Watch! - the picture

Here is the watch which I received from Fiona this morning around 11am in the office. Ben Sherman brand! Was quite surprised! Had expected something of cheaper quality, but this is very acceptable! I am wearing it as I type this web post :) Praise God for His blessings in my life. Really. As I mentioned over dinner tonight with friends: God is amazing. His grace is like so amazing! Grace is when we have done nothing yet God blesses us with something. Amen! :)

Watch!

Monday 14th December

So there I was, walking into the office on a cold, but not so foggy Monday morning. The Monday after the Friday before, when they had a work's Christmas do which I did not attend. Everything seemed normal as I walked passed the usual people at their usual desks, saying a polite "Hello!" or "Good morning!" to those who made eye contact. It wasn't until I got to my desk that Eileen tapped my arm and said, "You're a winner!" I was a surprised to hear those words and the confused look lead Eileen to then say, "You won a watch at the raffle on Friday!" :D

Wow! I had no idea I would win something even though I was not present! I knew a raffle would take place with everyone's name in it regardless of attendance. Friday night was very foggy and after giving a driving lesson in the fog I went to the gym for a couple of hours and then went home for dinner. Without a thought to the night out itself. Totally forgot about it. So you can imagine the surprise of finding out I had won a watch!!

The list of prize winners were asked to collect their prizes on Tuesday 2pm, but I was annual leave today, so I have arranged to collect it from the social committee upon my return tomorrow. Wow! I feel so blessed! Immediately I updated my Facebook status with:

"Gordon So is very surprised to hear he won a watch at a prize draw, at the work's night out he did not attend! =D"

Someone commented with, and I quote: "Sigh. I never get ur luck. I must have done wrong in a previous life!" to which I replied:

"Your time will come, mate. Count your blessings too :)"

I firmly believe this event is not from luck or chance, but truly a blessing from God. I also believe that we all have been blessed by God in the past one way or another, but it is whether we acknowledge it, whether we accredit the good things from Him or to just luck, chance or human effort. I know God loves me and blesses me. He blesses those who love Him. I am truly thankful for all that God has given me today! :D

Over the past few weeks at English Ministry, Pastor Gordon (PG) has been preaching on a series titled Holiness. It is mainly focussed on how to maintain a healthy and holy relationship with one another, in particular couples, and how to please God. The past few weeks have really spoken to me and challenged me personally. Talks of important issues to address in a relationship. How before choosing a (potential) partner we should consider compatibilties of religion, family, money, hopes and dreams etc. That made me think of Elaam and myself as we are unsure where our future will take us as she is planning to study another degree once this one is over, and I am hoping to settle down and consider saving for property and family etc. So these sermon topics have helped us reflect and stirred up conversations between us.

This Sunday just past (11th Oct), Gordon spoke about how as a couple we should look to touch each other's souls, each other's hearts and each other's minds before touching each other's body (and touching of body is after marriage). This is very true and was very encouraging. Secondly he talked about the importance of 'sabbathing' with each other. Basically, spending quality time with each other and doing stuff together that will nurture our souls, our hearts and minds. The root of the term Sabbath derived from the Bible when God told us to keep the Sabbath (day of rest) holy and by that we would not do any work and just relax, as God did after he made the world in six days.

This made me think of my current lifestyle on a Sunday. On the occasional Sunday, more often in recent weeks, I have been going to the gym in the morning before going to EM. When I leave the gym and get to my car, I notice my mobile has missed calls and / or text messages. More often than not, these calls and messages are church related (e.g. Aaron asking for help with ushering last minute or someone telling me about worship/ PA) and I was not there for them. This Sunday I got to my car and there were eight notifications: a mixture of texts, missed calls and voicemails. Guy wanted to tell me he'd be late for Bible Study and asked me to pass on the message. Michael Chan's mum called to speak to me and left me her house number. Khammy texted to say he won't be able to make dodgeball. I was not there for people in time and I felt I let them down. I know as a leader in EM, as I take on more responsibilities etc, I will become busier and I should make myself more readily available to be contacted, especially for church related matters. If I do that, I would not be just available for people, but it is making myself available for God.

So I have decided that Sundays should be a day of good rest. As PG said, I should have enough time in six days to do whatever I need to do, and chill out on the seventh day. Spend time with God. So I will start to devote my Sunday morning and afternoon to God. And if I really feel the need to go to the gym I'll go after church, so I will prioritise church above anything else.

Secure in God

Two days ago I heard from a colleague that there was a mandatory business meeting for everyone in the office to attend. I was on annual leave though. So this morning when I got in, I was invited into a meeting room with two other colleagues who were also off yesterday, and we were told, that there are plans to close down the Glasgow office and shift the work to Poland. I won't mention my employer's name in this blogpost. The plans are still at "proposal stage" and nothing is confirmed. However, they want to give us all a heads up, because there are 91 staff members left here, after recent departure of another client group. Basically, if these proposed plans went ahead, we would all face redundancy.

When I heard the scripted official statement read out, it brought back a sense of deja vu for my time at Ford Customer Relationship Centre. I was only six months into the job when they officially announced the closing of the Glasgow office to relocate to the Midlands. My goodness, how devastated I was after hearing that. Back then I only had six months left before the changeover. Fortunately, the staff were all given lots of support to job-hunt and time off for interviews etc. That was how I came across my current employer, making it almost three years since I've been here. This time hearing the news, it was not as shocking or impacting as the first time it happened. Maybe because there were only five people in the room in contrast to the almost 90 people who would have heard it together yesterday. If the proposed plans go through the office will have until July/ August/ September 2010 to live before it goes.

Though my immediate future is planned out and I have job security, my heart goes out to those in the office who are feeling lost right. Those who don't know what to do, where to go and why this has happened. The unemployment rate is at an all-time high, so job competition will be fierce. I know that feeling from a few years ago. At least back then I was young and would be willing to take up any full time job to keep a living. However, there are more older workers here. Those who have dedicated their lives to this company, working very hard and learning processes, systems, IT skills etc in order to serve the clientele. What about them? Where are they going to go? They might question whether they are still employable, amidst the sea of youthful competition. It's sad, but I wish them all the best. Nobody could forsee this happening. Nobody has done anything to cause this either. It's cost-cutting, at it's finest. And it has happened so close to home!

Throughout the day my mind has been reflecting on how blessed and fortunate I am to have my driving instructor qualification now. I truly feel it has happened in God's time. Can you imagine me trying to sit an instructor exam with a cloud of sadness over me? Or with the feeling that my job/ redundancy/ future depended on whether I passed the exam? How much pressure that would be. I'm not sure who it would have worked that way, and I don't want to imagine it. Right now, I am very thankful to God for leading me to where I am today. Right at this moment, I feel God's love and care for me. I feel secure in His love and knowing that my future is safe in His hands. I will try to remember to pray for my colleagues as they start job hunting and try to find some security in life now. Not much more I can say here, but personally I am so thankful to God. =)

Thanksgiving

Tonight I had a thanksgiving dinner with family and a few of my closest buddies who have been supportive of me throughout my journey to become a driving instructor. Dinner at China Blue with mum, Cat, Matt, Aaron, Alethea, Arianna, Boon, Lyndsey, Hayley, Alfred, James and Nicholas Chia. We ordered lots, but the portions were smaller than expected. Even Lyndsey thought so. That was ok though, cos the main point of the night was to give thanks to God for guiding me through these few years and to thank everyone there for their friendship and prayers and support. In particular Aaron who I shared my dreams with as a cell group leader a few years back. He had seen me go through the ups and downs to get here. Including the stage where I had even considered giving up the dream in order to pursue further education (gosh!).

Everyone was so happy for me. Congratulated me and even gave me gifts! What a surprise that was! Aaron gave me a lucky money packet, Boon gave me Irish Belgian truffles, James and Matt both gave me a congratulations card. (I won't forget the cards I received from Ming and from the Marriott team which also took me by surprise!). I gave thanks for dinner and was happy that Matt understood why I was praying before dinner. After all, his dad is a Church of Scotland minister :)

Although I was the "host" of the dinner and the "star", I didn't want to be so show-off about it all. I want to give all glory to God and I hope I can honour Him with my profession in the future. Exciting times ahead, I am sure. Hallelujah! :)

I called Matt in the morning and we decided to meet up next Saturday (22nd), 9:30am at Anniesland Test Centre. Not only is he going to give me pointers and helped me pass this Part 3 exam, but he is going to let me teach some of his pupils on the day. He said he has Kerry at 11am, Sue at 1pm and Ben at 4pm. Matt said he will run me through the lesson plan of what to teach, see how I teach it and give me pointers on how to improve. He also said he will give the pupils a discount on their lessons. When I commented that he is actually paying for this to happen (losing out), he said he is an old guy and would like to do some good deeds. He said he does not want any money from me for this and just wants to help me pass my instructor exam if I want it. Of course I want it! :)

I feel so blessed by God, for after Ann passed her exam I have not seen here again and doubt I will honestly. Having Matt give me extra training / mentoring will be a great boost and I am looking forward to Saturday. I just hope I can teach well enough as I have never had a live pupil throughout my training with the AA.

Want to praise God for answering prayers and knowing my hearts desires. Ever since Ann passed her ADI part 3 test, I have not seen her. She told me to tell her when I have a test date booked and I did, 17th September, thinking she might have offered to meet up with me for some practicing before my test, but she just wished me good luck. Ronnie said he'll try to find me another buddy to train with, one who is close enough to my level of course. He suggests I also go out with my friends, even if they are drivers and sit with them watching them and correcting their faults. But I find this hard to do as it'll cost time and petrol, not to forget some frustration on the driver's part, having to start and stop and listen to me teaching them.

But today whilst ironing, I received a text from Vong saying Matt was asking how I was getting on and that Vong didn't want to give my number out to Matt without my permission. So I texted Matt to advise of my resit date and he called me within moments. He offered to give me extra tuition on a pro bono basis! He said I was a nice guy and he wanted to help me out to pass this final exam. Since we met at Ling's farewell dinner in July, he has had six pupils sit the ADI part 3 and all six passed. Highest score 5-6 and lowest score 4-4 and that was only one pupil who got that. He gave me more tips again and then suggested I call him tomorrow before 12:30pm and we can arrange a time/ place to meet up even for an hour or so (he said he was willing to take me out about four hours before my test) to give me more insight into what is involved in the test. He also advised he got 2-3 in his first attempt and 5-6 in the second attempt, so it is not impossible for me to do better with my 2-2.

I will call tomorrow. After the call, I prayed to God to give thanks to Him for His blessings in my life.

Yesterday I had a filling done that involved removal of side part of my tooth and having that replaced with a filling. Was told not to eat with that side of mouth for 24hrs, but when I started chewing anything on that side of mouth that tooth hurt. Before the dental work, the pain was only there when my floss got caught in between the teeth at the back, but now the pain was when I was even chewing semi-soft food like raisins and currants etc.

So I went back to the dentist to have it checked out. Doctor Balmer said the filling looked intact and nothing was wrong with it. It might have been infection due to the amount of bacteria that was released after he took away the badly decayed tooth. He said the gums around the tooth looked infected so it would be better to take antibiotics now to get rid of any infection and wrote me a prescription. The problem was, I was not expecting to use any money in this dental visit, so I did not bring my wallet. I went back to the office and told manager Bob what the dentist said, and I said I will pick up prescription tomorrow. I carried on with my work then Bob came up to me later and said I could go get the antibiotics now in the pharmacy along Alexandra Parade as the phones were very quite after payroll cutoff had gone.

Whilst walking to pharmacy I gave thanks to God under my umbrella. Though it was raining heavily I felt peaceful inside with the reminder that God loves me very much and by His grace I can get the antibiotics early enough and hopefully the pain will disappear soon as well. =)

Yesterday afternoon I spoke to Elaam and she talked about how boring her job at her cousin's office has been. It seemed that once the tasks were completed they had nothing else for her to do, and Elaam felt embarrassed to keep asking for things to do. On top of that she has to tutor her little relatives after work as they have exams in the next couple of week, AND she had a nosebleed from 'yeet hay'.

So after our conversation, before we hung up I prayed for Elaam; we prayed that God gives Elaam good health to work at the office as well as teaching the kids, and we also prayed that Elaam could get more tasks to do and that God will give Elaam the wisdom to handle them. This morning, Elaam emailed on Facebook saying she was really busy at work, praise God for listening to our prayers. he does indeed listen to and answer our prayers. =) Hallelujah!

Yesterday I read a comment posted on one of my recent webposts on blogspot about looking for pupils to give driving lessons to, and that we'd hire a dual control car for £9/hour from Arnold Clark South Street.

The comment on my blog was by Lucy Fuller from Anrold Clark who asked me to call her regarding my "very pro-active blog". I was a bit skeptical and worried when I read the comment, and even whilst calling Lucy I was thinking maybe she was going to say I wasn't allowed to advertise for pupils and mentioning Arnold Clark, or that she's ask me to remove the picture of the dual control car that I took back in March.

It turned out Lucy was from PR dept of Arnold Clark and her colleague came across my blog. They noticed I had blogged about my training as a driving instructor and looking for pupils to take out for free lessons or for the rental fee. Lucy thought of taking this "quirky idea" to the Evening Times newspaper as asked if I would be interested in it, that they could do an article or a story on it. I was very surprised at what I heard but also excited and I said I would be interested. Lucy said she'll talk to Evening Times and get back to me on Monday.

Wow! Imagine that! A story about me training to be driving instructor looking for pupils, published in a national paper! How much publicitiy I'd get, how much pressure! Haha! All in all, it sounded very positive so I look forward to hearing back from Lucy on Monday and we'll take it from there.

After the call ended I prayed to God, as I did before the call, and thanked Him for this privilege and prayed for His will to be done. The can be nothing. It can also be a big thing, the boost I need to get through this instructor course. Most importantly I neeed God's blessing in it. =)

I then called Elaam and Cat to share the great news and later emailed Ming and Ling as well.

Will update after Monday...