It was the summer of 2007 and again we [Delirious? members] found ourselves at the airport. We had been asked to play at several events throughout Asia so we thought we’d combine work with our summer holiday, a great idea until we realized the monumental task of taking 5 wives, 16 children, 6 crew members and more suitcases than I’ve ever seen in one place. In fact, as usual, our family were guilty of the most and with 8 suitcases, a car seat, stroller, Eszter our au-peur, 5 children and another one growing in Anna’s belly, we set off on the adventure of a lifetime.
Just briefly I’m going to backtrack eight months to January. When we last toured India we visited this amazing project in one of the red light districts in Mumbai. To cut a long story short I met an Indian child there who I fell in love with and wanted to bring home. Was I going mad? (Anna thought so!) But I returned from that trip in turmoil over how we could rescue this girl from a life of poverty and prostitution. I remember clearly the first adoption agency forms sitting on the kitchen table and wondering where this journey was going to take us. Anna, the amazing woman that she is felt the right thing was for us to visit her together with the kids and we planned that it for August at the front of our Asia tour. However in the meantime there was a huge turn around with this girl’s mother who decided to exit the trade and keep her. It was the right outcome and I was sad and happy.
So August was here and we were off to India. To have Anna and the children with me was extra ordinary and seeing my own kids on their hands and knees feeding other orphaned kids their daily meal was a beautiful thing. Obviously the highlight was our visit to see our ‘little girl’ and meeting her mother and family too. Who knows why this has happened to us but I know now that she will be educated and given a chance to escape the trap that is crippling millions of innocent lives.
Hyderabad airport will always be remembered for a stressful Smith family moment! I had put 8 passports and boarding cards in the hood of our stroller, which decided to tip over at the wrong moment throwing all the contents across the airport floor amidst a sea of people. I tried at that moment to be a good Christian but failed miserably. Anna is writing a book at the moment called ‘Being Mrs. Smith’, which will probably be an expose of my humanity!
So off to Singapore, the land of Gucci and huge churches. We were there to play at the Festival of Praise with 12,000 every night in the arena. A massive contrast from where we had come from but still part of God’s bigger picture and we were glad to see our friends from City harvest Church. I especially appreciated seeing the senior pastor Kong Hee and connecting with our Singaporean family.
With our fill of sushi we packed the cases and headed off to the airport again. This was our first time to Cambodia. We were part of a Joyce Meyer mission to Phnom Penh but this time things weren’t going too smoothly. The government was very touchy about us being there and was repeatedly shutting down the events at the last minute. One night we were playing when the police pulled the power. I didn’t feel we were finished so I got on the front row of the crowd with my acoustic and we sang for 40 minutes in complete darkness. I’ll remember that beautiful sound of the Cambodian people forever. No one would leave and so Joyce Meyer preached on the steps outside with our infamous red megaphone, you had to be there to believe it! Again, poverty everywhere, heightened by visiting a rubbish dump where kids were eeking (sic) out a living, trying to earn 50 cents a day. There is always joy to be found in the midst of human suffering, which is a constant surprise. You can find God anywhere if you look hard enough and there he was on the faces of these children. We left Cambodia with a degree of frustration but we know we’ll go back someday to carry on the job we started.
Onwards to Bali and a fly date to Indonesia which was fantastic. To hear the people singing our songs in their native tongue was spine chilling. By now we were happy but exhausted and after 30 days we returned home. A summer to remember, a summer that changed us forever. The kids are now back to school and life is back to normal, but in many ways we will never return to being ‘normal,’ we have seen things that have stirred us to action and I can feel the heartbeat of the house is different, something has got inside our children that I hope will shape their future and DNA forever.
Martin Smith is the lead vocalist for the worldwide band, Delirious?. Having played live for 13 years with the same band members intact, Delirious? has closed for the Pope in front of a million people in Germany, played for 1.2 million in India, toured with Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams and more.
Receiving its second International Award from the Gospel Music Association, Delirious? travelled to 25 countries last year and are hitting nearly that many again this year. In addition to its worldwide impact, sometimes the mission the band shares also means tackling the difficult issues. In “Our God Reigns” featured on the band’s latest recording, Delirious? Now Is the Time: Live at Willow Creek, the band deals with the subject of social injustice, particularly A.I.D.S., abortion and the constant focus of Western culture on self-improvement and materialism.
Travelling the globe to inspire music lovers world wide, Delirious? continues to carry on the tradition of spiritually challenging lyrics, while pointing people to see the wonders of what God has done for them.
For more information please visit www.delirious.co.uk.
Writer: Martin Smith