Hi, my name is Richard and I am 43 years old, married to Julie with three children aged 15, 17 and 19. In September this year I realised a personal dream when I began working as a graduate Naval Architect for a company based in Bath, just a half hour’s train journey from where I live in Swindon. This has all come about at a time when jobs in this industry are very hard to come by but let me tell you how my career change came about.
I have always loved watersports and at 12 years old I dreamt of building my own boat. At 17 I looked into Naval Architecture but the required grades seemed beyond my reach so I pursued a degree in Engineering and shelved my dream. Whilst at university I became a christian and after graduating moved into voluntary church work for four years, mostly involved in youth work. Then, after a succession of dead-end jobs, at the age of 29, I was accepted into teacher training and became a maths teacher for 9 years but always felt I wasn’t playing to my strengths.
In August 2000 we became the happy owners of a large house with a double garage which is in itself an incredible story of God’s provision following many years of living on a relatively low income. It was not too long before I realised my boat dream, in addition in 2005 I built a mould tool for a production dinghy through a friend involved in the industry. The boats sold well and I began to seriously consider a change of career and discovered a small craft design course at Southampton Solent University. At the end of the first year I was top student and the production dinghy won the National championships so I felt enormously encouraged that God was with me.
Shortly after graduating I landed the job in Bath having only seen a handful of graduate positions advertised nationally. Knowing that I might have had to accept work anywhere in the UK in order to get started, this is a wonderful provision and so we are able to stay where we are without disrupting our children’s studies and this keeps us strategically placed where we want to be church-wise.
God gives us dreams and our heart will inform us of them if we listen. If we dare to chase them we will find He is with us every step of the way to support and encourage us, opening the doors of opportunity wide. May God bless you as you seek to fulfil His purposes in your life.
September 2009