2013 review / New years resolutions

OK, so I'm starting the new year with a glass of champagne for breakfast - dart the way you mean to go on as far as I'm concerned.  Then it'll be roast duck for lunch, cooked by my own hand...  It's all starting to be a yearly tradition.

Anyway to the review.  Looking back at what I said this time last year, there were a few areas that I challenged myself on:


1.  Eating.   - Doing well, I have managed to pretty much stick to 5 controlled days and 2 naughty days per week.  There's been the occasional slip- and the occasional deliberate subversion of the rules.  Anyway, mission accomplished.

2.  Drinking. - so I'm now down to drinking 2 nights per week, usually on the 'naughty' days, with food, but occasionally I have separated them.

3.  Hygiene. - Big change, I have re-discovered Lush bath bombs!  More than happy to spend hours in the bath now!  Only down side is that my water bill has gone up as a result!

4.  Exercise.  - BIG WIN!  I've been going to the gym regularly, usually around 3 times a week, commitments permitting.  The results have been astounding - I have lost 4st 13lb in a year!  I was so desperately trying to get to the 5stone mark but ultimately I am not going to lie or cheat myself.  I missed the 5 stone (just) but it's still an epic win.  I also have the beginnings of a 'body' starting to develop, my weight living capacity has improved vastly and I have some serious muscle tone underneath once I can shift the rest of the fat.

Also this year a truly unexpected event has happened.  What started as a major threat to life stability ahas turned out to be a massive opportunity for progress.  I now own my own home.  Having been given notice to vacate due to the land lady selling up, I was able to put together the finances to purchase the property myself.

I have also managed to achieve another big move forward - I have sorted out my long term finances with various investments and protections, through the advice of my finical adviser, plus I managed to get shares in the Post Office.

SO all in all, it's been a year of good achievement and of notable progress.

I think at this point I need to stop and give thanks to God for what I have received.  I am truly grateful.  I think that I have achieved much of this through my own effort, but with the Lords grace and favour to provide the opportunities and to give me the strength to actually see through the intentions that I have started with so many times before.


SO we move on to this year, the big '14...  What am I going to target myself to achieve?  What will I ask the Lord to give me the strength and opportunity to achieve?

Well, I think I want to carry on with the weight loss a little further,  I have come so far but not yet reached my target goal.  I also need to make good on a 'pinky swear' that I made with a friend - to actually bite the bullet and get into online dating and begin the process of finding a partner.

So in short, I think 2014 is a year of consolidation in many respects.  Last year I changed who I physically am, this year I need to learn to accept that, become confident in that and begin to realise the worth in it.  And so I set my goals thusly;

Weight / Gym:
To loose a further amount of weight with a joint goal of reaching either 11.5 stone (a 1 stone 8 lb reduction from where I am)  OR to reach 25% body fat (currently 32%).  I choose this as a joint goal as I also intend to focus far more on the body building and weight lifting which will result in some muscle gain and increase in weight through that.

To reach a stage where I am confident enough to go shirtless when I am on holiday in France next year - subjective I know - and I'm the one used to using SMART objectives!  However, it's important for 2 reasons, firstly it's an obvious visual measure of my success, but secondly it's also a confidence thing...

Lord, please grant me the self belief and confidence to achieve this.

Personal Life
To find the right place to start looking for love online, to avoid the meat market of the less moral on line dating sites in the hope of finding someone with similar values who might actually be interested in me as a person.

Lord, please grant me the guidance to avoid situations that would have me compromise my moral values and show me to somewhere that I may actually find people that I have a chance of happiness with.

Other
To consolidate on what I have achieved in 2013, to make good to those who have helped me along the way and to make sure that what I have is secure.

Lord,  you gave me so much last year and I am truly thankful.  Please help me to get back to my Faith and the strength that it gives me, to find the way forward to people that I can share my life with.

Please help me to appreciate what I have and to see the way forward to better myself and be happy.

It's a selfish ask, I know, but once I am strong, I can use that strength to help others.

IJN, Amen

Its been a long time

It's been a long time,
I shouldn't have left you,
Without a dub beat to step to.
When I grab the microphone you'd better hit the dex
Time's up - sorry I kept you.

It's been a long time,
Since I had ta,
Pick up the microphone and get badda.
Ain't no other MC on the AKG,
I flip the script like the rest don't matter.

The DJ cuts it up like a shaolin monk
Pumping the funk in your junk trunk punk
I flip it live cos I know where it's at
Pumping funk in the cracks,
Cutting wax with an axe.

I got rhymes real tight
Beats faster than light
Like a ton of TNT
I'm about to ignite
Cos I flip the script on this fuckin' debacle
Passin' the dutch like kids pass the parcel.


There you go, you can have that one for free!  Not sure it's worth any money anyway.

So anyhow,  it's been a while since I put anything on here.  Not to say that things haven't been going on - they have.  More to the point, there hasn't really been the time to put them on here anyway.

Work has been doing my head in.  It's the end of the internal financial year so there's been 2 stock takes in one month - well, the second one is tomorrow.  Other than that, there's a fair bit of stress going on over all this end of year shit as well.  Frankly I could do with out it, but it's part of the job.

Anyway, apart from the work stuff, which isn't exactly going badly - it's just a bit rough right now...  there are some positives as well.  Dad has put me in contact with his financial adviser and it looks like I should be able to get a few bits sorted out to grow a little bit of wealth and security for the longer term.  I have also decided that seeings as the government is going to privatise the Royal Mail, it seems like a good idea to buy a lump of shares as a longer term investment.

This is all seriously starting to sound like I am getting organised in some kind of way - and more scarily that I would appear to be showing signs of maturity and sensibility.  This just wont do.  I need to get back to being childish and irresponsible as soon as possible!

In all seriousness, things are good right now - and for that I am really thankful.  There's so much that has come to my, by the Lord's grace.  I can't help but feel there will be a darker period some time soon. Life seems to have these fiscal cycles - things go from good to bad and then back to good again.  This really feels like the peak of an up cycle.  Things are pretty much as I would have them, give or take a little bit.

The only thing that I really wish I could make progress with is the weight loss.  I have come a massive distance so far.  I have lost 4 stone, which is huge.  I am now stuck on a weight that I can't seem to move from.  I have to take a large degree of responsibility for this myself.  I have let my control on my eating and alcohol consumption loosen a little.  It's not bad, but it's not as tight as I know it could be.  That said, I am doing more down the gym that I have previously.  I am knocking off 600 calories as session before I even do any weights. And I have been able to manage 3 sessions a week over the last few weeks.  But still the weight sticks at this point.  I know I have lost weight and changed shape, it just doesn't seem real.  I don't really feel it or see it in myself the way that I guess others do.  To me I feel just as fat as I did before in so many ways.  I can totally see how people can get caught up in thinking that they are always overweight when they are not.

Who knows, somehow I guess I will have to revisit my motivation and see if I can regroup to make progress.  After all, there must be progress to be made.

A smallNyA period of time can make a big difference.

OK, so the house purchase is all complete and I am now the lord in my own manner (so to speak).  In the process of leaving my old bank (HSBC) they managed to damage my credit record and use my details without my consent - breaching the Data Protection Act.  They have offered to settle out of court for an amount that pleases me so that is now all tied up and I have finally cancelled my accounts with them and closed that chapter.

So despite the stress of the past few weeks everything has pretty much come back on track so far.  Now the biggest worry that I have is that my decision to paint the bathroom olive green looks like a big mistake.  It was originally sage green and I think that I'll have to stick with that - I just don't like it very much!

On the work front, I had a 7 dayer last week and I've got another next week - that means cash money pounds of overtime.  Probably just as well as it looks like I might not be getting much of a bonus next month.  If you cant get a bonus, get some overtime!  They can't take the overtime away even if the work fucks up on the other aspects.  Overtime is always a safe bet!

Anyway, the project to renovate the bathroom and kitchen in my new place carries on.  Ive re-grouted the bathroom, replaced the shower, replaced the silicone sealant around the bath and sink and repainted all the whitework.  There's still the walls to do - when I can decide a colour - and then its on to the kitchen.

I've already made a start in there too - but mostly with the little bits.  Seeing as I had a tube of silicone open it seemed sensible to do the silicone round the kitchen sink before the tube went off, so that's been done.  The grout on the tiles was fine but a little discoloured so I have freshened that up with some grout reviver and it looks like new.  I've also replaced the shitty carpet remnant that passed for a floor mat in front of the cooker with something a little nicer looking.

I did have a clock lined up to replace the nasty piece of crap that's on the wall right now but the courier has smashed it up - thanks My Hermes...  nicely done!  What did you do to it?  From the looks of the box (and the footprint on it) someone stood on it!  Nice, thanks for that.  Never mind the 'fragile' labels all over it, just tread on it - it'll be alright, some sucker will sign for it anyway...  Doesn't matter really, I'm getting refunded from the seller - the only irritation is that it was an ebay purchase, used.  There's nothing else like it on ebay right now and no way of getting another one.  So the search continues.

Right now the UK is being hit by a massive heatwave - 30+ degrees a day.  For anyone overseas, you may be used to hotter, but here in the UK that's pretty unusual.  The heat is nice, I like it but it is having a detrimental effect on my plants on my balcony, they're looking pretty sick - and in some cases they've been toasted to a frazzle!  Going down the gym is a nightmare as they don't seem to have heard about air-con.  If it's 30 outside, its 40 in there!  How are you meant to work out in that?!  Weights, fine - just about.  But cardio work - in 40 degree heat.  How about NO?!  So the only thing I can do is try to keep control of my eating and compensate for the fact that I am not working out as often as I want to.  I am still managing 2x a week but my eating is slipping a bit.  More precisely, my drinking has crept up again.  The weight loss is still continuing to a degree but I am sure it is not as efficient as it could be.  I need to revisit and regroup.

But right now, I need to give thanks and praise.  Thanks to my family, who have carried me through from down here on earth.  Thanks to God, who has moved mountains and guided me from on high.  Somehow the seas have parted and I have found my way safely to the other side.

Praise be to the Lord

Good times

OK, so there's been much that has happened over the last couple of weeks.  the incidental stuff is that work is going well, business has picked up and there is a small supply of stock on the items that people want so we can actually sell stuff.  I've ordered a new iMac and that is due to ship in the next couple of days so the music studio will be back up and running with some new hardware.

The parting gift from the old setup was finished a couple of days ago and frankly its its a song that Ive been wanting to write for so long.  Ive had a crack at it  a couple of times and not really got anywhere with it but now I have some real progress and a finished article.  Its a Gospel House track, a preacher style sermon split into two verses, set over a tradition house sound.  Quite simple in many respects but done with passion and sincerity.  The inspiration came from a couple of sources.  I listen to a fair amount of Gospel House music anyway, I'm a big fan of DJ Revelation and the style of music he plays.  I also remember a song called "The Prophet" by CJ Bolland - that was far more tongue in cheek and almost a parody of evangelical preaching, I liked the style but wanted to 'play it straight' with what I feel.

Any how, it feels good to have done it and got it out there,  I just wish and pray that there is some more of this kind of stuff inside me, that just maybe, this could be a calling and I can do something with it.

I have often thought that if I could ever be so bold as to make a deal with God, I would ask that I was able to sing as well as write and produce, and in exchange I would use this talent only to His glory.  It doesn't work like that, and I am happy with what I have, but if the opportunity arose...

Anyway, other than that - I have the day off work today so I will be putting up the Christmas Tree and tinsel and then I have a friend coming down to stay tomorrow night and Wednesday as I am off work again.  After that the days off are all used up for a while and the mad patch begins.  I love it but it is pretty tiring.

On another matter, I still have some feelings towards someone that I wish I could shift.  Nothing will come from them, nothing can come form them, not least because they have a partner and further more, with a 10 year age gap between us, I'd feel like a dirty old man if I made the first move.  Age is nothing, I know, there was a decade between Mum and Dad and they would still be together now, had she not been taken from us.  However, when an older man is with a younger woman...  I just wouldn't ever want to be accused of taking advantage.

Anyway, it cant happen for various reasons, I just wish I didn't find them so attractive, I just wish I didn't 'get them' on a personal level.  It would just be easier if there was an off switch.

Messengers

Sometimes the Lord seems to choose the strangest messengers.  Sometimes the message isn't quite what you were expecting!  I went to see an old friend yesterday - I haven't seen them for nearly a year, last time was at their wedding.  Anyway, besides the realisation that I need to make an effort to see them more often, comes the the strangest of experiences.

Firstly, their wife, who I have to admit that I don't really know that well yet as I have only met her a couple of times, starts having a whole heart to heart with me about finding the right person and how I still have time to have a family etc.  That really is a strange conversation to have with someone that you don't really know but it felt like a natural conversation.  I think it's fair to say that I really wasn't expecting that kind of message.  More to the point, I am really happy with the sentiment of it.  I mean. it's what I really wanted to hear.  Somehow I just have to believe that it will happen.  The only thing that might cause a set back is the 'problem'.  I guess I have to believe that for the right person, it wont be a problem any more and that there will be a way around things.

Secondly, having spent the day around their two little ones I suddenly realise that looking after children is not as hard as I though it was going to be.  Ok, yes I know that it was only one day but both of them were feeling under the weather and playing up a bit and I felt absolutely fine dealing with it all.  In the afternoon we went out for a bit and I ended up looking after one of them for a while and dealing with what they were throwing at me.  I think that I coped pretty well.  Yes I'm sure that there is much that I have to learn and at some point in the future if I have kids they will have me pulling my hair out and ready to scream blue murder - but the first work of not being able to do it has gone.  Also, despite being a majorly big kid at heart, I've always found it difficult to know what to say to kids when they are too young to have an adult level conversation.  I think I learned a fair amount on that front too, not perfected the technique yet but I learned so much in the space of 12 hours that I honestly believe that if I need to learn 'on the job' in the future, I can do it.

So there we go, an unexpected message, a very strange choice of messenger - but thank you none the less.  Maybe when I fasted a while back, it took a little time for the answer to be given.  I really feel like  so much of what was on my mind has had an answer given.  Not all of it, there was a question over my career too, but the idea of having a family and finding someone to settle down with is far more important and frankly something that I would rather focus on, God willing.

Update, after a while...

Not a huge amount going down right now to be honest. We hit 98.4% at work last month. That means a basic bonus but nothing that my bank manager is going to get excited about! However, I've also got a few days of overtime coming up as I'm on a training course for two days, then my deputy is on a course for a day. Couple of weeks alter, one of my sales guys is on a weeks holiday so I'm doing the extra hours to cover. I guess that I'll be pretty tired by the end of it but hopefully that should be just about enough money to sort things out a bit.

So, massive thanks and praise, I think that my prayers have been listened to and it looks like they're going to be answered. It's not really the answer that I was praying for, I was kind of hoping that the store would hit target. However, it is an answer that solves my problems and does not create any other issues, so it's probably a better outcome than I was looking for.

New Pet Project

Ok, so things are ticking over in most of my life in the same way as they alway have done. Work is the same old stuff, albeit a little better than before.

But that's not what this entry is about. I have started my own web site, ratherodd.org and have spent most of my free time over the last week on getting it up and running.

It's by no means finished but it's ready for visitors. As well as being a place to have some fun, I'm also using it to promote my music as well. I'm not sure what will come of putting my music more prominently on display, if anything, but it will be interesting to see. I've decided that the web site is going to focus on bizarre, unusual and disgusting things. Now all I have to do is tread the fine line between that and my religion. I'm sure at some point I'll get it wrong. It's a fine line to tread. but I want to try. After all, having my own web page is a great new adventure!

A prayer answered, maybe?

OK, so my last couple of posts have been asking fro some help and for things to go well. Well, things have suddenly picked up at work. There are still challenges that I have to deal with - not least to sales people that I have to manage who cannot get on with each other and do nothing other than rub each other up the wrong way. Business still has the odd off day (yesterday was one of those on a spectacular level) but then today was better than average and pretty much made up for it.

Right now I have a little clear air and some recognition from my bosses and the atmosphere between us feels a little less pressured. If the store reaches it's target this month then the onus that could come from it may well pay the bills for keeping my car on the road and perhaps even cover off some of the expenses that I'm going to face when I move house some time in the next couple of months.

A Brighter Day

Well, work was fantastic toady. Of course, it was payday for many people this weekend and it seemed like they all came in and bought from us. Today was officially the biggest sales day that the Salisbury store has ever had. It felt like an oiled team effort too. Everyone doing something slightly different and contributing to the success of the store as a whole. The real irony is that, after todays result, if the month was 30 days instead of 28, there'd be a real chance of doing target. As it is we come up 6% short.

But, accentuate the positive etc... There's much to be thankful for, maybe I have managed to clear the air with the team and get a fresh start. But that now means that I have 5 months to achieve what I should have been aiming for in 6. Oh well, I'm still in the game to fight another round at least. I will just have to learn some new team tactics as I am going. If I cannot use the management style that I am used to I am sure that I have the skills to adapt. Right now I am just thankful to get on an even keel again.

Father, once again you have given me more than I deserve

Thankyou for helping me to find a way to get things

back into the right groove and for the little successes

every day that make life seem that much more positive.

Whilst I am sure that I am working with a team that do not believe,

Please grant us all success as a whole in what we do

Please help me to role model all that is Good and Positive about your love

In a manner that will not alienate them but will help the,

to question and find you.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Looking for a Church

Everything's going to be alright - atleast for now.  Work was good today, not fantastic money but enough to keep us going towards target.  More importantly it was fun and enjoyable.

Best of all when I got home I found out that I had a decent offer for my old laptop.  Having got my nice shiny new Macbook I have no need for the old PC based one anymore.  The person that bought it was local as it goes and they have already turned up and paid cash.  They seemed like a nice person and I'm glad that I was able to sell my laptop to someone that actually needed it, rather than the previous offer that had come from a faceless company that would have probably just resold it on and ripped someone off for it.

Most importantly, It means that I now have some money that I can pay into my bank account to prevent myself from going overdrawn before I finally get paid.  I'm thankful that someone is looking out for me.  I hadn't realised how much stress I was putting on myself over this but now that it is lifted it feels so much better

Father, thank you for looking after me

and guiding me on path that is right for me to follow.

Can I also ask you for some help?

I need to find a church where I belong.

Something modern and contemporary but

no too evangelical and trite.

Please help me to know where to look for my spiritual home

I will look, if you can guide me, please

In Jesus Name

Amen

The end to a good week

Well, my store did target this week.  I am seriously relieved.  Whilst there is less pressure in my new company to do target (much less pressure!) it is still nice to have achieved it o especially at a time when retail is suffering and people are not spending.  In all honesty I think all the snow has helped us, people have felt less like going out long distances and have shopped locally and that has helped us.  Anyway, I am thankful for it.  If I manage to keep this rate going then maybe I can earn a bonus next  month.  That would be nice.  Thats the future though, right now I have to be thankful for what I have right in front of me.  Things are going well right now and God willing, they will continue to go well, but that is not something that I have a say over, I can only pray for Gods will to prevail and trust that it will be the right thing for me in the long run.  Anyway, tomorrow is a new week and I have it all to to again.

Father, thank you for the blessings that I have received,

both over the last week and over the longer term.

I pray that you can find it in your will that things

will continue to as well as they have done recently

If I am successful with what I do and I earn a bonus, 

please help me to remember that I should share my good fortune

with those who are less fortunate that I am.

But most of all, I want your will.

I do not want what is not mine to have.

I want your will, not mine

Yet in these prayers I ask that your will 

sees me through the tough times with your grace

and allows me the privilege to help others around me.

I am working tomorrow

I know that Sunday is the Sabbath

But the job that I do requires that I work it

If it is the Sabbath in my heart, and I work it

In the knowledge that I am really thinking of 

Jesus and your plans for me, is that really so wrong?

Please help me not to forget.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Just as a caviat, I'm forcing myself to use the Macbook that I have been given my work, by doing things on it I hop I can get used to it a bit more.  In reality half the keys on the keyboard are not responsive enough so half the letters don't register the first time and secondly, the edge of it is so sharp that it has given me sore wrists from leaning on the edge of it - Apple, please, please, please make your laptops curved at the edge and soften the sensors under they keyboard!  And that's that!

Looking For Love

Ok, I've been off from work for two days so there's not been too much happening really.  Its been pretty cold and snowed a bit more but it hasn't settled like on Monday and Tuesday.  Yesterday the wide of my land lord knocked on my door at about 11am having locked herself out of the house so I had to let her in and let her borrow the phone to see if she could get hold of her housekeeper for a spare key.  When she couldn't I volunteered to driver her over there to see if she could find her at home but she didn't seem to be.  That's about as much excitement as I've had over the last couple of days.

I guess in true selfish fashion, now that my work life seems to be on the up at the moment my mind is turning to the other things that I want and do not currently have.  Sure there are various frivolous consumer items on the list, I'll have to work for those - Im not about to waste Gods time praying for things that I can achieve myself in good time.  There is one thing that is on my mind at the moment though.

With valentines day on the way, I'm starting to feel a little agitated that I am still single.  I have been single for a number of years, after I got severely hurt by someone I loved with all my heart.  It took me many years to forgive them and to heal the pain that they left me.  I have been ready for a while to begin looking for someone but I never seem to move in the right circles.  After all, the sort of person that I want to meet is not the sort of person that I am likely to meed in bars and clubs, so that's out.  So where do you meet someone with a degree of class and morality who will conduct themselves according to Christian values?  It's not like they fall from trees or just turn up, walking down the street.

Father,  I thankyou for everything that you have done for me

Far more than I deserve

But the truth is that, for all that I have

I really long for someone to share it with.

Long term I want to find someone to settle down with

Get married and start a family.

What is it that I need to do?  I get the feeling that there is a reason

why you have not brought someone into my life.

I pray that you will grant me ears that will hear

and the presence of mind to comprehend what you are telling me.

Where should I look?  WHat should I do to be fit and ready?

I ask in Jesus Name

Amen

Life As A Whole

My Baby - photograph taken at my hold house (summer 2008)

I had a day off from work today. In itself that's nothing special. Especially as I have spent a coupple of months at home in the not too distant past. But it was, it was the best I can describe. Pure freedom, pure joy. The day started with some housework. I cleaned the place from end to end and that felt so good. It's not that my standards slipped when I was out of work, it was just harder to get motivated to do what needed to be done. After a couple of hours cleaning I went shopping. Nothing special, a couple of food items and some coal for the stove. How amazing it felt just to pick up what I needed without having to count the exact pennies as to whether I could afford it or not and that is such a blessing, I cant begin to describe it.

When I got back I took my bike out for a ride. My motorbike has always been what I live for, I was born to live life on two wheels. It is freedom, wind in your hair and flies in your teeth. At one with everything that is around you and feeling every little thing, magnified 10 fold. But, when you have no job, every penny you have spare goes in the car tank to get you to the interviews that could get you working again.

It was heatbreaking looking at my baby sitting on the driveway, oiling up every little nut and bolt to keep the rust away, having just enough petrol in the tank to start the engine evey now and then to keep a charge in the battery but not enough to go for a ride.

In the knowledge that I have an income, I cannot begin to describe how good it felt today to go out for a ride, just for the pleasure. I scrimped and saved to buy her in the first place and she is my baby. (yes, ok ok, its a sad thing for a man to love his motorcycle and to treat it like a person but I make no appology!) and I cannot describe how free I felt today, cold air, wind and the odd ray of winter sun. It just felt so amazing. I cannot begin to count such a blessing and how it makes me feel.

Father, I am sorry for the blessings that I have
that I do not give you enough thanks and praise for
There is so much that you have given me
That I do not deserve

Thank you so much for my previous job
that allowed me to buy my motorbike that makes me feel so free
Thank you for my job now,
that allows me to use my bike that makes me feel this free

And most of all, thank you for this freedom that I can feel
Today I felt it, I felt free - if only for a while
And with that freedom, the first thing that came to me
Is just how mcuh I owe you, and howmany thanks I have to give you.

All I pray is that I can continue to feel this way

In Jesus Name
Amen

Thankful For Surviving My First Challenge

I've survived my 4 days intensive training for work so thats a pretty good start.  I've learned a lot and probably forgotten twice as much.  However, I am truly thankful not only for the opportunity but for the guidance to make it this far.  Plymouth was not as bad as I had been lead to believe but was still a pretty rough place.  I survived unharmed, as did my car and for that I am thankful

Father, thank you for watching over me

I appreciate what you have done 

And the strength that you have given me 

to be the best that I can be over the last four days

As I face the challenge of standing on my own two feet

in my new role, please give me the wisdom to do what is right

And to be humble enough to ask for the help that I need, when I need it

I feel at home with the company and the job that you have guided me to, 

please give me the presence of mind and the strength not to mess this up

In Jesus Name

Amen

A Prayer Answered?

I think that maybe yesterdays prayer has been answered, God willing. There is the prospect of paid employment on the horizon. Its not 100% certain so far but its very close now. I am so relived and so thankful. Literally just in the nick of time I am saved from the downfall that was before me.

Father, I am so thankful for the opportunity that you have put in front of me
I pray that this is your will and it will last
Give me the strength to approach this job and do my best
And to remember at all times that I should conduct business
According to your will

Dad sent me some photos of a cottage that burned down in his village the other night
Can I ask you to be with the owners of that property
And give them strength to come through what is before them.

In Jesus Name

Amen