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Hi guys! So, Australia is awesome & the people are fantastic & I’m loving everything about being overseas!
Well, that’s what I would say if life were perfect, at least. New Vision arrived in Australia last Friday & were met at the airport by some friends of Youth Encounter. After seeing a church office & enjoying Subway (totally cultural, right?!) we headed off to a retreat center in northern Sydney for a few days of rest.
That Monday, we drove to Warrambui (war-um-buoy) for two weeks of camp & convention-leading. Our van, who hasn’t a name quite yet, drives admirably & was shockingly fuel-efficient on the drive down. Upon entering the camp & meeting the 25-odd leaders who would be assisting us during the camp week ahead, I think we were all in a bit of culture shock. As Americanized as Aussie culture is, it’s still thousands of miles away from anything familiar. For the most part, I hung out in the back of the room & didn’t speak too much. Monday night was rough & ended with fervent prayers for God to bring me home.
Gracious God that He is, God allowed me to stay. Four days on, I can honestly say that this camp was a total blessing to me & my faith journey. My campers are fantastic & have opened my eyes so much to the world beyond America. The Aussie church is small, but it is mighty & it is growing. I guess what I’m saying is that I was scared. So scared of my role in Australian ministry. Scared to leave home and fly to another country, where I knew nobody but my teammates. Maybe what I’m learning this year is that we really only have one real home.
The only real home we have us in God & it’s a home that stretches to wherever you are. God’s love overcomes all the distance and doubts and worries. I can’t fly away from God, because He’s been preparing Australia for us since forever. He’s readying the world for us. For me.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to proper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11
Beautifully written. I was really drawn to the Bible verse you closed with. I’m currently writing a novel and the next chapter I write (tomorrow morning) is a worship scene where the pastor preaches on that verse. It seems God intended me to read your blog tonight.
It’s funny you should mention the significance of that verse – it’s actually my organization’s theme verse for the year, so we hear it quite often.
Never has it meant so much to me as now. I can only hope that your writing is going well!
What a great theme verse. And yes, my writing is going well. The story took a very unexpected plot twist and it now looks like it will take the shape of a working draft screenplay in about a week.
Keep up the good ministry!