The Chronicles of Packing - Worry #1: Friends

Unfortunately, all of my friends have experienced normal physical development so no-one I know weighs less than 30kgs. Which is actually rather good for them as they might have been stuffed into a suitcase, and chucked unto a plane for a 18hr flight. But this is rather sad for me, because I'm leaving behind many, many beloved people.

This brings me to worry #1 about leaving: friends. My concern is not so much about making friends - I enjoy meeting people and get along with most people, so I've rarely lacked a friendly face or conversationalist when I've wanted to chat to someone. Rather, my concern is those friendships that take longer to evolve; a relationship of trust between two people who've decided to walk along life together for a while. Despite my seeming openness and transparency in my blog, I am a very very (private) person, and there are few people in the world I really trust to share most things with. Hence the problem. If I can't pack these people into a bag with me, then the first few months, maybe even year, is going to be quite difficult, particularly because I will be in a new space, which I expect to challenge me in any ways, and I won't have deep, solid friendships to encourage, rebuke, hold me accountable, and to ask me the hard questions.

But I should've factored in God's hand over my life. Lo and behold, today, three people got hold of me in pretty much the space of 5 minutes, all of them in the UK, all of them members of God's family, and all of them saying 'Hello, we are here to welcome you, don't worry :)'. It's such a privilege to be part of a world-wide family :)

Reversing

So yesterday, after church, I hopped into my car, switched it on, put the gear into reverse, foot on accelerator... and my car went forward.

Not thinking twice about it, I put the gear into neutral, and then into reverse again. Again, the car rocked forward.

Now, really confused, I put it into neutral again and even more carefully into reverse. To no avail. Again, the car rocked forward. Every single gear that I put it in, reverse, first, second, third, made the car accelerate forward. My reverse gear had been eaten! [Which, I would like to point out, is a non-technical way of saying that my gearbox had obviously broken.]

At this point, C and M walked out of church, and seeing my car shift forward almost into a giant rock, motioned 'Reverse, reverse!'. Little did they know that a minute later, they'd be pushing my car sloooowly backwards, out of the parking lot, so that I could zoom off forward, ever forward!

As I was driving home, careful to stop with sufficient distance before all the stop streets and robots so as to avoid reversing, I suddenly realized what a great picture the car incident displayed of the necessity and power of community.

Sometimes, in our Christian walk, we get stuck. No matter what we do, it just seems as if we can't go anywhere. No matter how much vooma we have, the direction is all wrong. 'Stuck in a moment', as U2 sings. And it's only with the help of others that we are able to reverse/ repent/ get out of said tight spot. Without C and M, I wouldda sat there the whole morning long. There's much to be said about meeting with each other regularly, and being open and honest with our struggles, joys, and fears!

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. - James 5:19-20

The Chronicles of Packing - kind words, soft words

A season of leaving tends to be accompanied by assessment, measuring, weighing up. What's been particularly lovely in these last few weeks is that many of my friends have made a point in telling me what I've meant to them, and how it is I've impacted them or made a difference in their life.

I've been humbled by their words and the way God has allowed me to work in so many people's lives. The reminder that what I do affects those around me (not in an arrogant sense, but a practical realization of the interconnectedness of community) has spurred me on to act more like what they appreciate me for, and to work harder on my selfishness, my unkindness, my general grumpiness.

These two verses on the strength of words sprang to mind:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. - Ephesians 4:29

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. - Proverbs 16:24

What I've come to realize though is leaving is too late to encourage someone. Encouraging someone and speaking words of truth and edification must come while you are with them, living life every day. So I've decided I'm going to make more of an effort to highlight people's strengths, their unique gifts to them while I'm with them. Yay :)

Sanctuary

Sanctuary: [...] a right to be safe from arrest in the sanctuary of a church or temple, recognized by English law from the fourth to the seventeenth century.
- Wikipedia

"The church is full of weirdos. This shouldn't surprise you. The Rotary club won't have them; the athletics club won't take them. But the church - the church takes them all in."
- Frank Retief

Even though the church no longer legally provides sanctuary, it's good to know that the body of Christ still performs a role as a place of refuge, albeit socially.

What a glorious picture of grace.

One last post to the actors out there from an almost-one

Today, I got asked whether I wanted to be a female lead in an indie full-length feature film being shot in Cape Town in July. They needed an Asian South African.. I am an Asian South African. But what about my lack of acting experience? No, no, not to worry, I was told.

Oooh yeah, I love a good adventure; I love a new adventure; I love a random adventure. Never mind the fact I've never acted before in my life (as Jeff-pop later asked: "Not even a school play?" "No." "Not even a little play at church?" "No".)

But, indie, a voice whispered in my head; it's basically a synonym for SNL nowadays. I started reading the script, and yip, there it was. Not that it was gratuitous; not that there was even a lot of it; but it was very real. After all, my character was married and in a relationship with someone else. A stark representation of the mundanity of life, intertwined as my story was with the story of another couple - and it'd be something I'd ordinarily be quite interested in watching. I'm the first to say that as Christians we need to be engaging in the realness of the world; I'm the first to say that as Christian artists we should be portraying the fallenness of humanity, but now having to consider myself in the position of someone actually acting this out, I suddenly started thinking about the job of an actor in a much more sober light.

It must be really really really hard being a Christian actor or actress, having to navigate the fine-line between reality and fiction. It must be really really really hard balancing the Christian call to be a light, yet to be a good actor in the roles you take upon to reflect a fallen world.

Kudos to you - I don't know any, sadly - but if you are one, tonight, I'll be praying for you.

Insiders/ Outsiders, Belonging, Church

The number of Bible Studies I've been to this year have been minimal so far, though I'm still a regular Sunday attender. A number of things have come up on a Thursday, cycling things (oh yes, I've started cycling - more about that later), Toastmasters (yip, joined that too this year), so last night was my second time.

It's a bit weird, being so infrequent with my .. for lack of a word... visitations. Every so often at Sunday church, I feel like everyone's growing up without me. Friendships are formed through weekly and daily experiences, and as one of the 'older' ones, bumping into people between classes, or randomly in our food mall is a rare occurrence. It makes me feel a little detached at times, but gratefully so - I feel that I've served my time in many ways and it's good to know that things are functioning fine without me and will carry on like that when I leave.

Back to last night.

We started with some shared experiences about when situation where you'd felt like an outsider. A bit ironic in light of my confession before. The experience I shared, however, was one that never left me: I went to an Afrikaans church when I was younger. I clearly didn't fit in - struggled with the language, came in shorts and T-shirts (my mom heartily tried her best with me) when all the other girls were in pretty lady-like dresses.

No-one befriended me.

I'm sure they tried, but after so many times struggling with linguistic differences, there's only so much you can do. I probably wasn't the happiest of campers then, anyway.

But last night, while we were sitting there sharing our stories, and then studying the Word together, I was reminded that this is what church is about: belonging and acceptance.

irrational fears...

N and I, oddly enough, both starting struggling with Christianity at around roughly the same time, and for similar reasons. Well, I'm mis-representing. We both still love Jesus and convinced it's the one and only way to God... We're just a little tired.

N smses me today: "I'm scared that God will make me be in a near-fatal accident so that I have to turn/ trust in Him."

I've never told anyone before, but this is an irrational fear that's been lurking deep in the darkness. But as I'm typing, I realized something even scarier

Me: "Me too. But I'm even more scared that God doesn't do anything and I remain in this unsteady insecure state for ever..."

I can't live in this one-foot-in-the-one-camp-and-the-other-foot-dangling-who-knows-where state forever. I'm going to have to decide sooner or later; I've never been good at half-hearted attempts.

Loving God isn't always easy

but sometimes Pop Songs speak Truth...

Cheryl Cole's song 'Fight for this love' is currently playing on the airwaves, and every time I hear it, I am reminded that...

We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
If it's worth having, it's worth fighting for

Not that it's meant to be a Christian song, as such. God just knows that I sometimes need to be reminded of the truth through cultural means :)

[BTB, before I looked up the lyrics, I had heard the last line quoted above as "It's like heaven; it's worth fighting for"... So actually, my version really was tailor-made for me o.O]

Art, Jesus and Me

So. I write. And people tell me I write nice. Creatively, that is. And that I must continue.

Me, I'm not too convinced. You see, I live life pretty intensely, and while this is a wonderful thing when I am happy (which I am the majority of the time), it is a most dark thing when I am down. My highs are HIGH
and my lows are
LOW.

Existential Crisis Number 1: The Angst of an Artistic Approach

Writing intensified these extremes even more, because listening to other people's stories and creating of my own induced in me so much Mitgefuhl and despair at hearing the stories of the lost,broken and hurt in the world that after a while I decided to stop producing anything of my own. (Not in terms of this blog, but in other things).

Enter Existential Crisis Number 2: The Crisis of a Creative not Creating.

Sigh.

I certainly can't win: Even more angst followed when I stopped creating. I needed some sort of outlet, and I was holding myself in very, very tightly.

"What do I do?", I asked a fellow Christian Creative a few days ago. "I can't bear to create 'cause I feel so much of everyone else's suffering! But then I feel this need in me to create something!!" [I'm dramatic. If you haven't noticed by now.]

"Grace", she said sweetly, "don't take this the wrong way, but no matter how much you feel you're suffering when you're creating, Jesus suffered so much more for us. And He gave you the gift of writing and creating, so just do."

Amen.

Existential Crises: Pretty Much Over.

"Have you always been this outgoing?"

a friend asked, the other day.

"Well, I've always loved people", I said, while struggling to think whether this was actually the case or not. I think I also said something about how I'd made an effort to work on my people skills throughout the years - but either way, that conversation died a natural death after a while.

But because I'm a slow processor, later that day, I suddenly remembered this: I'd become a Christian late in my high school career, and had become a welcomed part of the church family. But, in the years before that, in my travellings and wanderings with my family to many different types of churches, I'd rarely felt genuinely welcomed. Many a church service, my siblings and I had sat there, a bit awkwardly, while wondering what I was doing there. [I mean 'we'. They had better things to do with their time than to think about what I was doing there specifically.] And who wants to join a church where you feel like a squirrel in a group of rabbits? We never had a real desire to come back, nor a real desire to participate with whatever church group we were interacting.

After I became a Christian then, I've made a conscious decision to be friendly and welcoming to people in whatever context I find myself in. This is just made easier by the fact that I can talk a donkey out of its ears, and that I do really find people oh-so-amusing and interesting. But my resolution was (and still is) never again, as much as it was in my power to, would newcomers and people around me feel as lost/unwelcomed/unconsidered as I did.

A little bit of a (sad) confession:

I decided a long time ago to never invite my non-Christian friends to my Christian friends' parties. Instead, I try spend one-on-one time with them, or tag along to their parties.

This isn't a hard and fast rule, but generally, if there's an open invite, I pitch up alone. For one, this allows me to meet and speak to the strangers and friends-of-friends that come along, but for another it's because I've learnt that most people don't really make the effort to get to know my people. [I'm not saying that no-one makes effort. I recognise that at these types of parties there are tons of people around, and that you can't always get through to everyone - I have just observed in the past that we could all do better at meeting others, and developing those friendships.]

Anyway, last night, friends of ours had an open-invite house party, so I pitched up, started chatting, eating other people's chips, you know. The Sister comes in a bit later with some of her non-Christian friends. They stay for a little bit, and then leave. "Did they enjoy it?", I ask her this morning. "No one really made effort with them", she responds, so I was a bit sad."

That too makes me very very sad.

Me, me, me, me, ministry : update

I've been thinking about my ministry involvement a lot in the past half-year, especially after my near-bout of burn-out. I've been pretty much involved with most church ministries at one point or another the last few years, and so, as BO (burn-out, not body odour, silly) hit me, I was forced to reflect on the real reason why I was so involved. Was it really 'cause I was wanting to serve the church, or was it just because I'm one of those types that likes helping out/ not being served? [Seriously, I once walked into a restaurant and absentmindedly flipped through the reservation book and would have seated myself if the maitre'd hadn't stopped me!][I think my thinking behind it was that I'd save him some time by doing it myself][Who knows?!!?!?]

As a result, I decided to give up nearly all my ministries, firstly so that I could have a break and allow other people to serve [yes, you reading this, step up to the plate!], and secondly so that I could work on my relationship with God personally, instead of it being mediated by things done for the church. I decided to commit to only music ministry, as I love playing the ol' banjo (I don't really play the ol' banjo; one of my friends just calls it that, and I think it's awesome].

I also knew, though I didn't acknowledge that to myself, that it would be the easiest way out. No real work. I pitch up, play a few tunes, stand on stage looking muso, and then that's done. But I still look involved, 'cause it's a high-profile ministry (in that, we're obviously visible on stage). Easy kapeasy.

God wasn't having any of that. And He has been gently reminding me that I have gifts that I could use more effectively in the service of the church body (a banjo is a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have), and so, I resigned yesterday so that I can focus on a word-teaching ministry for the year.

To be honest, I'm quite stoked. Sure, I'm going to miss playing with the bands, but at the same time, I've played most mornings and evenings for the last five years. This way I get to sit in the congregation and get to learn the words (and sing!) [I don't know as many titles of the songs as I should... people sometimes have to hum the tune so that I can figure out what they're talking about!]. It also frees me up to welcome newcomers who have the misfortune of sitting next to me, as with music ministry I was always stuck up on stage :)

So yeah, this is me me me me me and ministry for now :)

holiday snapshots from a f/Family album

Christmas

Eight children, seven adults, and one granny seated around a table piled high with food. We were three families if you looked at it according to the three key figures: my dad and two of his sisters. We were five families if you counted the number of couples there (two of my cousins had brought their husbands with). But most importantly, we were one family, for even though it had only been five days since my family had landed, it was clear that we all fit together and were accepted despite our idiosyncrasies, eccentricities, differences, similarities.

Halfway during supper, while chatting and laughing with my brother and sister and five of our favourite cousins, I suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia for something I'd never missed at home: the feeling of belonging to something more than just us five. I never missed it though, because I never got to experience family in its broadest, most encompassing sense, in a country where I lived with only my mother, father, brother and sister. It was only every five years when we returned to the Motherland, that we suddenly slotted into a wider picture of cousins, in-laws, uncles, aunts, extensions. And the older I get, the more I appreciate how wonderful the concept of family is - no matter that we have never watched them grow up, and they have no idea what our daily lives exist of - we are family, and that is all that matters. To be greeted with such affection and to be cared for with true emotion by people who, for all intents and purposes, are almost-strangers to us, is the most wonderful feeling in the world.

The New Year
We decided to attend my father's friend's church for the New Year's service. Feeling a bit spare, I watched the members of the church interact with each other. And slowly I started recognising little signs that made it clear that this too was a family: the genuine smiles that members greeted each other with, the care with which a man with muscular degenerative disorder was treated as he struggled down the church aisle, the powerpoint slide of key events that had happened in the year-that-was that was greeted with chuckles at the comical moments caught on camera... This was a church that knew each other and loved each other.

Another precious sight: during communion, one of the elders standing behind the bread dish, suddenly came forward towards the line of church members. Intrigued by this, I glanced forward to see the dignified old man dressed formally in a suit and tie, picking up a piece of bread to place it into the mouth of the man with muscular degenerative disorder. They then proceeded to walk, the old man in a stately manner next to a man who flip-flopped-jerked-in-one-direction-and-then-another because of the failure of his muscles, to the wine glasses. The elder then picked up a tiny tot glass and poured the contents into the man's open mouth, wiping his mouth clean gently with a tissue. This, I realized, was a true picture of the beauty of the church. And afterwards, as my family awkwardly stood up after my father's friend announced that we were visiting from Africa, to have the entire church sing to us a song of greeting, I felt a wave of welcome that only family can offer.

Home
As the plane started its descent into our home airport, I started to feel its presence: the tension that I'd been blessedly free of the whole time we'd been overseas. It wasn't as bad as before I'd left - a few weeks of not being attached to a computer or a phone, and just being told by my parents what to do and where to go, and sleeping and eating plenty, and of course, the thrill of travelling, had made my exhaustion from last year almost completely disappear. But as if the exhaustion had been left behind as a shadow caught in the African sun, I could feel it creeping over me again as I started thinking about all the things I had to do, the people I had to see, the decisions that had to be made..

Praise God, then, that I was given the opportunity to stay at a friend's place near the sea for a few days after I got back, for rest and restoration was just what I needed, and this was just what God provided through my friend. I was the most spoilt guest ever - my host talked to me when I wanted someone to talk to, ignored me when I wanted some quiet, and did all the cooking and washing up. And at some point during the week, I sat on his couch, watching the sea below, and thought back to the snapshot of the elder looking after his charge. It was then that it became clearer that I identified myself almost-always as the elder. But as my friend allowed me to take a proper break by serving me graciously and kindly, and by thinking back to other snapshots which had captured the love shown to me by Family, I realized that I too was the crippled one, the one who could barely move without looking like an oddity, the one who was unable to participate in the body of Christ without help. But, I have also realized that because of the love of Christ and his body, my shortcomings and failures are nothing at all.

Sometimes I'm the student, not the teacher...

"Would you like to explain this?"
"You mean my absenteeism in the past few days? My family's having some personal issues and I've had to go with to the hospital on some occasions. Sorry, I was planning to tell you at some point."
"No, I mean your essay. It matched an internet source, almost word-for-word."

I tutor English first years, and one of the yuckiest things I've had to do this year is to confront one of my students about plagarism. What made it even worse was that the student in question is really bright - one of those students who show real insight into the work, and give great input in class. But this is nothing new - as a tutor and a student myself, I've heard a million stories about students copying here and there, just adding a little bit on here, even those that are exceptionally intelligent. What particuarly crushed me about this discovery, because I knew that she loved Jesus too.

My first instinct was of disappointment. Why on earth was she 'letting the team' down? Why did she, one of the few Christians in my class, have to be the one who'd messed up like this? Why on earth, was she acting like someone who didn't care about God's commands?

My second instinct was of shame. No, not about her behaviour, but about mine. Yes, she is the daughter of a Father who does not condone cheating, but I too am the daughter of a Father who loves me and others like me, despite our sinfulness and multiple falls into temptation. I'd somehow forgotten that Christians aren't better than anyone else- we are not perfect, and we are not exempt from temptation. I'd forgotten that the only thing different about us is that we had accepted grace and forgiveness.

What a great reminder that with God, I am always the student, and not the teacher.

four and a half

it's the toughest thing having size four and a half feet

(Princess Sarah told me the other day)

'cause size five is too big, and size four just a wee bit too small,

so no matter what size you end up wearing, they always fit just a little bit not right...

and that (she mused) is sometimes how it feels like not being a Christian: not of this world, but not of the next either.

God is everywhere..

Like I just mentioned, I spent last week on this awesome youth summit. Aimed at fostering youth potential in social change, the summit brings together 100 of the brightest young minds around the country for a weeklong conference. (Wow, isn't that nicely phrased. It's almost like they paid me to write that) (Or rather, it's almost like they should pay me to write that) (I hope someone who's reading this feels compelled to give me money) (Yeah, that was a hint).

Aaaannywaaay.. if you've been reading my posts regularly, you'll remember that I'd been going through a reconfiguring of identity recently (resulting in a bit of an unsteady temperament and other emotional issues), and for this reason, I was kinda nervous about attending this conference. Also, because I'd thought that this conference was particularly aimed at corporate business types, and e-ve-ry-one knows that hardcore secular business types don't believe in God.

So imagine my excitement to find out that a number of the attendees and of the organising team were Christians! Isn't that crazy? Well, it is. But it's because I tend to forget the power of God's Word to change and convict people of their sin :). But God does work, and people do repent, and yay, it is all so very exciting :) :)

Habitat for Humanity devotions... Part 3

Part 3

By now you've had time to do some actual building, and I must say I find it pretty awesome to see how a house is being built together out of all these materials. Now, the Bible says God is actually busy with a huge building project. Listen to what Apostle Paul writes to some Christians about what Jesus has done to the two separate groups: the Jews and the non-Jews.

Ephesians 2:19-22:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The building project God is busy with is not some kind of material structure like we're building here, but rather, he's building people together into a community. Of course that spiritual reality will manifest itself in all kinds of community building projects like the one we're doing today - and the interesting thing is to think about the analogy of a building. By now, with your work on the site, I think you've pretty much figured out that a brick is just a brick. It's not a wall. To become a wall, it needs other bricks. Furthermore, a wall is just a wall. It's not a house. To be a house, there need to be at least four walls and a roof. In the same way, we're interdependent and all have different gifts/responsibilities in this project. So today, let's think about how we can help each other out, and are all important in the work we're doing.

Habitat for Humanity devotions... Part 2

hmmm.. I can't actually remember all that clearly what I said. But I know I wanted to include a short Bible verse here, and to make it clear that Christians do what they do because of Jesus's example..

Part 2

So yesterday we touched on one reason why Habitat does what it does: because it is based on the Bible's teaching that all people are created in the image of God. But on the Habitat website, a more important reason is given: Habitat's ministry is based on the conviction that to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, we must love and care for one another.

Now that's all wishy-washy - What does it mean to love one another? Fortunately, the Bible gives us an answer. In 1 John 3:16, it is written

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Now, I've heard before that Christians tend to separate spiritual religion with material reality, and that they don't care about helping others and being involved in social action. But here we see that our beliefs should change the way we act. We are urged to be involved and serve others.

On the other hand, it's also clear here why Habitat calls itself a Christian organization, and not just a 'social change' or 'humanitarian' organization. It's because Habitat's actions have been motivated by Jesus' death on the cross and what He's already done by serving us.

Habitat for Humanity devotions... Part 1

With the first devotion, I used a quote from the founder of Habitat that talked about his motivation for helping others, in order to ease the listeners into the devotions/ Christianity idea, and to make it relevant to them as members of Habitat for Humanity. I also explained a bit first about why we were doing the devotions, so that people wouldn't feel that they'd been tricked into anything.

Part 1:

Habitat has an open-door policy: All who desire to be a part of this work are welcome, regardless of religious preference or background. We have a policy of building with people in need regardless of race or religion. We welcome volunteers and supporters from all backgrounds. However, Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit Christian organization, so every morning we're going to start off with a devotion or a reflection time thinking about Habitat and what we’re here to do.

Why are you here this week? Is it out of guilt 'How can I have so much when so many others are struggling?'. Is it to have fun, and make new friends? Or is it simply to help others because its right. If you feel the last way, it's really an expression of the fact that you're made in the image of God and made for community. The founder of Habitat for Humanity, Millard Fuller once said: “I see life as both a gift and a responsibility. My responsibility is to use what God has given me to help his people in need", illustrating the reason why Habitat sought to fill this need. It's because the Bible teaches that all people are created in the image of God, therefore have intrinsic value. that is why we are urged to help and care for others. So as we start building today, it'd be a good idea to just think through for yourself, why you're here and doing what you're doing.

I'm a brick, you're a brick, let's get together and be a wall!

[I found a draft I meant to post when I was still writing about our Bible studies in Ephesians. Click here http://whataboutgrace.blogspot.com/2009/03/excited-by-roadkill.html to see the last one I'd written]

"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Ephesians 2:19-22).

We were going through Ephesians last night, and I was struck by how cool an analogy it is that we're all built together as a building. Used to visualizing things, I immediately pictured myself as a brick, which led to some interesting observations.

To point out the obvious: A brick by itself is just a brick. A brick needs other bricks to become a wall. And when one is a wall, one cannot escape other bricks, as bricks are laid next to and on top of other bricks to form that wall.

And, a wall is just a wall. It is not a building. To be called a building, it needs other walls, and a roof. etc.etc.

So do you see what a great reminder it is of how as Christians we work together, seperate units becoming one. It's also a reminder how necessary we all are - we aren't independent, but rather interdependent. This illustration also highlights the importance of keeping unity and peace, cause bricks are kinda close to each other.. Imagine if all your neighbouring bricks were fighting with each other! What an awful wall you'd all make together!

So let's get together, lalalala, and base our wall on Jesus :)