Recently my story was put to film. A short story by Symphony and Elevate. The filming day had been postponed due to weather and my illness, so we were running tight on timing to get it done… we had one morning’s window. Things got rather interesting the day we went to film. When we turned up early to begin filming, two men were already down at the Wharf and with both I had significant interactions.

While the camera crew set up, an elderly gentleman approached me and asked what we were there for. I told him the basics – to film my story, and told him a little of this. He seemed understanding and was enthusiastic about the filming. In a reflective moment, he pointed to the other side of the Harbour near Omaha, and said “See that wharf…? I responded affirmatively. He then said “My son jumped off that wharf, and broke his neck. He’s a tetraplegic. We understand some of your story and what you’ve been through”. Wow! So we chatted for a bit, and connected. I thought this was a bit of a random meeting, but cool nonetheless.

Then things got even more interesting. There was another man there fishing off the corner of the wharf. A Pacifica man, perhaps in his early 40s. Judging by his choice in drink it was apparent he was either there to chill out, or he was having a bad day. I felt to go over and introduce myself, say Hi, nothing more… I did that. He asked what we were doing, and I told him. He asked if I minded if he listened in to my story – I told him he was welcome to.

So we commenced with the filming and interview. When we were packing up, the man came over and said “I liked what you said about HOPE, but I could do without the God stuff…”, I smiled! He went on to say that hope for him as really important. And that he had lost sight of it. He explained he had a 9 year old son with autism. With tears welling up in his eyes, he said he was stoked this week, as his son had verbalised for the first time. But that it was still really hard, and the family needed to hang on to hope. Wow – what an encounter.

We spoke together for some time, and I was able to share more of our family’s story, and found out that this family was yet another that had fallen through the system and was not getting the support they needed, for them or their disabled son. I pointed them to some organisations that could offer support, and offered some advice. Later I connected with the family via Facebook. Yet another Kiwi family just getting on with things, but obviously struggling at times…

So if I had any doubts that God wanted my story told, after these encounters I definitely knew God was in this! I was so encouraged. And it confirmed for me the timing was right to have my story recorded. I look forward to the telling of my story hopefully impacting more people, as it did for these two men down at the “Big Omaha Wharf” on that Tuesday morning.

Evan Clulee