June 3, 2023 • 28 mins
Today we are pleased to welcome our guest, Dale Christensen. Dale is 30 years old and was raised in the household of his parents, Brett and Lesley with his two siblings, Kim and Bryce. After going to school in suburban Melbourne, Dale followed a university honours degree in chemistry and currently works at the Australian Synchrotron, a government-provided research organisation, and finished his study for a PHD earlier this year. He married his wife Gina in 2017 and has two kids, Theodore and Elias. I hope you guys enjoy it! And thank you Dale for coming on.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to this week's episode of Ellen with Eli.
We have an exciting episode for you today, filled with an
amazing interview, encouraging and engaging discussions and
interesting perspectives on Christianity Today.
Our Guest Dale Christensen shares, his inspiring
experiences and knowledge about his walk through faith.
So I sit back, relax and join usfor a conversation.
(00:22):
You don't want to miss. But before we start, let me just
give you guys a bit of background information about
him. Dale is 30 years old and was
Race in the household, over his parents Brett and Leslie where
there's two siblings, Kim and Bryce after going to school and
Suburban Melbourne Dale, followed a university on his
degree in chemistry and currently works at the
Australian, synchrotron a government-funded research
(00:44):
organization and finished. His study for a PhD earlier this
year. He married, his wife Junior in
2017 and has two kids Theodore and Elias.
Okay, I think we're ready. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Stay tuned. And let's get straight into it.
Welcome to Elm with Eli. Stay tuned.
(01:22):
Thank you so much for joining us, Dale, I'm so glad I can
interview today. How are you going?
Yeah, I'm doing well, I just gothome from work at a long day, a
12-hour shift, and then I've just put my toddler Theo to bed
and he's listening to some Biblestories on a different podcast,
and now I'm offended. For this, that's right.
(01:44):
Thank you so much for putting inthe time to do the interview
with your night shifts. Could you tell me a bit about
you, and what you do for a living if that's okay with you,
your job sounds very interestingand unusual.
So, for the last five years I'veworked at place called the
Australian synchrotron that's scientific research facility and
it's the only one in Australia and there's only a few in the
(02:05):
southern hemisphere. So it is pretty unique.
We have scientists from all overAustralia and other places too.
Awesome. New Zealand and Singapore, who
bring their samples to the Australian, synchrotron and
they'll analyze them at our facility and I work in the
control room there. So I'm what's called an
operator. And one of my team is there 24/7
(02:25):
to keep the particle acceleratorrunning smoothly.
So the scientist can do their job.
So that's my job. It's been a real blessing and I
didn't really think that that's the job that I was going to get.
It's pretty close to what I was studying, but it's not the job.
I imagined I was very Best to sort of fall into it in a way
that's so unique to have a job. Like that, that's really cool,
(02:47):
what kind of job where you hoping to get when you were
younger. So when I was really young my
siblings and I had this idea that are sorry, they fear is
just got out of bed. It's all right.
No. Yeah.
It's all right. What pose there a second?
No, yeah, so good. Come here, so, Eli and then
we're going to go to bed. Oh, Mom's going to take it.
(03:08):
All right, say goodbye to Eli. We forgot to Because he's
allowed to have one soft toy andtwo cars.
Special, just forgot to give himhis card.
Okay, so let's start by questioning.
You ask me what job I wanted to be when I was younger.
Yeah. So when I was very young my
(03:28):
siblings and I so there were three of us.
We decided that each of us wouldbe one of the services when you
call Triple zero rice would be apoliceman.
My sister Kim would be a paramedic in Ambulance and I was
going to be a firefighter, but then when I grew up, I sort of
wanted to be a journalist when Iwas in high school and then I
thought maybe a scientist but I wasn't sure what type of science
(03:52):
I would like to do. Then during my degree, I still
like to be an environmental chemist or maybe an analytical
chemist and it was doing analytical chemistry.
That got me into the job that I'm in now.
So there's my journey of jobs that I wanted to do and I know
you have been interviewed on faith podcasts to.
Yeah. Toss this great faith who
(04:13):
podcast is called salty and bright.
It's a great podcast where she interviews people about their
spiritual Journeys. And she's a very thoughtful and
talented interviewer. So she made a very easy, it was
great. I just got to talk a little bit
about my family and some things that were important to me in
growing up in the Christian faith.
Yeah, you're probably the VIP now you know how interviews for
(04:35):
work inside and out? Yeah, I don't know.
I think you've done more interviews than I've been
interviewed. I think you're the expert here.
So did you do the interview on Zoom?
Yeah just like we're doing now except I did it at work so it
did it on my lunch break and I did it with a terrible quality
microphone. So if you listen to the episode
that I'm on faith, audio is veryclear.
(04:57):
And then when I come in at very carefully and bad background
sounds, so I've got a better microphone setup that I've
borrowed for this interview so hopefully it comes out much
better. No.
Yeah. It was face first.
Episode two. Well, I mean, she had it like
trailer but it was her first episode.
That was a pretty good episode for the first episode though.
(05:19):
Why are you in a room with otherpeople when you're at work?
No. Thankfully, that would have been
a little bit weird. Well, I mean I do have an office
that I share with other people but for the interview I went to
a meeting room and so that I wasaway from other people.
Yeah. And if you don't mind, if I ask,
what was it like growing up in aChristian household with your
family of five? Yeah, of course.
(05:39):
It was great. I have a lot to be thankful.
Useful for with my childhood it was a very blessed childhood
with Mum and Dad my mom and dad had Brett and Leslie.
They blessed me and my siblings with household centered, on God,
just reflecting on it in the last week.
Or so, they're made very clear that God was the center of our
lives, but they didn't shelter, if they didn't keep us in doors
(05:59):
and keep us from experiencing the world, it's just that we
experience the world through thelens of God and through the lens
of Christ. So it was a really valuable
experience for them to give to me and my siblings.
Your family. I love taking out with your cute
kids recently. Yeah.
Okay, so obviously, I've grown up, I've got married and I have
two kids of my own. I have the adore, who is two and
(06:22):
a half years old, I have Elias, who is six months old, and
they're both very dear. Very good blessings from God,
Theodore is a little bit mischievous.
He's struggling through his toddlerhood Defiance.
So a thing and that's a big learning curve for my wife and I
and for him as well. We struggled Keep him in bed, a
(06:42):
bit, which we've just experienced that much.
Make it into the final episode. But listener, let me just peel
back the curtain a little bit Eli may, or may not have had to
cut some audio where Theo bargedinto the room where I'm doing
the interview when he should be in bed.
So, those sort of things happen when you have toddlers in the
house, there's a peek behind thescenes of podcast interviews.
(07:06):
Yeah, and a few weeks ago, Theo's aren't you had told my
mum about how she was really Theo, a Bible story about Eli
and Samuel, I think. And the oh, it's like, oh Eli.
I know him? He came with big Lily here cuz
my sister Lily big Lily. And then yeah, I want to say, I
have miles. I just found out really cute.
(07:27):
It is cute. And so we loved having your
family over at our place for dinner recently.
That was great. I have really enjoyed spending
some time over the years with your family and was great.
To have you in our house and especially now that Theo is old
enough to sort of Remember past events, quite clearly.
And remember people and talk about the things that he wants
and the things that he remembers.
(07:49):
So yeah, there's beautiful cute,things like that.
I think he understands that you are different to the Eli in the
Bible. I know sometimes toddlers can be
like, well, they have the same name so they must have the same.
Yeah, exactly. We have a common sense, who's
Daniel? And another friends toddler was
like, this is the Daniel, that was in the Lion's Den.
(08:10):
And he was like, wow, I I can't believe the guy who's in The
Lions Den is in my lounge room but no, I think Thea understands
the difference there, but then there's a Liars to who's very
cute. He's six months old.
So he's just started eating solid food and by eating solid
food, have been grabbing it and sort of gumming it and then
spitting it out everywhere. So that's fun.
(08:33):
Fun for me. And my wife Gina I should say
also because you did ask about my whole family, not just my
kids, my wife Gina and I have been married for five years.
As Nellie 66 in July and that has been a beautiful blessing
from God. Yeah.
And like what kind of things is Elias and Theo enter.
Like I know a lot of toddlers are into trucks stuff like that.
(08:54):
Yeah. Are they into a sort of specific
thing? Is that planes as it truck sits
at Bluey, you know, all of those?
Yeah. So Bluey and Thomas the Tank
Engine. Are the two big sort of TV shows
that he's into but apart from TVshows anymore.
Thing with vehicles, right? So cars trucks, motorbikes
(09:15):
bicycles Planes Trains, all these things.
I'll tell you two things about Theo's enthusiasm.
Their one thing is we have a lotof construction going on around
our neighborhood at the moment which is a bit of a pain because
of Maidens driving around. It takes a little bit longer as
they take you on a detour. And there's lots of noise
around, but it's great for Theo because we go for a walk, any
(09:38):
day? And he will see a digger.
He will see a crane, Rain, he will see a cement truck and you
know, he's just having the time of his life and the other thing
is that every evening when we say a prayer before we go to
bed, we ask Theo. What can we thank God for and
every night without fail. He says trains and cars.
(09:59):
You know, he wants to thank God for trains and cars.
So that's clearly got a special place in his heart.
Yeah. Yeah, every time t.i. says,
Thomas as in Thomas the Tank Engine, you always go Thomas.
Thomas is so cute. Yeah, when we were at your place
for dinner, we did a devotional there.
And for one of the songs we weresinging This Little Light of
(10:20):
Mine and we had turned off the lights and you gave our family
and yours each like a little plastic candle.
I thought that was really special.
Yeah, that was really cool. Does that what you guys do every
time when you sing that song? Yes.
So when we sing that song which their calls the lights on, yes,
we turn off the lights and we each get a little plastic
kennel. Yeah.
(10:40):
Real candle plastic and we turn on and we sing This Little Light
of Mine. And yeah, I think it's a little
special thing for him at the moment.
He enjoys a purely because he gets to wave a little candle
around, but I hope that he's enjoyment of that will lead to
his enjoyment of the understanding of the words that
were singing. Like you said, when you guys
were here, we try to do a devotional with the family every
(11:01):
night. So that's a few songs and a
Bible story and prayer and hopefully the fun that he's
having with the songs helps transfer into it.
Enjoyment of God's word and enjoyment of prayer and singing
together as well. Yeah, yeah.
I thought that for a special andI remember and it can't that we
went to a few years ago on Talent night, you proposed to
(11:24):
your wife Gina on stage, what made you want to do that?
I was very silly as very soon. Well, okay, so here's, here's
the thing. I had bought the engagement ring
online, but it was very difficult to ship it to
Australia without Paying a lot of extra money.
And so I had organized to ship it to my friends in America to
(11:48):
Heather Roberts, who is the daughter of Dale, and Sheila
Hartman and their siblings. Like Kent and Nancy Hartman.
We're coming over for this camp and so I said, Heather can you
please give it to Kent Nancy andthen can't announce he brought
it over to the camp and we were going to be at the cat and so I
basically want to propose as quickly as I could when I got
(12:10):
the The ring. And so I got the ring the first
day of camp and I proposed like the third day of can.
The other thing that made me want to do it at Camp was?
I wanted to surprise Gina and Gina was not expecting me to
propose a camp. I think if I tried to do
something like we get back from our holiday and then maybe a
week later, I take her out on a picnic and proposed to her
(12:32):
beside a river, or something, like, should be expecting.
And I wanted to surprise him though.
Yeah. It definitely did surprise her.
Yeah, everyone did go to a really big Fries?
Yes, yeah and I look back at that.
I think are you crazy down? But you know she said, yes, and
we're living happily ever after.So yeah.
What year was that? I know how old I would have
been. I would've been like question, I
(12:54):
think that was the 30th of December 2016.
You remember the actual date? I thought it's just going to be
the yeah. Wow.
Yes, the week after Christmas and I'm pretty sure the talent
night is usually did not before New Year's Eve.
I'm not getting married. But I think yes, yes looking at
and then we were married in July2017.
(13:17):
Wow, thank you for sharing. Okay, so what made you decide to
get baptized? Yeah, I mean, I guess growing
up, I always knew that I wanted to get baptized at some point.
The question was really just when right?
And it's not an easy question, when you cry up in the church,
you know you want to be a Christian for your whole life.
You've got to make the decision for yourself at some point to
(13:38):
say, I am going to get baptized and it's Tricky thing, because
you think do I know enough? I vomit.
Sure enough and this other pressures on you.
Maybe you might think that theirpeople at church who are saying,
putting pressure on you to get baptized or you might not have
that experience. Just try to put myself in the
frame of mind that I was at the time.
(14:01):
I got baptized, I got baptized on my birthday on my fifth.
Wow. So I never have to remember,
what? What Date.
It was because it's just my birthday.
The 12th of January and I guess that would be 2008.
Yeah, that's a great tip. Just get baptized on your
birthday. Yeah, that's right.
But here's the thing in our family, we have a tradition of
(14:23):
celebrating the anniversary of your baptism just as much as we
celebrate your birthday and if you get baptized on your
birthday then you only get one but if you get baptized on
another date then you get to celebrations.
So there you go, there's the pros and cons.
But what made me want to get baptized I grew up wanting to
dedicate my life to Christ the tricky bit was figuring out when
(14:47):
to get baptized and I sort of struggle with that a little bit.
And like I said and I can't really remember all the
processes that were going through my head.
I'm an old man now Eli. And actually now that you say
that I realize because I'm 30 this year, that means that I was
baptized half of my lifetime ago.
No I can't. I can't stand remember.
(15:08):
Yeah I guess so I guess now I'vebeen Sized longer than I was
unbaptized, which is pretty cool.
But yes, I think there are two questions there.
Do you want to be Christian? And if you do, then you'll get
baptized at some point. But then the other question is,
when is the right time? And that's not the same for
everybody. And I can't even really remember
(15:29):
the reasoning around why I did it when I did it, but I'm just
happy that I did it. I guess.
I felt a bit of pressure. I felt like I really need to get
this done. It wasn't Now or Never, but it
was like, All right there reallyno excuses for me.
This point. There's no reason for me not to
so if I don't get baptized now then it's really like a making
(15:49):
excuses, right? And looking back on that, I
think maybe that was a little bit immature of me.
I don't think that I needed to put the pressure on myself, that
I was doing it. It would have been okay to do it
a little bit later but I am gladthat you're looking back.
That I did it, I got baptized committed my life to God.
I was buried with Christ and raised to a new life and there's
(16:10):
the best decision I've ever made.
That's really inspiring down. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, I love Oscar. And Christians why they decided
to get baptized because it's encouraging to hear like when
they got baptized and why they felt the sudden.
Urge at that very moment I will add.
So I got baptized on my birthdayat the beach at Frankston Beach
(16:30):
and that is the same place that my father got baptized I guess
like 30 years before that. So that was pretty cool.
But I remember coming home afterwards and having a shower
and just sort of being Come withrelief and gratitude that a lot
had been leading up to that point, and I'm glad that I'd
taken that step. It's just very thankful to God,
for forgiving, my sins and doubting this walk with him.
(16:52):
Yes. Well, thank you.
Yeah. Did many people come to your
baptism, was it pretty like Lowdown?
I guess what? My whole family were there and I
remember there are at least two or three others.
I'm pretty sure to be honest. I think my mind was in a bit of
a whirl. There would have been a few from
my local. And who live a little bit closer
to where we live, that came down.
(17:14):
I think so. Do, where would be your dream
holiday? That's a good question.
Actually. I've been trying to think about
this because there's different reasons why you go on a holiday
right? I'm sure you've found this but
the place and the experience andsome holidays, you go people.
And so I've really enjoyed holidays that I've gone to and
I've spent a lot of time with friends and families and
(17:36):
Brothers and Sisters in Christ but it's it's nowhere special,
right? Like it's been a great holiday
but it's just, but if you asking, like, where would be a
great holiday for the place in the experience?
Well, I really enjoyed the time that I spent in the Lake
District in the UK a couple of years ago.
That's up in the north west of England and there's just a lot
(17:57):
of great hiking. A lot of cool little towns.
A lot of very beautiful and picturesque scenery, a lot of
random sheep wandering around, all that kind of stuff.
And it's just lovely. And I I was there for a work
conference on Lake Windermere and this is when I was dating
Gina and she was in the Torah and Europe at that point.
(18:18):
And she came across to the Lake District.
And we did some hiking there together which was a lovely
memory. And so, yeah, if I was just
going for a holiday for the enjoyment of the experience, I
think I would go back there. I really love that.
Yeah, hiking so romantic, and well, for some people, it's
(18:38):
romantic for us. Yes.
Yes. Do you have a favorite song?
Dale, are you into music? I am into music.
Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you what'sone really good thing song that
you might not expect the original, Thomas the Tank Engine
things. Yes, it's so good.
I like Bob the Builder theme song to.
Oh, yeah. That's good.
(19:16):
My favorite musicians, or artists or bands.
Had a top 3. I think it would be Leonard
Cohen. Maybe Paul Simon and a band from
California called the Wolfpack. So Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon
are a little bit older from previous generations.
(19:36):
Leonard Cohen actually died a couple years ago which is very
sad but V Becker. Young at banned from the last
decade, and they're very different music to the funk
music, which is very cool. And so, their music is fun to
dance with my kids, too. Because it's very, it's a great.
Got a great beat, ya know, they're really fun.
(19:57):
Let it go and pull something a little bit more serious, but I
think they're both great musicians and great lyricists.
So they talked a lot about the pains and struggles, and joys of
human. Life.
And I think they do a really good job of that.
Yeah, I should probably ask, what's your family, or your kids
(20:17):
favorite songs to me like, you know, theme songs or silly songs
or Wiggles, you know. So, here's the thing, Gina
likes, a lot of music, but a lotof the music she likes is from
the 90s and early 2000s, whereasgrew up in the 90s both.
I listen to a lot of my dad's music, which was a lot of
beetles and Led Zeppelin, and ELO and Steely Dan.
(20:38):
And then when I was in like early, I school I started
listening to my own music as well as that and so Gina Likes
music from the 90s and early 2000s and that is the one area
that I know nothing about. Like, it's a complete musical
black hole for me. So Jeff and I have quite
different musical tastes but Theo, Theo will request songs in
(21:00):
the car in a really interesting way.
So I mentioned, he likes, Thomasthe Tank Engine.
You knows the names of characters from Thomas the Tank
Engine, right? And so he'll be like, Like I
want to listen to any song and Iwas like well there isn't really
in the show, Thomas the Tank Engine, there isn't a special
song for Annie. That's what Thomas has carriages
(21:23):
but I was like well hang on I can find a song.
That's got an e and it's tile, right?
And so I'd play something that'slike there's a John Denver song
called Annie's Song or we'd playsomething from the musical
Annie. You know.
Yes tomorrow or you know the hard-knock life.
Yes. Yes.
And he'll ask the things that he'll say I want to listen to
the Train song. Well what kind of song like what
(21:47):
kinds of but I thought well I can find a song about trains and
there's this really cool song byan African artist named Hugh.
Masekela it's called steam Ella which is the name of a train
that brought workers from elsewhere in Africa to the minds
of Johannesburg in South Africa and it's like this 10 minute
long African jazz song. E not in English and I was like
(22:12):
for a joke, the I'm going to when you ask for train.
So I'm going to play this song and he loved it I couldn't
believe it asking for this trainsong.
What's it called again? Sorry it's called steam ala and
is a great live version. I think it's exactly 10 minutes
long. I mean it's a lot of
instrumental sections but he makes a lot of train-related
(22:35):
sound effects as well. And I think that's the bit that
video really enjoyed at different points of this.
And at their noise when those bits are coming and he gets
really excited about them. So yeah, that's the type of
music that they are listens to but I have fun thinking about.
(22:55):
Okay, if he asks for this character from Thomas the Tank
Engine. What some will I play for that?
You know, it's fun. Yeah, well it's really funny and
now it's time for Factor the daythe segment and every episode
where we share an interesting fact.
And so today's fact is, if you've ever wondered why the
(23:19):
phrase we raised a toast exists is because the ancient Romans
used to drop a piece of toast into their wine for good health,
soggy bread. Favorite movie or show?
I don't think I do. I think I'd probably go through
just like Bible verses. I have different favorites at
different times but there are some movies that are just very,
(23:43):
very impressive to me. And I enjoy going back to.
I really like Mad Max Fury Road,which is a true loss trillion
movie from a few years ago and Ireally like movies by the Coen
Brothers, which one recently called a Blood Simple.
And there's a great classic one called Fargo, that is pretty
famous. Yeah, I don't know more of a
(24:05):
music person than a movie person.
Yeah. Okay.
Well for the final question, I would like to ask.
What's your favorite memory thatyou always look back on?
Well, you know what? I'm not sure but the thing is
about the stage of life that I'mat at the moment.
I feel like I'm going to have a lot of moments around this stage
that I look back on in future years because my kids are not
(24:27):
always going to want to run up and give me a huge.
Ugh. And I think I'm going to miss
that. So when I got home from work
tonight, I walked in the door and Theo, ran up to me and gave
me a big hug. That was very excited to see me.
And I think those are the sort of moments that I'll be looking
back at, in 10 years time that. I think I'll be revisiting a
lot. Yeah, lots of memories being
(24:49):
created with young kids at the moment that a very special you
work night and day shifts, right?
That's right. Yeah, yeah.
So I bet when you come home, whatever time it is said,
probably yeah, I miss You. Yeah, exactly.
And So Lisa at the moment, Theo's generally sleeping in to
about 6:45 and I've already leftthe house by then on a day shift
(25:11):
and when I get back he's just maybe 10 or 15 minutes away from
going to bed so I only get to see him for that last 15 minutes
and on the weekends. Right?
Well yeah. And I don't work Monday to
Friday so I usually work for days at a time.
So for days on and then actuallyget away.
Week off before I have to go back to work.
(25:32):
So I got a lot of days where I'mwith him the whole day but when
I'm at work during the day I do miss Gina and they are analyzed
a lot because it's a long day and I don't get to see them much
during those days. Okay, I think that's a.
Yes, thanks for the great shot Del.
I really appreciate your time. Say hi to the family for me.
(25:54):
Thank you so much. Well, do you say hi to your
family for me to? Yes.
So well, thank you so much. Much okay.
Bye. Yeah.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode.
If I'm with you, I I hope you found me and Dallas discussion
inspiring and to Our Guest Dale,thank you for coming on
listeners. If you have any questions or
(26:14):
comments, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
I appreciate your support and I look forward to bringing you
more great content in the future.
Have a wonderful day and I hope to see you on our next episode.
Bye.
Welcome to this week's episode of Ellen with Eli.
We have an exciting episode for you today, filled with an
amazing interview, encouraging and engaging discussions and
interesting perspectives on Christianity Today.
Our Guest Dale Christensen shares, his inspiring
experiences and knowledge about his walk through faith.
So I sit back, relax and join usfor a conversation.
(00:22):
You don't want to miss. But before we start, let me just
give you guys a bit of background information about
him. Dale is 30 years old and was
Race in the household, over his parents Brett and Leslie where
there's two siblings, Kim and Bryce after going to school and
Suburban Melbourne Dale, followed a university on his
degree in chemistry and currently works at the
Australian, synchrotron a government-funded research
(00:44):
organization and finished. His study for a PhD earlier this
year. He married, his wife Junior in
2017 and has two kids Theodore and Elias.
Okay, I think we're ready. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Stay tuned. And let's get straight into it.
Welcome to Elm with Eli. Stay tuned.
(01:22):
Thank you so much for joining us, Dale, I'm so glad I can
interview today. How are you going?
Yeah, I'm doing well, I just gothome from work at a long day, a
12-hour shift, and then I've just put my toddler Theo to bed
and he's listening to some Biblestories on a different podcast,
and now I'm offended. For this, that's right.
(01:44):
Thank you so much for putting inthe time to do the interview
with your night shifts. Could you tell me a bit about
you, and what you do for a living if that's okay with you,
your job sounds very interestingand unusual.
So, for the last five years I'veworked at place called the
Australian synchrotron that's scientific research facility and
it's the only one in Australia and there's only a few in the
(02:05):
southern hemisphere. So it is pretty unique.
We have scientists from all overAustralia and other places too.
Awesome. New Zealand and Singapore, who
bring their samples to the Australian, synchrotron and
they'll analyze them at our facility and I work in the
control room there. So I'm what's called an
operator. And one of my team is there 24/7
(02:25):
to keep the particle acceleratorrunning smoothly.
So the scientist can do their job.
So that's my job. It's been a real blessing and I
didn't really think that that's the job that I was going to get.
It's pretty close to what I was studying, but it's not the job.
I imagined I was very Best to sort of fall into it in a way
that's so unique to have a job. Like that, that's really cool,
(02:47):
what kind of job where you hoping to get when you were
younger. So when I was really young my
siblings and I had this idea that are sorry, they fear is
just got out of bed. It's all right.
No. Yeah.
It's all right. What pose there a second?
No, yeah, so good. Come here, so, Eli and then
we're going to go to bed. Oh, Mom's going to take it.
(03:08):
All right, say goodbye to Eli. We forgot to Because he's
allowed to have one soft toy andtwo cars.
Special, just forgot to give himhis card.
Okay, so let's start by questioning.
You ask me what job I wanted to be when I was younger.
Yeah. So when I was very young my
(03:28):
siblings and I so there were three of us.
We decided that each of us wouldbe one of the services when you
call Triple zero rice would be apoliceman.
My sister Kim would be a paramedic in Ambulance and I was
going to be a firefighter, but then when I grew up, I sort of
wanted to be a journalist when Iwas in high school and then I
thought maybe a scientist but I wasn't sure what type of science
(03:52):
I would like to do. Then during my degree, I still
like to be an environmental chemist or maybe an analytical
chemist and it was doing analytical chemistry.
That got me into the job that I'm in now.
So there's my journey of jobs that I wanted to do and I know
you have been interviewed on faith podcasts to.
Yeah. Toss this great faith who
(04:13):
podcast is called salty and bright.
It's a great podcast where she interviews people about their
spiritual Journeys. And she's a very thoughtful and
talented interviewer. So she made a very easy, it was
great. I just got to talk a little bit
about my family and some things that were important to me in
growing up in the Christian faith.
Yeah, you're probably the VIP now you know how interviews for
(04:35):
work inside and out? Yeah, I don't know.
I think you've done more interviews than I've been
interviewed. I think you're the expert here.
So did you do the interview on Zoom?
Yeah just like we're doing now except I did it at work so it
did it on my lunch break and I did it with a terrible quality
microphone. So if you listen to the episode
that I'm on faith, audio is veryclear.
(04:57):
And then when I come in at very carefully and bad background
sounds, so I've got a better microphone setup that I've
borrowed for this interview so hopefully it comes out much
better. No.
Yeah. It was face first.
Episode two. Well, I mean, she had it like
trailer but it was her first episode.
That was a pretty good episode for the first episode though.
(05:19):
Why are you in a room with otherpeople when you're at work?
No. Thankfully, that would have been
a little bit weird. Well, I mean I do have an office
that I share with other people but for the interview I went to
a meeting room and so that I wasaway from other people.
Yeah. And if you don't mind, if I ask,
what was it like growing up in aChristian household with your
family of five? Yeah, of course.
(05:39):
It was great. I have a lot to be thankful.
Useful for with my childhood it was a very blessed childhood
with Mum and Dad my mom and dad had Brett and Leslie.
They blessed me and my siblings with household centered, on God,
just reflecting on it in the last week.
Or so, they're made very clear that God was the center of our
lives, but they didn't shelter, if they didn't keep us in doors
(05:59):
and keep us from experiencing the world, it's just that we
experience the world through thelens of God and through the lens
of Christ. So it was a really valuable
experience for them to give to me and my siblings.
Your family. I love taking out with your cute
kids recently. Yeah.
Okay, so obviously, I've grown up, I've got married and I have
two kids of my own. I have the adore, who is two and
(06:22):
a half years old, I have Elias, who is six months old, and
they're both very dear. Very good blessings from God,
Theodore is a little bit mischievous.
He's struggling through his toddlerhood Defiance.
So a thing and that's a big learning curve for my wife and I
and for him as well. We struggled Keep him in bed, a
(06:42):
bit, which we've just experienced that much.
Make it into the final episode. But listener, let me just peel
back the curtain a little bit Eli may, or may not have had to
cut some audio where Theo bargedinto the room where I'm doing
the interview when he should be in bed.
So, those sort of things happen when you have toddlers in the
house, there's a peek behind thescenes of podcast interviews.
(07:06):
Yeah, and a few weeks ago, Theo's aren't you had told my
mum about how she was really Theo, a Bible story about Eli
and Samuel, I think. And the oh, it's like, oh Eli.
I know him? He came with big Lily here cuz
my sister Lily big Lily. And then yeah, I want to say, I
have miles. I just found out really cute.
(07:27):
It is cute. And so we loved having your
family over at our place for dinner recently.
That was great. I have really enjoyed spending
some time over the years with your family and was great.
To have you in our house and especially now that Theo is old
enough to sort of Remember past events, quite clearly.
And remember people and talk about the things that he wants
and the things that he remembers.
(07:49):
So yeah, there's beautiful cute,things like that.
I think he understands that you are different to the Eli in the
Bible. I know sometimes toddlers can be
like, well, they have the same name so they must have the same.
Yeah, exactly. We have a common sense, who's
Daniel? And another friends toddler was
like, this is the Daniel, that was in the Lion's Den.
(08:10):
And he was like, wow, I I can't believe the guy who's in The
Lions Den is in my lounge room but no, I think Thea understands
the difference there, but then there's a Liars to who's very
cute. He's six months old.
So he's just started eating solid food and by eating solid
food, have been grabbing it and sort of gumming it and then
spitting it out everywhere. So that's fun.
(08:33):
Fun for me. And my wife Gina I should say
also because you did ask about my whole family, not just my
kids, my wife Gina and I have been married for five years.
As Nellie 66 in July and that has been a beautiful blessing
from God. Yeah.
And like what kind of things is Elias and Theo enter.
Like I know a lot of toddlers are into trucks stuff like that.
(08:54):
Yeah. Are they into a sort of specific
thing? Is that planes as it truck sits
at Bluey, you know, all of those?
Yeah. So Bluey and Thomas the Tank
Engine. Are the two big sort of TV shows
that he's into but apart from TVshows anymore.
Thing with vehicles, right? So cars trucks, motorbikes
(09:15):
bicycles Planes Trains, all these things.
I'll tell you two things about Theo's enthusiasm.
Their one thing is we have a lotof construction going on around
our neighborhood at the moment which is a bit of a pain because
of Maidens driving around. It takes a little bit longer as
they take you on a detour. And there's lots of noise
around, but it's great for Theo because we go for a walk, any
(09:38):
day? And he will see a digger.
He will see a crane, Rain, he will see a cement truck and you
know, he's just having the time of his life and the other thing
is that every evening when we say a prayer before we go to
bed, we ask Theo. What can we thank God for and
every night without fail. He says trains and cars.
(09:59):
You know, he wants to thank God for trains and cars.
So that's clearly got a special place in his heart.
Yeah. Yeah, every time t.i. says,
Thomas as in Thomas the Tank Engine, you always go Thomas.
Thomas is so cute. Yeah, when we were at your place
for dinner, we did a devotional there.
And for one of the songs we weresinging This Little Light of
(10:20):
Mine and we had turned off the lights and you gave our family
and yours each like a little plastic candle.
I thought that was really special.
Yeah, that was really cool. Does that what you guys do every
time when you sing that song? Yes.
So when we sing that song which their calls the lights on, yes,
we turn off the lights and we each get a little plastic
kennel. Yeah.
(10:40):
Real candle plastic and we turn on and we sing This Little Light
of Mine. And yeah, I think it's a little
special thing for him at the moment.
He enjoys a purely because he gets to wave a little candle
around, but I hope that he's enjoyment of that will lead to
his enjoyment of the understanding of the words that
were singing. Like you said, when you guys
were here, we try to do a devotional with the family every
(11:01):
night. So that's a few songs and a
Bible story and prayer and hopefully the fun that he's
having with the songs helps transfer into it.
Enjoyment of God's word and enjoyment of prayer and singing
together as well. Yeah, yeah.
I thought that for a special andI remember and it can't that we
went to a few years ago on Talent night, you proposed to
(11:24):
your wife Gina on stage, what made you want to do that?
I was very silly as very soon. Well, okay, so here's, here's
the thing. I had bought the engagement ring
online, but it was very difficult to ship it to
Australia without Paying a lot of extra money.
And so I had organized to ship it to my friends in America to
(11:48):
Heather Roberts, who is the daughter of Dale, and Sheila
Hartman and their siblings. Like Kent and Nancy Hartman.
We're coming over for this camp and so I said, Heather can you
please give it to Kent Nancy andthen can't announce he brought
it over to the camp and we were going to be at the cat and so I
basically want to propose as quickly as I could when I got
(12:10):
the The ring. And so I got the ring the first
day of camp and I proposed like the third day of can.
The other thing that made me want to do it at Camp was?
I wanted to surprise Gina and Gina was not expecting me to
propose a camp. I think if I tried to do
something like we get back from our holiday and then maybe a
week later, I take her out on a picnic and proposed to her
(12:32):
beside a river, or something, like, should be expecting.
And I wanted to surprise him though.
Yeah. It definitely did surprise her.
Yeah, everyone did go to a really big Fries?
Yes, yeah and I look back at that.
I think are you crazy down? But you know she said, yes, and
we're living happily ever after.So yeah.
What year was that? I know how old I would have
been. I would've been like question, I
(12:54):
think that was the 30th of December 2016.
You remember the actual date? I thought it's just going to be
the yeah. Wow.
Yes, the week after Christmas and I'm pretty sure the talent
night is usually did not before New Year's Eve.
I'm not getting married. But I think yes, yes looking at
and then we were married in July2017.
(13:17):
Wow, thank you for sharing. Okay, so what made you decide to
get baptized? Yeah, I mean, I guess growing
up, I always knew that I wanted to get baptized at some point.
The question was really just when right?
And it's not an easy question, when you cry up in the church,
you know you want to be a Christian for your whole life.
You've got to make the decision for yourself at some point to
(13:38):
say, I am going to get baptized and it's Tricky thing, because
you think do I know enough? I vomit.
Sure enough and this other pressures on you.
Maybe you might think that theirpeople at church who are saying,
putting pressure on you to get baptized or you might not have
that experience. Just try to put myself in the
frame of mind that I was at the time.
(14:01):
I got baptized, I got baptized on my birthday on my fifth.
Wow. So I never have to remember,
what? What Date.
It was because it's just my birthday.
The 12th of January and I guess that would be 2008.
Yeah, that's a great tip. Just get baptized on your
birthday. Yeah, that's right.
But here's the thing in our family, we have a tradition of
(14:23):
celebrating the anniversary of your baptism just as much as we
celebrate your birthday and if you get baptized on your
birthday then you only get one but if you get baptized on
another date then you get to celebrations.
So there you go, there's the pros and cons.
But what made me want to get baptized I grew up wanting to
dedicate my life to Christ the tricky bit was figuring out when
(14:47):
to get baptized and I sort of struggle with that a little bit.
And like I said and I can't really remember all the
processes that were going through my head.
I'm an old man now Eli. And actually now that you say
that I realize because I'm 30 this year, that means that I was
baptized half of my lifetime ago.
No I can't. I can't stand remember.
(15:08):
Yeah I guess so I guess now I'vebeen Sized longer than I was
unbaptized, which is pretty cool.
But yes, I think there are two questions there.
Do you want to be Christian? And if you do, then you'll get
baptized at some point. But then the other question is,
when is the right time? And that's not the same for
everybody. And I can't even really remember
(15:29):
the reasoning around why I did it when I did it, but I'm just
happy that I did it. I guess.
I felt a bit of pressure. I felt like I really need to get
this done. It wasn't Now or Never, but it
was like, All right there reallyno excuses for me.
This point. There's no reason for me not to
so if I don't get baptized now then it's really like a making
(15:49):
excuses, right? And looking back on that, I
think maybe that was a little bit immature of me.
I don't think that I needed to put the pressure on myself, that
I was doing it. It would have been okay to do it
a little bit later but I am gladthat you're looking back.
That I did it, I got baptized committed my life to God.
I was buried with Christ and raised to a new life and there's
(16:10):
the best decision I've ever made.
That's really inspiring down. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, I love Oscar. And Christians why they decided
to get baptized because it's encouraging to hear like when
they got baptized and why they felt the sudden.
Urge at that very moment I will add.
So I got baptized on my birthdayat the beach at Frankston Beach
(16:30):
and that is the same place that my father got baptized I guess
like 30 years before that. So that was pretty cool.
But I remember coming home afterwards and having a shower
and just sort of being Come withrelief and gratitude that a lot
had been leading up to that point, and I'm glad that I'd
taken that step. It's just very thankful to God,
for forgiving, my sins and doubting this walk with him.
(16:52):
Yes. Well, thank you.
Yeah. Did many people come to your
baptism, was it pretty like Lowdown?
I guess what? My whole family were there and I
remember there are at least two or three others.
I'm pretty sure to be honest. I think my mind was in a bit of
a whirl. There would have been a few from
my local. And who live a little bit closer
to where we live, that came down.
(17:14):
I think so. Do, where would be your dream
holiday? That's a good question.
Actually. I've been trying to think about
this because there's different reasons why you go on a holiday
right? I'm sure you've found this but
the place and the experience andsome holidays, you go people.
And so I've really enjoyed holidays that I've gone to and
I've spent a lot of time with friends and families and
(17:36):
Brothers and Sisters in Christ but it's it's nowhere special,
right? Like it's been a great holiday
but it's just, but if you asking, like, where would be a
great holiday for the place in the experience?
Well, I really enjoyed the time that I spent in the Lake
District in the UK a couple of years ago.
That's up in the north west of England and there's just a lot
(17:57):
of great hiking. A lot of cool little towns.
A lot of very beautiful and picturesque scenery, a lot of
random sheep wandering around, all that kind of stuff.
And it's just lovely. And I I was there for a work
conference on Lake Windermere and this is when I was dating
Gina and she was in the Torah and Europe at that point.
(18:18):
And she came across to the Lake District.
And we did some hiking there together which was a lovely
memory. And so, yeah, if I was just
going for a holiday for the enjoyment of the experience, I
think I would go back there. I really love that.
Yeah, hiking so romantic, and well, for some people, it's
(18:38):
romantic for us. Yes.
Yes. Do you have a favorite song?
Dale, are you into music? I am into music.
Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you what'sone really good thing song that
you might not expect the original, Thomas the Tank Engine
things. Yes, it's so good.
I like Bob the Builder theme song to.
Oh, yeah. That's good.
(19:16):
My favorite musicians, or artists or bands.
Had a top 3. I think it would be Leonard
Cohen. Maybe Paul Simon and a band from
California called the Wolfpack. So Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon
are a little bit older from previous generations.
(19:36):
Leonard Cohen actually died a couple years ago which is very
sad but V Becker. Young at banned from the last
decade, and they're very different music to the funk
music, which is very cool. And so, their music is fun to
dance with my kids, too. Because it's very, it's a great.
Got a great beat, ya know, they're really fun.
(19:57):
Let it go and pull something a little bit more serious, but I
think they're both great musicians and great lyricists.
So they talked a lot about the pains and struggles, and joys of
human. Life.
And I think they do a really good job of that.
Yeah, I should probably ask, what's your family, or your kids
(20:17):
favorite songs to me like, you know, theme songs or silly songs
or Wiggles, you know. So, here's the thing, Gina
likes, a lot of music, but a lotof the music she likes is from
the 90s and early 2000s, whereasgrew up in the 90s both.
I listen to a lot of my dad's music, which was a lot of
beetles and Led Zeppelin, and ELO and Steely Dan.
(20:38):
And then when I was in like early, I school I started
listening to my own music as well as that and so Gina Likes
music from the 90s and early 2000s and that is the one area
that I know nothing about. Like, it's a complete musical
black hole for me. So Jeff and I have quite
different musical tastes but Theo, Theo will request songs in
(21:00):
the car in a really interesting way.
So I mentioned, he likes, Thomasthe Tank Engine.
You knows the names of characters from Thomas the Tank
Engine, right? And so he'll be like, Like I
want to listen to any song and Iwas like well there isn't really
in the show, Thomas the Tank Engine, there isn't a special
song for Annie. That's what Thomas has carriages
(21:23):
but I was like well hang on I can find a song.
That's got an e and it's tile, right?
And so I'd play something that'slike there's a John Denver song
called Annie's Song or we'd playsomething from the musical
Annie. You know.
Yes tomorrow or you know the hard-knock life.
Yes. Yes.
And he'll ask the things that he'll say I want to listen to
the Train song. Well what kind of song like what
(21:47):
kinds of but I thought well I can find a song about trains and
there's this really cool song byan African artist named Hugh.
Masekela it's called steam Ella which is the name of a train
that brought workers from elsewhere in Africa to the minds
of Johannesburg in South Africa and it's like this 10 minute
long African jazz song. E not in English and I was like
(22:12):
for a joke, the I'm going to when you ask for train.
So I'm going to play this song and he loved it I couldn't
believe it asking for this trainsong.
What's it called again? Sorry it's called steam ala and
is a great live version. I think it's exactly 10 minutes
long. I mean it's a lot of
instrumental sections but he makes a lot of train-related
(22:35):
sound effects as well. And I think that's the bit that
video really enjoyed at different points of this.
And at their noise when those bits are coming and he gets
really excited about them. So yeah, that's the type of
music that they are listens to but I have fun thinking about.
(22:55):
Okay, if he asks for this character from Thomas the Tank
Engine. What some will I play for that?
You know, it's fun. Yeah, well it's really funny and
now it's time for Factor the daythe segment and every episode
where we share an interesting fact.
And so today's fact is, if you've ever wondered why the
(23:19):
phrase we raised a toast exists is because the ancient Romans
used to drop a piece of toast into their wine for good health,
soggy bread. Favorite movie or show?
I don't think I do. I think I'd probably go through
just like Bible verses. I have different favorites at
different times but there are some movies that are just very,
(23:43):
very impressive to me. And I enjoy going back to.
I really like Mad Max Fury Road,which is a true loss trillion
movie from a few years ago and Ireally like movies by the Coen
Brothers, which one recently called a Blood Simple.
And there's a great classic one called Fargo, that is pretty
famous. Yeah, I don't know more of a
(24:05):
music person than a movie person.
Yeah. Okay.
Well for the final question, I would like to ask.
What's your favorite memory thatyou always look back on?
Well, you know what? I'm not sure but the thing is
about the stage of life that I'mat at the moment.
I feel like I'm going to have a lot of moments around this stage
that I look back on in future years because my kids are not
(24:27):
always going to want to run up and give me a huge.
Ugh. And I think I'm going to miss
that. So when I got home from work
tonight, I walked in the door and Theo, ran up to me and gave
me a big hug. That was very excited to see me.
And I think those are the sort of moments that I'll be looking
back at, in 10 years time that. I think I'll be revisiting a
lot. Yeah, lots of memories being
(24:49):
created with young kids at the moment that a very special you
work night and day shifts, right?
That's right. Yeah, yeah.
So I bet when you come home, whatever time it is said,
probably yeah, I miss You. Yeah, exactly.
And So Lisa at the moment, Theo's generally sleeping in to
about 6:45 and I've already leftthe house by then on a day shift
(25:11):
and when I get back he's just maybe 10 or 15 minutes away from
going to bed so I only get to see him for that last 15 minutes
and on the weekends. Right?
Well yeah. And I don't work Monday to
Friday so I usually work for days at a time.
So for days on and then actuallyget away.
Week off before I have to go back to work.
(25:32):
So I got a lot of days where I'mwith him the whole day but when
I'm at work during the day I do miss Gina and they are analyzed
a lot because it's a long day and I don't get to see them much
during those days. Okay, I think that's a.
Yes, thanks for the great shot Del.
I really appreciate your time. Say hi to the family for me.
(25:54):
Thank you so much. Well, do you say hi to your
family for me to? Yes.
So well, thank you so much. Much okay.
Bye. Yeah.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode.
If I'm with you, I I hope you found me and Dallas discussion
inspiring and to Our Guest Dale,thank you for coming on
listeners. If you have any questions or
(26:14):
comments, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
I appreciate your support and I look forward to bringing you
more great content in the future.
Have a wonderful day and I hope to see you on our next episode.
Bye.
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