This week I got to be a part of the annual Flamingos (formally Lizotte’s) HSC Music Showcase. Every year our Year 11 and 12 students get the opportunity to perform their HSC pieces in a great venue, with quality sound and lighting, in front of friends, families, and staff. It was my pleasure to jump across a few different instruments as part of the back up band for these super talented students.
For me it’s a bit of a trip down memory lane. Much of my early 20s was spent in venues similar to this, playing in various bands, trying to work my way to rock stardom. Thankfully the crowd at Flamingos was a little less rowdy than some of those days on stage, perhaps with the exception of Mr Tosen (just kidding!).
Evidently God had another plan for me and I ended up as an Adventist Pastor, probably as far from a rock star as I could get. In my day to day ministry I often don’t need to draw on my ability to dial in a good lead guitar tone or tune a punching bass drum. Therefore evenings like this mean that these skills don’t go to waste, and even better, I get to help our students refine theirs as well.
I love the idea in the broader sense that with God, nothing goes to waste - the things we have lived through and experienced, whether wonderful or ugly, extravagant or simple, life-giving or exhausting. All of these not only make us who we are, but can become a valuable tool in the work of building up others.
I truly believe that every human being is unspeakably valuable to the heart of God and that each and every story is important and useful in His work. Remember, it was to fishermen that Jesus spoke to when he said "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men". Matthew 4:19
Pr Michael Chapman
Head of Campus Ministries
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