to London, catching up with the Big Baby, spending some quality time with the Gotts, and my parents). Then of course there was the big event - the meeting of Moll and Charlton to result in the Molls - which really was a great day down in Crewe (well, two days to be honest). On top of that there were films - Prince Caspian, Hancock and the stupendous Wall-E at the cinema and then a multitude of DVDs at home, coffee and less fun, a big English Heritage application.

All in all a huge amount of stuff and nearly all of it great and also sooooo tiring. And yet now I sit with Steph leaving again, unclear as to when we will next see each other, friends leaving Liverpool, myself in St Helens and the world seems a lot lonelier again. Strange days these are that we live in.

The Pace of Change

Perhaps, dear reader, you would agree that we humans like things just so when we desire them to be just so. In other words we want what we want, when we want it, as we want it. Of course, nothing says that this fulfillment of our perfection is going to be the case, and indeed the Bible teaches us that this world, because of sin, will forever be filled with pain and disappointment, especially if we are chasing goals that are not of God. And yet everywhere you look, people, including ourselves, will always be disappointed that our new house isn''t ready as we want it to be, or that our new car is not ready on time, or that new job hasn't gone through yet, etc, etc.

I was thinking about this today as I happened to be walking through a local council estate, a place familar to me from childhood and a place that was no doubt built in the 1960s as a social utopian paradise that would transform peoples lives from the outset. Now, taking for granted that anything other than God will never really and trully transform peoples lives, and regarding the council estate as at best improving peoples lives, something obviously went wrong in this particular estate. By no-means a complete disaster, the place lacks a soul and still bares the hallmarks of a community that lacked any real imagination or true individual thought. It is in many ways a literal transference of a handful of peoples vision of what would make a good place to live and is almost Soviet in its uniform nature. And yet, here and there, elements of individual thinking are emerging in the estate. Private enterprise is springing up. Scultpture can be found in assorted places. Some houses, no longer owned by the council, have a distinctive theme - one even resembled a traditional Japanese house. Furthermore a local church is now a hive of social improvement.

These significant changes were apparent today as, when I was a good deal younger (20 years folks) I wandered this estate and even then it was painfully clear things were in a bad way. Private enterprise was almost completely lacking, houses were uniform in the look to the last and sculpture was a strange foreign thing. Now, what i'm getting to here of course is that when as a 5 year I was looking in on this estate, many others were highly disappointed that the estate was such a failure. That the social improvement so craved had not materialised. And yet, twenty years on many improvements have slowly taken place that mean that at least I can certainly envisage this desolate council built community eventually have a unique and distinctive character all of its own. It can become a place that perhaps improves the condition of life. It just takes time. Time for new and different ideas and imputs. Time for problems to be indentified and solutions to be found, tried and implemented. Of course, things can get worse too - so in this case one of the local schools has closed and some shops have vanished - but overall it takes time for the soul of such a development to materialise, for the human hopes and dreams to come about. After all, perhaps one of the most amazing places I have ever visited in Britain is the city of Oxford a place that whilst now embodying so much culture and learning, at one point no doubt was a place of drearisome despair.

My point in this? Well, humans like things to be perfect and we want perfection immediately. But how much more would we understand and appreciate, with thanksgiving to the Lord, what we have, if we accept that perfection is impossible in that light, and that it might just be better for us that changes do take place over time. Firstly it gives more glory to God in his uncomparable perfection. Secondly it allows us to grow and learn and saves us from the pain of other peoples inevitable folly, by ensuring that at best only part of their notion of perfection and utopia is ever envisaged.