War

I’m sure you are all aware, by whatever digital media you frequent, that there has of late been a notable increase in the number and size of war(s). With the many countries, clans, tribes, organisations and now businesses Involved in conflict, I find that I am less and less sure who is fighting and why. This, I think, is problematic. But what disturbs me more is not the fact that wars are going on - I think that there will be no end of wars for quite some time yet - but rather what occurred in a certain TV program I recently watched. This program brought up something, albeit surreptitiously, that I thought was long dead. The program used a fear tactic with regards to the current ISIS situation. It was reasonably well crafted and managed to maintain the style that the program is known for, but the underlying message bothered me. It boiled down to this: ISIS is not only coming, they are already here (USA) and want your pretty innocent daughters to rape, beat, and execute. You should be afraid and support the war.

I had thought that society had moved passed this; I didn’t think that the yellow peril were advancing or the reds were hiding under the desk anymore. But here we are, back in the 1940s and ’50s, fear mongering rife through the media. But this time there is a difference. In the previous wars both hot and cold, people had a modicum of privacy; they could discuss issues freely within their own home, car or workplace without fear of having every word recorded, categorised and interrupted by super computers.

I get it, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great tool for recruiting, for gaining public acceptance and promoting the various wars. And let’s not forget, the tech behind all of this is massively advancing the personal computing experience with cell phones, watches, car/device integration, automatic photo tagging, GPS and google maps. All of these are wonderful and I gain great pleasure from them, but the origins for many of this was born from a culture of fear - a need to know where a particular person was, who they were; a need to discreetly communicate and carry that information anywhere In the world at a moment’s notice.

All this is a little terrifying when you stand back and look at it. But this is the world into which we were born. But this, while interesting, is not the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is to note my discomfort with the happenings of the last few days. As I write this, a second pilot has been found after the shooting (for lack of a better term) of the Russian Jet that allegedly crossed into Turkish airspace. Whether or not the crossing actually occurred, the response continues to mount on both sides. Russia seems once again to be positioning itself at odds with NATO, and seems to be preparing for war with Turkey, which is a little terrifying.

Russia is huge, Turkey, not so much. Go ahead – have a look on a map. I’ll wait.

A war between these two countries I fear would be a little one-sided with Turkey’s goose being somewhat cooked. There is of course a worse outcome. I imagine all of you will at least have heard of the Korean War; this war was essentially a Russia/China VS USA war in the guise of a civil war, but neither side declared (at least overtly) that the war was as such. But if Russia attacks Turkey and the USA comes to the aid of Turkey (as I think they are required to under NATO agreements) we could have an overt USA VS Russia war. This outcome terrifies. I thought that the anti-terror TV program was bad enough, but I’m sure the real thing would be awful, bloody and long, or worse: quick.

Now usually at this point in the post there would be a call to action, a thing to do, to say, to give money to. But not this time. I don’t know how to change the mind of angry leaders of the world or how to stop (perhaps) overly enthusiastic missile operators from firing. So perhaps we should all just watch, wait, and see what happens next. My suggestion to you is to watch from more than one media source and to form your own opinion on these matters, keep informed so that you know what has happened and what might happen next. And please remember that New Zealand has participated in such wars in the past. 

France

It’s awful, it’s horrible, it’s brutal, it’s a crime against all humanity. And it happens every day.

It was a long, long time ago – so long ago it seems most don’t remember already. Don’t get me wrong – I know it’s hard to remember – but can you remember 2400? I don’t think that that should be too hard; it’s a relatively easy number to remember. 2400 was January; specifically, it was the number of people who died from terrorist attacks in January. Don’t believe me? Fair enough, neither would I, so here is a source. 

By now you’ve probably read something about how awful it is that we don’t remember all of the other countries that have this sort of thing all the time, so I won’t start that – perhaps a better question is why we care so much about France?

I think it’s because France is what we would consider an “old” country. Iraq, Iran, Israel, even The US are all relatively new countries. But France, France was conquered by the Romans. It has history.

People trace their lineage back through France. It had musicals written about revolutions, great lines that are often quoted; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

So we mourn for France, we mourn for the dead because of its age, because of the wars they fought, because of the history, and because they are “white” – and it doesn’t happen all the time. Yet.

But the truth is that this sort of thing is happening more and more often - remember the Paris riots? The Arab Spring? The London bombing? So much happening so often in so many places.

Now we are told that the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for this current attack, and as I write this I see another claim on the internet that the US has just killed a head of the IS. So where does this all end? The IS bomb a country, the US kills a head – but they seem like the Hydra of the myth of old: cut off one head and 2 more grow back.

It is now that I point out, all prejudice aside, that it seems all of these groups are Muslim. Now that doesn’t excuse any other religion. The Christians are responsible for so much death that it’s almost incalculable. The crusades alone are responsible for millions of deaths.

But I’m not changing my Facebook profile pic to the French flag. I’m not French. I’m also not changing it to the Israeli flag, though I thought about it, just to spite people.

New Zealand hasn’t had a terrorist attack, of the modern variety at least, so I can’t really speak to what that would do to our nation. But I’m not sure that the response would be as large as the response to the French attacks have been. We are not an old country; we are not well known in the world and I’m not sure we would get a speech from the President of the US of A quite as moving as the one given recently.

So let’s not get caught up in all of the hype, let’s not change our profile pics in a desperate urge to follow the crowd. Let’s really not use the “peace” symbol with the Eiffel tower in it – because if we know one thing about France in New Zealand it is that they are not anti-nuclear, which by the way is what that symbol really stands for. I do encourage you to pray. Pray for peace, pray for yourself.

But just to keep you up at night here is a question for you: why hasn’t an attack happened on Kiwi soil yet? We have good clean country, great farmland, so-so infrastructure, so-so politics, no real security to speak of, so why not here?

Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.

They will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord
They will walk behind the ploughshare, they will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward...

Timing

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Ok so I can’t claim that one as my own but it describes my problem quite well. The problem is thus: When do you ask a person to do something? Weather it’s attending an event, booking a service or making an appointment. I have recently encountered this problem. I have been organising an event for our church; so being a good, studious person I asked people a couple of months ago if they would be interested in being involved, gave them all the information and then sat back with people saying that they would come.

I called around this week (the event is this Sunday) only to find that many people had forgotten about it or had booked other things in its place. A little disappointed, I rearranged things, and now the event will go ahead just fine. But it made me question when is the best time to ask people to do a thing?

Now as for myself, I am an organised sort (for the most part). I keep a google calendar (avail from my phone) and keep it up to date, always consulting it when someone asks me if I’m available for something. Now I know that this sort of thing won’t work for everyone; some people prefer paper and some prefer to keep it all in their head. Others have various combinations of all of these methods.

And yet, despite all of these varied and different methods at one’s disposal, people still forget and still misplace things and still don’t turn up. When is the best time to ask?

Say I have an event coming in 2 months. That would be Christmas, right? And people get fussy about their Christmas plans. So do I ask someone now for a Christmas party? Or do I ask in a month? But by then most people will have already made plans – so about 2 months then, yes? But then what about holidays? My wife had to hand in her requests for leave about 4 weeks ago. So 3 months for Christmas then.

But what about “normal” time? 2 months seems to be too long, but for the holidays poked around the year. But you give about that much time for wedding notices. So what then for events? Trips? Movie outings?

It seems that there should be some kind of guide for these things, a manual put forth that one can use as reference.

Then there is the category of external things created not by oneself or by friends or family. Take as an example the upcoming date – October 21 2015, a date set up by a movie made 30 years ago that will see many people re-watching 3 old movies – Back to the Future. How does one account for these events?

I don’t have an answer for any of these questions, which bugs me a little. This is the sort of thing I like to have an answer for. I like to be able to give people enough notice, but I also like people to turn up to things they say they’ll turn up to.

I would like to hear other people’s opinions here – how much notice do you give for different events? What about people that have to travel out of town to get somewhere? Let me know on the Facebook link or in the comments below.

The Speech

What do you say to sum up a man’s life, to encapsulate a lifetime of memory and events in 5 minutes? How do you do justice to a lifetime of achievements, to a man who fought in a war that I’ve only read about in history books? Planted trees that I will never see? Walked in places that I didn’t know existed? I’m not sure I can do Ben’s life justice but I will tell you what I remember, the things that stand out to me and my impressions.

 My name is Rowan Thorpe, I’m 32 And Ben’s Eldest Grandchild, the son of David, Ben’s eldest Child. I have been asked to speak on behalf of my Brother Hayden and My sister Alexia.

 Ben was a great man, he had many achievements, he was a forester, a walker, a soldier and a business man. But this is not what he meant to me or to Hayden or Alexia. To us he was just Ben, our grandfather, the one who used to bounce us on his knee (we were all much smaller at one time). One of my favourite memories of Ben was the interest that he always showed in us as grandchildren. I’m quite sure now, that my lego rocket was not worthy of the attention he gave it but still the attention was given, he even let me win a few times at chess or draughts, and tolerated me being noisy during the 6 o’clock news… Once.

 Ben kept his emotions close to his chest – but when were around we were always greeted with an upturned smile and a laugh, as we grew older we graduated to a firm handshake. Ben had a great sense of humour and I loved his dry chuckle. We spent many Christmases with Nanna and Ben at Korokoro and we got into plenty of trouble. I remember on more than one occasion Ben having to retrieve a cricket ball from the bushes on the hill.

Living in Hamilton recently, made it hard for me to come down and see Ben during the last months of his life, When we eventually did make it down he was unable to see us for different reasons at different times so one of the last memories That I have of Ben is visiting Him and Nanna at their current home. As you know Ben started to lose his impressive physical prowess  before he went into the hospital, and as for me I was never the athlete in the family – Hayden was the runner, but on this occasion Ben and I seemed to meet in the middle and he took me for a tour of the area surrounding his home. As we walked around the complex he made a point of telling me something about each of  the trees, when they were planted, what they were, when some of them would bloom. I realised that this was the first time that I had been on such a walk with him, the first time he had shared that part of his life with me. Ben grew up in a very different world from mine, a world where the combination of playing cowboys and Indians and a little brother could change your name for life from Alec to Ben to the point that no one at your workplace recognises the name Alec. But in saying that I learnt recently that Ben was a bit of a geek like I am when he served in the army – A Radio operator, a man who played with buttons and dials. I was recently told of a tale of a medal that ben had earned, it was for a centenary or something similar, and he had had to pay the princely sum of $3 for it. This medal was found some years later with a note written next to it; N.B. Never worn, - they spelt my name Ben Throp. That’s about all I know of Ben’s war career. He didn’t talk about it much but I was proud to help him set up his computer and e-mail to organize the Korean Veteran’s association’s reunion.

 All though we knew that Ben was declining for quite some time, e will all miss Ben, and we will all miss him for different reasons, but we know that he has gone to be with God, his creator and saviour to be eternally with Christ where in his new body I’m sure he will insist on walking everywhere. The Streets are all gold. He’ll probably want to put in a swamp, or plant some trees.

Day 5 - The funeral and My Speech

Day 5

Today I noticed perhaps one of the most palpable times that one can witness the difference between Christians and non Christians. Now wile it has been accurately noted in the past that us Thorpes are a bit of a stoic lot who tend to hide emotion, it was clear to me today which of my family truly believed that they would see Ben again and those who would not. Now you may say that this is a bit of an unfair test because what I was looking at was the people who wept  vs those who didn’t (for the most part) but remember I am also aware of how the different members of my family regard Christ and what their standing is with them.

Many cried during the ceremony today, my dad came close but all the men of the family held it in, what was notable though was the despair, with which the non Christians conducted themselves today. Don’t get me wrong everyone was saddened but the true despair only showed on the faces of those who thought that he was gone forever. This in turn moved my heart for them, I KNOW that I will see Ben again, I know that he has gone to be with his Lord, but some people did not.

It was a hard thing to watch; people who have no hope of life after death, for them death is truly the end, a point of no return and with a finality that must be soul shattering. I know that many people who read this are not Christians. It is my highest hope that you will one day discover your Saviour Jesus Christ and have your hope restored, so that you too can get through some thing like this with greater ease and so that you and I may live forever in the glory of Christ’s presence free from pain and suffering as both my grandfathers are now.

I promised I would post my speech for Ben but unfortunately i did not save it so i will type it back in tomorrow and post it then

TTFN

PS, if you want to talk about becoming a Christian or even are just curious – please get in touch with me

Day 4 (tomorrow)

Day 4

A feeling of normalcy seems of have returned, the funeral is tomorrow and my Gandfather Ben Thorpe will be cremated thereafter. Today was a day of finalisations, finishing touches on speeches, not just mine, getting the last photos in, having the last of the extended family arrive. After the events of tomorrow some will go home and some will stay on to look after Nana. We seem almost to have been let off easily. Ben is in a better place, he had a smooth departure from his home life some months ago so Nana has already adjusted to not having him around in a way. Though I saw the first person shed tears after the initial announcement – my father’s cousin wept a little over the powerpoint I had been putting together.

Tomorrow we will pay our respects, I will try and merge one of the oldest sound systems I have ever seen with my laptop and a projector I know nothing about. 

Tomorrow there will be tears from even the staunchest of the Thorpe clan. 

Tomorrow I will publish the speech I have written to remember him by. 

Tomorrow we say our goodbyes.

Day 3

Day 3

Hi, I’m Rowan I’ll be your taxi service for the day, 4 hours in the car picking people up and dropping people off, better than doing nothing, have to meet an old guy and fix a screen for the funeral, the entire family is here now, but for my wife, another day to fill tomorrow.

What do you say to sum up a man’s life, to encapsulate a lifetime of memory and events in 5 minutes? How do you do justice to a lifetime of achievements, to a man who fought in a war that I’ve only read about in history books? I guess I’ll find out when I write it.

Day 2

Day 2

Four hours sleep again, really must stop doing that, church tomorrow, perhaps I’ll get 6 hours tonight. Odd get together, most everything planned now, family arrived, spent a long time talking to my brother, haven’t done that in a while. Many people offering condolences, asking how I am. How do you fill in time in a strange city? Good long talk with friends tonight.

Pretty sure my family is different, we don’t seem to be sad, it all seems to be a job, can you move a TV? Fix an aerial, write a speech? Last time it didn’t hit me at all, I never felt sad about death. 1 Thes. 4.13. I’ve seen other people cry for days, be down for over a month. An argument over flowers. He fought in Korea, does he get a flagon his coffin? Not enough survivors to worry about it. Did I want to see the body? What for? That’s not him anymore.

Day 1

Day 1

I got the call today, I knew it was coming, we all did, we had known for a while now but today it happened. Accommodation had already been arranged, my sister used to work at a camp, so I didn’t have to worry about that. Dad had been crying, I can hear it you know, when a person has been crying, hear it in their voice. I’m a sound guy after all, I never remember dad crying. It still took longer than I had expected to get away, four perhaps five days clothing fits quite well in a school bag, Laptop, hard drive, camera – I’ll need that. Ten minutes later than I said I would be to my Baber, They didn’t complain, offered their condolences as well, fill up with petrol then I’m off, only got four hours sleep better get some V.

Not a bad trip, good traffic and not too much rain. My auntie was at nanna’s house then nanna came back her children, I’m the first grandchild. It’s funny how the conversation moves, looking at photos, “who was that?” “do you remember when…” “no I think a blue t-shirt, he always liked that one.” I’ll miss the cheeky look the one with the stiff upper lip. 53 old photos, crop, recolour, no not that one, do you have the one from when he did that thing? New bed, can’t sleep, dam V. another twenty two hour day. Maybe writing will help me sleep.

I'm not sure

I’m just not sure. I’ve tried to come up with the right answer, but I’m just not sure. How do you know? And what do you do once you know?

I was a little annoyed this evening. A Facebook page that I follow had a few posts on it recently that not only lumped all Christians into one basket but then proceeded to insult them with some nasty terms. This is a group of people who I respect and consider my comrades, some of the only people truly able to appreciate what it means when I say I had a long day at work; so this was hard to take.

The rest of the evening got me to pondering. It started with why am I associating with people who openly insult parts of my life and finished with me questioning what am I doing with my life. There is a line in a song that has influenced me – “don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life.” The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40 year olds still don’t.

Now this is a strange way to look at life, but it has often been said that I’m strange. But I get antsy. My editor Matt and I were talking earlier tonight and he asked me if I knew what my calling was. I responded that I knew the area code. We are often cheeky, but it occurred to me that there was a large element of truth in what I had said. I know the general area that I want my life to be in, tech, but I also want to incorporate my faith into my calling. This poses a problem. I’m often not very personable; in fact I can be quite blunt and this doesn’t work well with people who give you money, but it does work well in tech. Unfortunately, if I were to pursue most of the ideas I have, I would require at least some initial funding from some people.

So why am I telling you this? Well don’t think it’s because I have the answers. This is a question that I have been dealing with for a long time and I don’t think it’s going away any time soon. I think that the reason that I’m writing this is three-fold. Tonight, for the first time in a long time, I faced some harsh realities about what keeping the Christian faith currently means and will continue to mean in the coming years. It seems that the persecution of Christians has begun in NZ. For the time being it is light and can be easily brushed off, but I believe that worse is coming. Now I don’t expect you to believe me on this point, but just keep this in mind over the next few years.

Secondly that a purpose in life is a hard thing to pin down. I have recently been playing a game called Adventure Capitalist. It’s a free game on steam or the app markets and it’s kind of fun. One of the things that I got from it however is the utter futility that many people base their lives around. Make money in order to make more money in order to make more. Where does this lead? To what end must one make more money? What is the end of that? I am sure that this is not my motivation, and it may be why I have had trouble pinning down a job. But it also makes it difficult for me to understand what other people see in it. I applaud those who know what they wish to do with their lives, but I find that even though I know the area of where I want to work and spend my working life, the details are difficult.

Thirdly, I believe that one should have a purpose for life, because let me assure you, spending a night pondering such things is not a great deal of fun. But that having been said, my reason for writing this particular post is (partly at least) to tell you that it’s OK not to have figured out this stuff – I mean, I know my weirdness abounds, but I think that most people probably have a night or two like this every once in a blue moon. And I think that’s OK; I’m not sure how many more nights I will have like this; I know it will be a few and that’s OK for me. But what I want is something that I can grab on to with both hands and run. Perhaps my time is yet to come and perhaps I will be one of the most interesting 40 year olds. Perhaps it’s because my wife and I don’t have kids and I don’t really have to support anyone yet and perhaps none of these things are the case. But I hope that this post grants you some ease or piece of mind on your nights like this.

I’m not sure how to end this post. I have no real conclusions. Writing this down didn’t do what I thought it would for me. I had hoped it would give me some inspiration, but alas. Perhaps I just need to take a risk, step out into the big unknown and spend some money to make, well not money, a lifestyle? A job? Perhaps just a way to help people. I’m not great at what I do. I’m not awful, but I feel like I can use what I can do to make a difference, and perhaps that will be enough?

Like I said at the top, I don’t have the answers on this one; I’m just trying to put some order to my thoughts. I hope it’s helped you at least. But tonight I’m just going to keep thinking. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

In the middle of the night.

In the middle of the night.

This has been an interesting week: the US has legalised gay marriage, New Zealanders are being incited to get bible in schools out of schools, New Zealand was named the 4^th safest country in the world with the USA coming at 93^rd, and when a man is shot in the face in Auckland, the headline reads Sour Grapes in Sydney.

So here I sit in the middle of the night thinking, writing and watching some of the best TV of all time – M*A*S*H.

It is a confusing time we live in. My friends have differing opinions and all of them seem very sure and yet they cannot be. Facebook is alive with colour and complaint. People are choosing sides and making their very loud opinions known. I must ask – to what end all these diatribes? Why the divisiveness and strife? What does anyone benefit?

People on both sides are wrong and have been wronged, and we are starting to hear words that may usher in a new era. Words like hate speech are becoming prevalent and people are arguing between rights and rules. People seem to forget that both rules and rights deny others things. For example, if I have a right to water it means that that water must come from somewhere and someone else cannot have it; but if there is a rule that says only tall people can have water, then my wife would miss out.

And so with all our rights and rules, what have we got ourselves other that arguments and disagreements? Now, it may be that I’m getting old and it may be that I’m old fashioned. But I think that things really were better even just 20 years ago. Granted, there was still war, bad politics and corrupt officials, but the schools tended to turn out students at the end, kindergartens didn’t have graduation ceremonies, and while TV was in 4 by 3, Braveheart and Jumanji were in theatres - certainly much better than some of the stuff turned out in the last year.

What has brought us to this point? Morals, depending on who you are talking to, are rising or falling, house prices, depending on where you are, are great or awful, education is the best or the worst it’s been in some time. The government is doing great or needs to be kicked out as soon as possible. Even the rugby is splitting the nation.

But it occurs to me that while things were better 20 years ago, things were much simpler longer ago than that. We suffered a power problem earlier in the week, and needed to turn all the power off in the house. When we turned all off the power and I had checked my facebook on my cellphone, it struck me that without the heatpump, or the computer, the tv going or the oven hood sucking, there was something that I had almost forgotten. It had been so long that I hardly recognised it: silence had pervaded the house. The electric light was gone and the candles were flickering.

And in the science I thought not about anything in particular, but I was just there in the quiet. And I reflect on the silence now as I write about the talking, the ranting and the separation caused by the things that were meant to bring us together.

I think that the time has come upon us for a great re-think. We need to re-examine what pulls us together and what drives us apart. Is anything worth the position many of us now find ourselves in, that of not knowing our own neighbours and polarising our friends on any given issue of the day. Is something that happened in another countery, something that will have no effect on the way that we conduct our lives in this one, worth losing a friend over? Why is it that while being connected 24/7 to the great world wide web, people are feeling more and more alone?

Suicides are up, teen pregnancies are up, the road toll is up; it seems as though the only things going down are test scores. When it would take me less than a day to download all the information in the library of congress, why is it that people seem so uninformed?

So I wonder, If what this world needs is more time to ourselves, to reconnect with our neighbours, to learn something about a subject before proclaiming our views to the world, to ‘like’ less and engage more, to simply hear the silence.

That’s what I’m going to do, for now at least.

Goodnight

Politics

Politics

There is a bad joke about many fleas here, but I’ll avoid it for the betterment of everyone, because what I really want to talk about is the recent glut of posts that have been cropping up on my Facebook feed.

Now normally I try and turn a blind eye to such things and not get involved, but there have been so many recently that I feel I must say something.

This is the problem with democracy – people feel that they can and should speak up about their own political feelings in public forums. This is both good and highly annoying. I’ll say it up front and try not to colour this article too much with my views - but I am a National supporter. Most people, however, will notice the absence of political posts that I put up, and this is because of a belief that I have that says if I want to change the political system, the best way to do it is with my vote, or to contact my represented directly. However, many people seem to believe that the best way to change things is to post repeatedly to their Facebook wall and try and cast dispersions over whatever governing body happens to be ruling at the given time.

Now don’t get me wrong; the media has a lot to answer for here: picking up the tiniest things and making a huge story from it all in the name of ratings. But what real good does it do? What changes do we see from it? An MP fired at most? OK, so they lose the cushy chair, they still get the free flights, and paid for the rest of their life. But let’s think about this. Who put them there? We did, so who is responsible for their actions? U. Now at this point, I anticipate that there will be people that say, “Well, I didn’t vote for them so I’m not responsible.” Yes and no. Fine, you voted for someone else, but what else did you do? In this day and age we all get to see the media polls, and they are usually not too far off the mark, so if your candidate of choice was falling behind in the polls, what do you do to change it: Street signs? Actually talking to people? No? Well, then you are at least partially responsible for the other guy getting in.

Of course this is a democracy, so if you don’t like the way things are going, you could always run for office yourself, and if you really don’t like it you could start your own political party and reform the whole thing. But here is where the problem lies: everyone wants a change but nobody wants to leave a comfy job or go in for that much media scrutiny; so we get left with the people who DO take the chance and the risk and so are left with a limited choice.

But there is another problem. Because we ask, nay, demand certain things of our positions, the politicians feel compelled to comply, or at least say that they will comply in order to win our support. So they pledge to uphold those ideals. And yet, after demanding such things as our leaders to have basically Christian values, our MPs to be largely upstanding and law abiding, and to uphold those same values that we claim to have and aspire towards, yet ignore when we decide we don’t like them and, oh, that girl looks very pretty. But we expect everyone in political office to hold and adhere to these values and never to slip up.

Now I don’t know about you; perhaps you have cracked it, perhaps you are the perfect person and can hold your own values all of the time and never once stray even from that, but as for me, I haven’t got there yet. On occasion I have stolen the odd pen, I have even sped once or twice in my car. But think about how that would play in the media if put under close scrutiny. “Rowan races roads with rage.” OK, so perhaps not that extreme, but you get the idea. How would your life stand up?

So my point is that we should lay off the politicians a bit – I mean in this day and age, what does it matter who is sleeping with whom or who spends their money on what? If you don’t want an odd comment that you said to a friend over drinks taken out of context, then why worry about what anyone else says? At the end of the day, they are just normal people trying to make our country a better place.

Conversely, If you don’t like what they are doing, then run for office, get involved, and at the very least VOTE, but keep your complaints to yourself. Don’t post them on Facebook, contact the person directly. Call, E-mail, text, Fax, write a letter, tweet, I can just about guarantee that the representative in question has all of these options available. Mostly just don’t complain to everyone but the person at whom your complaint is actually directed.

---

In the service of…

For Mack.

NB. not edited

I recently served at a Christian camp for the NZ police. I was doing the sound for a band with which I have a long association and is made up of good friends. I was struck at this conference that I have been doing this sort of thing for a while, I have been behind a sound desk at church and other events now, for most of my life. And it strikes me as an odd situation that many would not appreciate and thus I have chosen to write about it.

The events at the camp were slightly unusual in that while a great deal of the group events required someone behind a sound desk (in this case me) the was a short time after one of the late night sessions that only required me to play an iPod and leave it on at a specific volume. This in turn allowed me to lock the desk and just enjoy the music and ask for prayer from the speaker (the prayer itself is another matter entirely and for another time.)

Now this act, to many Christians seems normal, comfortable even. The speaker askes at the end of service if the worship band that has been playing will come up and play something lightly in the background and if anyone would like to simply come up to the front for prayer of any kind, be it to commit to Christ, recommit, receive healing or just any other form of prayer. And to most people the option is given, some take it at this time and some at that. To most this is a normal event.

But spare a thought for those who serve. The worship team has just been called up again, and it may not require all of them to play for the whole time but at least some of them will have to play for at least some of the time, and it is understood if one of them stops play (or just does not make it any further than the front of stage) as these are those that may need prayer, and it is not a great imposition if the second guitarist leaves the stage, or if during a slow song the drummer stops.

But what of the keyboardist or the lead singer, the person doing words, lights or indeed the sound guy. These people are faced placed in a difficult position. If the lead singer leaves the stage – who will continue the worship? If the keyboardist leaves who will provide the lovely chords? If the person doing words leaves then how will the congregation know what to sing? OK, perhaps the lighting guy could leave things on a nice blue and red, but then again we reach the sound guy.

The sound guy has perhaps the hardest place to leave of all, the sound guy is the one that often the whole thing rides on – weather or not you know it. If the sound guy leaves his post you may not notice, the keys can be left playing at a certain volume the lead singer can probably be relied upon to keep singing at the same level, but if something goes wrong – everyone will know and the entire service can be ruined. This is largely due to a thing called feedback, that annoying (usually) high pitched sound that just builds and builds and builds until the sound guy catches it. Now most sound guys are pretty good and will catch it quickly. But if he is not there to catch it, it may be 30 seconds and even up to a minute before the noise is caught. Let me assure you that nothing will break a mood, feeling or mind set faster than feedback.

So what does the sound guy do? Well, he stays at his post. He must, for if he was to leave the “enjoyment” of tens hundreds or thousands may be broken. And it will be his fault. So the sound guy stays at his post until the moment has passed, until everyone has come up for prayer, until the minister has called the meeting to a close, until everyone has left and the background music has stopped, the sound guy stays.

Now don’t get me wrong, sound guys know this, we know that in taking the job we must give up certain things. But it accoutred to me that perhaps the sound guy misses out sometimes and this is what was pointed out to me at the camp I was on. We did the worship, the speaker said his bit, we entered a time of extended worship and genral prayer for everyone. But then the speaker made the call for me to change to pre-recorded music and said that he would wait for as long as anyone who had not yet received pray that wanted it, needed him to wait. So I finished up – muted the instruments and mics, the speaker was no longer using his mic and I let the music play.

I wen and sat down the front and just listened, the speaker came to me after a few others and said, among other things, that one of the reasons that he had made the offer in such a way was specifically for me. So I could be released from my duty and come and receive, and for once be without care. It was then that I realised that this was the first time in my capacity as church sound guy that someone other than another sound guy who knew the commitment to the job that we have had done something like this for me.

I was massively humbled by this man and the care he had taken for a stranger, not a member of his church, not an old friend, but for a sound guy who had been behind the sound desk for 3 days at a random camp he was speaking at.

So next time you have an altar call at your church, or next time the worship goes long or perhaps even just the next time that you didn’t notice anything wrong, thank the sound guy, thank the lights person or the guy on words, thank the lead singer, or the keyboardist who played for the extra 20 minutes while you were receiving.

I’m not saying we need it, or that we expect it, but it’s nice every once in a while to know that someone else notices that we are not just in the service of God, but we are also in the service of you.