Use your talents or lose them! - Chapter 2
This is the second article in the series about utilising our talents effectively.
If you haven’t read the first part, please do so as it will add an extra dimension to what I am about to write here. The article is titled “Roadmap To Eternity”.
Recent conversations and prayer requests have indicated that there are some that have been unable to find a productive path to follow in their lives. Whilst that is understandable in young people, not all the ones indicating that they needed guidance were that young.
Let me start by telling you about the various things I have been and still am involved with. Although I have never excelled at any one particular hobby, paid occupation or volunteering opportunity, I have been far from idle. Although, like everyone, I have areas of failure, being unproductive isn’t one of them. Whatever I do now, I try to do as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. Although I do not succeed spectacularly, I do always finish what I set out to achieve.
My journey would have to start at age 5. I was always putting my hand up to volunteer at school. Apparently, I was the only one that didn’t cry on my first day there. I was already looking forward to new challenges.
At age 6 I helped the local greengrocer with his delivery round. Helping to weigh out orders as he travelled in his van.
At age 7 I became a choir boy in my local Protestant Church of England. I continued until my voice broke and I couldn’t sing very well at the time. So, I then became an altar server helping the minister with their rituals! Age 10+ I also cut the grass in the graveyard.
I started teaching the five-year-olds in Sunday school when I was 12. At 15 I was teaching the oldest 12+ and was assistant Sunday school Superintendent. When I was 18 the vicar threw me out of the church. I had been listening to Mr Armstrong broadcasting from the radio ships for several years and was teaching the kids in my class a truthful version of Christianity. Something he found very unacceptable.
I started a youth club for my Sunday school kids and their friends during the week but because we rented the church hall, they eventually kicked me out of that too. I then went and volunteered at a local council run youth club which I did for a further two years.
At age 8 a family friend sparked an interest for shortwave radio listening. I got to know a lot of world news (slanted towards the Soviet bloc through propaganda stations).
By the time I reached 10 I had taught myself basic electronics and had started to repair electronic devices. By age 12 I had a business selling light bulbs and repairing televisions.
At secondary school I joined the Red Cross cadet unit and learnt first-aid. When I was 14, I was made Senior Section Leader (and a prefect that went with the job – something my Cadet Officer fought for when all the other teachers objected). After I left school became a Cadet Officer with my own Unit. This I continued doing until I was in my 30s. Unfortunately, I mistakenly took the advice of my church minister to give up my volunteering in the world and do so fully with church youth. Although I felt I had to obey, I now realise that I should have carried on regardless. One of my regrets.
I had a newspaper delivery round from age 13 which I completed before school. I also worked weekends from age 14 at the local supermarket on checkout.
At 16 I left school and was an apprentice at Marconi’s for a year (My dad’s idea – he even applied for me!). I didn’t fit. Electronics wise I already knew much of what I was taught. They also trained me at metalwork, I preferred woodwork.
After being unemployed for three weeks I got a job as a civil servant with the Department for Social Security. I was a clerical officer processing employment contribution stamps, long before they used computers. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, I was getting perfect training for doing all the paperwork when I finally went self-employed.
When I was 21, I left home and rented one side of a bungalow and ran my repair business from there. I also installed television aerials and electrical outlets. To this day I can still see some of my 50+ year old aerials on houses I pass in my home area. I obviously made a good job as they have survived many storms!
At 23 I got the chance to rent a shop close to the town centre. Over the next two or three years the tenants above me moved out and I rented the entire building, all four floors!
Earlier that year I had just started attending the Worldwide Church of God. I used to (mostly by myself) set up the church with 100+ seats. I was never ordained but did the labour part of being a deacon for my whole time in the Church. In the 90’s I became congregational leader with full responsibility for my local congregation. We had no local elder, but the employed minister had three churches to look after.
From my first year in WCG I started working with the youth. Nationally I drove the minibus all over the country, probably about 20 times a year. I was staff at SEP summer camp for three weeks each year. This took place at Loch Lomond in Scotland. I did another one week at teen week in the winter on the old Bricket Wood campus. I also taught Sabbath school most weeks when I was in my local congregation. So, I was engaged with youth work most weekends.
The minister that told me to give up youth work in the world also stopped me from going to SEP by refusing to give me a reference when I was 29. I was bringing my shop assistant to church each week and he considered my relationship with her was not right as she wasn’t baptised. He also ruined the relationship by telling her that even if she was baptised, he wouldn't marry us as she was much younger than me. Ironically at a later date he remarried and his new wife was some 30 years younger! I was therefore suddenly unfit to help at SEP. At SEP I had been assisting the assistant director. But he left for the USA that year and although he told me later that he regretted not supporting me, I had to accept that SEP was over for me.
My SEP boss came back to England in 1997 and asked me to run the YOU (Youth Opportunities United) office, which I did. He also asked me to come back to SEP that year to assist him again. He was now the SEP director. I did another six years in that job. I also solely organised national YOU events and trips. I resumed minibus driving too. YOU was revamped as Youth Ministry in later years.
In 1984 I met my wife and we were married 7 weeks later. By then I had a home, a business and an income which would allow me to support her. My wife gave up her job when we got married although she worked with me in our shop. I had always looked to the time when I would marry and had been preparing for it. So, when the opportunity arose, I was ready. I believe a man should be able to fully support his wife financially, even in these enlightened times! That was my goal and I attained it.
In 1990 we eventually saved enough to buy our own shop just 100 yards up the road. We moved in in 1994 having virtually demolished the old building and rebuilding. I had to borrow £35,000 at a staggering 15% interest. I paid it back in three years. The good old days when savings actually earned a decent return. When I was 50 I stopped doing repairs, which I never really enjoyed doing. I went over to solely sales. Then five years later I semi-retired and closed the shop just selling in the Internet, which I still do.
When the Internet web browsers got started properly in 1997 I taught myself to build websites. I have built my own website for my business and also been employed from 2002 until 2023 to maintain another church website which I first built in 1997. I still do paid webwork on other sites, in addition to volunteer work on this site.
Before I had to give it up when I moved from England, I obtained my powerboat and rescue boat qualifications and assisted at a local Christian youth sailing centre. They were stationed on an old lighthouse vessel moored in the estuary. I was also blessed with my own 18-foot sports cruiser with a 320hp V8 Volvo engine, built in Detroit MI. The same one that’s in many old American cars. I never went faster than 35 knots as it started to fly at that speed. Great fun.
Six years ago, I started volunteering for AbilityNet visiting the elderly and disabled to help them with their technology. I also volunteer in the same capacity with the Royal Institute for the Blind (RNIB). I can travel anything up to 50 miles to visit. It takes a lot of time but is very rewarding to teach someone to be more independent than before I visited.
This is an excessively long list of my personal “jobs”. I am sorry if I have bored you, or even worse you haven’t read this far!
As I said before, I have never been exceptionally successful at anything. However, I hope you will see from this list, that I haven’t been idle and that I may actually be qualified to advise on using one’s talents effectively.
I am now in the first third of my eighth decade. Technically way past my sell-by date! My Internet sales business has now closed, mostly due to it not recovering after the lockdown period. Overall with my web work and my volunteering jobs, I am still fully occupied each day.
Now you know my background has covered a wide range of activities, I hope to be able to provide some compelling solutions for our readers, if needed, and also for you if you need to help someone you know overcome inertia and be productive.
Chapter 3 in this series is titled "Plan For The Unexpected".
