Adam White

Just over a month ago I had a moan on my blog about about how I had no spare time and how I always felt under pressure. So how have I got on with freeing up some of my time?

Well, for a start I have made Saturday my day off. I try and get out and go somewhere if I can, recently I have visited Donnington Castle and many Swindon parks with my best friends. Last Saturday however I spent most of the time tidying my house but I didn’t count this as working as I felt good afterwards and it was a day well spent.

I have also now devoted my Sunday’s to my church. I didn’t want to call it my God day as every day is a God day really. By devoted to my church I mean I spend the morning ensuring everything visual is set up and working (I am regularly one of the first to arrive and last to leave). When I eventually get out of the building I try and do the minor church related jobs like the website or IT bits and bobs. And now Alpha has started again so from 4.30 until late I am back at the building doing what I think God wants me to do and leading a discussion group.

Another thing I am trying is I have always considered Sunday to be the last day of the week. This means I end the week with church and God and start it with my job. I’m trying to treat Sunday as the first day of my week now so that I kick off my weeks with church and serving God before I go and serve BCS on the Monday. It takes some getting used to though but it is a good mindset to be in.

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Every day is struggle for me at the moment. It is not illness related; I am blessed with good health and the only thing I can complain about is dodgy eyesight and a receding hairline. It is not money related; I have a great job that pays me well, the only debts I have are with my house (that I own).

The thing I struggle with at the moment and what is at the root of most of my troubles is time.

I’m not going to complain at needing more time as I get 24 hours in a day like everyone else. It is how I use those hours that is at the heart of the problem. I have worked out after 27 years of trial and error that I need around 8 hours of sleep in order to feel refreshed the next day. I can get less than that if necessary and be okay but after a couple of days of late nights and it really starts to affect my energy.

This leaves me with 16 hours a day. This does sound like a lot but then take away another 9 hours for work and that leaves me with 7 hours, 5 days a week. The time between waking up and getting to work can also be considered as a write-off. So that leaves me with 5 evenings of around 5 hours each.

Now, one of these evenings is always taken up with a small group meeting. Normally it starts at 7.30 so it is not the whole evening gone but by the time I have gotten home from work, checked my emails and eaten dinner it is time to head off anyway.

What about the weekend though? Surely I get time then? Sadly, being so involved in church activities pretty much means that Sundays are a total write-off as well. Church starts at 10.30 but I am regularly there by 9.30 to set up the projection requirements for the service and then I normally end up staying until 1.30 in order to get the day’s “message” onto CDs and run around doing all the other jobs that need doing. It also looks like I am going to be heavily involved in Alpha again starting at the end of February which takes my time from 5.30 on a Sunday night for the rest of the evening.

That leaves me with 5 hours a night for 4 weekdays, all of Saturday and 4 hours on a Sunday. Now what do I have to squeeze into these 48 hours…

I have three passions in life (as highlighted by the sub-title of my website): God, my job and films. I want to grow my knowledge in each of these areas and that takes time. The most important one of these is obviously God and I would love to spend far more time praying, reading my bible, listening to sermons and reading books and blogs. I pray on my way to work in the morning and I try and listen to a preach on my way home from work each night but I would love to find more time to pray and read my bible at other times in the day as well.

I love developing. I have been a web developer for nearly seven years now and love it. I have chosen to specialise in .NET development. This is a very fast growing technology and it is very hard to keep up to date with all the latest developments in CSS, JavaScript, MVC frameworks not to mention the various C# features I haven’t had a chance to learn or use yet. I try and keep up to date with the latest via magazines, blogs and the occasional podcast. A lot of this I can do at work but if I really want to be as good as I can be I need to take my learning into my home time as well.

And finally there are my films. I use my films as a way to shut down my brain and relax. I listen to Mark Kermode’s film reviews podcast once a week and read the occasional blog about what is happening but I don’t spend as much time on this passion as I used to and I rarely go to the cinema any more.

What I haven’t mentioned so far is all the things I do for my church outside of a Sunday. I look after the IT for the church which involves the website, projection, recording and all the IT equipment. I have a huge list of jobs that either need doing or I want to do.

I also love helping people. God has blessed me with lots of talents and a desire to serve but I can’t help everyone. If I could I would though, I just need to find the time to do it!

I haven’t even mentioned my friends yet. I have always preferred to have a handful of really good friends that I spend time with than lots of acquaintances that I don’t get to know as well as I would like. I could count the number of close friends I have on one hand and that is a good thing. However, when I see these friends I want to spend a good amount of time with them. Even today I spent most of it with my friends wandering around various shops in Swindon. If I could I would spend at least one night a week with each of my friends but that is just not feasible.

Other things that I haven’t mentioned here that I would love to do include: DIY in my house, getting myself fit and, dare I say it, a relationship!

So, I’ve have just written a 1000 word essay on my struggle with fitting everything I need/want to do into my life. I must have needed to vent. But unless I do something about, this situation is only going to get worse not better. So here are my goals to tackle this problem:

1) Use the time I have got more efficiently

2) Prioritise better

3) Start to say no

4) Give up some things

I’ll let you know how it goes…

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If anybody is monitorng my Facebook status they will have noticed that I have been a little busy and overwhelmed of late. Here is an idea of why…

Friday
After a typical day at work it was time to start the weekend. I did this in style by going and stewarding at a Collective concert again in Wootton Bassett. It was a fun evening with very little trouble, even when the older kids turned up around 9.00 and the atmosphere changed. At the end they had a decent response from the youth and six children gave their lives to God.

Saturday
After a long snooze to recover from the night before it was time to start. First off was the last meeting between myself and Gemma to pray for our Alpha group. We have got together every week and as Sunday is the very last session it was sad to have it come to an end.

This was followed by a swift drive through the flooded roads to Purton to meet up with my small group for a ”Christmas” gathering. I spent most of the time playing on a Playstation and beating the younger children. It sounds mean but they did beat me on the first go!

Then, to cap off the evening, it was into my shirt and black tie to run the PA for our church’s youth’s Christmas party. This is actually still going on as I write this (they’re eating so I thought I’d make use of myself!)

Sunday
Now this hasn’t happened yet but I can still talk about what is happening tomorrow!

As usual for a Sunday it is church which will take up my morning. This will be followed by the very last Alpha session of this course. It has been an interesting three months and I’m looking forward to writing about all that I have seen God do and what God has done with me through it.

Then it is back to work on Monday. Although it my last week before I start my Christmas break. Yippee!!!

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So why haven’t I been blogging recently?

Is it because the novelty of blogging has worn off and I am now a bit bored of it? – While I’m not quite as enthusiastic as I was when I started I’m still keen to blog. So it’s not this.

Is it because I have run out of things to say? – I have a backlog of things I want to add on here so no!

Is it because of my new job with the BCS? – I used to be able to blog in my lunch break at my old job but I can’t do that anymore due to company policy but I could do what I have done with this post and write it during my lunch breakand email it home to post up from there! So it is kind of this but not really.

Is it because I have been unbelievably busy recently? – Hmmm, let me think…Yes! That’s it!

So what have I been up to that has had me so distracted? Gateway Church Swindon that’s what!

Up until a week ago I had been regularly attending Swindon Family Church but on Sunday they changed the name to Gateway Church Swindon. This is not just a superficial change, it was a very God-led decision and there’s a whole mindset change to go with this as well. If you would like to know why you can read all about it on the website.

As the person who looks after IT, projection, recording and the website, my involvement in the past few weeks has been fairly intense. Add onto this that the PA box was completely taken apart and rebuilt from scratch in a different place and you can guess the kind of week I just had!

I can happily report though that the website has been changed, the CDs now have a new styling, there are newly styled presentations running every service, and everyone’s email addresses have been changed. There are a few minor things left to do but the bulk of the work has been done.

Does this mean I have lots of time again? Unfortunately not! I’ve been having this week off of “church work” but starting next week I need to tidy up the remaining mini-jobs, keep the website moving forward and grow it to fulfil its potential. On top of all this, somehow I have managed to get myself involved in another Alpha course starting this weekend. This is my first proper course and I’m not sure yet what my involvement is going to be. If we don’t get many people along I may just be tidying and serving. But the more people we get I may end up helping on a small group or even leading one! It’s all in God’s hands though and I trust in Him to do what is best. It doesn’t stop me from being nervous though!

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I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post again. I’ve had a busy week!

I started my new job at BCS on Tuesday and have come away from my first week with them pleased and feeling like I have made the right decision. My first day was a little worrying and not just because of first day nerves. I came away still not really knowing what my new job was and what was expected of me.

Thankfully I have come away from this week not only feeling like I am perfect for the position but that I can really bring my experience from Tyco and apply it in this new setting.

I’m loving the later starts, the group of people I will be working with, the feel and atmosphere and most of all feeling full of energy in the evenings again!

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I’ve had to keep this one under my hat until it was official but after four years I am finally moving on from Tyco Electronics!

Ever since I got back from visiting Harrisburg with work I have had that feeling that it was time for me to change jobs. I think that my department is moving in a great new direction, I just don’t think it is a direction I am interested in. So while I was in Palma I wrote up my CV and started looking for jobs (hence the long overdue redevelopment of this site).

Last Tuesday I had an interview with the British Computer Society for a role in their team and then that same afternoon I was offered the job. I felt at the time like it could be the perfect role for me but to hear back from them so quickly with an offer was almost too good to be true. After a couple of days of talking, thinking and praying I came back to them with a definite yes and handed in my notice today. I now have four weeks left here at Tyco before I embark on a whole new adventure.

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I was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex in 1981 and was raised in Uxbridge until I was 10. My mum’s job then moved us to a town called Buckingham where I spent the rest of my youth.

At the age of 18 I moved out from home and started to attend Bath University studying Computer Science. I spent two years in Bath (beautiful city, shame about all the tourists) before my course required me to seek employment for a year.

I got a job as a web developer working for Tyco Electronics in Swindon so I packed my bags and moved in. I lived and worked in Swindon for a year and it was during my time here that my eyes began to be opened to the truth about God. (I highly recommend you read my testimony to find out more about this).

So I moved back to Bath for my final year and immediately went on an Alpha course. It was through this that I finally became a Christian. So, I finish my course (I got a 2:2 which I was happy with) and start looking for a job. God already had my future in His hands though as one of the guys I worked with at Tyco Electronics left to work for Nationwide and so there was a job opening. I applied and got the job straight away. Then my friend Phil who I also worked with at Tyco was looking for a place to live so the two of us bought a house together. So I went straight from university to a career and home ownership (well part ownership). Thank you God!

I spent the next four years working for Tyco and after two years of being in Swindon I finally commit myself to a church: Swindon Family Church. I get baptised and take on the responsibility of IT and projection in the church. This role has grown recently to include managing the church website.

This all stayed the same up until 2008 when I left Tyco to work for the British Computer Society (also in Swindon) and my church changed name to Gateway Church Swindon.

…and this is where I am still at today.

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