Brett Fish, Author at 1Africa

Twas the Night before Christmas

Culture

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December 24, 2015

I imagine that many of us will be spending Christmas Eve with family and possibly friends, eating way too much food and in many cases feeling sick because of it. Gluttony is its own reward, as I always say.

Then either tonight or tomorrow morning we will be giving each other gifts no-one needs that most of us possibly couldn’t afford to buy or perhaps being sneaky about it and cross-giving gifts that in essence mean we each got to buy our own gift but blame it on someone else.

I thought at this time it might be helpful for us to stop. And remember the many, many people across our land who do not get to do such a thing. Those without access to clean water or inside toilets or any kind of exaggerated meal for Christmas. It is a good occasion for us to check our privilege and wonder how we can perhaps do it better next year.

To do this, I thought I would take a well-known positive Christmas poem and give it a bit more of a local spin to perhaps catch a little more of the heart of what might be happening out there somewhere:

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE AN SA CHRISTMAS

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the shack

Not a turkey was carved, as there was such a lack

No stockings were hung by no chimney with care

As there wasn’t much hope that St Nick would come there.

The children were cramped, many stuck in one ‘bed’

While sounds of police sirens danced in their heads

Mama in her nightgown and me with no cap

Were preparing to endure another freezing night’s nap

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter

Away to the ‘window’ I flew like a flash

Gazed out to the night and saw mostly just trash

The moon shone some light on dirty streets below

And I wondered, “Had Santa come here?” Alas, no.

As tonight, for our family, had been much the same

We did not have a feast, carol songs or a game.

We just hoped against hope that we would make it through

As the rich folk drove past thinking, “What’s wrong with you?

If you’d only worked harder. If you’d tried a lot more.

Maybe then you’d be wealthy like us and not poor. “

I returned to my ‘bed’ and curled up like a ball

As I wondered if things would ever change here at all

But something inside me said, “Don’t give up yet.

So much work to be done, but we mustn’t forget:

On the first Christmas night, so much seemed to be bleak

No room in the inn for this baby born meek

So He lay with the animals in a place that was smelly

While a life and a fire raged in that small belly

It began in a place that resembled a shack

And the story continues, there’s no looking back

So we all are invited to pause, be reflective

Take stock of our lives and invite good perspective

This beautiful land has so much potential

But it needs to be shared, that much is essential

The journey ahead is still long and confusing

We must continue to engage in all the places we’re using

We must get our hands dirty, we must put our feet in

And commit to be part of a much needed win

May we yet see a time when the haves and have nots

Sit around the same table with their past hurts forgot

When the gap has been narrowed and there’s balance in sight

Then we truly can say, “And to ALL a good night.”

[Disputed authorship but original poem first published on Dec. 23, 1823 in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in upstate New York.]

That is not the world’s greatest poem. And it probably does a shabby job at communicating a glimpse of what I am hoping to. But the main point is all of us realising that there are many who don’t have it as good as us. And what are we going to do about it? Not just for one day or one moment or event at Christmas. But also as we hit 2016 and in the day to day of how we live our lives and the decisions we make about work and resources and money and who we spend time with.

Have a super great day.

Injustice: Time for you to step up too

Lifestyle

Brett Fish

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December 21, 2015

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My wife returned home quite shaken the other day. She and her sister-in-law had experienced a rather negative interaction with an older man in a local supermarket that we frequent. What started as an accidental clash quickly escalated and started to get out of hand.

When my wife looked around for support, no-one intervened. There was clearly an injustice happening and it was loud enough for spectators to realise these two women were uncomfortable and yet everyone just looked away and refused to step up.

Eventually, they managed to find a security guard and even then it was a bit of a mission to get the situation resolved because no-one seemed to know how to respond.

I can only imagine it would have gone down a lot differently if I had been there, or possibly not happened at all because that man would not have taken the same chances he did.

WHEN DO WE GET INVOLVED?

I heard a similar story from a blogger friend of mine recently where there was an altercation in a supermarket. She ended up intervening when a customer started verbally assaulting a checkout lady. The customer, an older man again, started screaming profanities at her and again no-one intervened. the injustice was obvious, but no-one knew or cared enough to get involved.

I have heard of racist encounters in local Cape Town restaurants where a group of black customers were asked to move to a different table to make space for a white family. Or a black family was refused entry to a restaurant on the phone because “It was full” only to have white friends of theirs make a booking and be told, “Absolutely, there is a lot of space.”

A guy on the side of the street beating up his girlfriend. Someone being rude and obnoxious to someone behind a counter at a store. Someone throwing a tantrum in a restaurant. We see it all the time. But why do we do nothing about it?

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

I always think back to the movies ‘A Bug’s Life’ and ‘Antz’ when these situations of injustice arise. Tiny little insects outnumbered in either case and yet when they realise that there are much more of them and rise up they are victorious.

Bullies are often quite easy to embarrass and overpower. Their momentum comes from the fact that they are seemingly in control. So a loud voice or a violent stance or the idea that they are the one that needs to be listened to. But the moment that the crowd steps forward they are usually quickly silenced and dealt with.

Which is what needs to start happening more in South Africa. As soon as we spot injustice happening around us, someone needs to step up and be bold in our statement of, “This is not happening. Not on my watch.” And then everyone else needs to quickly jump in and assert their agreement. This is the way we will see justice happen more frequently and more effectively.

I am not calling for a violent response in any way. Just men and women who will put their hands up and say, “That is not cool. You need to stop.”

It often takes that one brave person to get the ball rolling to help give others the courage to add their voices. Are you going to be the one?

Have you ever witnessed an injustice like this and not gotten involved in any way? What was it that held you back? What might make it easier for you to assert your voice the next time you see this?

Star Wars: The Movie Event of All Time?

Brett Fish

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December 17, 2015

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3 years ago, The Dark Knight Rises made $25 million in pre-movie sales, a record at the time.

Then in 2015, along came a tiny little sequel, to a series that began in the late 1970’s, which before even opening has proven to be the Iceberg to Batman’s Titanic.

With more than $100 million in pre-movie ticket sales, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has set itself up to be the movie event of the year, the decade, and quite possibly all-time. What will ever be bigger than this? [unless The Force Awakens is incredible in which case perhaps Star Wars episode VIII]

We could legitimately be about to witness and experience the biggest movie event of all time.

SOUTH AFRICA AHEAD OF THE GAME

When I managed to book middle row middle of the theatre tickets for the three of us for the 12am first screening in South Africa I breathed a sigh of relief. Not only had I managed to secure first viewing rights in South Africa [at least til I found out my friends in the industry got to go to an even earlier pre-screening the night before, but that’s another story] but I also had the privilege of watching the new Star Wars before my friends in England, Americaland [as I call it] and New Zealand. I think possibly France beat us, but otherwise, we are pretty much at the front of the line [Note to self: block all French friends on social media til 2pm Wed]

In a world where movies have become largely of the superhero, sequel or remake variety, it is exciting to have something that feels like an event again. And even though Star Wars: The Force Awakens is technically a sequel, there is also a lot about it that brings the ‘New movie’ feel.

While some of the original cast have returned [most importantly the actors who play Luke, Leia and Han Solo] this movie is set 30 years after the last one and we all anticipate a handing over of the mantle so to speak. The Universe may be similar but with an absence of Darth Vader, The Emperor [is he really gone?] and Yoda among others, there just has to be a new feel to it. When the big baddie Kylo Ren fired up his cross-shaped light saber in the first glimpse we had of this movie months ago, we all knew that a significant page had been turned.

IT’S STAR WARS, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT

Which leaves us with the million dollars [or $100 million] question of “Will it be any good?” Well, by the time you are reading these words I will know the answer to that. And the hugest part of getting to see it first or early on is the ability to make that decision yourself. I already have friends in the States and New Zealand issuing death threats [no, not really] to anyone who spoils it for them.

Is it time to leave social media for a few days and hide in that pillow and blanket fort you built in your mom’s lounge? It may be.

But all this to say, I am really looking forward to watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens and while it may not be for everyone, it is clearly for a LOT of people. If you are one of those, then I hope you get to see it untainted and experience it as the event it is.

May the Force be with you.

If you’ve watched it already or are about to, come and let us know what you’re feeling. I am nervous but excited and I do think it’s going to be a good one. But will it be great? We will know soon…

How to signal the voices in your head

Lifestyle

Brett Fish

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December 14, 2015

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I know what you’re thinking, “This isn’t for me. I don’t have voices in my head. But I’m just going to sneak a peek to see what is being said to those who do.”

If you were thinking that, well there’s one of the voices in your head right there, and well done for listening.

The truth is that we all have voices in our head. Sometimes it would be easier to picture them as the tiny angel and the tiny demon wrestling for our attention. But they are real, and we do tend to listen to them. And they come in many shapes and forms:

Conscience, emotion, taste, ideology, spiritual inclination, and probably a hundred more.

What I want to look at today, is how to influence them.

WHO ARE YOU READING?

When it comes to the books we read, people tend to ask the question, “What book are you reading?” What I realised about three years ago, is that a more important question can be, “Who are you reading?”

If, for example, the majority of the authors I read tend to be middle-aged, American, Christian men [as was the case at my time of realising, with the exception of the more British very-not-Christian Terry Pratchett] then the likelihood is that my thinking about life, religion, history and so on takes the shape of those middle-aged, American, Christian men. Which, although ranging across a fairly wide spectrum, does still contain a particular narrative that is very single dimension.

BOOKS OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT LIKE ME

Most people actually tend to read people who experience life a lot like them. We comfort ourselves with the ideas of people who think in a similar way to us and don’t cause our way of life and viewing the world to be too much challenged or threatened.

I want to invite you, as we head into 2016, to change that, and to help open up a world of exciting possibility, change and transformation.

The decision I made a few years ago was to diversify the people that I read.

I chose to seek our female authors who would give a very different perspective to that which I was used to. Suddenly Michelle Alexander, Sarah Bessey, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and Austin Channing were among those who were speaking to me about religion and the race and reconciliation conversations I was seeking.

I chose to read black authors, specifically as this coincided with a time when I was trying to understand the history of South Africa more. Immediately men like Steve Biko, Robert Sobukwe and Frank Chikane started recounting tales what it meant to be truly Afrikan in a way that felt helpful and challenging at the same time.

As I sought to understand a little more of the Israel/Palestine conflict it was authors such as Sandy Tolan [The Lemon Tree], Elias Chacour [Blood Brothers] and Naim Ateek [A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation] who painted a picture that helped me have a greater understanding of what was going on.

And so on.

DIVERSIFY THE VOICES

If you are someone who reads books, then I encourage you to stretch yourself as you go into 2016. Commit to reading at least one book a month from someone who doesn’t look like you, think like you, or who is maybe a different gender, colour, religion or style than what you are normally used to.

I’m not saying you have to completely stop reading those things you already enjoy, but I can guarantee you that your learning curve will completely spike and probably your enjoyment and definitely your personal enrichment as you start diversifying the voices you invite to speak to you.

Signal the voices in your head that it is time to shake things up a bit for next year. Let the books you plan to read, take you on some of the most incredible paths you have travelled yet. You will not be sorry.

Statute of Spoiler Alert Limitations

Brett Fish

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December 10, 2015

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“Man, I love that part in Forest Gump where…”

“NO! NO! SH! DON’T SAY! I HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET!!!”

The Tom Hanks Oscar winning movie came out in 1994 and until a few years ago, that was the conversation that I would have with my best mate Dunc. who finally watched it. And we finally got to talk about it. But it was years upon years of frustration cos if you have not watched a movie in ten years…

Come on! Surely there is a limit to that thing?

SURVIVOR OF THE QUICKEST

I remember when I used to watch Survivor at my folks house. Typically it was on the same night as Improv and so I’d have to record it and watch it later. For the last number of seasons I watched would manage to survive a whole season without spoilers and then without fail some [insert own disparaging term here] would write a status on Facebook like, “Aw, I can’t believe Susie didn’t win.”

Really? You just did that? I survived a whole season and you spoilered me in the back just before I watched the last episode.

Sad face indeed.

But when is too soon?

I SEE DEAF PEOPLE

I’ll make it easy – before a movie has been released is too early. With Star Wars: The Force Awakens literally a week away from being seen by me, I have done everything to avoid news and updates and rumours so that I can watch it with fresh eyes. Sometimes even the merchandise movies have provided [which often hit shelves earlier] have spoilers in them. You have to be careful. Stealth ninja mode.

Then I’d say it’s pretty straightforward that if a movie is still on the circuit or if a series is still screening, you should definitely keep what you’ve seen to yourself. Also with the way that social media has shrunk the world you need to be extra careful because that thing that has screened in your country may not yet have screened in mine.

When it comes to sport it’s a little trickier because we love to celebrate. I have recorded Grand Prix races and people have taped sporting events because of celebrations or other unavoidable events, but I think when it comes to those, you know people are going to be cheering or crying into their cereal and so you’re on your own in terms of avoiding social media and walking around with ear plugs in your ears.

BE SENSITIVE AND REALISTIC

i imagine we all know what it’s like to have a twist, victory or score spoiled before we got to watch it play out and so the key here is being sensitive. Realising when information we may be about to share is a potential spoiler to our audience and giving people a chance to leave or block their ears while chanting “LA!LA!LA!LA!”

But on the other side, there is a time to let go. If you have not watched that show in the first three years of it being released, or caught up on that movie within a year then the onus is on you. Don’t hold your friends hostage in conversation for something you haven’t made the effort to catch up on.

Oh, and by the way, SPOILER ALERT, Darth Vader is Luke’s father. And if you did not know that by now, then you really need to sit down and take a deeper think about your life…

p.s. One last good way to avoid spoilers, as I am hoping to do with Star Wars, is by securing tickets to the first screening of the movie in the country and so after 2pm next week Wednesday, you may want to steer clear of me for a while, as either a look of depression or perhaps the most enthralled grinning face you may ever have seen may just give it away.

A New Year’s Evolution?

Brett Fish

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December 7, 2015

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Next year I will…

In 2016 I will stop…

From this moment I promise I’m going to be more…

Fill in the gaps right? And being New Year’s Resolutions, they have as much of a likelihood of happening as if they were the following:

Next year I will raise my own T-Rex from a DNA sample I found in some amber.

In 2016 I will stop Americans fighting for gun control.

From this moment I promise I’m going to be more appreciative of raiSINs.

Okay, that last one might just be me, but it has as LITTLE CHANCE as the other two of happening.

As with all New Year’s Resolutions, yeah? I cannot remember a single time when a friend of mine, mid-August, turned to me and said, “Man, I’ve really kept this year’s resolutions well” or “That one New Year’s resolution I made last year changed my life.”

Rather they seem to exist for a minute as we REALLY REALLY mean them and then the next they are as gone as that missing twin to those 42 single socks I have living in hope in my bottom drawer.

DON’T THINK SMALLER, THINK MORE REAL

A few years ago I coined the phrase ‘New Year’s Evolutions’ trying to move away from the traditional failure route to something far more accessible and likely to happen.

Instead of a list of dreams of things I’d like to see [I want to be less fat, I want to be married, I’d love to have my own place] it begins with a stock take of where I am and then moves to changes I need to put in place to get me to where I want to be.

I might not be able to do something magical to become less fat, but I can choose not to drink fizzy drinks and cut down [or eradicate completely] my junk food consumption.

I might not be able to go from single to married, but I can perhaps ask that girl I’ve had my eye on out for a drink, or say “Yes” to that person who has been asking me out, even though I don’t necessarily feel anything for them at the moment.

And so on. Instead of huge impossible so-far-out-there resolutions, which tend to be wish lists and often unattainable [or at least in the near future] I look at where I am and evolve a little bit in an area that will head me more in the direction I am looking to go in.

SOME IDEAS

# If I’m someone who lives on a screen, my evolution might be to make a regular time every week to head outdoors for a walk or to the beach or to the local park with a book.

# If I am someone who reads and I tend to read authors who look, think and sound like me, one possible evolution [which is something I personally do] is look to read books written by women, stories by people of colour, listen to podcasts from people from other countries or even faith journeys. I am a lot more likely to learn or to be challenged when I am reading people who are somewhat diverse compared to me.

#Maybe one of the easiest evolutions to make and possibly the most fulfilling is to find a place to volunteer. I have a friend in Americaland who plays songs in an old peoples’ home, I have friends here who volunteer on camps for underprivileged children and I know a couple who once a week volunteer at a homeless shelter soup kitchen. Often the best way to grow is to move outside of yourself and serve others in some way.

And 1000 more…

PLAN TO PLAN

This article may seem a little early, but before you know it, it will be 2016 and the busyness of life might be pushing you down the hill. Rather choose right now to make a time to do this. A stock take looking back on your life in 2015 in categories such as Family, Friends, Money, Time, Rest, Service, Being Green and so on. And then take some time to plan some achievable goals, or evolutions, that you can work intentionally on as you begin 2016.

Write this down and get to work – why not come back here and share one of your ideas with us – and make sure you visit that list regularly in 2016 so you can celebrate and adjust and realign where necessary.

Let your one resolution for 2016 be to not make any dreamy and unrealistic wishes, but rather to plan for the future and then step boldly into it.

That way you’re likely to have a Happy New Year after all.

The Gift of Presence

Culture

Brett Fish

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December 3, 2015

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There is so much power in a name.

The moment you ask and remember my name, you are starting to get to know me. When you speak out my name, you give it significance.

Think of some of the people you encounter daily whose names you don’t know – the person begging for food at your gate, the lady with her small child at the traffic light, the car guard desperately hoping you will toss him a R2 or maybe spoil him with half a loaf of bread.

CHRISTMAS

There is power in the name of Christmas. Fights are started over the loss of significance when the ‘Christ’ is replaced with an ‘X’ and the politics can heat up [especially in Americaland] when people insist on saying, “Happy Holidays” instead of using the dreaded ‘C’ word.

“Put Christ back into Christmas” we say, especially when so much of what the holiday has meant to so many of us seems to have been usurped and overrun by flagrant commercialism and the head first dash towards debt.

But the idea that God left the comforts of heaven to come down and appear in human form and live among us. That He experienced a taste of what it is to be hungry and cold and let down by His friends and even betrayed by those around Him.

UNWRAP YOURSELF

What if we decided to look at this Christmas a little differently? Especially if you’re a parent, this could be an excellent opportunity to teach your children a profound life lesson that can affect them for the rest of their lives.

In a time that screams at us, “THIS IS ALL ABOUT ME!” how about we look for an opportunity to make it about someone else?

Choose one of the ‘nameless’ people in and around your life and create a moment to spend time with them. To learn their name and possibly hear a little bit of their story and share some of your own. Perhaps you could figure out with them what a helpful Christmas gift would be and then on Christmas day, take a meal and go and hang out with them and eat together and give them your gift. But more importantly you are giving them your presence, while acknowledging and celebrating theirs.

Imagine if your child got to choose which person this was and help you pick out presents that feel helpful. And then on the day sit with you and the person or family you choose and be a part of their conversation. How would that not transform them for life and give them a deep taste of what Christmastime can truly be about.

MY NIECE

That is what my mom and I and eventually a much larger number of people used to do each Christmas day – although that was more focused on making a number of food bags and gifts and distributing them to homeless people in our area.

But that is what my wife’s sister and her child are plotting for this Christmas. To take a meal and a gift and find someone whose name we don’t regularly acknowledge and see if they can sit with them, eat with them and share some Christmas story time together.

What creativity will you employ this Christmas to make it more about ‘Presence’ than about consumerism, gluttony, compulsion and debt? I would love to hear your ideas in the comment section below.

Love Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry

Brett Fish

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November 30, 2015

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Love Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry

I remember growing up with these strange “Love is…” cartoons that somehow managed to be safe for kids despite centering around these two supposedly naked people. I have no recollection of where I saw them, they just always seemed to be around and the one message that has stuck with me all these years is this one:

Love is… never having to say you’re sorry.

It sounds romantic. It feels like it should be true. When you love someone so much, you never have to say the word ‘Sorry’ because your love is so strong and maybe you both know it or you won’t do anything that will ever require the saying of that word.

The older I get, the more I realise it is exactly the opposite. I have been married for six years to the beautiful Val [or tbV as I call her] and marriage for us has been a hard thing. Really great, but not easy.

And one thing we have had to learn to say to each other, and mean, and live out in action afterwards, is the word “Sorry!” And we are still working on that day in and day out.

MORE THAN JUST SAYING IT

Remember when you were a child and you did something wrong to some other kid or maybe broke some adult’s thing and your parent’s forced you to face the eternal shame of going to that person and saying “Sorry!” Back then it seemed all about saying the word. Often you weren’t really sorry, but were just really glad when it was all over and you could head back to your room for a good cry. Or maybe that was just me.

But at some point we start to realise that saying the word, without attaching any meaning to it, makes no real difference at all. I can say “Sorry” to you, but unless I am willing to change and try to live differently so that I don’t end up at the exact same place having to say the same words again, then the words really don’t mean anything.

The bible uses the word ‘Repent’ and what it literally means is the idea of walking in one direction and the stopping and turning around and walking in the other direction.

THIS IS OUR RESPONSE-ABILITY

We seem to be living in a world of decreased responsibility where people struggle to own up to words, action and even systems that they are part of that are hurtful to others. This happens too often in marriages where people forget the wedding vows to put the other person above themselves and start to live selfishly and protect themselves from feeling bad.

But loving someone means there are times when you have to face up to the fact that you were wrong and it is embarrassing, awkward and uncomfortable to face someone and say, “I was wrong.” But to be able to say the word “Sorry’ and then follow it up with a commitment to do it differently can be one of the most powerful things in the world.

So, rather than the cringeworthy cartoon and the Hallmark greeting phrase that sounds right, I would like to suggest that Love is Ever having to say you’re Sorry. Every single time you get it wrong. And committing again to trying harder and thinking more of the other person and being responsible in terms of acting better.

This becomes easy when we remember that God did it first for us. Despite having nothing to be sorry for, Jesus chose to be responsible for the sin and pain and destruction in all of our lives, to make a path for us to be able to do it better in the future.

If you’d like to hear some more about that and how it works, why not click on the banner below and let us tell you.

Not Too Long Long To Go

Brett Fish

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November 26, 2015

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16 days, people!!

I’m not talking about setting up a saucer with cookies and milk on it, eating it and pretending it was for a fat guy with a big beard.

Or enrolling in a Debt Recovery course for 2016 to cover all the gift buying you did that you couldn’t afford of things people didn’t really need but will appreciate for at least the next three weeks.

I’m not even talking about finding new ways to be annoyed because people are replacing the Christ in Christmas with an X, insisting on saying ‘Happy Holidays’ or if you’re in Americaland daring to serve overpriced exploitative coffee from a plain red cup that doesn’t have a picture of baby Jesus on it at all.

No, Christmas will come, and when it does you will still get to hear the excited pitter patter of tiny feet as your children run to sneak a look under the tree. Assuming you have children, if you don’t then hopefully you won’t hear any pitter pattering because that would be a bit creepy. And there will be shrieks of delight, and you will awaken.

But I am talking about a different AWAKENing that will be taking place 9 whole days before then. And will there be shrieks of delight to accompany that one? Or will it be JarJarGate all over again?

THE FORCE AWAKENS

That’s right, I’m talking Star Wars Episode VII which will be arriving in South Africa with a bang, or at least a [insert Chewbacca sound] at local theatres.

Probably the biggest movie event anticipation that has happened since… well… the last time Star Wars brought out some new movies. Which was all of 16 years ago in 1999? Wow. How is that possible? Check my pacemaker.

It happened in 1999 when George Lucas and his team brought out The Phantom Menace and the following two movies as prequels to the biggest movie trilogy series of all time.

And the fans went crazy. People queued for nights, sleeping on sidewalks, buying up tickets and there was a fervour never before seen for an upcoming movie.

But The Phantom Menace disappointed. There was slightly less excitement when Attack of the Clones came out and it was better but not quite there. Revenge of the Sith came closest to feeling like a real live Star Wars movie, but by then it was possibly too little, too late. Will audiences be up for another try?

WHY THEY MIGHT

There are a number of reasons to hold on to hope though. George Lucas is no longer the man wielding the power. Having done such a good job at creating the Universe in the first place, he has wisely stepped aside to allow the talented J.J. Abrams to direct the new episode. Abrams was successful in rebooting the Star Trek Franchise in 2009 against many odds and what’s going for him even more here is that he is a HUGE Star Wars fan. The combination of previous cast members [We don’t have to imagine Star Wars without Luke, Leia and Han just yet] plus some really talented new additions including Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong’o and Domhnall Gleeson as just a few of the multi-talented personalities joining the mix. Add John Williams to the mix for his award-winning music and most of the ingredients will be in place.

Over $50 million in pre-sales tickets also gives you an indication of what Star Wars: The Force Awakens might be on track to do. And that’s before anyone has even seen it yet. If this movie is close to any good, it won’t just be the big guy in the fat suit and beard chanting “Ho! Ho! Ho!” come year end.

What about you? Are you planning on watching it? First night camp-outside-the-cinema tickets? Or wait a little till the hype calms down?

The Words You’re Dying to Say

Brett Fish

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November 24, 2015

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A week ago my best friend Rob Lloyd died.

Rob had been fighting cancer for over five and a half years, before all of a sudden, the clock seemed to speed up, and in two quick weeks he was gone.

We celebrated his life on Thursday. A powerful service with hundreds of people coming together to celebrate a life well lived and mourn a death that had come way too soon. A few members of his family shared some moving words on different aspects of his life that had particular significance to them.

As one of his best friends, i didn’t get a chance at the funeral to speak, but it was totally alright with me, as I had had the chance to say them to his face just two weeks before.

WE SAW THIS ONE COMING

My friend Rob’s death was a terrible tragedy. But one aspect of it that was helpful for so many people, was that we had warning. So during one awkward visit while Rob was still in the hospital, we got to have such a deep and profound moment of saying some stuff to each other that we didn’t want to leave unsaid or too late. While still trying to hold desperately on to the hope of a possible miracle that we needed at that stage.

With many people we are not that fortunate. Someone dies in a car accident or a natural disaster and we realise too late that there were things we wanted to say, there were things that person really should have known. About what we thought of them and what they meant to us and how much they had helped shape our lives.

I got to do that with Rob and I am so grateful.

WHO NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU?

The question for you as you read this, is who is the person you have not told yet? Is there a close friend or family member who if they were suddenly taken away you would be seriously devastated that you never got to say the words?

Make a plan to say the words now. Write them a note, send them a text, invite them out for coffee or a meal. Gather some mates together and have an evening of sharing the things you want to say to each other before it’s too late.

For those of us who follow Jesus, it is never too late. We don’t see death as the end, but as a pathway to a new beginning. If you would like to hear some more about that, simply click the banner below.

Brett Fish

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