LISTENING TO ANDREW WALLS BEHIND A WALL!

Back to the Good Ol Days of the Radio!

A few days ago my wife and I attended a talk by Andrew Walls, an expert on christian missions at Trinity Theological College. His works and books, based on solid research make him an authority on the history of missions in academic circles.

And so it was not a big surprise to encounter a packed auditorium! We managed to get in anway and stand at a corner of the auditorium. Unfortunately we were isolated behind a side wall which prevented us from seeing Walls as he spoke.

It was not the best of experiences - listening to a speaker without seeing his face.

But then something strange happened. His thought processes and the outline of his talk began to register profoundly. Not seeing him forced us to listen carefully to the content. And this somehow helped to internalise not only the words of the man but the force of his overall message.

Later, a huge chunk of the crowd left during the question and answer session. So we moved to the better seats from where we could actually see Walls as he spoke. We had to not only engage his words but to also see his face. Hmmnn... I found this a bit of a distraction.

Listening to him behind the wall was more enriching. It was like listening to a talk on the radio!!

Life offers us some strange experiences.