letter from New Zealand
It’s winter here in New Zealand, and for most parents of school-age kids, that means one thing: Saturday sports.
A large proportion of children play for local clubs, and it is a great way to develop skills like teamwork and self-discipline. Maybe it’s part of why the All Blacks are so good. But for me, as a Christian whose children go to a local Christian school, it’s a great way to make friends with people who don’t know Jesus.
But what do you chat about on the sidelines, other than the respective sports your little ones are playing? For the last three seasons, my boys have been in teams with some of the same boys, so I have got to know some of the mums quite well. Today, our conversation turned towards the gender issue.
One of the mums said that when she was growing up, she was a real tomboy, and that in actual fact she had asked people to call her Alan. She laughed and said: “I’m glad I wasn’t growing up today because I probably would have been given hormones.” She is now a very attractive woman who is always dressed nicely with her makeup done. Safe to say she doesn’t remotely look like an Alan.
This mum isn’t a Christian. Not one of the other mums is either, but the consensus seemed to be that it would have been unfortunate for her if she had been encouraged to transition into a “man” called Alan.
The previous conversation had been about swearing and how we need to help our children navigate using swear words; after all, everybody swears, right? You just need to know when it’s acceptable. In the pub is fine, but at work it’s a bad idea.
As I stand on the sidelines seeking to share Jesus in some way or other, I am sometimes at a loss to know how to comment. I know from my own experience as an unbeliever that every other word I said was an expletive. You may think I am joking, but I am Northern Irish and very outspoken. And as I stood there, I thought to myself that the Holy Spirit must be at work in me, as, 20 years on from becoming a Christian, swearing is just not part of how I speak anymore. I wasn’t sure if I should speak up at this point and say God had changed me from an effing and blinding 20-something to someone who genuinely has no need to speak like that anymore. Maybe I should have done. But today’s interactions have made me think I need to be praying before I rock up for training and matches. Praying that Jesus would give me ways to turn these conversations to speaking of Him and how He really can set us free from needing to find identity in how we speak, how we dress, or the pronouns we use.
