Divine Encouragement

A friend gave me a small paperback book when we stayed overnight at his Mariposa, CA. home on our way to LA from the northwest. It was by Jack London and called Tales of the Pacific. I had read some short stories of his previously, but they had been set in the Yukon and since we’re going to be on the Great Barrier Reef I thought it would be interesting on both a cultural and geographic level as well as just being well written, granted it is London, not the most uplifting author, but one who’s great at adventure. So, I’m currently about a quarter of the way through it and have been delighted with the intensity of the short stories though they are rather grim. One in particular got my attention; it takes place on a Fijian Island over a hundred years ago with a few white men and some native tribesmen. The main character is a missionary who, having been fairly successful in his efforts to bring the local tribe to faith in Christ, feels inspired to continue on into the interior of the island to share the Lord with the other cannibalistic tribes. It is a tale of bravery conviction, cowardliness, and betrayal somewhat reminiscent of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Naturally, I put myself into the story as the missionary and wonder if I would perform the in a similar fashion though it ended tragically with his death and subsequent preparation for their dinner. This story was somewhat similar to Robinson Crusoe, which I listened to intently over a year ago in Forks, what a great and enthralling story! Therefore, when we were at the camping trip in the bush a few days ago and a stout Tongan man came over to me in an evening time of worship and prayer and but his thick muscular right arm around my shoulders and said in a very deep, broken English voice, “I pray for you?!” (I wasn’t sure if it was a question or command) I could not say, “no” and felt only a small fraction of the intimidation that the white men must have felt when first landing on the beaches of uncharted South Pacific islands. I was very impressed by the depth of this man’s prayer and the heartfelt love that he expressed toward me and God. His prayer covered a number of topics but what caught my attention the most was his emphasis on my working effectively with the youth of Australia. As I have mentioned with many of you in the past, when asked what I felt God’s call was for us over here I shared that God had called us through many scriptural references to bring the word of God to the youth, the next generation of Aussies. Also, that many of the references were from the book of Isaiah. Thus, you can imagine my astonished excitement when this Tongan man named, Isaiah prayed for me to be effective in youth ministry!

One more quick story before I sign off. On Saturdays the YWAM base puts on a youth oriented outreach called “Youth Street”. It’s well attended and quite a production to be sure. Last Saturday’s was an impressively realistic version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” though on other nights they will have bands and or dance performances and the like. I have attended every Saturday since we arrived usually with Ryan and or Aubry in-tow usually to skate the small ramps they have and mingle with the kids to develop relationships and get familiar with everything. One Saturday we watched as one of the house bands played a lively set of worship songs and observed how the staff interacted with the kids. Earlier in the week I was feeling a little discouraged as I hadn’t seen where there was a real need for us at the base. I was certain that God had called us and paved the way but with eighty plus young fired up gifted Christians on staff it really didn’t seem like we could make much more of an impact than what was already being done. Really it was just the enemy trying to cloud my perspective and get me off track. It’s really evident that he’s put a bulls-eye on us since we got here. So, while we were watching the worship band, one of the young staff men came to me and screamed, “Can I pray for you!?” over the blare of the music. It took me by surprise but not wanting to miss a blessing I nodded and hoarsely yelled, “sure” as loudly as I could. What came next wasn’t a prayer as much as a word of knowledge straight from God. He said, “I feel God wants you to know that you are here for a purpose, that it may seem like everything is running well and that all the needs are covered but there are needs that you cannot see. I want you to be confident and walk in boldness knowing that you’re here because I have called you.” And with that he smiled and patted me on the shoulder and walked off. I smiled back and nodded nonchalantly but inwardly was absolutely stunned and blessed.

The moral of the story is, if someone asks if they can pray for you, let them. Also, as Pastor Chuck always says, “Where God guides, He provides” both in material necessities, fellowship, and in confirmation and encouragement when we need it. Speaking of fellowship, we have been praying about a church to attend and possibly invest in and are still searching, but the last two Sundays we have been holding church at home. Last Sunday it was due to many of the kids in the family being sick, but this Sunday it was because we had some YWAM friends respond to our offer to be apart of our home church. It’s a long explanation for another post, but we’ve found many of our peers at the base don’t attend church on Sundays and are very hungry for solid Bible teaching…How about that! So we’re praying for the possibility of starting a church in earnest. I feel I need to hear directly from God on this though and don’t want to commit fully unless He specifically directs us even though there is apparently a need.

Last week I mentioned that I’d try to be more specific on what responsibilities we will have at the base while the internship starts, so I’ll tell you what I know so far as it officially starts today, Sunday afternoon with a BBQ orientation. My supervisor, Jonathan has informed me that I’d be working in Community Life, a broad label for general base operations. That is, overseeing and set up of facility events, general base upkeep, housing management. Also, planning and executing events that work toward unity and family atmosphere among the staff and the students. The assignment is for at least three months and then I’ll have the option to move to another area or stay on for another three months and so on. It is also an option for me to be active with the Youth Street group on Saturdays if I choose. It will be interesting to see how much time Community Life will take up thereby allowing me to take part in other things, including studying for Sunday if the need may be.

Cameron will be taking part in the first couple of weeks of morning orientation lectures and then will attend weekly worship, prayer, and service times but will mostly be at home schooling the kids. Her service times will be two or three times a week working in the accounting office.

We are also looking forward to fulfilling our requirements for the outreach portion of the Discipleship Training School which we partially completed in Discovery Bay late last year. We’ve been told that we should be able to fulfill the requirements by taking part in outreaches throughout our year long stay in Townsville and we’re getting a jump on it by taking part in the Youth Street program offered on Saturdays (I’ll explain more next time).

So, we’re off and running. Still enjoying our time here and really blessed with our home, new friends, community, and calling though we’ve had some rough days in transition. One thing is for sure, it has made all the difference to know that we have a large group of friends and family who are praying for us and financially supporting us. We are greatly encouraged when we receive you emails and speak with you through Skype and Facebook. It would be much more difficult if we were more isolated and not able to stay in-touch. Thank you once again for being there for us! We look forward to more opportunities to connect and dialogue with each of you.

Answered Prayer:

­ Dressers and Shelf Units for the house: We had a couple young blokes show up at the house last week with a couple of large wardrobes for our clothes! Also, we purchased some furniture from the local thrift shops at pretty good prices (even a fish tank for the kids!). We’re nearly there though we need another dresser for the boys’ room.

­ For the family to get into our routines: All of our responsibilities have become more clear and the internship has begun so things are settling down nicely.

­ A good solution to the mosquitoes: Part of it is getting used to the local food (apparently the make-up of the food here helps to keep the Mozzy’s from biting as much. Also, we’re becoming more diligent with the repellent.

­ For God’s leading: We’re still praying for God’s will in the long-term picture of what He has for us.

Prayer Requests:

­ Jeremy, Cameron, and Peggy for wisdom and grace in fulfilling our responsibilities both at home and at the base.

­ A good church to get involved with or to start one.

­ Evangelism in our neighborhood.

­ Cameron and the kids to get hooked up with the local homeschool group.

­ Perseverance and wisdom with the kids’ homeschooling.