IN THE WORKPLACE
by Padre Simon Chapman I
do not like heights! A few months ago I was working with an Army unit on Salisbury Plain undergoing ‘confidence training’.
To be trained in confidence involved crawling through pitch black, very narrow damp tunnels, trying to find an exit.
It involved climbing up
ladders and over the roofs of houses and shuffling across scaffold bars rigged between high platforms.
Every obstacle was designed to look difficult and frightening. And yet, because it was a training exercise, I knew that every task must be possible to overcome without too high a risk of injury. Completing the course simply involved trying to talk my mind round to the logical fact that if the obstacles were only two feet from the ground my six year old daughter would be able to achieve them. However, working at height was taking all of my courage.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
Courage is there inside all of us but is a commodity that we never fully know how much we have until we’re in a situation where it’s needed. We don’t really know when that time will come. The future for all of us is unclear and uncertain. There will be things that lie ahead which take all of our courage and determination to get through – for some it may be on deployment, for others it may be redundancy, ill health, family difficulties and friends who desperately need our care and support.
All of us face a future which is uncertain to us but undoubtedly clearer to God. To face uncertainty in our own strength is daunting. Luckily, I don’t believe we need to. As a padre, I believe that the presence of God is with us in everything that we do. God promises that he’ll never leave or abandon us.
Whatever challenges we’re facing now and
whatever challenges await us in the future, we can be confident that the unchanging, unfailing presence of God will be there, and this, combined with the support of family, good friends and colleagues will enable us to get through. If we can support you in any way as a chaplaincy team – please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Station Chaplain or ring 01494 496264.
Envoy Summer 2012 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56