Ascent, Crest, Perspective: The Making of a Bamboo Camel

By Ross James

Ross is a storyteller who uses personal journals and correspondence to tell the story of what happened after he left a family funeral business and yielded to the leading of Providence.

Ross explains an Ascent, a 20-year period of preparation as a journalist, academic and researcher. The ascent of preparation levelled out on the Crest of purpose, a 20-year period of his life's work, motivated by the teachings of Jesus whose life exemplified care for the marginalised and poor. He lived and worked in several Asian countries then relocated to Australia and led initiatives to develop community-centred media projects throughout Asia.

After detailing the Ascent and explaining the Crest, in Perspective Ross reflects on achievements concurrent with clinical depression and accompanied by despair and loss of joy. Some excerpts from his personal journals are painful reading; some revelations are vulnerable honesty. Yet, Ross accepts a proposition that depression might have been a 'gift of a handicap' which compelled him to depend on Providence to overcome his limitations. His startling conclusion is that he is, after all, a bamboo camel, designed with specifications to fulfil a providential purpose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ross James
• Release date: Nov 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005827687

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Copyright

Copyright 2020 Ross W James

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced in any form by any process without written permission.

Scripture quotations marked [NIV] are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.

SOME NAMES AND IDENTIFYING DETAILS HAVE BEEN CHANGED

TO PROTECT THE PRIVACY OF INDIVIDUALS

Commendations and Endorsements

A hard-hitting and humble mission memoir that traces the spiritual journey of an extraordinary couple through the highs and lows of mission service around the globe, from lying unconscious after a bomb blast in Pakistan to impacting whole communities through radio broadcasting. Ascent, crest, perspective highlights the significance of resilience and steadfastness in a challenging world where life and projects don’t always turn out the way we want. This well-crafted memoir highlights the hardships and joys of life committed to service.

A must-read for mission students and those pondering decision-making skills, this story is beautifully constructed around the central theme of providence, drawing attention to the reality that God can use each stage of life whether failure, disappointment, or success, as preparation for the next chapter. An outstanding feature of this vibrant journey is the author’s heart-breaking vulnerability about his own struggles with depression and frustration. Ross gives hope to the ‘ordinary’ follower of Christ that a life anchored in scripture, anchored by companions and by perspective, can accomplish much for the kingdom.

Lloyd Porter (Director of Mission Studies, Vose Campus, Morling College, Australia)

Never doubting in the dark what he had learned in the light, partly with the benefit of hindsight but primarily with the conviction that God can be trusted in all circumstances, Ross has given us a much-needed, down-to-earth affirmation of Romans 8:28’s ‘ . . . in all things God works for the good of those who love Him . . .’. It is an adventure of faith, told with the deft hand of a storyteller, and invites us to trace God’s hand. His honest reflections on the challenges he faced in his life in Australia and in a wide variety of other cultures will be a tonic for jaded believers and wondering seekers alike, as God’s trustworthiness is winsomely set before us.

Rt Rev Dr Peter Brain (Retired Bishop of Armidale, NSW, 2000–2012)

An excellent piece of writing with perspectives from the top of the mountain with a weight of significance. It drips with a perspective that comes from having climbed the mountain but reflected with honesty and humility on the path taken. As my first producer of Nightline, the high standards Ross set and the ‘front of house’ training that involved, laid the foundations for decades of on-air [and off-air] ministry—AKA urban mission these days.

Graham Mabury OAM Cit WA (pastor, presenter of Nightline radio program, 1981–2014)

I first met Ross when I was suffering the predations of giardia in Pakistan. Ross's cheery demeanour did nothing to help me recover as I lay sickly and pale upon his couch. These first impressions belied the fact that he has a wonderful gift of communication, an ability to bring people together under a common goal, and a way of coming up with new ideas and possibilities. Ross is down-to-earth, witty, insightful, and modest. This book is not a theological account of Providence, but it will show you what a life looks like as it unfolds, even if it means that you discover you have been designed as a bamboo camel!

Michael Fischer (pastor, SIM missionary)

When you look back at your life, have you ever thought of the way Providence might have played a part in the decisions you have made?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and memories can be pleasant, joyful, shameful, hurtful, flippant, deep, inspiring, or even remorseful. Occasionally recollections may not be as accurate because we leave out details we might have chosen to forget, or have buried deep for good reason, either to save our sanity, or to save others embarrassment or hurt.

However, Ross James shares his memories of a voyage through life in a way that is honest and vulnerable, caring and sensitive, inspired by a lengthy journey, which prompted him to revisit the past, and take us on a journey that threads its way along paths that will resonate with the reader.

His emerging views on geopolitical, cultural, spiritual, and social issues, have been artfully woven into the passages of his life and the new pathways that opened for him, as he learned about his own emotional awakening, his challenges and joys, his experience with depression and mental health, and the way Providence played a big part in the direction his life took. Whether it was sharing a meal of entrails in Kenya, writing his master’s thesis on a wobbly picnic table while seated on a cardboard packing box, travelling across the globe as a missionary, lecturing postgraduate seminary students during a People Power Revolution, sheltering from rocket explosions the day after arriving in Pakistan, or his heart’s desire to communicate God’s love, this journey is full of surprising stories, funny moments, and poignant insights.

I hope you enjoy sharing this meander through his experiences, as much as I did.

John (JD) Donoghue (former radio broadcaster and colleague)

Dedication

Dedicated to Kayson, Amanah, Beckham, Mysha, Xavier and Elliott.

Acknowledgments

I’m thankful for those who read and commented on various drafts of the book: Peter Brain, Michael Fischer, Johnny Fisher, Rob Furlong, Jon Hargreaves, Frank Gray, Tamara Jenks, Graham Mabury, and Ken Turner. Each brought their own level of detail, and theological and intellectual critiquing that helped me reframe ideas.

Jill (I’d never met a girl like her before) patiently proofread the last few drafts with forensic tenacity to correct details and suggest revisions.

There are events or processes explicitly described or implicitly referred to that involve people who remain anonymous for reasons of privacy.

Others remain anonymous because of security, or because there are too many to name. Providence knows who you are and continues to work out kingdom purposes through you. I honour you for your sacrifice and commitment to bring about necessary social, political, and spiritual change through community-centred media initiatives.

Contents

Copyright

Commendations and Endorsements

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Acronyms & Abbreviations

Key Transitions

Introduction: An Account of Providence

Part 1: Ascent

Chapter 1: Never Met a Girl Like Her Before

Chapter 2: Innocuous Beginnings

Chapter 3: Rain Fell on a Sunny Day

Chapter 4: Looking for Something More

Chapter 5: No Return from This Place

Chapter 6: Pivotal Experiences

Chapter 7: Consolidation and Development

Chapter 8: Revolution, Mass Media and Social Change

Chapter 9: Neighbours Reach Across the Wall

Part 2: Crest

Chapter 10: It’s Only a Licence

Chapter 11: Application

Part 3: Perspective

Chapter 12: Escaping the Ice

Chapter 13: The Black Dog

Chapter 14: Design and Anchorage

Chapter 15: Steadfastness

Chapter 16: Outside the Comfort Zone

Chapter 17: The Making of a Bamboo Camel

About the Author

Acronyms & Abbreviations

ATS Asian Theological Seminary, Manila, Philippines.

Feba Far East Broadcasting Association (Feba Radio). See https://www.feba.org.uk/

FEBC Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC Radio International). See https://www.febc.org/

HCR Health Communication Resources Inc. See: www.h-c-r.org

HOT Hands on Training.

Interdev Interdev pioneered Christian partnerships under the leadership of Phill Butler. In 2003, Butler formed a new organisation, visionSynergy, with the focus of forming networks. Although Interdev is now defunct, I will refer to it by that name because of my association with it during the period outlined here. See: https://visionsynergy.net/ and https://www.lausanne.org/networks/issues/collaboration

JOL Journey of Life, the English translation of Zindagi Kay Sung, the name of an Urdu and Punjabi language radio program.

SIM SIM International. Originally Sudan Interior Mission but the original acronym alone is used because of mergers with other organisations.

ThM Comm Master of Theology (Communication). A once-only postgraduate program delivered at the Asian Theological Seminary, 1986–1987, funded by the World Evangelical Fellowship.

Key Transitions

1969 Left school, aged 15.

1970 Funeral director (family business in Geraldton, Western Australia).

1973 Radio announcer. Intention was to return to the family business after five years.

1974 Journalist.

1976 Jill and I married, becoming life partners.

1978 Volunteer in the Seychelles and India. Studied cross-cultural communication and media in Kenya.

1980 Returned to Australia.

1981–1983 Produced the Nightline radio program. Part-time studies in theology, and media.

1982 Daughter, Katie, is born.

1983 Journalism lecturer and founding news editor of Curtin University’s community radio station.

1984–1985 Daughter, Amy, is born. Postgraduate studies in health promotion.

1986 Directed a postgraduate theology and communications program at Asian Theological Seminary, Manila, Philippines.

1988 Consultant to a broadcasting partnership in Pakistan.

1993 Relocated to Australia. Founded Health Communication Resources.

1996 Awarded doctorate for research on cross-cultural methods for training radio producers in health promotion.

2000 Conceptualised First Response Radio, first launched under the auspices of HCR but later an independent entity.

Stay Connected

Find photographs related to the book, other information, and ways to stay connected with the author here.

Webpage: https://thebamboocamel.com.au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thebamboocamel

Introduction: An Account of Providence

At the time Jill and I married our expectations were for me to resume a career as a funeral director. Instead, we lived and worked in four Asian countries, and I worked on projects in 20 or so other nations.

The urging of people to write about the experiences that occurred in a 40-year period of our lives was easy to dismiss because I always felt that when I get to the end of my life, and should I ever have achieved anything, then it would be obvious to anyone that Providence did it.

But then I took a long walk. During a life-work transition I walked with Jill on the world class Bibbulmun Track in Australia, 1,003 kilometres long (not a mere 1,000 short kilometres, but one thousand and three!). Throughout that year hiking through the wilderness was juggled with family commitments and events, funerals, and other priorities life throws up. We trudged along beaches, through swamps, around fallen trees, slowly ascended then descended steep hills and mountains, trod carefully to avoid stepping onto snakes or stumbling over fallen tree litter, all the while laden with a 16 kilo backpack of supplies and gear. Much of it was enjoyable, but at times the map cruelly taunted us with the information that our end-of-day destination was kilometres away, not around the next corner.

The synthesis of hiking and stimuli to reflect on life’s experiences coalesced into a realisation that maybe a narrative based on journals I wrote during a period of my life could be of interest to others.

providence

My earliest memory of any spiritual input is sitting beside my mother on her bed. I must have been five or six years old. It was a Sunday morning. Dad was going to a training exercise with the town’s volunteer fire brigade. I wanted to be with him. Mum was going to church. She wanted me with her. She sat me down and read these words:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28) [NIV].

Those words are among many references contributing to the explanation of God as Providence (with a capital P) ‘conceived as the power sustaining and guiding human destiny’¹ who will uphold, guide and care (Psalm 103:19) through works of providence (lower-case p). The Dictionary of Bible Themes² groups about 100 Bible verses into four broad categories of providence: general providence (that God sustains the created order and provides for all people), providence accomplished through miraculous ways, providence and intervention in human history, and how Providence achieves the completion of an ultimate purpose.³

Psalm 16:11 declares, ‘You make known to me the path of life’ [NIV]. It has nothing to do with passive acceptance of fate, luck, or fatalism. Johnny Fisher, a colleague, expressed it this way, ‘providence is how we encounter God’s sufficiency. As God sustains us physically, emotionally, or motivationally, we meet him as Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. In short, we meet God as Providence.’

Providence. I like the word, even though it’s infrequently used nowadays and unfamiliar to many. Providence. I like the sound of the rolling three syllables that simultaneously identifies God as a tangible force of divine guidance or care and explains the sustaining performances of providence.

John Flavel was a 17th century English clergyman and prolific author. Flavel is said to have married four times, but I am sure that has nothing to do with a compulsion to use very lengthy titles for his books, such as: A pathetic and serious Dissuasive from the horrid and detestable Sins of Drunkenness, Swearing, Uncleanness, Forgetfulness of Mercies, Violation of Promises, and Atheistic Contempt of Death. With such a descriptive and unswervingly dogmatic title does the book need any pages of content? What more could be added to the title to express how Flavel really felt?

As for Flavel’s treatise on Providence, his title was, Divine conduct or The mystery of Providence, wherein the being and efficacy of Providence are asserted and vindicated; the methods of Providence, as it passes through the several stages of our lives opened; and the proper course of improving all Providence.⁴

Don’t be put off by the 41-word title. It is a wonderful little book, encouraging, easy to read (albeit with the quaint English language of Flavel’s time). Flavel argues with an eloquence that remains as convincing today as then, in the 1600s, as in this explanation of the guiding hand of providence in a passage with fewer words than the book’s title:

Providence is like a curious piece of arras⁵ made up of thousands of shreds, which single we know not what to make of, but put together they present us with a beautiful history.

It is impossible to perceive our lives from one of thousands of events. On the other hand, it is possible to discern the beautiful history when we put them together.

A review of journals and correspondence brought together perspectives that made it possible for my life to be understood.

benefit of written history

The prompting to maintain a journal came after reading a fascinating account of the adventures of a 19th century pioneering family who established pastoral interests in the remote Kimberley region of Australia. Mary Durack used her forebears’ journals to write Kings in Grass Castles.⁶ The Durack’s day-by-day record reveals the pastoralists’ views of issues that concerned them in the late 1800s. Not only current politics, international trade and the role of women and families, but also about the relationships between pastoralists moving onto land already occupied by indigenous people who were gradually removed from their ancestral lands. It is a dark history of dispossession that continues to cast long shadows over present-day Australia.

I read Grass Castles soon after arriving in the Seychelles, separated from family and friends as never before by an ocean and time differences. Perhaps it was a sense of loss that comes with distance and a longing for—or reassurance of—self-identity and connection that caused me to realise how little I really knew of my own family’s history. Perhaps that realisation was motivation enough to capture important events for future generations of family who might be interested enough to explore them. Whatever the reason, Grass Castles inspired my own journal keeping.

Salman Rushdie has explained the difference between autobiography and memoir. Autobiography is a full account of a life, a chronological history, facts to be documented. A memoir on the other hand, is a memory of a particular event or dominant theme in a person’s life with corresponding feelings and emotions.

As it happens those memories were surprisingly good but sometimes in error when compared with documentation that I cannot ignore—the journals, and family letters and newsletters Jill and I wrote in the decades this book covers. What I wrote in those times may not have been completely accurate, but they are the way I remembered a life caught up in the circumstances of the times I experienced, and the places I inhabited.

the dominant theme

Some who encouraged me to write a memoir added to their argument, ‘Your experiences have much to inspire other people’.

Really? I remain doubtful, for I’m unsure of a lot of things, and am either ambivalent or inconsistent about others. Of some things I am certain, however, and one of them is that my life was influenced by Providence.

My initial resistance to write was not helped by Geordie Williamson’s incisive edict that quite nearly put me off the idea.

Autobiography as a genre suffers from an underlying condition: the disease of vanity. Taking the trouble to record a life is to insist that life is worthy of recording, a truth no caveat of modesty can wholly overcome.⁷

Ouch! A disease of vanity! How to get beyond that? (Williamson decided the book he was reviewing ‘fails as autobiography but succeeds . . . as literature’.) Can you be convinced by my caveat of modesty that my intention is for the dominant theme to be an account of the works of providence? The line of tension I navigate is not only to achieve that theme by reflection and self-examination but also to avoid self-indulgence. I certainly do not want to make the mistake of convincing or deluding myself that what happened to me was in some way remarkable when in fact it wasn’t.

With such caveats, then, I offer revelations about being human. Some revelations are vulnerable honesty. There are patterns of despair but also hope, sadness but also joy, and discontent but also fulfilment.

If I am silent on some things, it is because the details are my business alone. Or they would be hurtful to others. Let it be sufficient to say that you ought not mistake that silence as indifference for those I’ve hurt. Neither is it disregard for errors made nor a lack of conviction for wrongdoing.

ascent, crest, perspective

Although the decision to write was made while bushwalking, don’t look for metaphors, similes, or analogies of trudging a path with ups and downs, or of journeying through dense bush or landscapes of grassy fields. All I did was take a long walk, contemplate what people had suggested, and make a decision.

Walking up a mountain is the only hiking analogy I use and that is to separate the book into three parts.

Part 1, Ascent, covers about 20 years of preparation and wondering, What next? At the end of that ascent or preparation, I was ready for what was revealed at the crest.

Part 2, Crest, briefly outlines about 20 years of the next stage of the journey. Here is certainty and purpose.

Part 3, Perspective reflects on the ascent and crest in an attempt to understand what happened and how it happened. It is a reflection on how Providence turned preparation into purpose.

Part 1: Ascent

Ascent describes how Providence prepared me for the crest.

I can’t say I planned it. I had no awareness of how Providence was sequencing experiences of learning in preparation for a purpose.

The where and when is chronological with facts and anecdotes of formative family and schooling experiences, and the ensuing years of career changes.

But my ascent begins with a girl.

Chapter 1

Never Met a Girl Like Her Before

It’s a typical suburban all-purpose church hall.

An old carpet square has been spread out in the centre of the room. The young people confine themselves to the space defined by the carpet’s ragged edges. That carpet is a futile attempt to soften the place because it only draws attention to the encircling cold grey concrete floor and the imposing emptiness of bare walls, painted brickwork and asbestos sheeting installed well before we knew about mesothelioma caused by asbestos fibres. But the atmosphere is warm. The young people cluster in small well-knit groups. Some stand. Some sit on functional iron-framed stackable chairs. They talk, laugh, clown around.

Just off to the left are two females. One, on a chair, says something to another who sits on the carpet. She is relaxed, elbow resting on an empty chair, legs folded back beneath her. Shoulder length brown hair shines under a ceiling light directly above her. It’s her body language that attracts him. The set of her chin, the smile, the posture. First impressions: reserve but self-aware, characteristics that, later in life, someone will describe as ‘uncomplicated’. She’s wearing blue jeans and a knitted multi-coloured striped woollen vest.

Some males in the group tell him her dental therapy studies are demanding. A week later he decides to ignore everything he hears about studies. He walks through the rain to a phone box near his apartment. Would she like to go to the musical, Godspell, next Saturday? ‘I’ll just ask Mum,’ she says. He doesn’t expect that, but thinks it cute. ‘Yes,’ she says returning to the phone, ‘I’d love to go.’ He strides back to the apartment paying no heed to the rain but to rising anxiety over what he’s done.

He’s a journalist at a top rating music radio station. He thought he needed to impress her and that is why he claimed to have free tickets to Godspell. But he hadn’t been given free tickets. In fact, he hadn’t any tickets at all. Yes, he lied. The next morning, fearing the worst, he dashes into the theatre’s box office on the way to a media conference with the police, buys two of the few remaining tickets all the while thinking, ‘idiot’. Even then, he reflects that she doesn’t seem overawed by the glamour of his job, unlike others who responded quite differently.

That first date? She says she appreciated how he took her advice about the quickest way to the theatre because someone she’d gone out with before had argued about directions, lost his way, and lost his chance for a second date.

After Godspell he takes her home. She leans onto the kitchen table asking questions about his work as he drinks coffee and she, water. He remembers her smile as she self-consciously drew her top lip over her upper teeth when amused, her eyebrows rising with a hint of mischief. He doesn’t stay long because he starts work at 1:00 am. She doesn’t resist a quick departing kiss on her lips. Later, just before she fell asleep, she thinks how unusual it is to listen to his voice on the radio as he dedicated a song to her.

One night he asks her to drive his car. He reckoned then and still does that you can tell a lot about a person from the way they drive. Their mannerisms tell a story. How they analyse situations, how they control the process and flow of simultaneous and synchronised procedures involved with turning corners or coming to a halt at traffic lights, for example. Her decisive, assured manner impresses him.

Four weeks after lying about free tickets to see Godspell, he asks her to marry him. Eighteen months later she answers, ‘I do’ as they commit their lives to each other. It was 28 February 1976.

Just after their engagement he and her mother wash the dishes together. She quietly says: ‘You’ll look after her, won’t you, because she needs a lot of love.’ He realises it’s an instruction, not a request.

Together they decide to work and live in various parts of Asia. Some places are unsettled. A couple of revolutions here and there with a bombing or risk of kidnap or conflict or disruptions that become normal.

He loves and admires her for the devotion to what she considered her calling, a life willingly undertaken because of a desire to be what God wants her to be as a mother and a life-long partner. Through it all she rises to the challenge of conservative societies that restrict the freedoms she enjoyed in Australia’s egalitarian society; limited finances; a husband’s long absences on work trips, often unable to contact each other in those pre-internet years without digital technology for quick and easy communication.

Her strength of character is, as