man's best friend

my dog died yesterday. His name was max and he has been the kingpin of my house for the last 12 years. The last year has been a constant battle to keep him alive as he seemed to just go from one thing to another but he always had a happy spirit.

I will miss him a lot. I felt so bad when we had to put him down. I wish there was some way we could ask him did he want us to keep trying or to just let him go. In the end it was putting him out of his pain

I wonder why we think it's ok to decide this for our pets yet it's considered such a moral grey area when it comes to human beings. How is it not wrong to put a dog out of it's misery but we can't turn a machine off for someone who really wants it. This is one where i don't know what the right answer is.

keeping up with technology

I have been feeling rather blessed recently as I have been given a new top phone and laptop for free. My brother for my birthday gave me the Nokia N95 (which is an excellent piece of equipment), and now I have been given a new good spec laptop to replace my broken laptop (that I blogged about earlier)which was covered by warranty. The new laptop is far better than my current one, retailing at over £200 dearer! My Spec: -


Model: Asus F3Sv
Screen: 15.4"
Ggx: geForce 8600M 256Mb
Cpu:Intel T7500 2.2Ghz
RAM: 2gb 667Mhz
Hdd: 250gb


Technology is amazing thing. To think we can communicate with anyone, anytime any where in the world and you can hold it in the palm of your hand. All kinds of applications can be performed on mobiles now. Portability seems to be the way now as notebooks and mobiles are catching up with desktop computers. It's crazy to think that essentially a piece of metal can produce such eye catching media, and perform huge calculations.

To think as little as 15 years ago not many knew what a mobile phone was. What will they think of next! I wonder what they'll think of next!

next stop anywhere

Well I have finished my exams thank goodness and they went ok. Now, for the first time in my life I don't know where I am heading next. It never really entered my head before now that after those exams, I could finish my degree and I find myself wondering what my next move should be.

I could come back for another semester and improve some marks. I could start a PGCE in September. I could just earn money for the next few months. I could go travelling or do some form of mission work. I could apply for a professional job. In truth, I don't know what I want to do next, which is kind of exciting because I'm now in a place where I get to just follow where God leads instead of feeling I must do compulsory things or our society.

The famous phrase 'He who gives up what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose' has been on my mind recently, and it has had me wary of making too many of my own plans or ambitions to the point where I can not let go of them. I want to say God I am a blank canvas, I give you my plans, do your will with me. So I will keep this posted for any developments, and if you have any suggestions or feel God moving you to tell me something, please do leave a comment!

january blues

Earlier I talked about the new year being inspiring for people to change. There is nothing inspiring about the new year in the university calender - because that means exams.

I hate exams! I hate revising, I loathe them. I hate going out for a bit of fun and feeling bad about it because I think I should be revising instead! I find it so hard to convince myself to go study and when I do I can't concentrate and I want to go on the internet or something. Does anyone else feel like this?

I am very much looking forward to 15th January as that is my last exam (possibly ever), and then I'm off for a while, to try and figure out what to do! I know I should be grateful for the amazing privilidge it is to be able to go to university, and I am - but I am only human!

The root of all evil

I found this a few years ago and being a maths student I found this hilarious. Of course I am not suggesting that girls are evil but the fact that the love of money is bares some relevance to what I want to say.

When people say 'the love of money is the root of all evil", they usually think of greedy rich businessman, or people who would commit terrible crimes for a buck. That is indeed part of it but I think the is more to what God was trying to tell us. We live in a western society today which says you have to get a good degree for me, in order to get a good job for me so you can get paid well and live comfortably (& live for the weekend) for me, and save for a nice pension for me. Notice all those first-person 'me' oriented pronouns. People say you need to do all these things in order to gain financial security but why is financial security considered such a top priority? I would go as far to say that a lot of peoples worlds would fall apart without it.

I think it is that sentiment that God is trying to get at. We are so concerned with money and financial security, that less of our trust is given to God. We don't fully rely on God because we think we also need money; and God is saying if the birds don't worry about your next meal then why should you!? For example why should we stress out about pension schemes and such. You may die before then and never see a penny of it! Even if you do make that age, you won't be able to make the most of it because your body won't be what it used to be!

Snow wonderful snow

I was in the library studying for my exams all day yesterday and to my delight when I came out at 9pm the whole city was covered in snow. I couldn't contain myself and immediately I had to snowball someone. Shortly afterward we decided to walk over to queen's to see what the craic was. There was loads of people out playing in the front lawns, building snowmen everywhere, having the most simplest and purest of fun. It truly was a beautiful sight to behold looking at the university through the falling snow with people full of joy in the midst of it. It is definitely one of my favourite moments of my time at university and here's what it looked like (captured by my phone!)

resolutions

I find it surprising that the change of a single digit in a number inspires so many to want to change. It's probably for that shallow reason that people find it so hard to stick to the goals they set themselves.

Of course we actually take the turn of the year from Christ's birth and its Him in us that can help us make that change. My new years resolutions aren't that original:

1/ I want to be more bold in my faith
2/ To be closer to knowing what I'm doing when I graduate
3/ And to stop biting my nails!

At new year I always make the joke that I will give up my new years resolutions for lent but I won't be doing that this year! As a side note I find it amusing that in such a secular world they still take their dating system from Jesus's birth.