I have been made full time as a church worker for the Crescent Church in Belfast. This is my home church where I have grown up in, physically and spiritually; where I’ve been baptised, where I’ve been challenged and where I’ve been blessed. I had been applying for other jobs in the youth work sector, and was looking forward to developing my interest in youth work. Then my own church offers me full time hours. After an interview with Youth For Christ in Northern Ireland, I was discussing the opportunities that were open to me, including the possibility of working at Crescent. Steven said to me that it does not happen too often that someone who is seeking to work full time in youth work or other areas, gets to work for the church they have grown up in and attend. It’s an amazing opportunity, and one that should not be passed up easily.
So with that in mind, a lot of discussing, thinking and praying, I took the job. I have now completed my first full week, and what a hectic week it was! I started straight into my usual tasks, and these were supplemented by committee meetings each evening, and a few unexpected tasks. It’s amazing how the Lord works in mysterious ways. I got a diary for Christmas, thinking it was probably the most useless present for me, as I tend to use my phone calendar, and then when I rolled into work on Monday I realised I was going to need one, and lo behold, I now had one at home! It’s proving to be one of the most useful, essential resources I will ever use!
So one of the ‘suprises’ I found out was that I was now in charge of the new student from on placement from Belfast Bible College. This news came in the format of receiving a CC of an email sent to the college explaining I was now in charge. Probably not the best way to discover something, but my worries were replaced by some excitement as this was an immediate level up from my usual responsibilities! My first student. I tried not to let the power rush in to my head, though it was difficult not to indulge my imaginings. No more having to walk to the kitchen for coffee, it would be brought to me. And no more trips down to the shop for milk; that would be their job. It would be written in to their learning contract. However these were the wanderings of an over active imagination, and none of these wonderful dreams ever became a reality. I arranged a meeting (pencilling it into my diary) and we discussed the placement, what would be achieved and what would be done. Due to the student’s circumstances, it would only be 30 hours over two and a half weeks, and with a schedule in place, my dreams of being waited on hand and foot quickly evaporated.
The other ‘suprise’ was more expected, but was something I had tried to put to the back of my mind. This year I had ordered 3 christmas trees to be displayed in the church, and it was the general view of many members that they should come down, since Christmas had been and gone. I had managed to avoid doing this, but it was inevitable, and this week was the deadline. I wrote it down in big letters so I would definitely get it done, as pressure was beginning to mount. I was not going to be the first person to be excommunicated because of a dying fir tree. This particular dying fir tree was 9 feet tall, decorated top to bottom, and two 6 feet trees dressed similarly. This was not be an easy task. I enlisted my friend Chris and we set about removing the trees. My granda also appeared and removed the 9 foot one. After removing a hundred bobbles, a thousand fairy lights, and getting my hands covered in sticky sap as we took the trees outside, I have already resolved to designate this task to someone else next year.
The week then ended with the wedding of my friend Tony to his Bolivian bride Irma. Tony’s been living and working in Trinidad in Bolivia for some time, and came home to be married to Irma (for the 2nd time, as they had been married the week before in Bolivia!). The day was a huge undertaking for the church, with a catering team of 30+, looking after c.300 guests. I had the pleasure / unenviable task of filming the day with my friend Jonny, and only made one mistake the whole afternoon! I failed to film most of the speech of Irma’s sister, who had travelled the entire way from Bolivia to be at the wedding, and so I’ll probably be eternally sorry to Tony and Irma. I think only one mistake in a full week of work is quite good. If I can manage that ratio for the rest of my working life, I’ll be happy enough! I might even record large mistakes, so I can look back and laugh. Or more likely so that those who read this can look back and laugh.
I don’t know if the initial excitement of using a diary for the first time has worn off yet, as I’m still filling it up with work related issues (e.g. 4th Feb Youth Advisory Meeting 7.30pm) and issues not so work related but just as essential (6th Feb Match night, Norn Iron vs Bulgaria). I’m beginning to wonder how I survived and journeyed through life before I began using this wee black book. Maybe my habit of being 10 minutes late has not been genetic as was first thought, but due to the absence of this book in my life. I’ll keep you posted.
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