The noise can get too much sometimes.
We have so much going on around us and we miss opportunities.
We miss opportunities to hear, listen, observe and help.
The time is now.
What are you most passionate about as you head into 2022? What are the fights you are willing to fight? What are the causes you are ready to be the voice for and what ones will you ignore?
We just had to get away
It is nice to be at a new stage of life where we can allow our sons to fend for themselves for a few days. Belinda and I just had to get away at the end of the year. It was our 26th wedding anniversary and we knew we just had to have time together and chat.
We chat regularly, but the last month of school can be a bit hectic. We have 3 schools to contend with. We had our second son graduating and had many events to coordinate and find time to attend.
We were also hit with decisions made outside of our control and had to make some firm calls on our future as teachers.
We were lost and confused. The constant barrage of advice, articles, opinion was quite overwhelming. There were many others in the same situation as us; there were many who were not. It became increasingly difficult to listen to people. We were hearing many things, but we found it hard to listen and process through the noise.
We just had to get away.
Issues that divide
We had to look at what matters to us and make decisions based on what was best for us, our family and our future. To some, maybe we have made decisions detrimental to our future- but we are at PEACE with our decisions.
God has had a part to play in this. We got rid of the noise and listened to Him and for Him to say something to us- anything was fine! We felt too often we relied on other people’s advice and did not turn to the one we sprout as the one who speaks to each of us individually. We really believe that and we wanted that again.
I want so many of my students, my mates, my family to hear from Him. I know they can hear from God through me. I want them to hear it for themselves. So many people and their stories have shown me that “the church” has done too much talking at people, rather than listening to people.
I hear you and I am listening
The Novak Djokovic visa application and subsequent circus came to Australia. It was easy to get caught up in the arguments for and against.
Did we hear about the asylum seekers, in the same quarantine hotel, who have not been released for nine years? I am not totally up to date with their circumstance, but nine years is way too long to wait for their visa application to be approved or denied?Since December 2020, the Australian Border Force has used the hotel to house refugees who had been held for years on remote Pacific islands. Those refugees at the Park Hotel were brought to Australia for medical treatment, but they cannot leave the hotel for any other reason, and they do not know how long they will be kept there.
Several asylum seekers said the windows of their rooms had been screwed shut, denying them access to fresh air. In October and November, a coronavirus outbreak swept through their ranks. At one point, 22 of the 46 asylum seekers who were then being held at the hotel had Covid.
The New York Times (8/1/22) spoke to one of the refugees:
“We cannot get out of the hotel,” said Mehdi Ali, a 24-year-old Iranian refugee. “We’re surrounded by walls.”
Mr. Ali was young when he fled Iran, where he says he was subjected to persecution as a member of the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority. At 15, he was among a group of asylum seekers whose boat was apprehended as they tried to reach Australia.
He spent years in a string of detention centres before arriving at the Park Hotel a few months ago.
According to the Australian government’s statistics, as of September, 117 asylum seekers had been in detention for five years or more, and several for more than 10 years.
But the process has been slow, and the costs of the program have been considerable. Hotel detention in Melbourne costs $471,493 Australian dollars per year, per detainee (New York Times 8/1/22).
Mehdi Ali has lost nine years of his youth to Australia’s immigration policy — waiting for rain on Nauru island so he could take a shower; participating in hunger strikes; trying to treat the rats in his room like pets – Djokovic lost the chance to play in a tennis Grand Slam event.
There are plenty of people with an opinion on the Djokovic case. It certainly created a lot of noise.
I know God spoke to Belinda and I with the decisions we had to make.
I know God can speak to you. What would he like you to say?
The book of Proverbs in the Bible is full of wisdom. I love this verse from chapter 31, verses 8-9
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Is it time to speak up for Djokovic or to those who have been silenced for so long?