In Geneva... and there's snow...

Well here I am in Geneva for an Aid &Trade Conference where GH is presenting at.

Here's a pic of where we're staying... more on the conference to come...

Just had our car stolen...

the car has been nicked.

here i am in bed typing away and i find myself thinking about the whole inconvenience of this and frustrated with new burdens it forces me to bear.

angie and i have been praying about this. she wisely, and equally frustrated deep down, gave thanks for this situation and the gift that we have in this vehicle.

only this morning we were reading in our family devotion time about the secret of being content in all situations (philippians ch 4). i have been trying to work out its meaning ever since i first read this passage back when i was a teenager. i feel none the wiser now.

i remember my first crash and how a friend told me that i was more worried about my dad's reaction than otherwise. that i was more worried about letting other people down. and i remember it distinctly when she summarised with the words "it's just a car". i keep saying these words over. i also find myself remembering, bizarrely, a star trek episode where a community facing impending invasion cling to the things around them. their monuments, their buildings, aqueducts and infrastructure for the people. and with a final plea data, the enterprise officer sent to help relocate this society, states "these are just things. things can be replaced. but the people... they... they can not be."

it's just a car.

i guess i am thankful that we had such a blessing through it.

it came when out other car died. it has provided us with 2 years of hassle free driving. it brought my son home for the first time. took us all the way to lake geneva and back. all the meetings that it has enabled me to go to. allowing us to bring food to the table... and all those lovely trips to see family, to see friends and the joy of fellowship. it came to us miraculously when our needs were such and now it goes.

i am thankful for all that this car enabled us to do. but was it the car that did it. no it was the people we met the friendships that were enhanced and the family bonds strengthened. the car was just the vehicle we used to be with others.

have i learned the secret of being content in all situations. well not quite. but i am finding myself being thankful whereof i would have been dwelling on the loss... after all it's just a car.

Hopefully?

New Year already and I'm full of high hopes and perhaps a renewed energy to do new things... reckon this will be the year I write my book, change the world or even pick up a new hobby... seems like every year i go through a similar pattern. hmmmm, sounds familiar.

I have just sent my first weekly report for GH UK's activities and I look back to see that a few hour's work resulted in several partnerships that is connecting HM Marines several charities in the UK and communities in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan. An area that is the host to a resurging war between the Taliban and UN peace keepers.

I feel very humbled by this. As all it took was the energy to do something... i mean what is a few phone calls or emails... well in this case it brought together many parties united under an operation, it generated and held interests, motivated people to share and amazingly converged many people's hopes. Some to help, some to partner, some to rebuild, some to be thankful that they are alive another day.

It may not be the long term solution to a terrible situation, as a bomb may hit again or the war take a turn for the worse, but it made me think how valuable hope and the motivation to help one another goes a long way.

I have high hopes for this year... :)