大象传媒

It was 6.30 in the evening, and 15 million people watched as a聽大象传媒 journalist was hand-bagged into history. There was John Sergeant, clad in his usual grey rain coat, on the steps of the British Embassy in Paris. He told the nation that Margaret Thatcher had failed to win enough support to stay as Conservative party leader and there must another round of voting. This was聽not聽something she would come out and comment on, he said confidently. And with the timing of a well-rehearsed pantomime, the door behind him opened. 鈥淢rs Thatcher is behind you鈥� said Peter Sissons from the studio. As John turned to look, the iron lady tangoed him out of position to address the microphones that had sprung up into shot.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Looking back on those events the 大象传媒鈥檚 former chief political correspondent says it was the making of his career. He says he was hardly noticed until his mistake on the evening of this day 23 years ago. He went on to become a household name.

As someone who鈥檚 no stranger to making mistakes, I do enjoy hearing stories of success born out of failure. Failures are so rarely tolerated in public life.

I鈥檓 thankful that the God I follow is a fan of second chances. The Bible鈥檚 full of stories of people who are called to do jobs, who mess up, but then go on to do even greater things. Even St Peter lied three times about knowing Jesus. For him, there was not only forgiveness and restoration, but transformation into something better than before. As one church leader puts it 鈥� 鈥淕od can make a winning hand out of a pair of twos!鈥�

Lord, give me the humility to learn from my bad decisions. Thank you that when we ask you, you give a fresh start after each mistake. Bless our work and make it fruitful, in Jesus鈥� name, Amen.