Thank You JJ Thank You uncle chicka
dixon from the most ancient to the most
modern from or to marvel is there no end
to what we can achieve as humans oh I’m
gonna let you know something that most
people don’t know that none of you would
which is the techs have put something on
my head called a flesh-colored
microphone right which none of you can
see right oh look we’re hardwired for
the transcendent actually that’s wrong I
don’t even know what that means right
but say you’re expecting me because you
heard I’m from the Wayside Chapel and
I’m a pastor and you’re expecting when
you saw someone with my flesh color that
I would say something guru like but
sorry to disappoint but I know that
within all of us lies something lies an
urge to do something more to make a
difference in this world it lies within
us all to strive and to seek and to find
higher and faster and stronger I’m an
expert at striving because I’m Asian
right within each of us lies this voice
that we’re told is a divine voice sounds
eerily like our mothers that says no
matter how hard you work no matter how
high you climb it’s not good enough you
can do better and so I became really
good at striving and I rode that wave
all the way up to within just over a
year to complete a double degree at one
of our nation’s finest universities in
computer science and engineering of
course that my mother chose for me to do
she stole my preference for him the
night before and submitted it on my
behalf
before I
but I couldn’t complete it because I
couldn’t no longer stifle the question
that I had spent so long suppressing
within me which was what for
why am I doing this to what end is all
the striving and so I took a gap here
and I thought everyone around me is
looking after themselves and they’re
going higher and faster and stronger so
I thought how about I take a gap year
and I go lower slower and weaker and do
something for others for a change and so
pretty quickly I found a group that was
working to make a difference in some of
our nation’s most marginalized
communities working with people who were
living with the long-term effects of
generational unemployment working with
the long people who are suffering from
the consequences of long term effects of
abuse and marginalization and
disadvantage and they didn’t do this by
setting up wonderful programs but they
did this rather by moving into those
communities and renting houses in those
neighborhoods and opening up their doors
and using their homes as a place of
hospitality they limited their incomes
to live on the same amount of money as
someone living on our nation’s poverty
line so as much as possible they could
fit in and feel the same pressure that
their community was facing when I heard
about them I thought they’re nuts I have
to give this a go and so pretty soon I
moved in and I started I joined a house
and we were running a house for men
seeking asylum in this country and then
pretty soon up the road I met a young
girl who was taking in women and
children fleeing domestic violence into
her house doing amazing things and we
soon fell in love you could say it was
love at first crisis and what was
supposed to be a gap year much to my
mother’s disappointment turned into over
20 years of welcoming people into our
home as a place of refuge as a place of
safety for women and fun for children
and then as a part time men
also you know there was no night
that we didn’t have someone in our house
through that time and I could tell you
some stories that would make your hair
curl and it’s not like there was a punch
card where you could clock off at night
too often they were knocks on the door
in the middle of the night and we would
have to jump up at a moment’s notice but
what kept us going well let me tell you
very we were very lucky that early on we
got to meet someone who would change our
life we didn’t know it at the time but
this 14-year old girl would change
everything for us
she was our very own daughter we didn’t
meet her till she was 14 she marched
into our house one day with a bunch of
her friends she had bright red hair and
she was louder than life and she fit all
the stereotypes for a redhead
and she came in she was a wild spirit –
the first day she wore shoes was when
she was 5 years old to go to school and
she grew up in a pretty rough-and-tumble
family and you know there was a good
that were well known in our community
for their dealings we fell in love with
her immediately
let me explain about how she is our
daughter we have three daughters –
through love and birth and one through
love and tragedy when we met that little
girl we found out that her big front was
covering up a world of hurt and pain
within her her father had just died from
complications due to drug and alcohol
use and the doctors had diagnosed her
mother with similar outlook and she
didn’t have long to live
and this tough little girl was covering
up all the pain and hurt that she could
in the best way she could
and unfortunately mums prognosis got
worse and worse and eventually she died
this little girl at about 16 years old
was all alone
and it became clear in the lead-up to
the funeral that the family were dealing
with other business and there wasn’t a
real secure offer of housing for her and
it got to the day of a funeral and four
of us 400 of us packed into this little
chapel with an open casket 400 of us
sitting around like this and just an
open casket in that little girl standing
by her mother and then something happens
in that moment as the casket began to
close everyone sat down but time
suddenly slowed down and there was a
moment when that casket clicked shut
that you could see that little girl was
utterly alone in this world and a huge
sob started to make its way through her
body and you could see her doing all she
could to fight it down every one of the
four hundred had sat down except me I’d
become transfixed in this moment and I
had remained standing and that sob
couldn’t be fought back and it flowed
out of her eyes and the tears popped out
and she looked around and she locked
eyes with me the only bone head that was
still standing up just staring and she
ran towards me and threw her arms around
my neck and she wept and I wept and in
that moment with time standing still it
became very clear what we were needed to
do next we weren’t just to offer her a
bed to offer her a place and a pillow
where she could lay her head but a home
where her heart could rest we weren’t
just make her a border but we were to
offer her to become like one of our
daughters to make room in our hearts for
one more family member you know we often
jump out at the gates of life
we strive and we seek and we often
declare boldly to life what we’re going
to do and what we’re going to achieve
instead of taking the time to stop and
to breathe and to listen to what life or
who life is inviting us to become you
know there’s that saying that when you
find your passion you’ll never work a
day in your life
but here’s the thing when you find your
passion that comes with an invitation to
live wholeheartedly to live in such a
way that you will make a difference when
you’ve been captured by what it is you
are meant to do that little girl in that
moment deserved no less than our whole
heart you know when you live
wholeheartedly you will never feel more
vulnerable or overwhelmed or inadequate
for the task but if you set yourself to
it the contribution you make to this
world will never be more valuable thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
dixon from the most ancient to the most
modern from or to marvel is there no end
to what we can achieve as humans oh I’m
gonna let you know something that most
people don’t know that none of you would
which is the techs have put something on
my head called a flesh-colored
microphone right which none of you can
see right oh look we’re hardwired for
the transcendent actually that’s wrong I
don’t even know what that means right
but say you’re expecting me because you
heard I’m from the Wayside Chapel and
I’m a pastor and you’re expecting when
you saw someone with my flesh color that
I would say something guru like but
sorry to disappoint but I know that
within all of us lies something lies an
urge to do something more to make a
difference in this world it lies within
us all to strive and to seek and to find
higher and faster and stronger I’m an
expert at striving because I’m Asian
right within each of us lies this voice
that we’re told is a divine voice sounds
eerily like our mothers that says no
matter how hard you work no matter how
high you climb it’s not good enough you
can do better and so I became really
good at striving and I rode that wave
all the way up to within just over a
year to complete a double degree at one
of our nation’s finest universities in
computer science and engineering of
course that my mother chose for me to do
she stole my preference for him the
night before and submitted it on my
behalf
before I
but I couldn’t complete it because I
couldn’t no longer stifle the question
that I had spent so long suppressing
within me which was what for
why am I doing this to what end is all
the striving and so I took a gap here
and I thought everyone around me is
looking after themselves and they’re
going higher and faster and stronger so
I thought how about I take a gap year
and I go lower slower and weaker and do
something for others for a change and so
pretty quickly I found a group that was
working to make a difference in some of
our nation’s most marginalized
communities working with people who were
living with the long-term effects of
generational unemployment working with
the long people who are suffering from
the consequences of long term effects of
abuse and marginalization and
disadvantage and they didn’t do this by
setting up wonderful programs but they
did this rather by moving into those
communities and renting houses in those
neighborhoods and opening up their doors
and using their homes as a place of
hospitality they limited their incomes
to live on the same amount of money as
someone living on our nation’s poverty
line so as much as possible they could
fit in and feel the same pressure that
their community was facing when I heard
about them I thought they’re nuts I have
to give this a go and so pretty soon I
moved in and I started I joined a house
and we were running a house for men
seeking asylum in this country and then
pretty soon up the road I met a young
girl who was taking in women and
children fleeing domestic violence into
her house doing amazing things and we
soon fell in love you could say it was
love at first crisis and what was
supposed to be a gap year much to my
mother’s disappointment turned into over
20 years of welcoming people into our
home as a place of refuge as a place of
safety for women and fun for children
and then as a part time men
also you know there was no night
that we didn’t have someone in our house
through that time and I could tell you
some stories that would make your hair
curl and it’s not like there was a punch
card where you could clock off at night
too often they were knocks on the door
in the middle of the night and we would
have to jump up at a moment’s notice but
what kept us going well let me tell you
very we were very lucky that early on we
got to meet someone who would change our
life we didn’t know it at the time but
this 14-year old girl would change
everything for us
she was our very own daughter we didn’t
meet her till she was 14 she marched
into our house one day with a bunch of
her friends she had bright red hair and
she was louder than life and she fit all
the stereotypes for a redhead
and she came in she was a wild spirit –
the first day she wore shoes was when
she was 5 years old to go to school and
she grew up in a pretty rough-and-tumble
family and you know there was a good
that were well known in our community
for their dealings we fell in love with
her immediately
let me explain about how she is our
daughter we have three daughters –
through love and birth and one through
love and tragedy when we met that little
girl we found out that her big front was
covering up a world of hurt and pain
within her her father had just died from
complications due to drug and alcohol
use and the doctors had diagnosed her
mother with similar outlook and she
didn’t have long to live
and this tough little girl was covering
up all the pain and hurt that she could
in the best way she could
and unfortunately mums prognosis got
worse and worse and eventually she died
this little girl at about 16 years old
was all alone
and it became clear in the lead-up to
the funeral that the family were dealing
with other business and there wasn’t a
real secure offer of housing for her and
it got to the day of a funeral and four
of us 400 of us packed into this little
chapel with an open casket 400 of us
sitting around like this and just an
open casket in that little girl standing
by her mother and then something happens
in that moment as the casket began to
close everyone sat down but time
suddenly slowed down and there was a
moment when that casket clicked shut
that you could see that little girl was
utterly alone in this world and a huge
sob started to make its way through her
body and you could see her doing all she
could to fight it down every one of the
four hundred had sat down except me I’d
become transfixed in this moment and I
had remained standing and that sob
couldn’t be fought back and it flowed
out of her eyes and the tears popped out
and she looked around and she locked
eyes with me the only bone head that was
still standing up just staring and she
ran towards me and threw her arms around
my neck and she wept and I wept and in
that moment with time standing still it
became very clear what we were needed to
do next we weren’t just to offer her a
bed to offer her a place and a pillow
where she could lay her head but a home
where her heart could rest we weren’t
just make her a border but we were to
offer her to become like one of our
daughters to make room in our hearts for
one more family member you know we often
jump out at the gates of life
we strive and we seek and we often
declare boldly to life what we’re going
to do and what we’re going to achieve
instead of taking the time to stop and
to breathe and to listen to what life or
who life is inviting us to become you
know there’s that saying that when you
find your passion you’ll never work a
day in your life
but here’s the thing when you find your
passion that comes with an invitation to
live wholeheartedly to live in such a
way that you will make a difference when
you’ve been captured by what it is you
are meant to do that little girl in that
moment deserved no less than our whole
heart you know when you live
wholeheartedly you will never feel more
vulnerable or overwhelmed or inadequate
for the task but if you set yourself to
it the contribution you make to this
world will never be more valuable thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
Please follow and like us: