Archives: April 2010

'What's around the corner?'

By Natalie de Laune

I love going to the cinema. Not only because I get to eat popcorn - the best snack ever - but also because I like a good story. If you were in the cinema with me though, you might not think I’m a fan of films because  I spend a lot of time with my scarf over my eyes and my hands over my ears. I get scared pretty easily. And when I say ‘scared’ I mean I get uncomfortable when I can’t work out what’s going to happen.

After I saw the first Lord of the Rings film with my family, my mum wanted to ask for a refund for my ticket, because I’d spent two thirds of the film hiding under my coat, humming so that I couldn’t see or hear what was happening. There was just too much suspense so I never watched the next two films!

I like to know in advance who the villains and heroes are, who will live and who will die, who will fall in love and who will get their heart broken. Watching a football match is my idea of torture: 90 minutes of suspense, not knowing who will score, who will be sent off and knowing that any moment my team could go from winning to losing?! No thanks! I read the BBC match report after the game - it’s much less stressful!

I might be a bit extreme, but I think we all like to know what’s around the corner. A few months ago I was on a busy train and noticed a lady opposite me reading a big pile of leaflets about palm reading, astrology and psychics. She was obviously pretty keen to find out about her future, and I remember watching her and saying to God ‘Maybe you could give me a word of knowledge (something that only she and God would know about) and I could pass it on to her and explain that Jesus knows her intimately and is in control of her present and future life?!’

I immediately then said to God ‘…but please DON’T do that, because that would be embarrassing! This is a busy train and I could get the word wrong or she’d laugh at me and I’d make a fool of myself!!’ So I put my head down and carried on reading my book. Ironically the book I was reading was John Wesley’s ‘The Holy Spirit and Power’. I was more interested in reading about the Holy Spirit than stepping out and seeing his power in action.

I have a drink bottle that’s covered with quotes. Last week one of the quotes kept jumping to my attention: ‘Do one thing a day that scares you.’ I can’t even think of one thing I did last week that scared me. I prefer to play it safe - to do things I know I can do well, things I can control in some way and know the outcome in advance.