Adam White

The next part of Andy Stanley’s sermon series focuses on relationships with other Christians that have helped shape and grow your own faith. Andy asked two questions which I am going to answer here:

1) Name someone who had an impact on your faith before you were a Christian
For this one I am going to name two people. Firstly there is my friend Catherine. I met her when I moved to Swindon when I was still at university to work for a year at Tyco Electronics. I was very much an athiest and she was a life-long Christian. That year did not change my faith views but it did open my eyes to what Christians were really like (as in normal people). God planted some seeds that year which bore fruit when I went back to university.

The second person is my friend Heather. Shortly after I got back to my life of academia Heather (who I had only known since my second year of uni) revealed to me that she was a Christian too and invited me on an Alpha course. I decided to go for it and see what would happen. Ten weeks later, I prayed a prayer of salvation to God and became a Christian.

2) As a Christian name someone who had an impact in growing your faith
However, that wasn’t the end of my story. After I became a Christian I was still very much walking in the dark. I didn’t attend church and was seriously lacking in the support and guidance that a church can bring. After about two years I began attending Swindon Family Church and after about six months of being there God spoke to two people in the church and put me on their hearts. These two people were my friends Franck and Lindsay. Thankfully they listened to God and invited me over for dinner. We talked and got to know each other a little better and I went back to their house week after week after week. Through this relationship I got to ask all the questions I had and talk about all the frustrations I had. I learned a lot and grew as a Christian but it wasn’t until December last year that the real breakthrough came. They had to have my negativity and endless questions week after week for months and months before something in me cracked and I broke down. Something was released that day and I have been on the rise with God ever since.

The last question is my question: How can I be an influential relationship in someone else’s life? That is in God’s hands and I have to be responsive when he puts someone on my heart. I just hope I can tackle it with the love and patience that others have shown me.

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I’ve just got home from the Alpha supper that we just hosted at my church. I have been worried about it all day and then suddely I was stood at the church having second thoughts. At first I thought I was going to be able to get out of it by being “Mr PA” and doing the lighting and sound for the evening (not that there was a lot to do in this area) but thankfully Kaz (who was co-running it with Clive her husband) told me she wanted me on a table with the guests. So I diligently (if a little terrified) started to mingle and greet some people. To say I was out of my comfort zone this evening was an understatement! Thankfully God was looking out for me and I sat next to a very nice chap named Ian and we talked all evening about sport, music and the like.

I thought the evening went very well and the meal that was cooked for us was excellent. I’m getting the impression though that my role in this Alpha may be more than I had first thought. It’s interesting how I started off by saying I didn’t think I was going to involved with this course, then I was agreeing to tidy up and help in a non-talking way but now I may be helping on or even (dare I say it) leading a small group next Sunday. It’s in God’s hands and I trust Him completely. I just have to learn to not get so worried about it beforehand!

One thing I am not happy about though is how bad I was at spreading the word about Alpha. I could have done so much more to talk to people about it and invite people along but I always chickened out (except with my old student from Tyco but he didn’t want to come anyway). I must learn how to talk about God and my faith more openly with people. I don’t understand why it is such a struggle sometimes! I am a work in progress though and hopefully I will get better at this as I continue to move on with God.

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Is was my friend Paul’s wedding on Friday. I had worked with Paul for over four years while I was at Tyco and it was great to see him so happy. He and Gina had been together for 18 years so it was about time they made it legal!

It wasn’t exactly a traditional wedding but wasn’t as scary as the “East-meets-West” invitiation made out. It was a lovely chilled affair. Shame about the weather 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 was never sure what to expect from my last day with Tyco Electronics. It ended up being really laid back and chilled. It wasn’t awkward and I ended up just trying to enjoy spending my last day there.

It is a weird feeling though: I have just said goodbye to a group of people that I have spent five days a week with for the past four years. From next Tuesday I am going to be making new friendships and working relationships to spend 8 hours a day with.

Overall my years at Tyco had their ups and their downs but I can only see positives for me over the time. I have left on good terms and have grown in my abilities and experience through it.

Roll on the next challenge now!!

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Okay, it’s starting to sink in that I’m leaving now. I had my first visit from someone who I had worked with since I started to say goodbye (they are away tomorrow). It’s really weird thinking that I’m going to be in a different company working in a different team this time next week.

I think I’m doing pretty well with my attitude. I was worried at the beginning of the week how I would appear to other people but in my last team metting today I was adding suggestions and offering advice as if I wasn’t going. I was even still referring to the team as “us” and “we”.

My friend Paul is doing a major presentation to a lot of IT folk tomorrow so I have also been helping him nail down his content and presentation style. I’m staying late to help him through the presentation before I leave the company for good. This time tomorrow it will all be over and I’ll have somewhere else to blog about. Weird!

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As predicted my day has swung from moments of being busy with implementations and teleconferences to having nothing to do at all. When emails come in with things to do I have to forward them on as they are someone else’s job now.

I only have a day and a half left so I suspect I will be packing my stuff away in the quiet times. Hopefully though my attitude is stil reflecting well with those that to those around me. I think I’m doing an ok job!

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I did better today. I worked my socks off all day but now I have run out of jobs! I feel good for it though: Instead of that feeling that I had let myself down like I had yesterday I am now finishing today on a positive.

I have things to keep myself occupied tomorrow morning as we have a few implementations and upgrades happening but I may have to spend my time packing for the rest of the week unless some little pieces of work come from somewhere!

It’s much harder to keep working hard when there’s no work to do!

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I started Monday with the drive to work really hard and finish my time at Tyco Electronics full of commitment. It lasted until about lunchtime! I worked so hard in the morning that by the time I got to lunch I barely had any work left to do!

So in the afternoon I spent some time writing up my blog post for the fancy dress party (which technically was an extended lunch as I did most of it during my lunch break) and then chatted to people in the office about various non critical work related things.

I’ve left myself a few little things that need getting on with for Tuesday but I need to learn to pace myself better or the work is going to run out again!

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I am now just coming to the end of the third week of my notice period with Tyco Electronics and I thought that maybe I should start blogging about how it is going!

Initially everything seemed to carry on as usual except I had less work to do: I was handing over everything I did to my colleagues so gradually I had nothing left but supervision and the odd email. This last week however has become very interesting. The department’s new student has started, a young man called Benedikt who has impressed me a lot so far. I have been training him and teaching him about all our websites and systems. I have also been occupied with handing over the management of our implementations which wasn’t quite as simple as printing out the procedure. But it has really been these last two days that lots and lots of work has come out of nowhere. I’ve gone from having barely anything to do to having a list as long as my arm!

The hardest thing for me though is combating the attitude other people assume I have. I have had so many people say to me things like “I know your leaving so you don’t care anymore…”. As a Christian I feel like it is even more important to work my very hardest and not act like I’ve already left. This is so difficult though as the temptation to just give in and not care is always there.

I’m imagining my last week as being the hardest as I am going to see the end of tunnel getting ever closer and the work is going to really start to pile up. But I am going to fight the urge to not care and work my very hardest on my last week. I’ll let you know how it goes!!

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