Perfect Vizion

The amazing God of surprises - by John Flanner


Three years ago I was a bit like the shepherds in the Christmas story who were abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night. I was abiding in the typing pool where I had been for 23 years keeping watch over my letters by day. I was in a most sweet and comfortable rut, but with a burning passion inside me to share Jesus and his love with all around me.

Then suddenly, just as the Angel appeared to the shepherds, so an Area Director appeared with some wonderful words of encouragement. They were as welcome as they were rare and so empowering . This AD had a reputation of being a hard-nosed businessman, from Yorkshire no less, but he brought me good news of great joy, telling me that he had read an article I had written and that it clearly showed I had excellent communication skills and he wanted to see my career develop. I had not come across a manager like this before, was he an Angel sent from Heaven? Well if he was an Angel disguised as an AD then he certainly did frighten me initially just like the shepherds were terrified by the angelic visitation. After all those years I was now being provoked to move out of my comfort zone and embrace some personal development training.

The response of the shepherds to their amazing visitor from outer space was to talk among themselves before deciding to go and check it out; indeed we are told that they made haste to go and find the baby Jesus. I did something similar in that I talked with colleagues about these alien words of encouragement and I came to the same conclusion as the shepherds. I needed to check out what was being suggested to me and to do so with some haste.

Just as the shepherds went to Bethlehem so I arrived in Coventry to commence a 12 month personal development programme and I returned to my local office never to be the same again. I was genuinely praising God for what I had been privileged to hear - the course had even been written by a Christian.

This was only the beginning however for just as the shepherds were destined to be known far and wide so God was about to launch me out on a journey that would take me way beyond the comfort zone of the typing pool.

Part of my personal development was to undertake a project that would as they say "benefit the business". That kind of language was foreign to me however and I had no real idea what to do. Someone, however, (could it have been another Angel I wonder?) suggested that I should undertake a Diversity Awareness project and make it available at team meetings in our Area. With a little more of that magical ingredient called encouragement, I put together a short talk called "Celebrating Diversity (Fear, Fun & Faith" telling my very personal story of how I became blind at the age of 19, the challenges I have faced and overcome since then and of how my Christian faith has enabled me to become a much more positive person.
Our Business Support Team were the first to take up my offer and I made my 15 minute presentation at their regular team meeting. This set the trend for what was to come as people both laughed and cried at what they heard.
Questions came thick and fast and it was clear that 15 minutes was much too short a time as we overran some 30 minutes into the lunch break. Nobody minded however and comments such as "This should be compulsory listening for all staff" and "That was the best talk I have ever heard in my working life" became typical of many comments that would follow in the months that lay ahead.

My presentation was extended to 30 minutes, then to 45 minutes and now to one hour as I spoke at many team meetings in our building and then to an Area Directors Management Board Meeting in Kettering. From there I received invitations from right across the country to give the talk to staff of all grades within HMRC. Some gatherings were as few as half a dozen but then going right up to a memorable day at the Walker Stadium in Leicester were over 150 managers attended a regional conference.

The journey has been and still is proving to be amazing and I was, as they say, gobsmacked to receive notification that I had been selected as a finalist at the first Civil Service Equality & Diversity Awards luncheon back in October. I was even more startled to be announced as the winner of the Outstanding Achievement category and to pick up my award from Sir Gus O'Donnell.

Now the invitations have spread outside of HMRC to the wider Civil Service and the ripple effect just goes on and on. I am by the grace of God doing what I really want to do and that is to be good news and to make the love of Jesus known to a wider audience. I am so deeply grateful to God for allowing me this privilege and I want to run with this just as long as the Holy spirit is in control and blessing the message to the hearts of people.

My typing job has now ceased as the job became defunct with so many people able to type their own letters. With the advance of technology, I am now able to work E Open Cases (checking Tax Returns on line) thanks to my screen-reading software called JAWS (Job Access With Speech). It is a pioneering job that is blazing a new career path for other blind people in the future, but ultimately it is not what "floats my boat" and what I really want to be doing.

Since winning the Outstanding Achievement award the invitations have kept coming in for me to make the Fear, Fun & Faith presentation and so I have taken the advice of various people and set up a business called Perfect Vizion through which I can now offer this and other presentations to the wider business world at what I trust is a reasonable rate to myself and my customers.

In July 2007 I will be a very young 60 years of age, but God has clearly said to me that I am to refire and not retire. If therefore I can be of service to you in bringing the joy of the Lord to your office, putting a smile on the face of your staff and leaving them with a definite feel good factor then please be in touch with me.

I have talked in this article about the shepherds in the Christmas story, but now you can be like one of the wise men who brought gifts to Jesus. You can bring me and my message as a gift to your staff throughout the coming year.

Every blessing

John Flanner