I'm back at home everyone. It was a long trip home. The way the international date line stuff goes I had two full days packed into one. WHEW
I am about to go watch my sisters basketball game, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am home safe.
Check back within the week, as I hope to add some more from the end of my time in NZ.
Grace
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Almost Home
Hey everyone
Again I haven't been a mad poster, but as the trip started on the down hill slope, time, like a roller coaster, went faster.
These last few weeks have been one blessing after another.
I was awed by Mt. Cook
We have fellowshiped with YWAM at their graduation.
Sailed in beautiful Akaroa.
Mountain Biked and then rested in Hanmer Springs.
Met some great people hitching.
And now it's coming to an end, at least in NZ.
Mike and I parted on Friday. Somewhat of a downer but more weird, leaving the person you have been with 24/7 for the last two months is different. I know that I will see him again in two weeks so I am looking forward to that, and not worried about missing my traveling buddy.
I started reading the Heavenly Man. WHOA What a story. I'm not finished yet but it is stuck in my mind. It is about the Chinese house churches and a glimpse at the last 40 years of History there. Amazing stuff, check it out.
Also this world is a lot more real to me right now. I read stories in the paper, and they strike closer to home than they ever have. Today the world is not near as big as it once seemed.
I have been working on another idea. What does it mean to be blessed?
Health, a little money, family...
Why then does Christ say, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers? And to top it all, those who are persecuted for righteousness. Are we really blessed in our lives or did we miss the picture somewhere along the way?
Continue to pray for me guys about the future, God's good!!
Again I haven't been a mad poster, but as the trip started on the down hill slope, time, like a roller coaster, went faster.
These last few weeks have been one blessing after another.
I was awed by Mt. Cook
We have fellowshiped with YWAM at their graduation.
Sailed in beautiful Akaroa.
Mountain Biked and then rested in Hanmer Springs.
Met some great people hitching.
And now it's coming to an end, at least in NZ.
Mike and I parted on Friday. Somewhat of a downer but more weird, leaving the person you have been with 24/7 for the last two months is different. I know that I will see him again in two weeks so I am looking forward to that, and not worried about missing my traveling buddy.
I started reading the Heavenly Man. WHOA What a story. I'm not finished yet but it is stuck in my mind. It is about the Chinese house churches and a glimpse at the last 40 years of History there. Amazing stuff, check it out.
Also this world is a lot more real to me right now. I read stories in the paper, and they strike closer to home than they ever have. Today the world is not near as big as it once seemed.
I have been working on another idea. What does it mean to be blessed?
Health, a little money, family...
Why then does Christ say, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers? And to top it all, those who are persecuted for righteousness. Are we really blessed in our lives or did we miss the picture somewhere along the way?
Continue to pray for me guys about the future, God's good!!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Something to Write About
So I have been struggling the last two days. The Lord has given me time to sit and think while I have been in Christchurch. I didn't want to. My mind has been all over the place. Some thoughts are about the joy from all that has happened this trip, the blessings and the teaching ground that it has proved to be. Others though were spinning around but didn't really have a place to stop. I wanted to get away from them, but nothing was working. So after some time here they are.
I am human, and as such I am base, I get pulled down by things that weren't a problem even one day earlier. I forget truths that I have learned so many times. Why? Why? I'm not sure, but I am glad that the Lord is slow to anger, forgiving and that His steadfast love endure forever.
I finally started talking to Mike about some of the vague thoughts that have been plaguing my mind. Actually, talking to him about them was of utmost importance, because I realized part of my problem was sinning against him.
Jealousy, I hate to even write it. Writing further admits it, but in this I find freedom from it. I have been jealous of the joy that Mike has recently been growing exponentially in. Dumb, I know but it has crept up inside of me so stealthily, so ingrained. I barely realized it until now. It has been stealing my joy, from sharing in Mikes joy, distracting me from the Lord, clogging my heart.
The Lord has done so much with Mike this trip, has taught him so much about eternity, about life, about his grace, his sufficiency, his greatness. Mike has soaked it up and has grown in passion for the Lord. His passion has exploded, and the repercussion has been touched lives, raw honest blogs and great joy. AWESOME. When I stop and think about it I am in humbled wonder, I got to see Jesus really change someones heart, how amazing is that!
Yet the Liar found a place within my own desires that could be easily exploited and I was led astray. Thank God for discomfort of the soul. I knew something was wrong today, and I didn't like it. So I prayed about it and Mike noticed something was up, so he prayed for me as well. Finally this evening I told Mike that I have been jealous of God using him recently. I wanted to have the spot light as I told people about the Lord changing my heart and the joy I had in the midst of tough times. I am quite silly it seems.
He then reminded me about the influence I have been on him while he has been over here. How God has used me as a Brother to help him and that in turn has helped him passion. That helped, it really did, to be reminded of God using me was great. As he went on, the deeper Truth won out and I remembered that God is what I am here for, not people, not blogs not anything else, just the Lord. I need to keep that first, to keep my eye on the prize.
1 Cor. 16:13-14 says it this way:
Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
Your every act should be done with love.
All over the NT this is said various ways; continue, persevere, press on, these are all over the place. We need to make sure that we heed these warnings and not give up, not become complacent because we have such a great reward in the Lord, his GRACE is everything!
All we need is the Lord! This is why I love one of Shawn McDonald's songs. He does a good job of focusing only on the Lord. If you have not heard the song you should check it out, if you have, you probably understand why I like it so much.
As I sit here and think
About all that You've done
About how You gave me Your one and only Son
And I'm trying to fathom
All that You are, but so far, Lord
You're so beyond me
I fall down in reverence
And I fall down in fear
And I'm asking You, Lord, won't You please draw near
Won't You open my eyes
So that I can see
The way that You are working in me
All I need is Your love
To come and fill this heart of mine
My heart is a desert that has gone dry
And I lay down my life
And I put it before You
All that I am is in Your hands
And I'm not going to question, why You're so faithful
Why that You give me the blessing that You have
Let the glory be known, let the glory be shown
Lift You up unto the throne
You are my God, You are my King
To You I give, I give You everything
All that I need is Your love, my God
ALL I NEED IS YOUR LOVE!
Grace to you all!
I am human, and as such I am base, I get pulled down by things that weren't a problem even one day earlier. I forget truths that I have learned so many times. Why? Why? I'm not sure, but I am glad that the Lord is slow to anger, forgiving and that His steadfast love endure forever.
I finally started talking to Mike about some of the vague thoughts that have been plaguing my mind. Actually, talking to him about them was of utmost importance, because I realized part of my problem was sinning against him.
Jealousy, I hate to even write it. Writing further admits it, but in this I find freedom from it. I have been jealous of the joy that Mike has recently been growing exponentially in. Dumb, I know but it has crept up inside of me so stealthily, so ingrained. I barely realized it until now. It has been stealing my joy, from sharing in Mikes joy, distracting me from the Lord, clogging my heart.
The Lord has done so much with Mike this trip, has taught him so much about eternity, about life, about his grace, his sufficiency, his greatness. Mike has soaked it up and has grown in passion for the Lord. His passion has exploded, and the repercussion has been touched lives, raw honest blogs and great joy. AWESOME. When I stop and think about it I am in humbled wonder, I got to see Jesus really change someones heart, how amazing is that!
Yet the Liar found a place within my own desires that could be easily exploited and I was led astray. Thank God for discomfort of the soul. I knew something was wrong today, and I didn't like it. So I prayed about it and Mike noticed something was up, so he prayed for me as well. Finally this evening I told Mike that I have been jealous of God using him recently. I wanted to have the spot light as I told people about the Lord changing my heart and the joy I had in the midst of tough times. I am quite silly it seems.
He then reminded me about the influence I have been on him while he has been over here. How God has used me as a Brother to help him and that in turn has helped him passion. That helped, it really did, to be reminded of God using me was great. As he went on, the deeper Truth won out and I remembered that God is what I am here for, not people, not blogs not anything else, just the Lord. I need to keep that first, to keep my eye on the prize.
1 Cor. 16:13-14 says it this way:
Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
Your every act should be done with love.
All over the NT this is said various ways; continue, persevere, press on, these are all over the place. We need to make sure that we heed these warnings and not give up, not become complacent because we have such a great reward in the Lord, his GRACE is everything!
All we need is the Lord! This is why I love one of Shawn McDonald's songs. He does a good job of focusing only on the Lord. If you have not heard the song you should check it out, if you have, you probably understand why I like it so much.
As I sit here and think
About all that You've done
About how You gave me Your one and only Son
And I'm trying to fathom
All that You are, but so far, Lord
You're so beyond me
I fall down in reverence
And I fall down in fear
And I'm asking You, Lord, won't You please draw near
Won't You open my eyes
So that I can see
The way that You are working in me
All I need is Your love
To come and fill this heart of mine
My heart is a desert that has gone dry
And I lay down my life
And I put it before You
All that I am is in Your hands
And I'm not going to question, why You're so faithful
Why that You give me the blessing that You have
Let the glory be known, let the glory be shown
Lift You up unto the throne
You are my God, You are my King
To You I give, I give You everything
All that I need is Your love, my God
ALL I NEED IS YOUR LOVE!
Grace to you all!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
6 Weeks in NZ!!
Yesterday marked the 6th week of travel for us. WOW! Each day goes faster than the one before.
To commemorate the times the following are a few of the interesting facts we have compiled.
Clothing washed:
Twice, once was in a sink, awesome eh?
Showers:
Mike- Avg. every 4 days or more
Me- Avg. every 3 days
Number of countries I have met people from:
16
Percentage of nights spent in a tent:
70
Number of peanut butter sandwhiches eaten:
TOO MANY
Number of times we have shaved:
0, getting a pretty sweet beard going.
Largest blister size:
NZ two dollar coin (it's pretty big)
Glaciers seen:
6, all beautiful
To commemorate the times the following are a few of the interesting facts we have compiled.
Clothing washed:
Twice, once was in a sink, awesome eh?
Showers:
Mike- Avg. every 4 days or more
Me- Avg. every 3 days
Number of countries I have met people from:
16
Percentage of nights spent in a tent:
70
Number of peanut butter sandwhiches eaten:
TOO MANY
Number of times we have shaved:
0, getting a pretty sweet beard going.
Largest blister size:
NZ two dollar coin (it's pretty big)
Glaciers seen:
6, all beautiful
Days growing and learning about life:
Everyone!
Much Love yall
Friday, February 22, 2008
Dunedin Blessings
I found free internet!! It's at the public library here in Dunedin.
We decided that the camp ground we stayed at the first night here was way too far outside of the city for us to enjoy Dunedin at all, so we decided to head back into town and see if a friend of Mikes had gotten back to us about a place to stay yet, nope. I did however run into the two Dutch girls who had given us a ride last weekend from Wanaka to Queenstown and they told us that the place where they were staying still had rooms available, so we headed that way.
Then it got really sweet because when we walked in, we saw the YWAM group checking in at the same time. We met this group last week in Queenstown and even spent the day hiking with two of them. They did there DTS, or training session, outside of Christchurch and are now toward the end of their traveling time spreading the love of Christ to backpackers along the way. The DTS was focused on backpacker ministry, how cool is that!
So we quickly made friends with the ones we didn't know very well and had a wonderful evening of fellowship. Mike got a chance to play a real guitar and I could tell it was really good for his soul. Mike has been learning hard lessons about the sufficiency of Christ this trip and even more so after finding out that the girlfriend he had before the trip has already started dating someone else, that's hard. The great thing is that the Lord has been using it. He has Mike talking about the Lord's strength and all encompassing love, even in times of hardship.
I got to talk to one of the DTS guys from Norway about the Lord and some of what He is doing around the world, and it was good for my soul. It was great to talk on the same level about the things that the Lord is doing in our hearts as well as the rest of the world, with someone that is on a separate continent! It was a blessed evening for sure.
The WYAM folks cooked pizza for us and a girl from Colorado and a guy from Israeli. The Dutch girls, B and Charlotte cooked too much pasta later that evening so dinner number two was tasty as well, is was wonderful times. The fellowship at dinner was the best we have had since we have been in NZ. Hanging out with other believers from Switzerland, Norway, Canada, even California : ) was an awesome experience. Eating dinner with Dutch and Israelis was also a wonderful thing. I have enjoyed immensely getting to interact and learn from these cultures and countries outside of mine. Wow there has been so much!
I also got to see some evangelising going on in the backpacker, they answered questions from seeking souls. It was so right. It's also very evident that unless God moves nothing happens within the human soul. Pray for the people that we come into contact with, that God would already be working in there hearts, softening it, tearing away at the lies that they hold onto! I also pray that God continues to teach me boldness and gives me the words that people need to hear. He is so GOOD!
This morning I got to overhear one of the YWAM guys talking to a pastor from Malaysia who is studying here in Dunedin, this guy already has a PhD in theology, Greek and Hebrew. Whoa! He is brushing up on his studies before accepting a new pastoral job.
What a place huh, just a simple out of the way backpackers that God has God totally orchestrated all of these people coming together, believers and non believers, in a perfect, God glorifying way and it is great to be a part of it!
Reading 1 Cor. where Paul talks about becoming whatever he needs to be in order to reach non believers has never been more real than is is here. What a great way for the Lord to drive these verses home than surrounding me with, literally, Jews and Gentiles all believing different things and from different countries. AWESOME
Pray for us, pray for Mike's heart, pray that I would continue to grow and be used. Pray that we continue to get to where we need to be, many times this is not even where we want to be but it's great the way the Lord works!!! Thank all of you so much, many of you are in my prayers, send me a message about anything new I can be praying for and let me share in the blessings that the Lord has for you.
We decided that the camp ground we stayed at the first night here was way too far outside of the city for us to enjoy Dunedin at all, so we decided to head back into town and see if a friend of Mikes had gotten back to us about a place to stay yet, nope. I did however run into the two Dutch girls who had given us a ride last weekend from Wanaka to Queenstown and they told us that the place where they were staying still had rooms available, so we headed that way.
Then it got really sweet because when we walked in, we saw the YWAM group checking in at the same time. We met this group last week in Queenstown and even spent the day hiking with two of them. They did there DTS, or training session, outside of Christchurch and are now toward the end of their traveling time spreading the love of Christ to backpackers along the way. The DTS was focused on backpacker ministry, how cool is that!
So we quickly made friends with the ones we didn't know very well and had a wonderful evening of fellowship. Mike got a chance to play a real guitar and I could tell it was really good for his soul. Mike has been learning hard lessons about the sufficiency of Christ this trip and even more so after finding out that the girlfriend he had before the trip has already started dating someone else, that's hard. The great thing is that the Lord has been using it. He has Mike talking about the Lord's strength and all encompassing love, even in times of hardship.
I got to talk to one of the DTS guys from Norway about the Lord and some of what He is doing around the world, and it was good for my soul. It was great to talk on the same level about the things that the Lord is doing in our hearts as well as the rest of the world, with someone that is on a separate continent! It was a blessed evening for sure.
The WYAM folks cooked pizza for us and a girl from Colorado and a guy from Israeli. The Dutch girls, B and Charlotte cooked too much pasta later that evening so dinner number two was tasty as well, is was wonderful times. The fellowship at dinner was the best we have had since we have been in NZ. Hanging out with other believers from Switzerland, Norway, Canada, even California : ) was an awesome experience. Eating dinner with Dutch and Israelis was also a wonderful thing. I have enjoyed immensely getting to interact and learn from these cultures and countries outside of mine. Wow there has been so much!
I also got to see some evangelising going on in the backpacker, they answered questions from seeking souls. It was so right. It's also very evident that unless God moves nothing happens within the human soul. Pray for the people that we come into contact with, that God would already be working in there hearts, softening it, tearing away at the lies that they hold onto! I also pray that God continues to teach me boldness and gives me the words that people need to hear. He is so GOOD!
This morning I got to overhear one of the YWAM guys talking to a pastor from Malaysia who is studying here in Dunedin, this guy already has a PhD in theology, Greek and Hebrew. Whoa! He is brushing up on his studies before accepting a new pastoral job.
What a place huh, just a simple out of the way backpackers that God has God totally orchestrated all of these people coming together, believers and non believers, in a perfect, God glorifying way and it is great to be a part of it!
Reading 1 Cor. where Paul talks about becoming whatever he needs to be in order to reach non believers has never been more real than is is here. What a great way for the Lord to drive these verses home than surrounding me with, literally, Jews and Gentiles all believing different things and from different countries. AWESOME
Pray for us, pray for Mike's heart, pray that I would continue to grow and be used. Pray that we continue to get to where we need to be, many times this is not even where we want to be but it's great the way the Lord works!!! Thank all of you so much, many of you are in my prayers, send me a message about anything new I can be praying for and let me share in the blessings that the Lord has for you.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
HITCHIKING
This morning we woke up in Te Anau and it seemed like a good day to do some tried and true hitchiking, thumbs and all. It was awesome! We grabbed a bit of lunch for the road, I've leanrned that a hungry traveler is not a happy one, and then after some solid praying and a short thumb stetch we were off! We walked about ten min. outside of town before our first ride came and picked us up, Margeret from the west coast was our driver. A very pleasant lady who knew the area well. She dropped us off 50k's down the read in the deer capital of NZ. From there an old sheep raiser and his wife let us jump in the back of there sweet little pickup, and then after a long walk past a paddock full of ticked off bulls we had lunch. We walked a ways and were pretty tired at this point. It was a long way to the next town. I was starting to wonder if our beginner blessing was starting to dwindle. We didn't stick our thumbs out during our lunch break, they needed a rest too \: ) Aftrer a quick after lunch prayer a car came by and picked us up first thing. SWEET! God was so good to us. He drove us all the way to Dunedin were we are tonight. It was great. Well I am out of time. Much love
Apology
Hey everyone I am terribly sorry for not updating this more frequently. I really feel this is not fair on my part, to start a blog and then not update it. I find two things to be the issue, internet is expensive and time to write is hard to come by. Thank you for being patient and continue to pray that I find time to write you of the happenings in NZ!! (because they are pretty darn cool!)
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