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Coming home to Carindale

8 January 2015
Coming home to Carindale

Steve, Andre and Chris are now all soldiers at the Carindale Corps in Brisbane.


When Chris Rivett walked back into Carindale Salvation Army Corps after an absence of 42 years, her old Sunday School teacher recognised her and welcomed her “home”.

Since that day three years ago, Carindale, in Brisbane's south-east, has again become a spiritual home for Chris. She and her husband Steve became senior soldiers 12 months ago and their 17-year-old adopted son Andre also recently took the step to senior soldiership.

Chris stopped attending the corps at the age of 16 after her mother gave her the choice.

However, she held on to her faith in God despite confronting many challenges in life, including breast cancer treatment.

Her husband also faced a difficult time when the company he was working for went into liquidation.

But the turning point came when they contacted Major David Terracini, the corps officer at Carindale, when Steve's dad was dying.

“Steve’s dad had been brought up in The Salvation Army and when he was really sick, he just kept saying ‘officer, officer’ – calling for an Army officer,” Chris says.

“We went up and saw David (Major Terracini). I was actually still on the roll at Carindale (formerly Carina) as a junior soldier. David came and prayed with Steve’s dad and at two o’clock the next morning we got a call from the nursing home – he had passed away. The nurses said he went with a smile on his face. He went at peace.”

The following Sunday, the Rivett family attended the corps and have been there ever since.

“We basically deep down knew God was calling us back,” Chris says. “I really felt like I’d come home. Some of the people knew me even though I left the corps when I was 16 and I am now 58!”

Chris says Major Terracini and the corps have been an enormous support over the past three years through subsequent times of grieving – especially after the death of her mother and Steve's brother.

She also says the corps has been a major influence on the life of Andre, who suffers from Down Syndrome. A shot put and discus champion, Andre has also found a “home” at Carindale.

“He is our gift from God,” says Chris.

“The fellowship (at the corps) has really encouraged and strengthened his walk with God.

“Andre will now say grace in public. He’s not embarrassed – even at school he’ll say grace! If anybody passed away, we told him in the past that ‘they’ve gone to be a star in the sky’ and now he comes out with ‘a star in the sky with Jesus’.

“We wake up at six in the morning and hear Andre playing children’s Bible songs, and in the last month, when I’m home here with Andre by myself, I stand outside his door and while he doesn’t speak clearly, I can hear him quietly saying something. Sometimes I peer through the window, and here he is with his Bible on his lap.

“He can read but I don’t know how much he can comprehend. But whatever he’s reading, whatever he’s saying, God knows. And all of a sudden he’ll close his Bible, bows his head and say ‘amen’.”

Deeply committed to the work of the corps, Chris says the family has been incredibly enriched in return.

“We just feel happy in ourselves and know it's really where we are meant to be. As a family, spiritually, we are at peace,” she says.

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