This is the way; walk in it.

I can be a bit thick sometimes, especially when it comes to hearing God's voice.

At church on Sunday night we committed a Bible verse to memory as part of the service. The verse was Isaiah 30:21, and it goes like this:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

At the time I thought nothing of it. Actually, that's not quite true. To be honest, I didn't really understand what it was saying--and maybe I still don't--but I made a mental note to go away and read the verse in context to try and get a handle on it.

The verse comes in the middle of a chapter (and, in fact, a series of chapters) prophesying woe and doom. God is disciplining His children (and other nations) and showing them the error of their ways. But, even though they have worshipped false gods and idols, God is always longing to show mercy to His people if they follow His ways:

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:18).

God is saying that, even though we have been disobedient, all we have to do is cry for help (Isaiah 30:19) and As soon as he hears, he will answer you. He's saying He's a gracious and faithful God, in other words.

Which brings me to my current situation. I'm coming to the end of an eight-year stint in higher education. At the moment I'm in the final stages of writing up my PhD thesis in linguistics at Newcastle University. It's been a fun ride, though very hard at times. However, all things end and now I've got to head out into the big world and get a job... At 27 years old. Pretty shameful, I know.

Now, I know the general area I want to work in, but I'm still utterly clueless about where I'm supposed to go. Jobs in the academic-related sector are few and far between and, generally, when they come up, you have to go for them. So I've been sending out applications left, right and centre to universities up and down the country. Throughout this time, Jen (my wife) and I have tried to stay open to God's will; we've basically said: "whereever you want us, Lord, we'll go. But try to make it obvious, please!"

Well, God's already answering that prayer. All of the applications I've sent out so far have come back with a resounding negatory. Nothing. Not even an interview. Of course, this makes me feel pretty crap, but if I believe God is faithful, then I should give thanks to Him for answering my prayers!

More generally though, I don't have a feeling of being "called" anywhere in particular. When this whole process started, I made a point of saying that I don't just want to stay around the North East simply because that's where I've been for my entire life, or because it'd just be easy to do. Don't get me wrong: I'd love to stay here. We've got family and friends here and it's a fantastic place to live. But I felt it was important to give all that to God and stay open to His direction.

I suppose I expected God to tell us where to go. Maybe audibly. Or maybe by dropping an email in my inbox. Or possibly even a little more esoterically by placing a glowing halo around a job advert or something. I don't think I even considered something a little more conventional, like, oooh, drawing my attention to a verse in the Bible... A verse like Isaiah 30:21, perhaps.

I was praying and meditating on this verse yesterday as I walked home from university and I felt God gently prod me and reassure me at the same time. I think this verse is God's way of telling me that I just need to listen to His voice and follow His ways. I've been fretting about where to go and how I'm going to get a job, but God's telling me whether I look to the right or to the left, I'll hear His voice and He will be faithful. I believe that God has a plan for our lives and I believe that He'll reveal it to us if we stay close to Him.

Sometimes God reveals stuff to us one step at a time. This is the way, says the Lord. All we have to do is walk in it.

Increasing transparency.

In the future, all interviews will look like this:

http://www.channel4.com/player/playerwindow.html?id=5119&vert=news

The magic happens between 1:15 and 4:50.

We've all seen interviewees dodge questions or get flustered on live TV and fumble their lines, but I think this interview takes us into new, previously uncharted territory. I get the distinct impression that Steve Easterbrook (Chief Exec of McDonald's UK) has sunk so far into the murky world of arcane business-speak and corporate propoganda that he genuinely does not know how to communicate like a normal, rational human being.

It's a world where clarity of expression, actual content and facts & figures don't figure at all; it's all about the soundbite. This is nothing new of course, but here Mr. Easterbrook has brought that trend to its radical, logical conclusion by simply repeating the same phrase over and over; a Mcmantra, if you will: 'There are always myths surrounding the company, but I plan to run the business in an increasingly transparent way.'

Transparency. Transparently transparent. Transparent transparency. Like any word, the more you say it, the less it means, until you're left with a nice-sounding but utterly empty husk of noise. In fact, there couldn't be a more opaque and occult way to run a company or deal with the media.

But, hey, let's separate the facts from the fiction here: It's just McDonald's, isn't it? It's just a burger (or is it a sandwich?). And Steve Easterbrook's just made a fool of himself on Channel 4.

Wasting time again. Thanks Internet!

This started out as an attempt to post a quick, off-the-cuff, jocular response on my friend's blog: http://marknichol.blogspot.com/

But of course, you have to be logged in to post comments. Fair enough. I'm not some pasty-faced internet virgin, you know. I know all about the perils of multiple user accounts and passwords and handing out reams of personal information online. I'll just quickly throw together a junk blogger account (www.mailinator.com here I come), post my witty one-liner and make like a tree...

Two hours later, here I am composing the first post on my shiny new blog. Because I'm also a bit of a perfectionist, you see, especially when it comes to lists. So upon editing my profile and being confronted with three "Favourite X of ALL TIME!" lists, I knew I could put less pressing tasks on hold, brew up a brew, and crack my knuckles pointedly several inches above the keyboard; these things take time! And that reminds me, I must add Back to the Future to my Favourite Movies list.

Okay, so maybe more will come of this, and maybe not. But as some Big Changes are about to happen in my life--whether I want them to or not--I've recently been in more of a blogging mood. You know, when it feels like the stuff you have to say might actually be worth reading.

Maybe you'll feel the same way and we can make sweet Internet together.