In Conversation with Chris

What is one thing Pastor Peter has shared that has changed your life?

Answer One: His favourite assortment of dad jokes.

Answer Two: Tough, but not for the same reasons as the ice cream question. I think something that’s had the largest effect in the last few years was his series on Doubling Down. It was about really honing in on our calling to disciple and the church’s mission calling. He preached this sermon either in and out of COVID-related lockdowns, or right after our last big/final one.

At this point, I hadn’t been super thrilled about how any group I knew had handled the situation. I felt like there was no group that truly represented or held the same stance I’d had on everything. At the time (maybe even now?!), most stances attracted polarising views. Since several beliefs/views ended with the equivalent of a “yes” or “no” (think: lockdown, no lockdown, vaccine, no vaccine), aligning one’s self to any specific answer appeared to put you on a “side”. I felt very isolated, like many of these groups I’d once called myself a part of, I had started to no longer want to be seen as a part of them.

Anyway, back to the series: Pastor Peter preached several ways of saying to double down and focus on the mission, that the different methods were not the ultimate “yes/no” on the situation. I agreed with what he’d said, but internally wrestled with how some other beliefs didn’t align with the rest of the mix of what I was seeing.

At some point afterwards I felt God tell me, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater”, which I felt referred to receiving/absorbing messages where I didn’t agree with part of it or larger scale things like where I had trouble lining up my opinions and beliefs with others. I’m not talking about ignoring what everyone else believes, “working it out” and keeping everyone happy, singing Kumbaya off into the sunset. I meant being deliberate and effortful with harmony and unity. My view on those two buzzwords was tainted as I’d tried to make everything line up, so everything essentially ended up the same.

Focusing on the smaller details and interactions made me lose sight of the bigger picture: the crucial, centre-of-life things many of these other groups had their focus on. I’d started using specific outputs or “narrowly produced” fruit as the measure of people, rather than looking deeper into what their heart-focus was. The little things did matter and some of the fruit being produced wasn’t great, but to sacrifice the goals and heart focus in favour of the smaller, but more immediate detail, had destroyed things within me. I was trying to live life identically when we were called to live in harmony.

Standard musical chords are made of 3 notes, 3 different notes, but they all work together. They’re not the same: on their own, they have different “feels” to them, but together they’re good. Better than standalone. This drastically changed how I approached content and people I didn’t entirely agree with. Slowly, similar fruit with a different core looked less attractive, and things where someone wouldn’t do something or respond the same way I would often came from hearts I was in alignment with. 

The foundational change this has had on me is hard to put succinctly in words, but has probably been the largest fundamental model change I’ve had in the last few years… all thanks to the foundational and probing series from Pastor Peter!

Name a moment where you experienced God's favour in an extraordinary way.

Answer One: When the FOG (Favour Of God) machines were left on too long and it was extraordinary that I couldn’t see anyone in the congregation from the stage (THANKS JAY).

Answer Two: Immediate thing I think of is my (current) job.
Journey with me to the end of 2015 where I’d finished my uni course (after extending a year out from some justifiably failed units). I had about 10 months’ worth of fairly relevant work experience (paid placements) and experience designing and building websites already being publicly used (outside of friends and family). Like most recent grads, I thought I had it pretty good and possibly expected something to just fall into my lap. I spent the next 12-15 months mostly procrastinating, dawdling with some job-related activities and building a few things to keep learning.

Around this time, I thought I was in a pretty good position (along with some parent-pressure) to apply for jobs. I set up searches on various job/career sites, built a nice resume and wrote well-worded, specific cover letters for several places where I, on paper, matched most or all the role requirements. For my efforts, I got absolutely nothing. I wasn’t shotgun-applying for jobs with limited relevancy, but spent a fairly long time on each application, ensuring I would be in a good position to do the work and be a good fit with the company (rather than just “getting a job”).

I was a bit disheartened, but kept doing what I was doing. At some point, I picked up a handful of small jobs or career-relevant projects. I helped run a cleaning business with a friend, worked enterprise computer workstation pack-up and re-setup, did contract/freelance web work (with much less technically inclined clients than I thought I’d ever work with) and even created the church’s first dynamic website. I wasn’t making much money, but I always seemed to have enough to do whatever I needed/wanted.

Later in 2017, I did another round of job applications, this time with a little more direct experience thanks to the contract work and the few sites I’d built since the last round. I heard nothing back from every application, including one I had more experience, skills and knowledge than requested in the application and thought I had a good shot at. After two rounds of failures, I was disheartened. I stumbled across another job where I met most of the requirements but lacked the mid-level experience and a portfolio document of 3 sites, outlining what/how you built and some other details. Putting so much extra time into an application seemed like a massive waste of time, but something inside urged me to go for it.

Not long after my submission, I received a request for an interview. Went to the interview and did alright, albeit nervously. After the interview, they asked me to do a small development test to ensure my skills were as I claimed (now I’m more experienced, you wouldn’t believe the number of people I’ve seen who say they can do a lot of technical stuff but are completely inept at it). I happily accepted but only realised an issue when at home starting the build. I needed a certain piece of (industry standard) software to access/download special fonts from the supplied design, which cost about $150. This was a lot of money since I only had around $500. Part of me believed there was something in this, that the cost would be worth it, and well, the rest is history (I got the job).

Looking back, I saw everything from a new perspective. All the minor jobs (including the different industry jobs of cleaning and PC pack-up/setup) and specific contract jobs I landed had prepared me for very specific parts of my new job. The job wasn’t a typical developer job, where you sit in a corner and no one talks to you. No, I would be in discussion meetings with clients and working directly with the design team. Stuff which would’ve probably broken me had I not been ‘trained’ up earlier, a bit like the Karate Kid’s “wax on, wax off” stuff.

I also saw the missed opportunities, which had I not declined, would’ve made the transition into this job easier. Through this process, my meagre income was like manna from heaven: I never had enough to “save up” for the long term. I just relied on God to provide to get me through the next patch of time.

I’m still in the same fantastic job, learning, growing and influencing those around me. Doing something I enjoy, something that fulfils and grows me into my calling and getting paid for it! That’s my experience of the favour of God.