Called according to His purpose
Posted on behalf of Joel Cooper
My own story is the best one I could possibly hope to tell. I hope that the intricacies and lessons that I’ve learned can be of some help to you. My life as I remember it. Enjoy it.
I was born at the ripe age of 0 in Howick, Auckland. My parents were young, having only been married a year before my birth. Now, both my parents and the majority of their extended families are Christians. My mother tells me of times when I was very young, sleeping in my little baby capsule underneath the keyboard on stage as she played in the worship band. I don’t remember much of this, because I was remarkably young. You probably wouldn’t recognise me. I was a totally different person. Ten days before my first birthday, my twin brothers were born. For the majority of my young naïve life, I believed that they were God’s cruel joke on my life.
They would annoy me as much as they knew how, they would gang up on me, and worst of all, they would attempt to take over the controllers when I was finally about to beat a level of Spyro that I’d been working on for weeks!
My parents weren’t rich, but we didn’t grow up lacking through my childhood. My brothers and I haven’t always gotten what we want, but we’ve always had what we need. I’m exceedingly and consistently thankful to God for His provision over my life and the family that I was placed into.
Mum always tells stories of how independent I was at a young age. On a school day, she would come to pick me up from my primary school (Papatoetoe West) before going to pick my brothers up from their preschool. One day, she was running a little late, I took it into my capable hands to help her out by walking to preschool so that she could pick all three of us up from there. Unfortunately, my mother thought she had lost her firstborn. Teachers started searching the school, friends family started trawling the streets searching for any sign on me. “And just when all hope seemed lost, just when they were beginning to fear the worst, a friend found me strolling down the last stretch to my brothers’ preschool. Not a care in the world for the petty worries of adults and their responsibilities. I had apparently crossed a very busy, main street in Auckland and a few others to make my way to my destination. But I obviously wasn’t phased. Independency was my middle name! Along with Anthony and James, if you really care to know.
As an older brother of two trouble-making twin boys, I grew up having to be a leader. Well, I probably didn’t have to, per se. I just took it upon myself to be their reprimander and their trusted advisor. Didn’t always come out looking that peaceful. Nonetheless, because of these natural tendencies, I found myself constantly being excessively protective of my two lil’ brothers.
They were my brothers, and I’d do anything for them. Majority of my fathers family lived in Auckland, so we were often spending time with them. However, my mother’s family lived mostly in Wellington, making it a very long trip down to see them. Dad is an Electronics Engineer. He used to work for a company up in Auckland doing a lot of designing of circuit boards, which meant he didn’t really need to be permanently in Auckland. He could just work on designs, and send them in when they were needed, etc. That wasn’t the extent of his job, but I’m just using this for your understanding. So, my parents decided to move from Auckland to Wanganui. We’d been here once for a holiday, it had seemed nice enough. A small town, nice for raising a family. Plenty of good schools, some beaches, and it was conveniently positioned between Wellington and Auckland for easier access to either city at any given moment.
My brothers and I were enrolled at Faith Academy (as it was known at the time. I know it’s Faith City School now, but it will always be Faith Academy in my heart…! *ahem*). Here, we made lots of friends and would see them at the church that was connected. Faith Community Church (as it was known at the time. However, I’m a fan of the name now, Faith City Church. Good name. Big fan, big fan. *ahem*) was our second home. We were welcomed in like family, and have been so ever since. It didn’t take long for my parents to become part of the worship team here, and so our Thursday nights involved hanging out with the other musicians’ kids at Nana Green’s house (an amazing older lady who would watch Coronation Street and feed us biscuits). Our Sunday mornings were early, being at church at 7am where all of the musicians’ children would sit around until we woke up properly, and then we’d be running around the church doing who-knows-what, trying to squeeze in all the fun before church started and we had to be quiet again.
Church was our home. We felt safe and secure and I’m eternally grateful for that. I wasn’t the most rule-abiding student, and I had been into the principals office more than once, but I didn’t think that was reason for my parents to move me to another school! Turns out, it wasn’t the reason. Phew! My mother had a job as an administrator lady and a librarian at a Catholic school in Wanganui East. And so my parents made the decision to move us all over to St Annes School, for the rest of our primary school years. Personally, I thought there could have been nothing worse than this. Moving schools just when I had begun to make friends, moving away from a good Christian school into a Catholic atmosphere, which I’d never experienced before. At the time, my life was a spiralling mess, I thought. haHAA, wait till you leave school, mate. You know nothing! (Yes, I am talking to 10 year-old me. Give me a break.)
I was bullied in primary. Not seriously, but enough that it made a mark. I was deputy head boy, I could play sports, I was averagely intelligent, and I got involved with enough extra-mural activities that it looked like I made an effort to better myself. Which I was! I was genuinely trying to be a good student there. I made good friends there. But they just weren’t quite like my friends from Faith. I was involved, but I never felt connected. Bit of a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. I started singing in the school band, and performed at the end of my last year in front of the whole school. I guess that is where my passion and love for music really flourished.
But I didn’t really pursue any musical ability myself until later. They tell you that High School is a big shock from primary. I took that with a grain of salt. I shouldn’t have. I should have left the salt shaker in the cupboard! They couldn’t have been more accurate. It was as though I was walking out from underneath the umbrella of immaturity and naïvety and into the rain of social norms and worldliness. A lot of my St Annes friends went to Cullinane, so I was free to return to my good friends from Faith when I got to Wanganui High.
Now, let me tell you this: High School, for me, was a right mess. I don’t remember much of the specific years or what happened, specifically. I just remember it all in one big blur. I didn’t particularly enjoy myself, except for when I was solving equations in maths, acting a good improvisation scene with my best friend in drama, or finally perfecting a song in music. This is where my true love for all things music flourished and bloomed into fullness. I made good friends, and I made bad friends. It’s what happens in life. Learn to take advice from the good ones, and try to be the one to make a change in the bad ones.
High School was also rough because I had a few people that I was especially close to pass away. I understand now that death is just another part of life, and you learn to accept the things that you can’t change. But at the time, these events hit me super hard. I won’t go into much detail about this, but I’m always open if you have a hard time dealing with these things and need someone to chat to about it.
Also, in High School, I finally came around to deciding that believing in God became my own choice rather than leaning on the faith of my parents. I made a solid decision, and was baptised in water and in the Holy Spirit. I was involved in a youth music training ministry, called Plugin, which meant that a bunch of us young people at the time could make our way into the worship team at Faith. Now we comprise the majority of the team. I was also involved for five years in youth leadership. I went to Mentoring, to prayer meeting, to youth events and bible studies, and to Barbara and Trevor Townsend’s prophetic small group. And I went to church on Sunday, of course! I was always busy. If I wasn’t at a school event, I was at a church event.
This is really where my relationship with God was solidified and it was a massive time of growth and wisdom. I became who I am now in those few years. I learned a great many things from numerous people, and I’ll forever be appreciative for that.
Now, the rest of my story, I think, is in the process of being made. After High School, I started working, and now I’m studying. I still love God, I still love music, and I still love my friends, my church, my family. I am part of the worship team still, I am a leader at the young adults group, Ekklesia. I have just started a community called The Rhythm Collective that is a social group about training and equipping creatives in the perspective of God and the Bible.
Come talk to me about that. Seriously. Come create stuff with us! I have also just started my first year of Applied Management at UCOL in Palmerston North, and so I’m really looking forward to what that brings and the things I can learn through it. This is a chapter of my life that I haven’t finished writing yet. But talking to the author is the best way to understand the book, so feel free to come and ask me anything about my life. I hope that somehow my testimony can help you understand a bit about me and mostly a bit about who God is.
My life is a work toward being a light that shines of God’s love and righteousness. I pray that this story could be at least a small flame toward that light. Bless you all, hope to hear from you guys soon with questions and enquires!
‘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
