Life and Faith Story - Lotus
The lotus flower symbolizes enlightenment, rebirth and rejuvenation due to its ability to emerge clean and beautiful from muddy water. Across many cultures and religions, it represents the journey from darkness to spiritual awakening.
What was life like for you as young person?
Lotus grew up in 1960s Sydney in the beachside suburb of Manly, attending the local public primary school and then Shore, a Church of England Grammar School. After losing a front tooth in his first attempt at surfing with a board he decided surfing “probably wasn’t for me”. He continued to enjoy the beach, body-surfing and surf-lifesaving. But his real passion was running on the beach, leading to a lifetime love of running or walking on the beach.
Lotus remembers a strong, dominant father and an older brother who put him down at every opportunity. He was close to his older sister but “outgrew” his mother at a young age. A younger sister died in infancy before another sister came along.
He says boys often fought in the playground at Manly Public School, which resulted in punishment with a cane across the fingers.
“You were brought up in a rough and tumble world, and it taught you to look after yourself and grow up strong.”
Was faith a factor in your life?
His was not a faith-based upbringing and his first experience with church was the high school chapel - synonymous with detention and punishment for infringements, including being late for chapel!
“You had to run around the school quadrangle for 45 minutes and the sergeant major would hit you across the buttocks and tighs if for any reason you displeased him,” Lotus says.
“He seemed to take delight in belting kids, so we all treated it as a bit of a joke.
“I got six of the best when I was 15 years of age. I was quite innocent of anything, but the headmaster had to make an example of me as the whole class was misbehaving in divinity class.
“So, I was punished in a divinity class.
“You asked me if I had a faith-based upbringing. No, I don’t think I did.”
When did you begin to think of yourself as a Christian? What was that like for you?
Searching…
Some years after leaving school and leaving home, Lotus responded to a radio campaign developed by a group of churches in 1969 - “find yourself in church.”
He made a New Year’s resolution to go to church and found an evening service at a beautiful old gothic looking church in North Sydney. Surprised to see only four people and a priest he sat down near an old man, a few rows back from three elderly ladies.
“Suddenly I noticed that the old man had stopped singing and seemed to be in a bit of distress. I thought he was kneeling down to pray at first, but then he collapsed.”
Lotus drew on his first aid and surf lifesaving training and grabbed the gentlemen under the arms, dragging him out into the aisle and commencing resuscitation.
All the while, the service continued. Desperate for help, he carried the man out into the vestry before rushing into the street to find someone to call for an ambulance.
He continued working on the man until the ambulance arrived. Sadly, the man had in fact, been deceased for 25 minutes. Emotionally and physically exhausted, Lotus sat by the man’s side while the ambulance officers retrieved a trolley.
“The service ended and out came the Minister in his flowing gown followed by his congregation of three,” he says.
“I told the Minister that the man had died 25 minutes ago, he looked at me and said, ‘what a wonderful way to go’ and continued on his way.
“He did not stop or do anything, and the three little old ladies then tiptoed past without a word. The ambulance took the old man away and I was the last to leave.
“So, I felt I had a very powerful answer to the question of whether I could ‘find myself in church’ and the answer was “don’t bother’!”
Finding….
Lotus married in 1976, their first child, a daughter, was born in 1980.
“She is a fantastic woman, and we are very close”, he says.
“But when she was finishing her school years, we knew that something wasn’t quite right, and she was subsequently diagnosed with severe illness.”
Following a harrowing and severe attack of illness, his daughter was treated in hospital and for Lotus, it was the most challenging time of his life.
Despite being taught from a young age to take the ‘hard knocks’ in life, Lotus would “bawl his eyes out” every night after visiting his daughter in hospital.”
His daughter recovered, met and married a lovely guy, graduated university and began her career in the health sector. But the pressure and stress of the job caused the illness to return, and she became unwell again.
At the same time, Lotus was going through his own journey, the stress straining his marriage, his business and his relationships with his children.
“I was feeling pretty depressed about my parenting capabilities,” he says.
“How do you become a good father? They don’t teach you that at school.”
After some soul-searching he realised that being a better parent began with being a better husband. To show his support, he began attending church with his wife and, seeing the effect it was having on their dad, the children also started attending.
“I look back on that time now and can see God’s hand at work,” he reflects.
He began reading Bible passages and books, seeking connection… and faith.
Believing…
He remembers the moment that everything changed. The Bible reading one Sunday was from John chapter 14 verse 14. Jesus tells his disciples “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it for you.”
Desperately concerned for his daughter’s health, he resolved that he would ask God to heal his daughter. In May 2002, for the first time in his life, he prayed.
“I remember where I was sitting in church. As I prayed, I felt my body becoming very hot and I realised tears were uncontrollably streaming down my face,” he says.
“We got home, and I told my wife what I had experienced.
“Not long afterwards our daughter and son-in-law arrived with their dogs as they often did, and I expected to hear the slow, heavy footsteps of my very heavily laden daughter.
“But as they came up the stairs, arm in arm, they seemed very happy. Even the dogs were smiling!
“She said to us: ‘I know you’ve been worried about me and Mum; you especially have been trying to help. Last night we had a really good talk at home and afterwards I had the best sleep I have had in a long time. When I woke up, I felt absolutely well. So, you don’t need to worry about me, I’m perfectly OK.’
“After they left my wife looked at me and said: ‘I think your prayer has been answered.’
“This was huge. I needed some time alone to process this.
“I drove to the beach. It was a sunny afternoon yet suddenly the sky darkened, and it poured with rain. So, I sat in the car for a while and just as suddenly, the weather cleared.
“I looked up to see a huge dark cloud, buttressed by pillars of white like the dome of a cathedral slowly moving out to sea. It was spectacular.
“I started walking along the beach towards Burleigh and watched as the last people, a family of four with two young children packed up and left the beach.
“I was all alone. The beach was vacant as far as the eye could see in both directions.
“I looked to the west in the direction of our home and the black cloud that had followed me was replaced by a blinding burst of sunlight.
“And then I heard a voice, loud and clear: ‘Now do you believe?’
“I responded with the words: I shall never doubt you again.
“That was when I came to faith.”
How would you encourage people who are finding their way in life and faith in our changing world?
Lotus says life is about realising our relationship with God.
He says that no matter what is going in on our lives, the struggles of life and relationships, sickness, addiction and despair, pain or sorrow, we can find hope in the parable of the Prodigal son.
“No matter how lost we are, there is hope in that story.”