UB40 is playing to a sell-out crowd of die-hard fans at King Charles Park, just across the river from us. The tickets cost upward of FJ$150 a person, just to be one of the many sweaty revellers.

Beyond our village boundary, along the back road lives Uncle Khanu and his family. They’re Hindus. I met Uncle Khanu on my walk home earlier this afternoon, and when I asked him how he was, he told me that he was sick, a heart attack, but he was thankful that he survived it. Seventy-five and still walking, he said. He has lived here in Nakavu all his life.

‘Red, Red, Wine’ was so popular on the local radio when I was growing up in the ’80s, that I thought the band was local but chose to sing in English, for whatever reason my child mind came up with. England seemed mythical to me when I learned more about UB40. One of those made up, faraway places of adventure and fairy tales. As mythical, perhaps, as some people find God, or Heaven, or Christianity.

Ali Campbell’s distinctive voice comes through loud and clear cross the moonlit waters of the Nadi River. Across the village, Uncle Khanu is probably settling in for the night, a simple family man, who has only ever known village life. I can’t help but wonder at how these two different men, with different lives, are here in Nadi this warm Friday night, yet still worlds apart.

Do they wonder about where they’re going? Where their faith, their beliefs are taking them? How their lives will end? Did they keep along the same path they’ve known because it’s familiar, a family tradition?

Family traditions can trip us up, and enslave us into thinking that everything outside of our beliefs is false, without wondering about truth. Family traditions are reinforced by the sins of our fathers, and forefathers, who might not want to get too close to the light because it will expose them, their darkness.

This is why it’s important that you know what you believe, know who or what you’ve placed your faith in. Know why you believe what you believe.

Truth matters. Our faith and beliefs must be founded and grounded in truth, otherwise we’re like squawking mynas following the crowd.

As we draw near the end of January, I encourage you to look deeper into your values, beliefs and your faith. Reflect on why you believe what you believe. Why you’re a Christian, or why you’re not one.

It’s time to repent of the sins of our fathers, forgive them, and lay them to rest.