Graeme Seeley

Graeme Seeley - Link to podcast.

Graeme Seeley was in my Plumbing class back in 1983. He started coming to the salvos where he met and fell in love with his now wife, Bronwen. They now have a daughter, who I met for the first time at my 50th birthday party. It's quite a story.

 

So back in 1983 a young this 19 year old Salvo boy from Camberwell in Melbourne began his plumbing apprenticeship.  Part of the training was to attended monthly one week blocks at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to complete the theoretical side of the course and learn skills like welding, sheet metal work and the rules and requirements for things like vents, drainage lines and natural gas pipe work.

When I eventually passed my various subjects and brought home the certificates one stated that I was now a fully qualified in gas fitter, my status with my immature and crude older brother was elevated even further.  “My brother is a bachelor of gas” he would proudly share with his friends!

As a young enthusiastic Salvo I was loving my life.  I was immersed in terrific music, had tons of fabulous friends and a growing awareness that I was deeply loved and valued by God as demonstrated by the consistent love and credible influences of my peers and the older people in the community I was involved with at Camberwell Salvos.  It was a loving and dynamic community and I was in the thick of it. 

So when I turned up at my plumbing class one Monday after a fabulous weekend to hear the colourful exploits of my fellow plumbers, which mostly consisted of how much they drank, how much they vomited, the girls they fooled around with, the police they avoided and the speed at which they drove their cars, I was obviously struck by the stark differences. 

When I was asked about my weekend I decided to swallow hard and tell them the truth.  I had a great weekend and nearly all of it revolved around my church community and a deepening love for God and his purposes for my life.    Well as you can imagine I was now the target of jokes and jibes about being pure and holy and not having any idea about real fun.  And they may have had a point.  Playing in a 30 piece brass band is not everyone’s idea of a good time. None the less, I told them what I had been up to and tried to trust God that my witness would be powerful in some way.   This was not the case and the entire group did not come weeping to the front of the class in repentance kneeling in penitence amongst the toilet pans and oxy torches.   Instead I was ridiculed and humiliated.  I felt a bit hung out to dry and that God was a bit of a mongrel for setting me up like that.

Roll forward a few months and I began to make friends with a guy in the class called Graeme and before long he showed a surprising interest in coming to the salvos with me.  We attended youth events like bowling and hey hey its Saturday talent nights and he loved it.  Before long he was coming to everything and really enjoyed the friendships and fun. 

On one occasion we were in a Sunday gathering and the preacher asked if anyone wanted to make a response to the message and take a step of surrender in their lives to God.  I was sitting next to Graeme and I leaned over and asked him if he wanted to do this.  He said yes and we went to the front of the church and Graeme took a step forward in his relationship with God. 

Now I have not experienced anything quite like this before or since, but with Graham it felt right to ask him like this.  We were solid friends by this stage and he knew I was genuine.   Before long Graeme became a full member of the salvos.  A soldier.  He loved Salvo life and joined in with everything that was going on. 

Graeme ended up falling in love with a great friend of mine, Bronwen.  A delightful salvo girl and within a year or so I was best man at their wedding.  It was a beautiful day.

So the wheels of time turned again and a few years later the Lovely Sue and I went off to salvo training college and then to our first appointment in Adelaide and we never returned to live in Melbourne again.   Graeme and Bronwen drifted out of our lives and we had almost no contact for many years.

Then in 2014 I turned 50 and had a big party at my dads place in Melbourne and I invited all my old Camberwell salvo friends to join me.  Of course Graeme  and Bronwen got an invite and came along.  They rocked up with this lovely young woman by their side and pulled me aside to introduce me to their 15 year old daughter Katherine.  Bronwen sat us all down and told the story of how she and Graeme came together and how if I hadn’t influenced her dad to come to the salvos, Katherine may never have been born.  I’m not sure what they expected Katherine to say, but she smiled sweetly and we all hugged and took a photo.  It was precious moment. 

I share this story as it is very special to be a part of someone’s journey like this and despite the years and the distance as I connected again to set up this episode, we felt the same strong bonds of love and joy  that we felt way back in the early days together in the salvos.   I love good friendships, don’t you?

My words in the plumbing class that day were fumbling and unpersuasive and I honestly felt it made no difference to anyone.  But that fact that I made a stand was noticed by Graham and has turned out to be surprisingly fruitful. 

Bless ya,