Mark Tronson says that "reflection" is part of who he is. He has always reflected on decisions and thought about them carefully and thoughtfully; sometimes too much, and at times too little.
He says that his wife, Delma, is also a careful thinker and has given due consideration to family discussions and subsequent decisions all our lives. This has stood them in good stead as we are now grandparents, having raised four children to be sensible and wonderful adults.
Living by faith financial support as missionaries for 29 years has leant itself to requiring more careful attitudes than perhaps the 'average' wage-earning family, particularly with any financial expenditure, no matter how small.
In their 34 years of marriage, they have moved four times and each time have carefully considered their Missionary work and lifestyle, proximity to education and/or family and/or a country community, and most importantly – kept their eye out for 'bargains' within the property investments they made. They sought to make 'improvements' to each property or investment before moving on again, whether it be a family home or one of our Well-Being Australia respite centres.
Their family solicitor has praised their frugality on all these occasions. These purchases have all been decisions made with care, caution, financial expeditiousness and have been aided by seeking the wisdom of the Lord in whatever they've undertaken.
Such decision making processes are clearly expressed many times within the Scriptures. For example, Paul (Philippians 4:6), writing to the Christians in city of Philippi, cautions that, we need to "be careful for nothing", in other words, there is not one thing that should be passed-over without giving careful consideration, (first part of the verse) and then it is to be bathed in prayer (the second part of the verse).
".... but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."
It might be noted that the words "every thing" are separated rather than "everything" and the purpose of this was to place an emphasis on each "singular" issue. Some translations use the words "anxious for nothing" rather than "careful". As one commentator suggested, "anxious and careful". Various commentators link this discussion by Paul to 1 Peter 5 verses 7-8, with the emphasis on the first part of verse 8, "Be sober, be vigilant."
It is not a case of being "Paranoid Pop", Mark Tronson rather feels that he is being sober and vigilant in whatever his hand undertakes.
Mark Tronson said that when he was young he played field hockey. He reached quite a high level of competition because he seemed to have the knack of knowing where to be and what to do to achieve the 'right' tactics for his own side. As he looks back, there was some intuition, but in reality, he'd undertaken a careful analysis of what was occurring on the field of play. Great coaches and elite athletes are necessarily sober and vigilant in such matters.
He has placed that same sober and vigilant process into his Ministry decisions. Many times he could have stood and fought (church politics can be ugly), but instead, after some deep breaths and a period of "waiting", he has often reached a better conclusion. Another Biblical example of this was when David "refused" time and again to kill Saul.
"Paranoid Pop" is a good fun name, and Mark Tronson rather likes it, as it reveals a far greater Biblical truth.
